The Art Of Kindness (00:00.398)

I'm hitting the record. I was wondering what suit you would wear. I love this suit.

Paul Feig (00:04.118)

thanks. Thank you so much.

The Art Of Kindness (00:05.888)

I almost put a little broach on too, it's like a little snail but I didn't want to click against my mind.

Paul Feig (00:10.557)

that's that smart. That's my mind's silk, so it doesn't make any noise.

The Art Of Kindness (00:13.171)

that's fabulous. I did put this jacket on for you. I'm not trying to flex, but just so you know, it's all for you, baby girl. So where are you, by the way? I love this behind

Paul Feig (00:17.871)

You're looking good my friend, looking good. bless you.

I'm back in my office. It's here at Burbank. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, yeah.

The Art Of Kindness (00:30.239)

It looks awesome. Yeah, do you have any questions before we start? I'm sure you've used Riverside.

Paul Feig (00:35.509)

No, I was hoping I wasn't supposed to prepare something for this because I didn't. Okay, good, excellent.

The Art Of Kindness (00:40.652)

I'm gonna hit record and you go. Yeah. I got nervous when your friend was testing the camera because I thought for second that I reached out to the wrong Paul and I didn't know who this Paul was that I was interviewing. I had a moment of like, hi. But he came on the screen. good old Greg. Well, Paul, it's so nice to see you again. I know.

Paul Feig (00:52.374)

Haha. Haha. Yeah, no that's my... It's good old Greg, exactly.

Paul Feig (01:02.627)

You too.

The Art Of Kindness (01:03.401)

I said this last time I interviewed you, but I just admire you so much. You know, I'm not alone there, but you've made some of my favorite movies of all time. And I got to watch Jackpot last night and I laughed out loud.

Paul Feig (01:07.096)

Thank

Paul Feig (01:11.021)

Thank you.

Paul Feig (01:15.446)

good, good, I'm glad you got to see it.

The Art Of Kindness (01:17.766)

Yeah, it was so good. I laughed out loud so many times, especially as an actor. There's a lot of content in there, I'll say, for me specifically. Yeah.

Paul Feig (01:23.088)

Yeah, it's a bit of a horror show in the beginning. Having been an actor for a long time, it was fun recreating those scenes and yet triggering and horrifying at the same time.

The Art Of Kindness (01:34.028)

yeah, I felt that deeply and you nailed it. And you know, I just think overall making people laugh, that's such a kindness. So you're sort of the ideal guest for today's conversation. And I know all this sounds cheesy, but I'm a ball of mozzarella. So I could just spend this whole time kind of complimenting you. But before I do that, and now that I've kind of ambushed you with some compliments, the first question I like to start out asking guests is how are you at accepting compliments? Because I feel like in your position, you probably get them a

Paul Feig (01:40.407)

Yeah.

Thank

Paul Feig (01:53.177)

That's all right.

Paul Feig (01:59.28)

You always wish you got more, I'll tell you that. Yes, exactly. No, I mean, I'm pretty good at it. I've kind of taught myself over the years not to be like, you know, there's nothing worse when you compliment somebody. you look really nice. I look terrible. It's like, all right. You know, I think you look nice. Now you're telling me I don't, you

The Art Of Kindness (02:03.752)

You hear that everybody?

The Art Of Kindness (02:18.821)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (02:22.938)

you don't. So I do think you have to be able to accept a compliment. You know, I the fear for me is always, you know, are you going to get overconfident? You know, I live in absolute terror of being overconfident, because I think that's the worst thing you can have in my in what I do for my career. Making movies, you need to be confident, you need to go in confidently to every part of it, to the writing and development and post and production and all that.

The Art Of Kindness (02:32.951)

Yeah

Paul Feig (02:50.447)

But at the same time, if you go in kind of so confident, I know better than anybody else, you know, then you just, especially in comedy, you just literally set the clock for the end of your career, basically. Don't tell me what to do. I know what's funnier than that audience. It's like, okay, well, good luck to you then.

The Art Of Kindness (03:02.884)

Yeah, and ding ding I Feel that I feel that deeply do you think if you kind of put weight in the compliments then I think maybe it balances out because you might put some weight in the other stuff too So then maybe you stay in the middle because you're kind of hearing both. I don't

Paul Feig (03:19.01)

Yeah. Well, it's hard. mean, these days, you're either getting complimented or you're getting excoriated. You know, you know, I mean, it's all because of social media and all that stuff. mean, you know, Twitter used to be such a lovely playground for me. I just loved going on Twitter. would, you would go to dinner by myself and just go like, I'm just going to start up a Twitter thing and just like spend.

The two hours at dinner just having this fun back and forth with all the people that followed me and it was just really fun and supportive. You know, and then once Ghostbusters happened, then it's just, can't go on there anymore. We just had a thing, like it was the eight year anniversary of the movie coming out and somebody posted about it. So I wrote back like, you know, I can't believe it's been eight years. Thanks so much to all the fans and supporters of the movie. like it just unleashed, holy hell.

of all these haters eight years later who can't let it go. It also unleashed all these people who are fans of the movie. So they're all going like, you know, they're all saying like, you know, there's no fans, no supporters and everybody else is saying how much they love the movie. know, so it's you can't. I want to say you can't you can't believe the you can't take the high if you can't believe the low because a lot of the low now is just it's just random anger.

The Art Of Kindness (04:17.022)

goodness.

Yeah, but then the haters, haters with an eight because the eight years.

The Art Of Kindness (04:31.84)

Tricky.

Paul Feig (04:42.993)

people at I don't know either at their lives that they're not doing more or just they just want to pick a fight. Everyone wants to pick a fight these days.

The Art Of Kindness (04:52.57)

Yeah, well that certainly happens in jackpot which we're gonna get into but I guess there's good reason to pick a fight in that film which yeah, thank you very much. We're not even getting into jackpot yet so it was kind of a fruitless segue so I actually don't know where I'm going. I'm kind of blacking out. Thank you. I did want to say I might be the download daily for this but I listened to Theodore's score for that Ghostbusters film like almost every day on my walk. I would say run but it's a walk, honestly it's a walk.

Paul Feig (04:55.698)

Mm -hmm. Nice segue, by the way. Thank you so much. That's all right. But you kept it alive. You kept it alive.

Paul Feig (05:18.353)

ha ha ha ha.

The Art Of Kindness (05:19.646)

But it amps me up like that. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun

Paul Feig (05:22.746)

I love that. my God. Well, that's great. He'll be thrilled to hear that. I mean, he's so talented and he does all my movies. He did. He all my movies, exactly. I know. He crushes it every time.

The Art Of Kindness (05:30.631)

He is, and he did jackpot, right? Yeah. Devil wears Prada, I mean, come on.

Okay, to cycle myself back, I'm just getting too excited. To set the context for today's conversation, I would love to know what do you think your definition of kindness is, just so we have somewhere to go from.

Paul Feig (05:50.797)

Yeah, to me kindness is about trying not to ruin somebody else's day. know, and I think, you know, just my whole life it's been kind of, it's, I know I never want to make anybody feel bad. It's obviously why you're going to comedy. You know, I'm trying to make everybody happy all the time. And I think kindness is just really not preying on people's what insecurities and

I mean, it takes so little to ruin somebody's day. know, being even if it's just a bad moment for you that you didn't mean, it blows onto them and then they're stuck with it and it screws them up or it can it depends, you know how how confident you are or

self -assured you are but most hardly anybody is confident and self -assured you know and secure so it just takes one little thing. Well you're a rock my friend so...

The Art Of Kindness (06:48.678)

No, I'm not, nope, nope, nope. Thank you so much. No, but I think you're so right and everyone has a different answer to that. Everybody's had a different definition, you know, over the course of these interviews, but I will say you pretty much had a similar one to Carol Burnett, not to drop that name into the chat. But if that makes you feel good and come on, LOL, read sweet.

Paul Feig (07:03.698)

wow, there you go. See, people in comedy, we know what we don't want.

The Art Of Kindness (07:11.756)

But that must put a lot of pressure on public figures like yourself because you could be having a human moment and then maybe at the airport someone's coming up to you saying, love your movies, but you just dropped hot coffee on your lap and you're like, I don't know what it is. So that's tough. Yeah, that's a lot to take on.

Paul Feig (07:23.378)

Yeah, yeah, exactly. A nice moment always sobers me up. It's the moments you don't expect where you think something's going to be a compliment and then it's not and you're just like, what? Yeah, but here's again why I'm not Mr. Social Media is terrible, but it's the same time. We put up with stuff.

The Art Of Kindness (07:35.809)

Mmm.

That's wild.

Paul Feig (07:48.228)

on social media that we never as human beings had to put up with for the entirety of our existence, which is this kind of this random anonymous attacking of who we are, you know, and it's the open, everybody says it a million times, but you can go on, you know, Twitter and have a hundred people that say you're great and they're one person who's mean and that's all you can hear is the mean one and it sticks in your head.

The Art Of Kindness (08:10.933)

Oh yeah, that's like the opposite of the Lady Gaga quote, you know, when she was on the Star is Born tour and she was like, there's 99 people in the room, but one person believed it's sort of the other side of the coin. I don't know if you saw that compilation. Yeah.

Paul Feig (08:18.482)

Right, I certainly do. But it's true. mean, it's just there is a tendency to assault people.

you know, emotionally these days. And, know, it's what I call punching the wound, which is, you know, and I feel like, you know, not to mention his name, but, you know, our former president is a master at that. Like, what is your one thing that is you're kind of sensitive about? there's a bam, bam, they hit it. And that's all of his followers. And they're just mean people in general. It doesn't have to be Trump supporters on the Internet.

The Art Of Kindness (08:55.294)

yeah.

Paul Feig (08:56.625)

just do that they know what your one Achilles heel is and they go at it and so you know it's the price of doing something the public eye and so you get used to it it took me years to get used to it now I kind of find it funny but you know it was really an assault yeah

The Art Of Kindness (09:09.038)

Yeah, you kind of built a callous. gosh. Well, I'm glad you've gotten to that better place, you know. And looking back just a little bit further before you got there, I loved hearing about just in different interviews you've talked about how the kindness and support you received, especially for following your dream early on, was mainly from your mom. And I wondered how you took that and kind of held on to that dream. I mean, speaking of haters with an eight, you know, you have people coming in along the way. It's hard not to give up, you know, and

Paul Feig (09:14.125)

You got it.

Paul Feig (09:26.737)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (09:32.279)

Hehehehehe

Yeah.

The Art Of Kindness (09:36.773)

You pivoted from actor to creative side, that might have been, I think, Woody Allen inspired from what I read. So what's your advice, I guess, for people out there maybe ready to give

Paul Feig (09:42.32)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (09:46.896)

Well, you know, mean, it's I always say, like, if I can if I can talk you into giving up on your dream, then you shouldn't be pursuing that dream. Yeah, you know, because I have all the time people, you know, always like, it's hard. want to give up. And it's like, I don't know what to tell you other than I went through a million of those times and you absorb the blow. You know, the rest of the day you're like, but you get the next day and go like.

The Art Of Kindness (09:50.895)

Help us.

The Art Of Kindness (09:56.931)

That's good. Yeah.

Paul Feig (10:16.018)

Let's go. And that's what you have to have or drop the dream or pivot the dream to something that you just will not take no for an answer.

The Art Of Kindness (10:22.211)

Mm.

The Art Of Kindness (10:25.526)

Yeah, that's really smart advice. And I guess, well, I could try to quote it. I don't quite remember the exact quote, but there's that golden girl bitch in jackpot. Sorry, that's what she's called. Nanny, grandma listens. That's what she's called in the movie Nanny. You'll see it. The little speech she gives on the bus, you know, that's a little heartfelt moment. I keep teasing jackpot. We'll get there eventually. But looking back, is there, do you think there's like one act of kindness that changed your trajectory? I'm sure there were a lot, but does one stick out to

Paul Feig (10:32.851)

Yes. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I meant do it. I love it.

Paul Feig (10:54.355)

Well, mean, it's funny because it's harder to an act of kindness sounds to me like somebody purposefully doing something to make you feel good. And the one that was kind of the big thing for me, but I don't know if my mom did it as an act of kindness. Maybe because she.

told to me because my dad was always kind of he was great guy he wasn't like mean or anything you just tough on me you know yeah and he was tough he he ran a store he's a boss and you get this thing when you run things which I feel now when I'm on a movie or whatever you kind of my dad you say when you walk in somewhere a work situation everybody's having fun except one one person it's the boss you know somebody's laughing and all this stuff and there's one guy walking around or one woman walking around looking dour

The Art Of Kindness (11:19.914)

That's good. Yeah.

Paul Feig (11:43.317)

So he was not very good with compliments or supportive kind of talk. He was fun. And so I always kind thought my dad thought I was an idiot, was the bottom line. I knew my mom. We had a great relationship and stuff. But I was like 10 or 11, right around there. And we were driving the car and I was in the back seat and my mom goes, you know your father thinks you're a genius. I said,

The Art Of Kindness (11:54.826)

No, no.

Paul Feig (12:09.63)

What? And I'm not, clearly, but just the fact that to hear that the dad who I thought kind of just was tolerating me and thought I was an idiot actually had some secret opinion about me that I was really smart. And it really just kind of, was this confidence boost I needed right about to go into junior high and high school and teen years and all that crap. And you're still completely put upon and not secure, but I always kind of had that hung in my head of like, okay, well, dad thinks I'm a genius.

The Art Of Kindness (12:21.414)

Hmm. Yeah.

Paul Feig (12:38.965)

I got that going for me.

The Art Of Kindness (12:40.557)

Yeah. It's funny what things stick out to us. And you know, a lot of the time the people saying them don't even realize that that's the thing we latched on to. Like your mom might not have remembered saying that, but it's, yeah, it's interesting. The weight, the words that we say have, you know, I love that you kind of mentioned act of kindness, like the definition of it, what it really is. Cause when I thought in reading about you, it's tricky to call it an act of kindness because you certainly proved your worth, but you had this family movie come out that didn't do as well as you expected. And then John Appetow still

Paul Feig (12:48.085)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (12:54.783)

There you go.

The Art Of Kindness (13:10.486)

had you direct Bridesmaids, which you kind of, in so many words said, was like an act of faith or kindness. That was one that stuck out to me from looking at your career. Maybe just because I love bridesmaids.

Paul Feig (13:19.179)

Well, that's cool. Well, that's nice. No, I mean, that definitely was an act of kindness because I was really dead in the water as far as movie directing. I was doing great as a TV director, but I wanted to be doing movies. yeah, so it was a real, you know, act of kindness. It was an act of kindness for me to do it. That's what I'm basically saying. No, was it was really there. No, I will always be grateful for him for pulling me out of movie jail for that.

The Art Of Kindness (13:25.2)

No.

The Art Of Kindness (13:35.588)

You heard it here first. Yeah, there we

The Art Of Kindness (13:43.692)

Yeah, what a guy. You know, and just listening to your voice now, I'm having the weirdest transitions today. When do I not? I always do. I'm just like, you must have been such a great tour guide, because that was another thing I found out about you. Fun fact that we have that in common. I was also a bus tour guide flailing around on the aisles, following on people, getting tips. That's how I got tips. It was for a movie TV tour in New York City. It was like a celebrity news, yeah, thing. yours was Universal.

Paul Feig (13:49.372)

Yes.

Paul Feig (13:59.526)

my God. Wait, not for Universal Studios.

Paul Feig (14:05.879)

Oh, okay. Nice. Yeah. Yeah, I was Universal Studios tour guide. Yeah, back in the early 80s. It was it was good training because I was I wanted to be a stand up. And you're basically on a mic in front of an audience, you know, eight hours, 10 hours a day every day. So it was cool for that. I learned who I was doing it because

The Art Of Kindness (14:11.543)

That must have been fun.

Paul Feig (14:31.72)

I used to get out of the mic and go, hey everybody, it's good to have you here. I'd go into some weird DJ thing. And just over the course of the summer, with some people going, what are you doing? other things, I'm just going, why am I talking this way? And it just got comfortable being myself in front of an audience.

The Art Of Kindness (14:37.58)

Hahaha

The Art Of Kindness (14:42.753)

I did that.

Yeah, you can't stop.

Mmm. Yeah, I saw a lot of weird stuff because mine was on a bus and I would get stuck in traffic sometimes I saw someone well, this is dark, but I saw someone being abused once I stopped the bus I called the police it was crazy to do that in New York City The the tour guide. Yeah, but you know, I bring it up too because now you're you're still guiding, you know, you're guiding these sets Isn't nice Paul isn't nice

Paul Feig (14:58.557)

jeez. Yeah, good old New York.

Paul Feig (15:08.523)

Yeah, there you go. Nicely done. Another great transition. I love it. Wow, boy, you are on fire.

The Art Of Kindness (15:15.232)

Thank you. Thank you so much. You know, I'd love to pick your brain kind of about guiding sets and creating positive environments. Is that first of all, is that something you even think about before you start?

Paul Feig (15:24.58)

yeah, I always say it's my main goal is to create a safe environment for people to work in. I obviously physically safe, yes, but that goes without saying. To me it's emotionally safe because I was an actor for a long time and I had pretty good experiences, but there'd just be the occasionally like a director or producer, somebody who would just make you feel terrible. And I don't think they knew they were doing it, you know? But it affects you so much as an actor.

Because you're such a raw nerve when you're an actor because it's all you have is, you know, you are. If they don't like something, they don't like you, you know, basically, because it's just you. You're not playing a piano bad or anything. It's just it's your face. Well, exactly. But you can blame the piano. right. yeah. Yeah.

The Art Of Kindness (15:54.303)

Mm -hmm.

The Art Of Kindness (16:01.733)

Yeah.

Well, sometimes. So don't you're doing that too.

I just went in for that show, Mary, and they were like, can you play that Broadway show that just came out? They're can you play the piano? I'm like, yes, I can. And I can, but can I?

Paul Feig (16:17.684)

Yeah, there you go. No, but so I so it basically I realized like everything needs to be. It sounds dumb, but positive onset. It doesn't mean you're not like working. try this, try that. But you know, I had.

times I like do something or ad lib or try something but I'm no what are you doing that's terrible it's like then I just shut down and go like okay I'm not gonna try anything and so you're cutting off all this kind of creative energy from the people that you hire so for me it's just like let's start going I don't really rehearse you know we just start shooting and a lot of times the first take I'm like boy that was nothing like I wanted that was weird I don't know what that was but I don't go in like no come on let's do this I just go like

The Art Of Kindness (16:59.545)

Mm -hmm

Paul Feig (17:05.091)

cool, that's great, and then kind of start slowly adjusting it. Try this, try that, try this. And what happens by the time they get to the performance that I want, most times I'm kind of like, I don't even know if I want that thing that I thought I wanted. I actually didn't know that they were going to do that thing that I thought, that's terrible. But now when I watch it in the sober light of day and not having a preconceived notion of what it should have been, I go like, that's actually cool. And then that's who they were. That's their personality coming out.

I consider that to be kind of a safe environment because they can walk away feeling like they were heard, did their thing, and they also did what I thought I needed or what I did need. And so everybody kind of feels like they contributed. And I win because I've got all this wealth of options. You know, I've got some that are too big, some that too small, some that are just right. Like Goldilocks. Exactly.

The Art Of Kindness (17:59.766)

Like, goldie locks yep. Got the porridge.

Paul Feig (18:02.156)

But that's all it is. mean, that's so, so I never want anybody to feel like, you know, God, you know, I mean, a lot what happens is sometimes people go like, okay, you just say everything I do is good. It's like, well, yeah, but I'm, but I'm, saying, now try this, try that, because I'm not going to say something's bad because it might be good. I don't know. I've had so many times I got the editing room. The thing I thought was the worst thing that we shot, my editor will put it in and I'm watching, go like, you know what? That's really good. So you just don't know.

The Art Of Kindness (18:27.402)

Yeah, it's interesting. don't need to end with self tapes too. It's like you're not, you're just not a good judge of yourself. And people will pick the one like we don't know. We don't know a lot of things.

Paul Feig (18:33.237)

YONO

know. self tape. I'm so glad I wasn't an actor for the self taping thing. Although I don't know, although walking. is it really? good. Congrats. Although sometimes a bad audit. Thank you. A bad audition in the room is even the worst.

The Art Of Kindness (18:39.796)

You missed them. This is actually a self tape by the way. Yes. Yup. Yes. Congratulations for you.

The Art Of Kindness (18:52.641)

Yeah, yeah, but I love that you have this wealth because then you have an amazing blooper reel Which I appreciate that you include on jackpot. I have the best time watching blooper reels I'm almost like is that is that a horror movie like people stuck in a blooper reel? I don't know, but I have the best time watching it. I think We're glad you include that but you know just getting back to this positive environment you create on set What about in those inevitable moments when you think you know things are going wrong or they're getting a little tense? How do you kind of lead and navigate

Paul Feig (18:59.96)

Thank you. I know.

Ha ha ha ha.

Thank

The Art Of Kindness (19:20.584)

You could say kindness or positive attitude, whatever you will, but how do you kind of keep it on

Paul Feig (19:25.241)

Well, I I just don't blow up, you know, I just kind of I course correct, really. Like I've had a couple times where you're just like, God, you know, like somebody just wants to cause trouble or just wants to be an asshole. And you're like, you know, but then I'm just kind of like, okay, but something to me sometimes is like the revenge is like, okay, great. No, let's move on. And you're gonna be stuck with the performance that you just did, you know, but

That's self -inflicted wound for me because they don't nail the actor, they nail the director. Well, everybody goes down basically when somebody doesn't do something well. But no, I just try to be upbeat and kind of like, hey, come on, this is cool, this is great. I try to lead with compliments, which sounds Machiavellian and it's not. I'm truly excited that people are doing stuff and if something's not right, I'll be honest and go like, yeah, there's something we're missing here. I like everything we've been getting, but I think I need

The Art Of Kindness (19:53.811)

You too.

Paul Feig (20:17.094)

we need this or I'm not quite buying this yet. If it's all positive reinforcement to move towards something, there are a couple of a few actors who just tell me what to do, who kind of lose patience for that. I mean, had one actor, I won't name who they were, but it was very method. And for me, being comedy guy, I'm always coming, my God, that was so hilarious when you did this.

And this person was like, results, don't, you know, like to them that was just like, you know, I thought it was really funny. I would go like, you know, it's really funny when you smile at the end, could you do that again? And they're like, didn't want to hear that. But then I realized, this, their process, I had to go like, you know, I think at the end, it's really great if you, like feel really good about what just happened, which is basically saying just smile at the end, you know, but then they, can come to the conclusion in their own way. So it's cool. I love everybody's process, you know, it's just

The Art Of Kindness (20:44.228)

Hahaha

The Art Of Kindness (21:02.744)

Yeah,

Paul Feig (21:10.465)

learning their process and not putting them off while you're trying to figure it out.

The Art Of Kindness (21:13.666)

know it's the learning curve. It's almost like we could include that on the employee forums. It's like, what's your process? Tell me now so I know that you don't hate me.

Paul Feig (21:20.155)

Yeah, well I did that actually in another TV show I was working on. I'm not naming names, but there was one actor who everybody was like, this person is the toughest, boy get ready, they're a nightmare, blah, blah, blah. And so I said, take me down to the set. It was the week before, I was just prepping and I was gonna direct the next episode. I said, take me down to the set and introduce me to this person. And so they did and I was like, I just gotta say, I'm such a big fan of yours.

It's my first time on the show and just let me know if there's a way that you like to work or not work. know, because I really just really want to make sure that I am in service to you. And this person thought it was the greatest thing ever. And they were wonderful to me the whole time. you know, because so much is about insecurity because people don't realize, you know, it's so easy. People go, actors, it's easy. It's not. It's very hard, as you know, because they are on the line.

The Art Of Kindness (22:09.546)

Mm -hmm.

Paul Feig (22:15.254)

And the only person that's really telling them what's good and bad is the director. So if then you're going to go like, try this, and they try something that they weren't expecting, and you put it in, and it doesn't work or makes them look bad, they're screwed. They look bad. And for me, I always have to be like, look, we're going to try a lot of stuff. I swear to you.

If it doesn't work, will not put it in the movie. It will not be in there. But you've got to trust me, because I want you to do something that you would not normally do, or bigger than you would normally do, or weirder, sillier, name a million things. And that trust, once they trust you and they do it, then that's great. But if then they see the movie and they see the stuff that's in it, it's not good, and the audience doesn't like it. Because sometimes people do something, but I go

The Art Of Kindness (22:53.726)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (23:07.411)

the audience goes crazy for this. And you don't look bad doing it. I'm telling you, people love that you did this. So it's a long way of saying it's just really, there has to be that trust because we're, in my position, I could make you look

The Art Of Kindness (23:23.962)

Yeah, which comes in handy, I guess. No, but it's that playfulness, you know? I remember, I actually, you're just reminding me, I went to a test screening for Brides and Maids. I think it was a test screening or a pre -screening in college in New York. And I remember we like filled out this little form after and everyone like turned into a film student and was like, but yeah, it is, no, was interesting to like, there's something interesting about kind of knowing it's a pre -screening too and a test because then you're almost like looking for things. It's the same way when

Paul Feig (23:26.077)

Yeah, why not?

Paul Feig (23:32.733)

Huh. Nice.

Paul Feig (23:39.936)

the worst.

Paul Feig (23:50.335)

Mm Was it in Paramus, I have to ask?

The Art Of Kindness (23:54.085)

It was in New York. Paramus New York or New Jersey? No, I think it was in New York. Although, was it in Paramus? it might have been New Jersey. I'm from New Jersey, so I can't remember if I was home

Paul Feig (23:56.596)

New Jersey. because we had a really weird test screening of Paramus, the very first. I think that's the only time we ever tested there.

Paul Feig (24:08.318)

bed. was that that was the first test screening we did and we did. Thank you. Well, you know what happened was I'll just tell you behind the scenes there. We we tested it that same night in Los Angeles and in New York. And so Judd and Kristen went to Paramus for the test there and then myself and my editor were in L .A. for our test. So we're watching and it's killing. We're like it's it's really doing well. Big laughs, applause and stuff. So I'm like right.

The Art Of Kindness (24:10.361)

I gave a great reviews. I loved it. Okay.

Paul Feig (24:36.455)

Judd like, man, we're in great shape. And he writes back, we're in bad shape. And it's like, apparently the exact same thing in Paramus just died. Yeah, it didn't work. So it's fascinating how different audiences can be in different parts of the country.

The Art Of Kindness (24:40.59)

Hahaha

The Art Of Kindness (24:45.059)

What?

The Art Of Kindness (24:49.218)

That's interesting. Yeah, I can't. I mean, I remember loving it and I think I remember feeling like I was in on a cool secret by the time it came out because I'd already seen it and I was like telling everyone as if I was involved. I'm like, you gotta go see Bridesmaids. So I always loved it. But you know, speaking of Kristen and I guess just these wonderful people you work with, are there any stories about acts of kindness on set that you remember? Like people you admire that have done something that just kind of really stuck with you?

Paul Feig (25:02.399)

Thanks.

Paul Feig (25:18.483)

Well, what I always love on sets is how kind the actors are to each other generally. Whenever there's a stunt that has to be done, the actors get so nervous for the other actor involved. And it's sometimes...

Truth be told, sometimes it's slightly insulting because they'll come up, you know, blah, blah, blah, they're nervous about this and you gotta make sure that this doesn't, it's like, guys, we've been testing this for a week. know, like we put people in this, we put some people, we know that it's safe, you know, but still, but it's something very sweet that they so care because, you know, they're so in the foxhole together, if you will, that it just, they become a team. You know, that's why it's such an outlier when you get somebody who is just.

doesn't want to be with everybody else or has a competition with them. But I find that happens 0 .01 % of the time just because you can't play tennis by yourself. So everybody's very reliant on the people around them, especially in comedy, especially in comedy. Because comedy people know they need the other person, and they want to make the other person be funny too. I've worked with the.

The Art Of Kindness (26:26.27)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (26:32.947)

couple of times with people who wanted to be the funniest one and didn't want anything else but to be funny and I watched their careers take a nosedive.

The Art Of Kindness (26:39.08)

kills the vibe. You can't play tennis by yourself, I think is a pull quote. I'm gonna like tattoo that on my face. Tattoo it right here. I wanted to put book on my head. Is that funny? Like Facebook? That's kind of an old joke. That was my Halloween costume one year. look at that. Just throw a my in the air.

Paul Feig (26:45.97)

There you go. Stitch it on a pillow. You could end up like MySpace though. Well now you'd have to meet Meta because they're not Facebook anymore.

The Art Of Kindness (27:03.812)

It'll be something else by the time I get meta tattooed onto my body and then I'll have to put an X on it and then I'll be representing X which I don't want to do. Well, you know, the last time I saw you was at the Women Entertainment Summit that I helped produce and we were so happy to have you there and you killed it and everybody loved your panel. Yeah, those things are always a good time, always funny. They're not funny but like there's just something funny about the fanfare of it and then it's always very inspiring.

Paul Feig (27:05.95)

Please don't do that. God, please don't do that.

Paul Feig (27:19.303)

It was fun.

Paul Feig (27:24.291)

Mm. Well, they're everything.

Yeah.

The Art Of Kindness (27:31.333)

Can you speak a bit, I was trying to figure out a question you haven't been asked in this vein, but I guess I'll just have you speak about it. Just your experience championing female -driven stories. Because I know you sort of, you just didn't like what you were seeing out there. And you were like, well these are people and I wanna put them in people lens.

Paul Feig (27:45.085)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (27:49.308)

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it started with just seeing crappy representation of women on screen, especially in comedy, you know, and seeing people that I knew who were really talented actors, you know, and suddenly they'd be playing a shitty girlfriend or a mean wife. And it's like, you know, but I also just I'm just more interested in women's stories just because I find, you know, we've all grown up with men's stories, especially, you know, my age. And there's just something we're just used to it.

But I get tired of the politics of what these characters do, that it's always they're being held back by the one. Every hero, like the wife, you go away from the house and you're neglecting the family. Well, he's out saving the world. It's like, OK, well, clearly she's supposed to be a villain because he's doing good things. And I find the dynamics of women's stories to be much,

more fun and relatable and emotional and funny. You know, guess just growing up all my best friends were girls. And so we just, had, I grew up around female humor if such a thing exists. And it's just, you know, all the guys, a lot of the guys I knew was, it was also aggressive and name calling and punching and you know,

The Art Of Kindness (29:11.936)

Mm -hmm.

Paul Feig (29:14.401)

You know, name -calling. It's why, you know, political, but that's why I don't like this whole current state that we're in with politics and what Trump brought to it all, because it's all bullies. It's just, you know, we're in a culture of bullies right now. I think the majority of people don't like it, but they also, a of people can find it entertaining because of it's going against somebody you don't like or going against the other side. But I just find it sad, you know.

The Art Of Kindness (29:33.502)

Mm

Paul Feig (29:43.444)

My mom would, you she always loved, there was a show like, you're too young for the, no, the Phil Donahue show, you remember? There was all these shows that were on TV, like in the daytime, were like, the Phil Donahue show where he would kind of go around with a microphone and they'd have a guest and they would talk to the audience, know, kind of the way they'd, Oprah, you know, that kind of thing. And then like the Jerry Springer show came into being and my mom would get so upset about it.

The Art Of Kindness (29:52.615)

Yeah, I know.

The Art Of Kindness (30:02.515)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (30:11.304)

She goes, she goes, it's just dragging the whole tone of the country down. And I was like, you know what? I get that. It's like, it became so much fun to watch people screaming at each other and yelling and accusing and beating each other up. And it just like, it just added to the feeling that like, ugh, we're watching, we're enjoying the worst side of humanity. And I just think we're in, I think we're coming out of it. And I think we kind of came out of it, but now we're kind of back.

It ebbs and flows, I don't know. It's just this bully society that pops

The Art Of Kindness (30:42.669)

Yeah, I know. It's pretty terrible. I mean, I can relate to a lot of what you're saying, because growing up, especially with guys being around them and having sort of like that yes Andy attitude, not Andy, like no one was named Andy that I knew of, but yes and improv attitude that was dumb. you know, you almost feel like you want to fit in and then you find yourself as you're growing up, like just not wanting to have that humor. And then I always was more so friends with women too. And I think it's

Paul Feig (30:55.875)

Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Paul Feig (31:06.699)

Yeah.

The Art Of Kindness (31:10.289)

I don't know if it's like innately women just have a lock on empathy a bit more stereotypically in society and so I Yeah, well

Paul Feig (31:17.946)

Well, they're just a support. I mean, it sounds so, know, painting with such a wide brush, but, you know, I mean, in general, female friends are so supportive of each other in different ways than guys are. Guys are kind of like, you know, again, I'm painting with a wide brush. Yeah, exactly. But his lines are like, come on, yeah, you know, it's a little more kind of, you know, come on, bro, that kind

The Art Of Kindness (31:36.885)

No, I'm you're being yeah, we're painting whether we

Paul Feig (31:43.957)

I don't know, slightly more aggressive friendship, if you will. But like, you know, when I see my wife, you know, holding hands with her friends or putting her arm around somebody, you know, there's something so kind of sweetly supportive of it that takes a lot of this, I can't look weak or I can't look like this. I think maybe that's it. Maybe it's just like male friendships are afraid to look vulnerable, you know.

The Art Of Kindness (32:07.35)

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe there's something there. There's something that I want. Like, you don't see that in a lot of media that I wish we could see. Because I know there's a lot of us out there that feel this way. And I think it's changing.

Paul Feig (32:16.14)

Yeah, we're, as awkward guys are everywhere. We're nice, we're nice guys.

The Art Of Kindness (32:21.782)

Yeah, that's me. That's Yeah, I wanted to there was already a pilot called awkward. Otherwise I would have written it but something something that's always awkward at the start of a lot of your movies are these these unlikely pairings this this tension that you've seemed to master and I know that's sort of at the center of a lot of comedy but it's it's pretty much a theme, you know from spy to the heat to simple favor now jackpot Obviously having those two opposites again is perfect. It's like the great ingredient for comedy

It's also something, this might be too like woo woo and weird, but like it's something that I wish we could do in real life. It's kind of what we were just getting to. As a mastermind of this, like through your characters, what is it you think that really brings people together in the end? Like what is it every time almost that like is bringing them together? Is just seeing each other?

Paul Feig (32:56.33)

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Paul Feig (33:09.804)

Well, I think it's opposite attract. I think you always kind of like when you're dating, you're like, I wish I had a person who just, you know, so nice and blah, blah. And you get with the person that you kind of thought you wanted and you're like, I'm so bored. like you need to be two pieces of a puzzle that fit together. And I think that's the same way with friendships. That said, you know, it's like being in comedy.

as a director, especially when I was starting out, I would get sent these scripts all the time, because having done Freaks and Geeks, people were like, you can do teen things or these early 20s things. And was always the nerdy, the lead character was a nerd, but then his friend was a womanizer and is all like, come on, man, you got to get laid, all this stuff. And I was like, I

The Art Of Kindness (33:45.834)

Mm -hmm.

Paul Feig (34:02.88)

None of my friends talk like that. We just jettison that person so fast. but at the same time, it's almost like friendships are need to be kind of simpatico and then relationships need to have a little more opposite thing in it. But again, you know, it's not a cut and dry thing. But I don't know. It's an interesting question you bring up.

The Art Of Kindness (34:26.116)

Like, it's just something I wish for society, you know, if we could all embrace the... I think a lot of people are opposites, as you're saying, but it may be like, maybe politically, I'm like, maybe we could figure something out. Maybe not.

Paul Feig (34:31.587)

Yeah. Well for com... sorry. Yeah, definitely. Right. Well for comedy is definitely you definitely want two people who are you know, oil and water. Because that that's where you get the conflict and then they slowly come together. So that's comedy gold, like you said. But in real life, I don't know if you want that much stress on a relationship. Yeah.

The Art Of Kindness (34:47.962)

Mmm. Yeah.

I know I know it's like bridging. How can we bridge this gap? Well, you do this so well in jackpot. I'm finally here I'm gonna ask you a couple questions about this movie that I watched last night, which I had the best time doing with my popcorn How was it? guess first of all working on this film with Awkwafina and John Cena I guess that kind of rhymes and some other fun peeps I know this was like the movie you said you always wanted to

Paul Feig (35:02.255)

Sure. All good.

Paul Feig (35:16.185)

Yeah, I mean, first of all, talk about kindness. mean, they are two of the nicest people. You know, this isn't like Hollywood bullshit. They are really wonderful because they're so in it to win it. And they're both very kind people, very polite people. And because of that, it just made the whole experience so much fun. You know, and it did it all trickles down.

You know, mean, if you know, I'm a nice guy and if my stars are nice, then nobody else can misbehave. Not that they do, but it's harder to misbehave, you know. So so that's really great. And then I just had so much fun getting back in the action comedy genre, because that's my kind of my favorite thing to do and haven't really done it since, you know, Ghostbusters was the last time I did anything like that. Yeah, because School for Good and Evil was was not really a comedy.

But so I was just like kind of a pig in a pig in shit, if you will. I don't know you're allowed to swear on this, but I did. I know there you go. Bleat me out exactly. But no, no, so it was tons of fun. And I shot it. We shot it in Atlanta, which I'd never shot in before. And I actually ended up loving shooting there. It was really fun. Yeah.

The Art Of Kindness (36:18.53)

Well, you just did. No, you are. It doesn't matter. It's totally fine.

The Art Of Kindness (36:35.178)

Yeah, it's so much fun. There are so many fun moments in this film. A lot of fun action sequences. Talk about polite, even like when he's throwing the woman out of the car and he puts the helmet on and he's like, I'm not gonna throw someone out of the house. So many good things. Yeah, I'm not a monster. There's so many good bits in this. You know, another thing I guess you have unlocked, now I'm finding ways to just keep complimenting you throughout this whole interview, but another thing, okay, you did say you wanted them, so.

Paul Feig (36:38.619)

Thanks. Yeah.

Paul Feig (36:43.847)

I'm not a monster.

Paul Feig (36:57.805)

you know what? I'll take it. I get my ass kicked every day, so I'll take this. Yes!

The Art Of Kindness (37:03.802)

Another thing I feel like you balance well, like I mentioned before, is that comedy and heart. And that's certainly prevalent in this film. you've talked about that with Bridesmaids specifically, how you had a whole other version of Bridesmaids that was just crazy. And then you had to make sure the heart was there. How do you navigate that as a storyteller? Is it just like an intuition or is there a formula?

Paul Feig (37:17.352)

Mm -mm. Mm.

Paul Feig (37:23.909)

well, no, I mean, they're not really a formula. It's, it's, kind of, if you're really in touch with, and you have the right sense of humor, and with an audience and stuff, you know when you're pushing too far, you know when you kind of, when something feels inauthentic. I think, that's the biggest thing. And audiences are really sensitive to that now, in the way that they weren't like in the 90s. Like, you know, if you look at 90s comedies, which are hilarious, but they're pretty broad.

The Art Of Kindness (37:49.259)

yeah.

Paul Feig (37:53.155)

You know, mean, we've Austin Powers and know, Ace Ventura and all that stuff. Hilarious movies, but it's harder to pull that off these days because people now kind of go like that feels fake. You know, like even Jackpot, you know, because we do a lot of test screenings too. I test movies and then we go back and recut them and test them because you find out people how far you can push people. Jackpot we had.

The Art Of Kindness (37:53.84)

Yeah. loved Austin Powers.

The Art Of Kindness (38:05.97)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (38:17.784)

Partly why there's so many outtakes that we put in the end credits. We had so many jokes, but for some reason they weren't working in the body of the movie because I think they were feeling like jokes to the audience. know, where they were so caught up in the real emotion of like, the whole town is trying to kill you and you got to get away. Yeah, it's hard to stop and make a quip or something.

The Art Of Kindness (38:36.405)

Yeah, stakes are high.

Paul Feig (38:41.703)

They got to be sneakily in there and they have to be kind of in the heat of the moment and feel like a natural response that a funny person would say to a real situation. And then as far as heart goes, it's just going to be mixed in correctly. You have to have a story

that accommodates it. And I've seen over the years so many comedies, they're outrageous, and then suddenly you're in this maudlin scene, you're like, my God, what happened? So you've got to mix it in, and then when you have the sweetness, then you undercut it with a joke. So it's kind of keeping, you don't do highs and lows, it's almost like a symphony, you kind of have

conduct it and make sure that it's going along at a level that goes up and down but doesn't go too high, doesn't go too low where the audience goes like, ugh, what just happened? I don't buy this.

The Art Of Kindness (39:31.658)

Yeah, well standing ovation. I just listened to John Williams, the famous composer. He was on Smartless, which is obviously an amazing podcast. And he said something similar. I mean, that's how he sort of thinks of music. That it's in conversation almost, this whole storytelling thing. And my question, I mean, I shouldn't have even asked that question because I think it's just part of your gift. It's like having that in your body. But, you know, there are so many moments that, I mean, I could throw out buzzwords right now, like LaCroix. There's an Arting Stalls gin. Hey, plug in that in there, you know.

Paul Feig (39:34.341)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (39:45.662)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (39:57.392)

Yeah. There you go. Thank you so much. My own gin. I can I just say I think that's possibly the funniest joke I've ever had in a movie because.

The Art Of Kindness (40:02.037)

I caught them all. Lots of liquid jokes. There's a LaCroix fight and I won't spoil it, but it's good.

Paul Feig (40:15.249)

how committed Simu Liu is to delivering that joke is a master class in how to deliver the stupidest joke in the world and make it sound like something that somebody really cares about. I'll say nothing else, people have seen the movie, but I just think it's the funniest goddamn thing.

The Art Of Kindness (40:23.081)

Hahaha.

The Art Of Kindness (40:30.281)

We can't. Yeah, I was laughing out loud. Because you know, sometimes you just kind of laugh in your head with comedies, it's mostly for yours. I laugh out loud and that was one of the moments that really got me. think because people love seltzer. It's a trendy thing.

Paul Feig (40:40.401)

Yeah

I'm very, I will defend it to the end of the day. I think it's great. I do. I like my bubblies.

The Art Of Kindness (40:46.045)

Yeah, please do. If you didn't... I do love bubbly, although yeah, pomegranate I think is my favorite flavor, bubbly blueberry. Anyway, yeah, you're welcome for that information. Is it? I haven't tried that one. Okay, okay. Well, I won't continue to spoil this movie. Everybody go see it. I know it kind of ticked the Jackie Chan box for you as well. And you said it's a movie you just really wanted to make. Is there another sort of, I'm sure there's a lot, but is there another like dream movie on the horizon?

Paul Feig (40:54.147)

nice. Lemon cello is a good one too. Yeah. it's really good. It's very lemony.

Paul Feig (41:08.059)

Yeah, yeah.

The Art Of Kindness (41:15.241)

sort of style that you're dying to get

Paul Feig (41:17.288)

well i'm trying to you know my my goals to do every genre out there you know my favorite director was howard hawks who went from gangster movies to screwball comedies to westerns you know indian did the masterfully all so i'm kinda like that seems like fun to me i probably comes from partly from

the years I did as a TV director where you'd be just completely different shows and you're always like, it's thrilling to go into something. When I first did Nurse Jackie, I was like, I don't know how to do a medical show. I never watched a medical And suddenly you're in there and you're like, okay, there's all these consultants and you figure out the cool way to do it. And so I love that. So I always like a new challenge. Dying to do a musical, love to do a musical. Would love to do a Western. I think that'd be really fun. If you could find one that really appealed, had a broad appeal. Sci -fi, big sci -fi thing would be fun.

The Art Of Kindness (41:56.16)

Yeah.

Paul Feig (42:05.483)

I just want to tell stories that are great, that are fun, that mean something to people, and that are female -driven.

The Art Of Kindness (42:15.036)

Mmm. Well, you mentioned musical hocus pocus is coming to Broadway. I feel like you should direct it But I don't know if you want to do Broadway. I'm just just putting that I feel like you nail hocus pocus I don't know why but is there a movie out there that you've already had since we're the Broadway podcast network here that you think would make a great musical

Paul Feig (42:19.232)

my god, there you go. You know, never say never.

Paul Feig (42:32.425)

I actually think that Freaks and Geeks would make a good musical. And for years I've been kind of talking to people about possibly doing it, but I just have never kind of taken it to the next level. But I've always felt like that could be a fun world to play with on stage.

The Art Of Kindness (42:36.771)

The Art Of Kindness (42:50.286)

Yeah, do you have like a composer that you would love to do? I mean, I know Theodore, but I don't...

Paul Feig (42:55.069)

Well yeah, Teddy's the greatest. I'm also good friends with Tim Minchin, so every once in while Tim and I will go like, we should do that, but he's always busy with stuff, he likes the idea of it too. So yeah, mean there's so many talented people out there, my

The Art Of Kindness (42:58.385)

The Art Of Kindness (43:07.53)

Yeah, yeah, there are. your films have that musicality too, so feel like you would really, your talents would lend themselves nicely to a musical. I mean, Bridesmaids, feel like would make a really fun musical, I don't know.

Paul Feig (43:13.684)

Yeah. thanks.

Yeah, actually, somebody in London, this big company in London wanted to do Bridesmaids of the Opera. And I was like, that's cool, who's gonna write that? go, you. I like, that's way beyond my skill set.

The Art Of Kindness (43:22.624)

You'd have to do it right, but.

The Art Of Kindness (43:34.572)

Well, that's like the Hamilton pitch, right? You know, like our founding fathers rapping. It's so crazy that it might actually be golden. You never know. Yeah. Yeah. Hey baby girl. Don't throw away that chat. Yeah. I mean, A Simple Favor 2 is very musical and I know we're getting A Simple Favor 2. A Simple Favor 2, A Simple Favor 2. This is not a drill. How has that process been so far? Can you kind of share anything? I loved that movie so much, so I'm excited.

Paul Feig (43:38.772)

Yeah. totally, totally. Let's get Lin -Manuel to do it, I don't know how to do it exactly.

Certainly are

Paul Feig (44:00.67)

Thanks. We shot it. We're very excited about it. Actually, tomorrow night, as of the taping of this podcast, we're doing our first test screening of

The Art Of Kindness (44:10.508)

I'll see you in Paramus.

Paul Feig (44:11.816)

There you go exactly not in Paramus, Long Beach. But I'm really, I'm really excited about it. It's actually, cause it was, this was a tough one.

The Art Of Kindness (44:15.372)

that's so exciting.

Paul Feig (44:22.625)

to put together because I've never done a sequel before. Sequels to me are just terrifying because if you get away with something once and it works, I always say like step away man. Some magic happened that just kind of was there. So you know in the movie does have so many fans. It's just like all I can do is just disappoint people you know with a sequel. The feeling, you know you're set up for that.

The Art Of Kindness (44:32.512)

Heh. Heh heh.

The Art Of Kindness (44:41.354)

doubt.

Paul Feig (44:46.507)

count on my hand the number of sequels I've seen that I've gone like I'm glad they made those. know, so many times just like, god, they didn't need to do that. So we, you know, throughout, we had a script that we worked on for, for over a year. And when the writer strike happened, we decided to throw it out just because it was good. It was really fun. It just, I was taking stock of people were so excited about the movie coming up. Fans were, and I was realizing what they were writing.

You can never try to meet people's expectations. You can never try to hit their expectations. You can try to get in the ballpark of them and then give them something more. And I was just kind of like, I don't think this is the world they want to be in with these characters. And so I'm really glad we did that because it's really fun and it's everything. If I

gonna watch a sequel to this movie and I hadn't made it, the original one, I would be happy if this was it. So we'll see if anybody else thinks that or am I the only one?

The Art Of Kindness (45:47.051)

cheers to that. Yeah, you'll see me outside your window with a sign that's like you lied. No, I think. But you have the I mean, those two are returning their chemistry is, you know, off the charts and you're such a character driven person that I don't see how it couldn't be great because.

Paul Feig (45:54.59)

Yeah, exactly. This was terrible.

They're so

Paul Feig (46:04.83)

It's pretty, they are so good at it. Their chemistry is just through

The Art Of Kindness (46:07.267)

Yeah, you're recreating the recipe, so I can't wait to see that. I also can't wait to see if you say yes to playing a surprise game! Okay, it's not much of a game. You're gonna be like, what is up with this muppet? It's called the compliment game, and basically I reached out to someone in your life for like a loving statement about you. I'm gonna read it to you, and then you have to guess who said

Paul Feig (46:15.976)

Yes, I love games. I love

Paul Feig (46:22.124)

nice.

Paul Feig (46:28.52)

my goodness. Wow, okay, this is exciting.

The Art Of Kindness (46:33.97)

You can ask me yes or no questions. There's not really any rules, but you get like three guesses. It doesn't matter. There's no rules. Okay, so I'll read it to you and I will say it's on theme with our chat. Okay. Okay, let me try to read. You've never seen Paul in anything less than a three -piece suit. Rumor is that he sleeps in a double -breasted Armani. His fashion sense is as impeccable as his comedic timing on

Paul Feig (46:38.857)

Okay.

Paul Feig (46:46.167)

Yeah, you got it. That's exciting.

The Art Of Kindness (47:02.067)

I loved geeking out with him about Jackie Chan movies.

Paul Feig (47:07.039)

hmm. Hmm. Hmm. It would have to be, is it a person in the acting profession?

The Art Of Kindness (47:08.373)

So there's a little hint in

The Art Of Kindness (47:16.638)

It is.

Paul Feig (47:19.373)

Now three -piece suits because actually the last couple movies I made it was hot so I didn't wear three -piece suits as much. So it had to be from maybe a while back. But we talked about Jackie Chan so it's not my stunt coordinator is it? James Young? No, okay. There you go, exactly.

The Art Of Kindness (47:19.413)

Ha

The Art Of Kindness (47:28.071)

okay, okay.

The Art Of Kindness (47:41.437)

It's not, but I would love to reach out to James and get another one.

Paul Feig (47:49.079)

Couldn't be John Cena, could it?

The Art Of Kindness (47:51.393)

No, but you're getting you're getting closer Not you're getting close. They actually they might have said I should check my email right now because they actually might have sent one because they were gonna send one But I don't know but it's not but you're but you're but it's you're getting you're getting close Yeah

Paul Feig (47:53.451)

Aquavina.

Paul Feig (47:59.949)

okay. gosh. I'm warmer. Did I just go through my whole cast list now? Is it Simu Liu? Is it Simu Liu?

The Art Of Kindness (48:10.136)

Well, you could keep going through

Yes it is!

Paul Feig (48:15.263)

It is, my gosh, hey, well thanks. Thank you, Simu. What a sweetheart.

The Art Of Kindness (48:20.145)

Yeah, how is it working with Simu? What wait, wait, I can actually, can I do this? Let me see, this is a new feature.

Paul Feig (48:22.399)

he's great.

Paul Feig (48:27.359)

wow. Look at that. Wow, I feel like I'm on Rick Dees all this. That's an that's an old reference. There we go. Thank you. I like that. no, he's he's great. He's really he you know, he he came in for like two weeks to do this role and he was really lovely. We had so much fun together and he's such a hard worker and

The Art Of Kindness (48:27.996)

Thank you so much. Yeah, no one... You are, you absolutely are. Well, I understood it. Nobody should give me buttons. Yeah, nobody should give me buttons. Sorry, but you were talking about Simu.

Paul Feig (48:56.451)

Like I said, he delivered possibly the funniest joke I've ever put on film. So kudos to Simu.

The Art Of Kindness (49:03.1)

It's so good. I was actually I was drinking on La Croix when I watched that True story for your life again told you too much random information about me It all comes around and I've loved talking with you. It was it such an honor I would love if you could kind of end our time together Well, I I wouldn't love if you could end our time together, but I would love if you could end it by Sharing a tangible kindness tip something you would like listeners out there to do on their own corner To try and make the world a little

Paul Feig (49:07.761)

there you go. Nice. It all comes around.

back at you.

Paul Feig (49:21.75)

Hahaha.

Paul Feig (49:32.135)

I think that every day, everybody you meet, try to find something nice, something, what? That you like about them and let them know that. You know, whether it's something nice they're wearing or their attitude that they say or they say something funny or they've got a, you like their voice or, know, I just think, you know, I'm always, I was almost saying this to myself because,

you know, I walked on the street and you know, I like to dress up and all that stuff. You know, people will compliment me and I really, I really feel good. But I'm always afraid of like putting somebody off if I compliment them and just realizing that like people really kind of need compliments, you know, as long you're not being a creep about it, you know, like you look really nice, you know, or like, to me, I found like, because it's a minefield, go, well, you

The Art Of Kindness (50:18.203)

Yeah, like the intention's there.

Paul Feig (50:26.448)

Prettier so you like that's but like I really like your style, you know, and I found You know when people dress really interesting men or women it's it's kind of like you have really a great style You know, I think that's a compliment because it's not about a physical But not about a physical appearance, you know But no, just just say something

The Art Of Kindness (50:38.113)

Hmm. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. Yeah. that's really smart. Because it's hard not to make sort of like appearance based ones. But style is different. You're right.

Paul Feig (50:50.616)

Yeah. Yeah, because I'm not a fan of fashion, but I'm a huge fan of style, you know, because the fashion fashion is sort of what you're being told you should wear and style is who you

The Art Of Kindness (51:02.539)

Yeah, ooh, that's another poll quote. And I think you love wearing suits mostly because of old Hollywood, right? How they used to dress on set back in the day. Yeah, and you've said that a bunch, but I also love, I think you said last time we talked that it's sort of for the other person, it's for yourself, but the other person too. It's like a sign of respect.

Paul Feig (51:04.932)

Look at that, huh?

Paul Feig (51:10.436)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally.

Paul Feig (51:20.366)

Yeah, very much so, especially with people you're working with. you show up in sweatpants, it's like, well, what's your message to the people you're working with? Like, I need to be comfortable. can't pull it together. Even though you're dedicating your time to helping me do something, I need to be done. So yeah, be the captain of the ship. Dress like the captain.

The Art Of Kindness (51:31.222)

Do you see?

The Art Of Kindness (51:36.347)

Mmm. Yeah, I think arti - maybe - that's good. Maybe we can make some suit onesie like really classy suit onesies that you just kind of like zip up. I also love wearing a suit, but it sometimes - do you ever feel like it's a lot to put on? Or do you have it on down on lock?

Paul Feig (51:45.778)

There you

Paul Feig (51:52.78)

I mean, I'm so used to it now, but there's definitely times, there are definitely days when I'm like, why did I have to be the guy that wears suits? Can I just pull on a pair of jeans and sweats? Although I've actually started wearing more jeans with sports jackets and ties. So trying to branch out. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

The Art Of Kindness (52:09.223)

See, that's nice. There we go. Are you, this is so random, but are you like a one and done tie guy or does it take you multiple times to tie a tie? You can nail it in a, it's hard for me to get the right ratio, I think cause I'm a short person, but I don't

Paul Feig (52:18.07)

No, I can nail it pretty fast.

Paul Feig (52:23.821)

No, you know what it is if you do it every day for most of your life, it becomes, although there's still days when you're like, God damn it, mean, you're like, it's always when I'm in a hurry, it's like, shoot. I always say like, it's too Trumpy. Like he does that long tie thing. So I'm always like, if I tie it too long, it's like, okay, I can't, this is too Trumpy.

The Art Of Kindness (52:38.098)

yeah. Yep. Yeah. I was a intern at NBC and I was a PA for Celebrity Apprentice for the day and I'll never forget, speaking of ties, just the amount of makeup on the tie when I went to their shoot. It was interesting. Yeah. But if you haven't tuned out yet because I started talking about ties, thank you all for tuning

Paul Feig (52:49.782)

God

Yeah. my God. Yeah.

Thank

The Art Of Kindness (53:01.842)

And thank you Paul. I really just I admire you so much and I hope you never stop making movies man It's you've given so much to the world. So, thank

Paul Feig (53:09.316)

Thank you. I'll only stop if they won't let me do it anymore. There you go.

The Art Of Kindness (53:12.402)

Well, even then don't stop. I still want to see this movie you made on your own that you haven't released to the world. I hope that gets released. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, I'll send you a great editing software on there. No, this was awesome. But if you could just hang on one second, I'll just ask you two more things and then I will let you go on with your merry day. The first is could you just say this is the art of, this is, yeah, just say your name and then you're listening to the art of kindness. So however you want to introduce

Paul Feig (53:17.742)

Thank you. I've got an iPhone. It shoots stuff, so I'll do that. Nice. Please do.

Paul Feig (53:28.72)

No worries.

Paul Feig (53:33.102)

that row.

Paul Feig (53:40.037)

You bet.

Hi, I'm Paul Feig and you are listening to the Art of Kindness.

The Art Of Kindness (53:47.15)

Yes, nailed it. And then I'm going to stop recording

Paul Feig (53:48.394)

There you go.