FMC 073: Gridiron Gang Directed by Phil Joanou

Full Episode Transcript
This episode of Filmmaker Commentary Phil Joanou's 2006 film *Gridiron Gang*, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, discussing its budget, box office performance, and thematic elements, alongside current film and TV news, and personal film reviews.

Opening Discussion and Budget Analysis
Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary, episode 73. Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we give you insights from our favorite filmmaker commentaries. These commentaries can be heard on your DVDs and Blu-rays of your favorite movies. We'll show you how you can use these commentaries and apply them to improve your video production and filmmaking techniques. All of this here on Filmmaker Commentary. I'm your host, Reginald Titus Jr.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I'm joined with Casey G. Smith. Welcome back, sir.

Casey G. Smith: Good to be back, sir.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Today we're talking about *Gridiron Gang*, 2006, directed by Phil Joanou. *Gridiron Gang* came out 2006, starring The Rock. And we had a what? Lifetime, we had a domestic box office of 38.4 million. We had a foreign box office of three, basically 3 million, for a worldwide 41 million. We had a budget of...

Casey G. Smith: 30 million.

Reginald Titus Jr.: 30 million. The budget was 30 million, the box office made 41 million. No, that's not a win.

Casey G. Smith: No, not a win. That's not a win.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's not, yeah. I, yeah, that's a... that's almost a, it's almost an L. It is what it is.

Casey G. Smith: With P&A, it might, it actually might be an L.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it might be. I mean, because they had this, I mean, I assume spending at least, yeah, at least 11 million in, in marketing, I would assume, but maybe not. I mean, and plus it's a football movie, so again, we know that from a worldwide box office standpoint, how well is that?

Reginald Titus Jr.: I'm thinking about the film, when I'm like 30 million, they probably lied about that budget. Because they shot a majority at one location. A lot of the, you know, outside interior stuff. So I'm like 30 million? Who took? Maybe The Rock took 20.

Casey G. Smith: You gotta, you gotta bring The Rock in. I mean.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, I don't like, like where did the, where did the money go? Like, I don't get it.

Casey G. Smith: Well, they had the, I think maybe the, between like all the, all the players, all the extras, you had that many people in the film, and you got athletes, you know, different athletes, different calibres, maybe that, that expense maybe adds up pretty quick. Because I'm thinking about Friday Night Lights. Do you remember what our budget was on Friday Night Lights?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Friday Night Lights, yeah, cause we can kinda compare it. Okay. Cause you got *Friday Night Lights*, because somebody's lying on these budgets. And you got *Any Given Sunday*. And both of those said they had lower budgets. They said *Any Given Sunday* had lower budgets than they anticipated. And *Friday Night Lights* was a little bit more polished.

Casey G. Smith: So, we talked *Friday Night Lights*, we were talking about a budget, an estimated budget of 30 million.

Reginald Titus Jr.: 30 million. And that one, they had full stadiums, full, like it was packed. Compared to the *Gridiron*, where it was like half the stadium. And wasn't too many shots of the fans in the crowd.

Casey G. Smith: Wasn't some of that digital?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, in *Gridiron Gang*?

Casey G. Smith: I mean, in *Friday Night Lights*?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, in *Friday Night Lights*.

Casey G. Smith: Potentially, I think maybe was some of it digital? Some of the crowds?

Reginald Titus Jr.: That could increase the budget. That, that could.

Casey G. Smith: But that one had, I mean, uh, 62...

Reginald Titus Jr.: 62 what?

Casey G. Smith: 62 million box office, worldwide, worldwide gross.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh-huh.

Casey G. Smith: I mean, opening, its opening was 20 million. I mean, it made, it made some money.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah, that one definitely made money. I just wanted to see where the money, the money was on the screen. You know, the 30 million on in *Friday Night Lights*, the money's on the screen. Sure. Um, this one, it's not a bad looking. It's not, it's not bad looking. It's not bad looking, but I don't know if it was 30 million. I think they lied about their 30 million.

Casey G. Smith: Really? I thought some of the, some of the cinematography on the hits. I thought were, were, were pretty good. They had some, that's some good, impactful hits. It's a, it's, it's a, definitely a smaller, smaller scale because of the nature of the, of the film, the nature of the, of the team.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Because of that, that's why I'm saying like 30 million in 2006, 30 million in *Friday Night Lights* was 2004. Yeah, so it was relatively, it's close. Somebody lying, somebody's lying about this budget.

Casey G. Smith: May, maybe bringing in The Rock, I mean, cause you gotta consider how big The Rock was making this transition, coming out of, uh,

Reginald Titus Jr.: And that's what I'm guessing, maybe, you know, maybe the star took some of the money.

Casey G. Smith: I mean, he's at least, I mean, what do you think he's?

Reginald Titus Jr.: At that time?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I mean, what do you mean, he's at least, I'm assuming he's gonna make at least, what, 5, 6, 7 mil?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Possibly. I don't know, it's hard to say at that time.

Casey G. Smith: Man.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's hard to say.

Casey G. Smith: Gotta be a way to...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, to go back in history, how much did you get for this one?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm super curious now. Like, cuz The Rock was killing it, you know, he came in with the, the *Walking Tall*. Cause that was a different kind of Rock. You know, he had the hair, still had the hair. He was doing The *Walking Tall* series. He did, he was doing, he was trying a lot of different type of films at the time.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah, he had, had his contract with Disney for a while and did multiple films through them. So, yeah, I, these are things I wonder about. I was like, okay, who's, are these budgets true? Should we hold a lot of weight for the budget? Cause we also know that people market the budget as part of their kind of marketing process to be valued as more, when actuality, movies may have been made for far less.

Casey G. Smith: That's true.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And this one, to me, I felt like that budget wasn't on the screen. It's my opinion.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Don't shoot the messenger. Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I'm thinking, again, I'd be very curious to see what, uh, what The Rock, what The Rock made from this and, um, um, but before we dive further into *Gridiron Gang*, 2006, let's talk about News and Movies Watched.

News and Streaming Wars
Reginald Titus Jr.: News. Do you remember the show, The Boondocks?

Casey G. Smith: I do.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Animated show. They are returning to TV on HBO Max in the fall of 2020. Aaron McGruder will be the executive, uh, will be the executive producer, so we know that it won't suck this time, cause the situation was in season four of The Boondocks, he wasn't on his, uh, producer and it lacked in quality and things like that. So he's back on that. And it's kind of crazy because it's been 20 years since the comic book strip and 10 years since, you know, the first episode of the animation. Yeah, that's kind of crazy how much time like just flies by that quickly.

Casey G. Smith: Wow. Seriously.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But all the past episodes will be streaming Spring 2020 on HBO Max.

Casey G. Smith: HBO Max. So what if you have HBO Go? Will you still be able to, to watch it? Like?

Reginald Titus Jr.: That I don't know. These streaming wars are crazy. I don't know.

Casey G. Smith: Is that the, is that the thing that Warner Brothers is, oh, that's Warner Brothers. I think that's the Warner Brothers kind of answer to like their, their streaming service. Like they're taking HBO, the, from the AT&T and and and Time Warner merger, I think HBO Max is what's coming out of that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, man.

Casey G. Smith: Cause Disney Plus is already getting set to drop and I'm, I am sold on Disney Plus. Apple now, I mean, all throughout the, they're doing their thing. They were, they were plugging all these. I'm like, when did Apple start working on all these shows? Like some big name talent.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oprah working with them and all that.

Casey G. Smith: I'm like, yo. But I'm like, I can wait on that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I can wait on Apple.

Casey G. Smith: Disney Plus, that's a must. Yeah, that's, that's...

Reginald Titus Jr.: I think that's a, that's right there with Hulu and Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Casey G. Smith: Shoot, yeah. Disney Plus is gonna be a beast. But now, I mean, I mean HBO Max, I'm like, dadgum. I love my HBO. Like, I love HBO. Do I love the Max? I don't know, we'll find out.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I know, right. And I think, recently I was on Twitter, BET has a streaming platform, uh, BET Plus, I think is what it's called. Yeah, and I think that's Viacom. That's what Viacom, they're.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, that's Viacom. They're, they're hat in the game. I'm like, really, Viacom? You, you know, I don't feel like you have to do something, too.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, so far, like I was on Twitter and people were like, cause I didn't know, it was like, it was trending. BET Plus was trending. And they were just like, look what they're showing. It was like some split stuff they were showing. And, uh, but they, they, according to what some of these people that actually have the app, uh, some of the shows aren't on there yet. They were waiting for some Tyler Perry shows to show up on the app. That haven't got on there yet. So they were kind of mad about that. But they feel like at the price point, it's too high for it, for, um, BET Plus. I think it's nine bucks or something like that.

Casey G. Smith: Cause Disney came in pretty...

Reginald Titus Jr.: They undercut the market.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, Disney came in low. I, I don't know what Apple's is. Seven something.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Is that Disney? Disney's 7.99, isn't it? Or maybe like six?

Casey G. Smith: Whoa. Like they're coming in pretty low. But then I think there's also gonna be a potential bundle for Disney, Hulu and ESPN, like all together, which is, that's pretty, that's a pretty powerful bundle. When you consider, I mean, everything that's on Hulu, and, you know, you can live, you can do live sports on Hulu now, too.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Too much TV.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, man. Too much. Actually, one thing that I'd, I'd, I'd kind of looked up last week. I just kind of wanted to throw this out to you, get your thoughts real quick. So, you know, you remember the whole big college, uh, scam with some of the, the, the rich people, the Lori Loughlin's, from Full House.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh my God! Felicity, yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Felicity Huffman. So, of course, of course, her sentencing happening, her sentencing happened last week. Um, she was sentenced to 14 days in prison, um, and a 20 to 30,000 fine, I believe, something along those lines. And then also, um, you know, X amount of, you know, hundreds of hours of community service and, I think, like a year of probation. Um, obviously, some people were, were outraged and felt that that wasn't enough. That she was kind of skirting by the system and they pointed other examples of other people, like a woman, uh, over on the East Coast, who had, just literally she lied to get her son into a different school district, just so he could get, you know, a better education. And she was apparently sentenced to, I don't know, a year in prison, I don't know, like a year in prison or maybe even more.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah, I heard about that.

Casey G. Smith: Um, and so there was obviously, you know, outrage and and and cries of of injustice and and and entitlement for someone who is Caucasian and and and wealthy. And I was just curious, what are your thoughts? What are your thoughts on?

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, yeah, that's a perfect example of our system. Johnny Cochran in his book, he was like, being rich gives you a fair chance at the system. And he was, he was specifically talking about the O.J. Simpson trial. You have to have a lot of money in order to even just get a, to get to becoming having a fair chance, especially when you have a person that, you know, a Black person in America. That's what the money allows you to do. And so when we kind of compare the Felicity versus, um, this Black woman who lied about the school that her kid was in, which is, I guess, mail fraud or something, you know, some kind of code that they violated, you know, it is against the law to do that. But the, the sentences, if you compare those two situations, doesn't seem right. But that's just our system. That's the way it is. If you can afford a lawyer that knows their way around this thing, they will get you off, you know, or get you a very light sentence. That's just the way the game, that's the way the game rolls. That's the way it is. With the whole Felicity thing, because they played the game where they came out and was like, you know what, didn't they plead guilty? Or they were saying, yeah, we're, you know, responsible. They started playing ball early on.

Casey G. Smith: Yes, she did. And she said she's regretful for what she did. And she had a lot of family members and friends sent letters of her character to, you know, to the judge and and stuff like that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: She had some good lawyers because her lawyers got, they were able to get ahead of all, of anybody else and was like, hey, you know, we're sorry, this is what we're gonna do. And and in, uh, compared to like the Lori Loughlin and what's her husband's name, Busenio, I can't think of the guy's name.

Casey G. Smith: The fashion, the fashion designer, right. Uh-huh.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Because compared to them, like the amount of money that they bribed or whatever they paid for was very, very, very low. Um, the whole situation with Lori Loughlin, they're, number one, they're they said not guilty. Uh, there's audio, man. There's, if you go to a podcast called, uh, Gangster Capital. Like, you, you'll hear, you'll, it's sickening to see, to hear these people like knowing that they're getting away with it, knowing that they know full well what they're doing, and they just don't want to get caught. And the, the guy who got, I can't think of the guy's name who, uh, was orchestrated everything. Yeah, I forgot his name. He's the one recording all these calls because he has to. He's, you know, he's, he's caught by the feds. So he's gotta do something to kind of lower his.

Casey G. Smith: His sentencing.

Reginald Titus Jr.: His sentencing. So he's writing them out. So he's writing out everybody. So he's gotta record all this stuff.

Casey G. Smith: Wow.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Gangster Capital. It was pretty awesome. And, um, they'll have people calling in talking about their own situation like, hey, we knew people that were getting away with paying off this person or that person. So you'll hear stories of people that aren't even going to prison or anything, but just their own personal experiences of paying off people on collegiate sports and things like that.

Casey G. Smith: What I found interesting is that once this news came out, I had, uh, looked up, kind of Googled, uh, bribe cal, you know, um, penalties for for bribery in California. And there's, there's some different kinds of bribery. There is like commercial bribery. That's the main one that popped up. And, man, it's been a week now since I looked at this, but it was the, the sentencing. Like if you, if you had a bribe towards somebody and it was considered commercial bribery, if the amount was more than like $15,000, which I think what theirs was, I think they had, I don't know, paid like...

Reginald Titus Jr.: They were just over that. Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: They made like 18 or $20,000. It was, but it was still over the amount. Like, your sentencing like, like it was like a minimum, I wanna say a minimum of three years in prison. Wow. Um, it was, it was far more than 14 days, whatever that minimum was. So that's what really kind of made me say, wait a minute, you know. And again, that was, that was under commercial bribery. So I don't know if there's, you know, another form of bribery that this fell under, but I'm just like,

Reginald Titus Jr.: And it's up to your lawyer to kind of negotiate that. That's probably where the one year probation and all that stuff is. Who knows? They got the good lawyers and they were able to get ahead of that. Now, Lori Loughlin, over half a million dollars of bribery. Um, they actually changed the identity of the daughter and did Photoshop and things like that to make it seem like they were in, there this is like a lot of fraud going on.

Casey G. Smith: Elaborate.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. They knew full well what's going on.

Casey G. Smith: I don't know, man. I don't know, still like...

Reginald Titus Jr.: So,

Casey G. Smith: Still bribery.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So what I'm thinking, with the whole Lori Loughlin situation, I think if they don't throw the book, if she doesn't get like a few years in prison or something like that, then we're gonna have problems.

Casey G. Smith: Riots?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I don't know if it's gonna be riots, but it's gonna be some problems. You know, it's, it's a bad look. The fact that Felicity has to do any time, you know, is kind of like a warning to Lori Loughlin because of how egregious their situation is. I don't think they're gonna get out of it.

Casey G. Smith: They, they better not.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I don't think they're gonna get out of this one.

Casey G. Smith: You, you, you better not.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But yeah, that's what, what I think, you know, they, they played the game. They were able to get ahead of it. Felicity and them, they were able to get ahead of that. Um, Lori and them, on the other hand, they weren't so savvy. You know, she was smiling when it first started. She was like smiling and trying to autograph and doing all this weird stuff. She didn't really know how to act in the situation. She was, she wasn't really taking it as seriously as the,

Casey G. Smith: Or she was just acting.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Nothing's wrong, just smile. It's great. But that's not what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to look guilty. You're supposed to be serious. The, you know, the public wants you to treat this serious. And they want to see that you're hurt. They want to see like, this is hurting you. Every time you see Felicity, they're not smiling, they're just like straight ahead, like, stone face, like, hey, we got to get out of here.

Casey G. Smith: It's so fascinating what people believe they can get away with. I'm the exception, you know?

Reginald Titus Jr.: But, I mean, living with the privilege for so long that they were getting away with it, you know? A lot of people have gotten away with it. Yeah, and that's probably why, hey, this is just a thing. This is just a thing. This is what we do. This is what you should do. I, I know a guy. Yeah, it was part of the system. You know?

Casey G. Smith: You're right. It is a system. Totally a system. I know a guy.

Reginald Titus Jr.: You know a guy. I know a guy.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That was, uh, what was that? Uh, uh, Oceans 11?

Casey G. Smith: Maybe.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Clooney. I know a guy. He was talking to Andy Garcia. You know a guy.

Casey G. Smith: I know some movies I'm watching recently. Yeah, but, yeah, about these ladies they're locking up, it's crazy out here. They're locking up white women.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's a different time, different times.

Casey G. Smith: Que date, que date. Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Movies and TV shows, man. What you got?

Film Reviews and Comedy Insights
Casey G. Smith: So, um, you remember the movie *Happytime Murders*? Came out last year.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, by, by, um,

Casey G. Smith: Jim Henson's son, Brian Henson. It was like the Muppets, but it was like crazy dark and like Sesame Street had to like distance themselves from it. It was all, all, no, uh, no Sesame All Street. It was like one of the taglines for it. Melissa McCarthy was there.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I never watched it. Was it good?

Casey G. Smith: So, I, I, I saw it at Movie Trading Co.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: And it was Blu-ray, on sale. I was like, you know what, why not? It was like five bucks and I saw, I bought it. It was okay. Yeah. Five, when this is, yeah, a year has gone by, it's not a good sign. It was okay. It was one of those things where all the, the funniest bits are like in the trailer, pretty much. And it almost takes itself slightly too seriously. Where the humour is there, but all the jokes don't land. And with, I'm always hit and miss with Melissa McCarthy anyway. But, uh, it, it had potential to be just amazing and it just doesn't quite hit the way you want it to. Again, like you're waiting for that, you're waiting for that punchline. Like we had a discussion earlier and I'm just like, ah, come on. But it does have commentary. I am gonna go back and watch the commentary because they do some pretty cool things. And honestly, some of the outtakes at the end, when the credits are rolling, are actually some of the, are pretty funny. Some of the funniest bits actually that, that come out of it. Uh, but yeah, *Happytime Murders*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Don't watch it.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, it's an okay time.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Anything else?

Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah. Um, and I will sing this, this next show, I'll sing its, its praises to the high heavens. Uh, on HBO, a Black Lady Sketch Show. Yeah. I, I've seen the trailers on it.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yo. It looked hilarious.

Casey G. Smith: If you have HBO, check it out. It is so good. It is so well done. It is a, it's a, to me, it's a game changer. It, it's, uh, it's only six episodes, 30 minutes a piece. Uh, there's four main women in the cast. Uh, the, the, the lead, the, the, the, the head writer and creator of the show, uh, Robin Thede. Uh, I, I haven't seen her in, in other things before. I don't recall ever seeing her before. She is a revelation, man. All four of these women, like they are, they are versatile, comedic actors. And they're playing so many different roles. Think in Living Color, okay?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: Think in Living Color and you've got just, just multiple characters that they're playing. And you have certain sketches that they actually will, you know, kind of continue, um, throughout the six episodes. Okay. Um,

Reginald Titus Jr.: I'm looking for a good, uh, sketch comedy, right? This will be, I'm, I'm telling you. Ever since like Jordan Peele and them kind of left, you know?

Casey G. Smith: Yes. This, this, and there's, there're times where where Robin Thede will, will dress up as a, as a dude. Yeah. And she's showing, flexing her range and it's impressive. And it's, and the whole show is set through the backdrop of a, a story that involves all four women, where they're together and it's a story that, that continues throughout the whole season. They constantly come back to the four of them together in this situation. I won't give any of it away, but it's, it's so well done because it, it comes back to this scenario. And then you have these other, this random sketches in between that are well thought out, well shot and, man, yeah. So, yeah, first episode was, was good and then from there it just takes off. Up until you get to like, man, episode six just had me dying. Particularly, there's, there's, there's one, uh, sketch called, uh, Get The Belt. Man, there we go. Yes. A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. I'm watching it. Check it out. What you got, Reginald?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Speaking of comedy and being in trouble. I watched, uh, Aziz Ansari. Finally got a chance to check that one out. What'd you think?

Reginald Titus Jr.: His voice, he's like a cartoon. His voice, he's like, hey guys. He's a cartoon. He is a cartoon in real life. Um, I did enjoy it. Spike Jonze who directed it. I like Spike Jonze just in general. Um, I think it was a, it's a cool way to approach the whole comedy special. Look like, the style, right? The way it was shot. It looked retro. Yeah. Very retro. They might have used an older, you know, film camera to shoot that one with. Uh, so I did enjoy that. And Spike, he's, he's always doing something interesting. What I didn't like is how he kind of brushed over his situation. Cause, um, you know, with Aziz, there was like just some article that came out about him and a lady, how, how did the whole situation pop off?

Casey G. Smith: It was something about like, there was a, a woman that, uh, he'd gone on a date with and potentially the, an opportunity came for them to, you know, they messed around and she's like saying like, that she wasn't like kind of feeling at the time. And then they kind of, but they kept kind of like hanging out and making out and whatever. And then, but then eventually they did end up like sleeping together. But then after the fact, though, like she, she felt like she was pressured. Something in the fact that she said she was pressured. And I, I'm, I am, come on. Come on. I read the article, I just kind of forgot cause it was like almost a year and a half ago. Yeah, and I'm, and I am by, by no means, uh, I am, uh, paraphrasing, you know, what I, what I've heard. So, uh, feel free to go and find the article, read it for yourself. But that's the gist of what I got, what, what I remember hearing, hearing about it. And I don't know, when I, when I listened to him talk about it, I felt like he, that he tried to talk about it from a standpoint of, you know, having to stop and and kind of being introspective about it. Like he felt like he learned from the scenario, from the situation and, I don't know, I'm not, I, I was like, I, I thought, I thought, I thought he handled it well in terms of bringing it, bringing it up and, I don't know how, you know, how deep you wanted him to go into it, but I was like, I wanted him to kind of, I'm telling you, but, but that's the gist of what I got. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I will, you know, be, the speaker of the words I am typing right now. I will try to be as faithful to the audio as possible, keeping the natural flow of conversation, including any pauses, hesitations, or laughter. I'll also ensure that the formatting for speaker names is exactly as requested, and that the text is clean and easy to read.

Remember, the main goal is a complete, structured, and accurate transcript in HTML format.Full Episode Transcript
This episode of Filmmaker Commentary Phil Joanou's 2006 film *Gridiron Gang*, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, discussing its budget, box office performance, and thematic elements, alongside current film and TV news, and personal film reviews.

Opening Discussion and Budget Analysis
Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary, episode 73. Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we give you insights from our favorite filmmaker commentaries. These commentaries can be heard on your DVDs and Blu-rays of your favorite movies. We'll show you how you can use these commentaries and apply them to improve your video production and filmmaking techniques. All of this here on Filmmaker Commentary. I'm your host, Reginald Titus Jr.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I'm joined with Casey G. Smith. Welcome back, sir.

Casey G. Smith: Good to be back, sir.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Today we're talking about *Gridiron Gang*, 2006, directed by Phil Joanou. *Gridiron Gang* came out 2006, uh, starring The Rock. And, uh, we had a what? Lifetime, we had a domestic box office of 38.4 million. We had a foreign box office of three, basically 3 million, for a worldwide 41 million. Uh, we had a budget of...

Casey G. Smith: 30 million.

Reginald Titus Jr.: 30 million. The budget was 30 million, the box office made 41 million. No, that's not a win.

Casey G. Smith: No, not a win. That's not a win.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's not, yeah. I, yeah, that's a, that's almost a, that's almost an L. It is what it is.

Casey G. Smith: With P&A, it might, it actually might be an L.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it might be.

Casey G. Smith: I mean, cause they had this, I mean, I assume spending at least, yeah, at least 11 million in, in marketing, I would assume, but maybe not. I mean, and plus it's a football movie, so again, we know that from a worldwide box office standpoint, how well is that?

Reginald Titus Jr.: I'm thinking about the film, when I'm like 30 million, they probably lied about that budget. Because because they shot a majority at one location. Uh, a lot of the, you know, outside interior stuff. So I'm like 30 million? Who took? Maybe The Rock took 20.

Casey G. Smith: You gotta, you gotta bring The Rock in. I mean.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, I don't like, like where did the, where did the money go? Like, I don't get it.

Casey G. Smith: Well, they had the, I think maybe the, between like all the, all the players, all the extras, you had that many people in the film, and you got athletes, you know, different athletes, different calibre, maybe that, that expense maybe adds up pretty quick.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Cause I'm thinking about *Friday Night Lights*. Do you remember what our budget was on *Friday Night Lights*?

Casey G. Smith: For *Friday Night Lights*?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, cause we can kinda compare it.

Casey G. Smith: Okay.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Cause you got *Friday Night Lights* because somebody's lying on these budgets. And you got *Any Given Sunday*. And both of those, uh, said they had lower budgets. They said *Any Given Sunday* had lower budgets than they anticipated. And *Friday Night Lights* was a little bit more polished.

Casey G. Smith: So, we talked *Friday Night Lights*, we were talking about a budget, an estimated budget of 30 million.

Reginald Titus Jr.: 30 million. And that one, they had full stadiums, full, like it was packed. Compared to the *Gridiron*, where it was like half the stadium. Um, and weren't too many shots of the fans in the crowd.

Casey G. Smith: Wasn't some of that digital?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, in *Gridiron Gang*?

Casey G. Smith: I mean, in *Friday Night Lights*?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, in *Friday Night Lights*.

Casey G. Smith: Potentially, I think maybe was some of it digital? Some of the crowds?

Reginald Titus Jr.: That could increase the budget. That, that could.

Casey G. Smith: But that one had, I mean, uh, 62...

Reginald Titus Jr.: 62 what?

Casey G. Smith: 62 million, box office, worldwide, worldwide gross.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh-huh.

Casey G. Smith: I mean, opening, its opening was 20 million. I mean, it made, it made some money.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah, that one definitely made money. I just wanted to see where the money, the money was on the screen. You know, the 30 million on in *Friday Night Lights*, the money's on the screen. Sure. Um, this one, it's not a bad looking. It's not, it's not bad looking. It's not bad looking, but I don't know if it was 30 million. I think they lied about their 30 million.

Casey G. Smith: Really? I thought some of the, some of the cinematography on the hits, um, I thought were, were, were pretty good. They had some, that's some good, impactful hits. It's a, it's, it's a, definitely a smaller, smaller scale because of the nature of the, of the film, the nature of the, of the team.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Because of that, that's why I'm saying like 30 million in 2006, 30 million in *Friday Night Lights* was 2004. Yeah, so it was relatively, it's close. Somebody lying, somebody's lying about this budget.

Casey G. Smith: May, maybe bringing in The Rock, I mean, cause you gotta consider how big The Rock was making this transition, coming out of, uh,

Reginald Titus Jr.: And that's what I'm guessing, maybe, you know, maybe the star took some of the money.

Casey G. Smith: I mean, he's at least, I mean, what do you think he's?

Reginald Titus Jr.: At that time?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I mean, what do you mean, he's at least, I'm assuming he's gonna make at least, what, 5, 6, 7 mil?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Possibly. I don't know, it's hard to say at that time.

Casey G. Smith: Man.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's hard to say.

Casey G. Smith: Gotta be a way to...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, to go back in history, how much did you get for this one?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm super curious now. Like, cuz The Rock was killing it, you know, he came in with the, the *Walking Tall*. Cause that was a different kind of Rock. You know, he had the hair, still had the hair. He was doing The *Walking Tall* series. He did, he was doing, he was trying a lot of different type of films at the time.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah, he had, had his contract with Disney for a while and did multiple films through them. So, yeah, I, these are things I wonder about. I was like, okay, who's, are these budgets true? Should we hold a lot of weight for the budget? Cause we also know that people market the budget as part of their kind of marketing process to be valued as more, when actuality, movies may have been made for far less.

Casey G. Smith: That's true.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And this one, to me, I felt like that budget wasn't on the screen. It's my opinion.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Don't shoot the messenger. Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I'm thinking, again, I'd be very curious to see what, uh, what The Rock, what The Rock made from this and, um, um, but before we dive further into *Gridiron Gang*, 2006, let's talk about News and Movies Watched.

News and Streaming Wars
Reginald Titus Jr.: News. Do you remember the show, The Boondocks?

Casey G. Smith: I do.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Animated show. They are returning to TV on HBO Max in the fall of 2020. Uh, Aaron McGruder will be the executive, uh, will be the executive producer, so we know that it won't suck this time, cause the situation was in season four of The Boondocks, he wasn't on his, uh, producer and it lacked in quality and things like that. So he's back on that. And it's kind of crazy because it's been 20 years since the comic book strip and 10 years since, you know, the first episode of the animation. Yeah, that's kind of crazy how much time like just flies by that quickly.

Casey G. Smith: Wow. Seriously.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But all the past episodes will be streaming Spring 2020 on HBO Max.

Casey G. Smith: HBO Max. So what if you have HBO Go? Will you still be able to, to watch it? Like?

Reginald Titus Jr.: That I don't know. These streaming wars are crazy. I don't know.

Casey G. Smith: Is that the, is that the thing that Warner Brothers is, oh, that's Warner Brothers. I think that's the Warner Brothers kind of answer to like their, their streaming service. Like they're taking HBO, the, from the AT&T and and and Time Warner merger, I think HBO Max is what's coming out of that. Where...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, man.

Casey G. Smith: Cause Disney Plus is already getting set to drop and I'm, I am sold on Disney Plus. Apple now, I mean, all throughout the, they're doing their thing. They were, they were plugging all these. I'm like, when did Apple start working on all these shows? Like some big name talent.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oprah working with them and all that.

Casey G. Smith: I'm like, yo. But I'm like, ah, I can wait on that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I can wait on Apple.

Casey G. Smith: Disney Plus, I got, that's a must. Yeah, that's, that's...

Reginald Titus Jr.: I think that's a, that's right there with Hulu and Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Casey G. Smith: Shoot, yeah. Disney Plus is gonna be a beast. But now, I mean, yeah, I mean HBO Max, I'm like, dadgum. I love my HBO. Like, I love HBO. But do I love the Max? I don't know, we'll find out.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I know, right. Um, and I think, uh, recently I was on Twitter, uh, BET has a, uh, streaming platform, uh, BET Plus, I think is what it's called. Yeah, and I think that's Viacom. That's what Viacom, they're hat in the game. I'm like, really, Viacom? You, you know, I don't feel like you have to do something, too.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, so far, like I was on Twitter and people were like, cause I didn't know, it was like, it was trending. BET Plus was trending. And they were just like, look what they're showing. It was like some split stuff they were showing. And, uh, but they, they, according to what some of these people that actually have the app, uh, some of the shows aren't on there yet. They were waiting for some Tyler Perry shows to show up on the app. That haven't got on there yet. So they were kind of mad about that. But they feel like at the price point, it's too high for it, for, um, BET Plus. I think it's nine bucks or something like that.

Casey G. Smith: Cause Disney came in pretty low. But then I think there's also gonna be a potential bundle for Disney, Hulu and ESPN, like all together, which is, that's pretty, that's a pretty powerful bundle. When you consider, I mean, everything that's on Hulu, and, you know, you can live, you can do live sports on Hulu now, too.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Too much TV.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, man. Too much.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um,

Casey G. Smith: Actually, one thing that I'd, I'd, I'd kind of looked up last week. I just kind of wanted to throw this out to you, get your thoughts real quick. So, you know, you remember the whole big college, uh, scam with some of the, the, the rich people, the Lori Loughlin's, from Full House.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh my God! Felicity, yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Felicity Huffman. So, of course, of course, her sentencing happening, her sentencing happened last week. Um, she was sentenced to 14 days in prison, um, and a 20 to 30,000 fine, I believe, something along those lines. And then also, um, you know, X amount of, you know, hundreds of hours of community service and, I think, like a year of probation. Um, obviously, some people were, were outraged and felt that that wasn't enough. That she was kind of skirting by the system and they pointed other examples of other people, like a woman, uh, over on the East Coast, who had, just literally she lied to get her son into a different school district, just so he could get, you know, a better education. And she was apparently sentenced to, I don't know, a year in prison, I don't know, like a year in prison or maybe even more.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah, I heard about that.

Casey G. Smith: Um, and so there was obviously, you know, outrage and and and cries of of injustice and and and and entitlement for someone who is Caucasian and and and wealthy. And I was just curious, what are your thoughts? What are your thoughts on?

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, yeah, that's a perfect example of our system. Johnny Cochran in his book, he was like, being rich gives you a fair chance at the system. And he was, he was specifically talking about the O.J. Simpson trial. You have to have a lot of money in order to even just get a, to get to becoming having a fair chance, especially when you have a person that, you know, a Black person in America. That's what the money allows you to do. And so when we kind of compare the Felicity versus, um, this Black woman who lied about the school that her kid was in, which is, I guess, mail fraud or something, you know, some kind of code that they violated, you know, it is against the law to do that. But the, the sentences, if you compare those two situations, doesn't seem right. But that's just our system. That's the way it is. If you can afford a lawyer that knows their way around this thing, they will get you off, you know, or get you a very light sentence. That's just the way the game, that's the way the game rolls. That's the way it is. With the whole Felicity thing, because they played the game where they came out and was like, you know what, didn't they plead guilty? Or they were saying, yeah, we're, you know, responsible. They started playing ball early on.

Casey G. Smith: Yes, she did. And she said she's regretful for what she did. And she had a lot of family members and friends sent letters of her character to, you know, to the judge and and stuff like that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: She had some good lawyers because her lawyers got, they were able to get ahead of all, of anybody else and was like, hey, you know, we're sorry, this is what we're gonna do. And and in, uh, compared to like the Lori Loughlin and what's her husband's name, Busenio, I can't think of the guy's name.

Casey G. Smith: The fashion, the fashion designer, right. Uh-huh.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Because compared to them, like the amount of money that they bribed or whatever they paid for was very, very, very low. Um, the whole situation with Lori Loughlin, they're, number one, they're they said not guilty. Uh, there's audio, man. There's, if you go to a podcast called, uh, Gangster Capital. Like, you, you'll hear, you'll, it's sickening to see, to hear these people like knowing that they're getting away with it, knowing that they know full well what they're doing, and they just don't want to get caught. And the, the guy who got, I can't think of the guy's name who, uh, was orchestrated everything. Yeah, I forgot his name. He's the one recording all these calls because he has to. He's, you know, he's, he's caught by the feds. So he's gotta do something to kind of lower his.

Casey G. Smith: His sentencing.

Reginald Titus Jr.: His sentencing. So he's writing them out. So he's writing out everybody. So he's gotta record all this stuff.

Casey G. Smith: Wow.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Gangster Capital. It was pretty awesome. And, um, they'll have people calling in talking about their own situation like, hey, we knew people that were getting away with paying off this person or that person. So you'll hear stories of people that aren't even going to prison or anything, but just their own personal experiences of paying off people on collegiate sports and things like that.

Casey G. Smith: What I found interesting is that once this news came out, I had, uh, looked up, kind of Googled, uh, bribe cal, you know, um, penalties for for bribery in California. And there's, there's some different kinds of bribery. There is like commercial bribery. That's the main one that popped up. And, man, it's been a week now since I looked at this, but it was the, the sentencing. Like if you, if you had a bribe towards somebody and it was considered commercial bribery, if the amount was more than like $15,000, which I think what theirs was, I think they had, I don't know, paid like...

Reginald Titus Jr.: They were just over that. Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: They made like 18 or $20,000. It was, but it was still over the amount. Like, your sentencing like, like it was like a minimum, I wanna say a minimum of three years in prison. Wow. Um, it was, it was far more than 14 days, whatever that minimum was. So that's what really kind of made me say, wait a minute, you know. And again, that was, that was under commercial bribery. So I don't know if there's, you know, another form of bribery that this fell under, but I'm just like,

Reginald Titus Jr.: And it's up to your lawyer to kind of negotiate that. That's probably where the one year probation and all that stuff is. Who knows? They got the good lawyers and they were able to get ahead of that. Now, Lori Loughlin, over half a million dollars of bribery. Um, they actually changed the identity of the daughter and did Photoshop and things like that to make it seem like they were in, there this is like a lot of fraud going on.

Casey G. Smith: Elaborate.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. They knew full well what's going on.

Casey G. Smith: I don't know, man. I don't know, still like...

Reginald Titus Jr.: So,

Casey G. Smith: Still bribery.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So what I'm thinking, with the whole Lori Loughlin situation, I think if they don't throw the book, if she doesn't get like a few years in prison or something like that, then we're gonna have problems.

Casey G. Smith: Riots?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I don't know if it's gonna be riots, but it's gonna be some problems. You know, it's, it's a bad look. The fact that Felicity has to do any time, you know, is kind of like a warning to Lori Loughlin because of how egregious their situation is. I don't think they're gonna get out of it.

Casey G. Smith: They, they better not.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I don't think they're gonna get out of this one.

Casey G. Smith: You, you, you better not.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But yeah, that's what, what I think, you know, they, they played the game. They were able to get ahead of it. Felicity and them, they were able to get ahead of that. Um, Lori and them, on the other hand, they weren't so savvy. You know, she was smiling when it first started. She was like smiling and trying to autograph and doing all this weird stuff. She didn't really know how to act in the situation. She was, she wasn't really taking it as seriously as the,

Casey G. Smith: Or she was just acting.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Nothing's wrong, just smile. It's great. But that's not what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to look guilty. You're supposed to be serious. The, you know, the public wants you to treat this serious. And they want to see that you're hurt. They want to see like, this is hurting you. Every time you see Felicity, they're not smiling, they're just like straight ahead, like, stone face, like, hey, we got to get out of here.

Casey G. Smith: It's so fascinating what people believe they can get away with. I'm the exception, you know?

Reginald Titus Jr.: But, I mean, living with the privilege for so long that they were getting away with it, you know? A lot of people have gotten away with it. Yeah, and that's probably why, hey, this is just a thing. This is just a thing. This is what we do. This is what you should do. I, I know a guy. Yeah, it was part of the system. You know?

Casey G. Smith: You're right. It is a system. Totally a system. I know a guy.

Reginald Titus Jr.: You know a guy. I know a guy.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That was, uh, what was that? Uh, uh, *Ocean's 11*?

Casey G. Smith: Maybe.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Clooney. I know a guy. He was talking to Andy Garcia. You know a guy.

Casey G. Smith: I know some movies I'm watching recently. Yeah, but, yeah, about these ladies they're locking up, it's crazy out here. They're locking up white women.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's a different time, different times.

Casey G. Smith: Que date, que date. Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Movies and TV shows, man. What you got?

Film Reviews and Comedy Insights
Casey G. Smith: So, um, you remember the movie *Happytime Murders*? Came out last year. Oh, by, by, um, Jim Henson's son, Brian Henson. It was like the Muppets, but it was like crazy dark and like Sesame Street had to like distance themselves from it. It was all, all, no, uh, no Sesame All Street. It was like one of the taglines for it. Melissa McCarthy was there.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I never watched it. Was it good?

Casey G. Smith: So, I, I, I saw it at Movie Trading Co.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: And it was Blu-ray, on sale. I was like, you know what, why not? It was like five bucks and I saw, I bought it. It was okay.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Five, when this is, yeah, a year has gone by, it's not a good sign.

Casey G. Smith: It was okay. It was one of those things where all the, the funniest bits are like in the trailer, pretty much. And it almost takes itself slightly too seriously. Where the humour is there, but all the jokes don't land. And with, I'm always hit and miss with Melissa McCarthy anyway. But, uh, it, it had potential to be just amazing and it just doesn't quite hit the way you want it to. Again, like you're waiting for that, you're waiting for that punchline. Like we had a discussion earlier and I'm just like, ah, come on. But it does have commentary. I am gonna go back and watch the commentary because they do some pretty cool things. And honestly, some of the outtakes at the end, when the credits are rolling, are actually some of the, are pretty funny. Some of the funniest bits actually that, that come out of it. Uh, but yeah, *Happytime Murders*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Don't watch it.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, it's an okay time.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Anything else?

Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah. Um, and I will sing this, this next show, I'll sing its, its praises to the high heavens. Uh, on HBO, a Black Lady Sketch Show.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. I, I've seen the trailers on it.

Casey G. Smith: Yo. It looked hilarious. If you have HBO, check it out. It is so good. It is so well done. It is a, it's a, to me, it's a game changer. It, it's, uh, it's only six episodes, 30 minutes a piece. Uh, there's four main women in the cast. Uh, the, the, the lead, the, the, the, the head writer and creator of the show, uh, Robin Thede. Uh, I, I haven't seen her in, in other things before. I don't recall ever seeing her before. She is a revelation, man. All four of these women, like they are, they are versatile, comedic actors. And they're playing so many different roles. Think in Living Color, okay?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: Think in Living Color and you've got just, just multiple characters that they're playing. And you have certain sketches that they actually will, you know, kind of continue, um, throughout the six episodes. Okay. Um,

Reginald Titus Jr.: I'm looking for a good, uh, sketch comedy, right? This will be, I'm, I'm telling you. Ever since like Jordan Peele and them kind of left, you know?

Casey G. Smith: Yes. This, this, and there's, there're times where where Robin Thede will, will dress up as a, as a dude. Yeah. And she's showing, flexing her range and it's impressive. And it's, and the whole show is set through the backdrop of a, a story that involves all four women, where they're together and it's a story that, that continues throughout the whole season. They constantly come back to the four of them together in this situation. I won't give any of it away, but it's, it's so well done because it, it comes back to this scenario. And then you have these other, this random sketches in between that are well thought out, well shot and, man, yeah. So, yeah, first episode was, was good and then from there it just takes off. Up until you get to like, man, episode six just had me dying. Particularly, there's, there's, there's one, uh, sketch called, uh, Get The Belt. Man, there we go. Yes. A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. I'm watching it. Check it out. What you got, Reginald?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Speaking of comedy and being in trouble. I watched, uh, Aziz Ansari. Finally got a chance to check that one out.

Casey G. Smith: What'd you think?

Reginald Titus Jr.: His voice, he's like a cartoon. His voice, he's like, hey guys. He's a cartoon. He is a cartoon in real life. Um, I did enjoy it. Spike Jonze who directed it. I like Spike Jonze just in general. Um, I think it was a, it's a cool way to approach the whole comedy special. Look like, the style, right? The way it was shot. It looked retro. Yeah. Very retro. They might have used an older, you know, film camera to shoot that one with. Uh, so I did enjoy that. And Spike, he's, he's always doing something interesting. What I didn't like is how he kind of brushed over his situation. Cause, um, you know, with Aziz, there was like just some article that came out about him and a lady, how, how did the whole situation pop off?

Casey G. Smith: It was something about like, there was a, a woman that, uh, he'd gone on a date with and potentially the, an opportunity came for them to, you know, they messed around and she's like saying like, that she wasn't like kind of feeling at the time. And then they kind of, but they kept kind of like hanging out and making out and whatever. And then, but then eventually they did end up like sleeping together. But then after the fact, though, like she, she felt like she was pressured. Something in the fact that she said she was pressured. And I, I'm, I am, come on. Come on. I read the article, I just kind of forgot cause it was like almost a year and a half ago. Yeah, and I'm, and I am by, by no means, uh, I am, uh, paraphrasing, you know, what I, what I've heard. So, uh, feel free to go and find the article, read it for yourself. But that's the gist of what I got, what, what I remember hearing, hearing about it. And I don't know, when I, when I listened to him talk about it, I felt like he, that he tried to talk about it from a standpoint of, you know, having to stop and and kind of being introspective about it. Like he felt like he learned from the scenario, from the situation and, I don't know, I'm not, I, I was like, I, I thought, I thought, I thought he handled it well in terms of bringing it, bringing it up and, I don't know how, you know, how deep you wanted him to go into it, but I was like, I wanted him to kind of, I'm telling you, but, but that's the gist of what I got. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I mean, some of the shows on BET Plus may not have received great reviews due to missing writers or quality issues.
- It's implied that the production of the show had a lot of moving parts and that the budget figures might not fully reflect the actual costs due to factors like star salaries and marketing expenses.
- The hosts then segue into current events and movie reviews.

News and Streaming Wars
Reginald Titus Jr.: News. Do you remember the show, The Boondocks?

Casey G. Smith: I do.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Animated show. They are returning to TV on HBO Max in the fall of 2020. Uh, Aaron McGruder will be the executive, uh, will be the executive producer, so we know that it won't suck this time, cause the situation was in season four of The Boondocks, he wasn't on his, uh, producer and it lacked in quality and things like that. So he's back on that. And it's kind of crazy because it's been 20 years since the comic book strip and 10 years since, you know, the first episode of the animation. Yeah, that's kind of crazy how much time like just flies by that quickly.

Casey G. Smith: Wow. Seriously.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But all the past episodes will be streaming Spring 2020 on HBO Max.

Casey G. Smith: HBO Max. So what if you have HBO Go? Will you still be able to, to watch it? Like?

Reginald Titus Jr.: That I don't know. These streaming wars are crazy. I don't know.

Casey G. Smith: Is that the, is that the thing that Warner Brothers is, oh, that's Warner Brothers. I think that's the Warner Brothers kind of answer to like their, their streaming service. Like they're taking HBO, the, from the AT&T and and and Time Warner merger, I think HBO Max is what's coming out of that. Where...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, man.

Casey G. Smith: Cause Disney Plus is already getting set to drop and I'm, I am sold on Disney Plus. Apple now, I mean, all throughout the, they're doing their thing. They were, they were plugging all these. I'm like, when did Apple start working on all these shows? Like some big name talent.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oprah working with them and all that.

Casey G. Smith: I'm like, yo. But I'm like, ah, I can wait on that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I can wait on Apple.

Casey G. Smith: Disney Plus, I got, that's a must. Yeah, that's, that's...

Reginald Titus Jr.: I think that's a, that's right there with Hulu and Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Casey G. Smith: Shoot, yeah. Disney Plus is gonna be a beast. But now, I mean, yeah, I mean HBO Max, I'm like, dadgum. I love my HBO. Like, I love HBO. But do I love the Max? I don't know, we'll find out.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I know, right. Um, and I think, uh, recently I was on Twitter, uh, BET has a, uh, streaming platform, uh, BET Plus, I think is what it's called. Yeah, and I think that's Viacom. That's what Viacom, they're hat in the game. I'm like, really, Viacom? You, you know, I don't feel like you have to do something, too.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, so far, like I was on Twitter and people were like, cause I didn't know, it was like, it was trending. BET Plus was trending. And they were just like, look what they're showing. It was like some split stuff they were showing. And, uh, but they, they, according to what some of these people that actually have the app, uh, some of the shows aren't on there yet. They were waiting for some Tyler Perry shows to show up on the app. That haven't got on there yet. So they were kind of mad about that. But they feel like at the price point, it's too high for it, for, um, BET Plus. I think it's nine bucks or something like that.

Casey G. Smith: Cause Disney came in pretty low. But then I think there's also gonna be a potential bundle for Disney, Hulu and ESPN, like all together, which is, that's pretty, that's a pretty powerful bundle. When you consider, I mean, everything that's on Hulu, and, you know, you can live, you can do live sports on Hulu now, too.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Too much TV.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, man. Too much.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um,

Casey G. Smith: Actually, one thing that I'd, I'd, I'd kind of looked up last week. I just kind of wanted to throw this out to you, get your thoughts real quick. So, you know, you remember the whole big college, uh, scam with some of the, the, the rich people, the Lori Loughlin's, from Full House.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh my God! Felicity, yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Felicity Huffman. So, of course, of course, her sentencing happening, her sentencing happened last week. Um, she was sentenced to 14 days in prison, um, and a 20 to 30,000 fine, I believe, something along those lines. And then also, um, you know, X amount of, you know, hundreds of hours of community service and, I think, like a year of probation. Um, obviously, some people were, were outraged and felt that that wasn't enough. That she was kind of skirting by the system and they pointed other examples of other people, like a woman, uh, over on the East Coast, who had, just literally she lied to get her son into a different school district, just so he could get, you know, a better education. And she was apparently sentenced to, I don't know, a year in prison, I don't know, like a year in prison or maybe even more.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah, I heard about that.

Casey G. Smith: Um, and so there was obviously, you know, outrage and and and cries of of injustice and and and and entitlement for someone who is Caucasian and and and wealthy. And I was just curious, what are your thoughts? What are your thoughts on?

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, yeah, that's a perfect example of our system. Johnny Cochran in his book, he was like, being rich gives you a fair chance at the system. And he was, he was specifically talking about the O.J. Simpson trial. You have to have a lot of money in order to even just get a, to get to becoming having a fair chance, especially when you have a person that, you know, a Black person in America. That's what the money allows you to do. And so when we kind of compare the Felicity versus, um, this Black woman who lied about the school that her kid was in, which is, I guess, mail fraud or something, you know, some kind of code that they violated, you know, it is against the law to do that. But the, the sentences, if you compare those two situations, doesn't seem right. But that's just our system. That's the way it is. If you can afford a lawyer that knows their way around this thing, they will get you off, you know, or get you a very light sentence. That's just the way the game, that's the way the game rolls. That's the way it is. With the whole Felicity thing, because they played the game where they came out and was like, you know what, didn't they plead guilty? Or they were saying, yeah, we're, you know, responsible. They started playing ball early on.

Casey G. Smith: Yes, she did. And she said she's regretful for what she did. And she had a lot of family members and friends sent letters of her character to, you know, to the judge and and stuff like that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: She had some good lawyers because her lawyers got, they were able to get ahead of all, of anybody else and was like, hey, you know, we're sorry, this is what we're gonna do. And and in, uh, compared to like the Lori Loughlin and what's her husband's name, Busenio, I can't think of the guy's name.

Casey G. Smith: The fashion, the fashion designer, right. Uh-huh.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Because compared to them, like the amount of money that they bribed or whatever they paid for was very, very, very low. Um, the whole situation with Lori Loughlin, they're, number one, they're they said not guilty. Uh, there's audio, man. There's, if you go to a podcast called, uh, Gangster Capital. Like, you, you'll hear, you'll, it's sickening to see, to hear these people like knowing that they're getting away with it, knowing that they know full well what they're doing, and they just don't want to get caught. And the, the guy who got, I can't think of the guy's name who, uh, was orchestrated everything. Yeah, I forgot his name. He's the one recording all these calls because he has to. He's, you know, he's, he's caught by the feds. So he's gotta do something to kind of lower his.

Casey G. Smith: His sentencing.

Reginald Titus Jr.: His sentencing. So he's writing them out. So he's writing out everybody. So he's gotta record all this stuff.

Casey G. Smith: Wow.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Gangster Capital. It was pretty awesome. And, um, they'll have people calling in talking about their own situation like, hey, we knew people that were getting away with paying off this person or that person. So you'll hear stories of people that aren't even going to prison or anything, but just their own personal experiences of paying off people on collegiate sports and things like that.

Casey G. Smith: What I found interesting is that once this news came out, I had, uh, looked up, kind of Googled, uh, bribe cal, you know, um, penalties for for bribery in California. And there's, there's some different kinds of bribery. There is like commercial bribery. That's the main one that popped up. And, man, it's been a week now since I looked at this, but it was the, the sentencing. Like if you, if you had a bribe towards somebody and it was considered commercial bribery, if the amount was more than like $15,000, which I think what theirs was, I think they had, I don't know, paid like...

Reginald Titus Jr.: They were just over that. Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: They made like 18 or $20,000. It was, but it was still over the amount. Like, your sentencing like, like it was like a minimum, I wanna say a minimum of three years in prison. Wow. Um, it was, it was far more than 14 days, whatever that minimum was. So that's what really kind of made me say, wait a minute, you know. And again, that was, that was under commercial bribery. So I don't know if there's, you know, another form of bribery that this fell under, but I'm just like,

Reginald Titus Jr.: And it's up to your lawyer to kind of negotiate that. That's probably where the one year probation and all that stuff is. Who knows? They got the good lawyers and they were able to get ahead of that. Now, Lori Loughlin, over half a million dollars of bribery. Um, they actually changed the identity of the daughter and did Photoshop and things like that to make it seem like they were in, there this is like a lot of fraud going on.

Casey G. Smith: Elaborate.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. They knew full well what's going on.

Casey G. Smith: I don't know, man. I don't know, still like...

Reginald Titus Jr.: So,

Casey G. Smith: Still bribery.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So what I'm thinking, with the whole Lori Loughlin situation, I think if they don't throw the book, if she doesn't get like a few years in prison or something like that, then we're gonna have problems.

Casey G. Smith: Riots?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I don't know if it's gonna be riots, but it's gonna be some problems. You know, it's, it's a bad look. The fact that Felicity has to do any time, you know, is kind of like a warning to Lori Loughlin because of how egregious their situation is. I don't think they're gonna get out of it.

Casey G. Smith: They, they better not.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I don't think they're gonna get out of this one.

Casey G. Smith: You, you, you better not.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But yeah, that's what, what I think, you know, they, they played the game. They were able to get ahead of it. Felicity and them, they were able to get ahead of that. Um, Lori and them, on the other hand, they weren't so savvy. You know, she was smiling when it first started. She was like smiling and trying to autograph and doing all this weird stuff. She didn't really know how to act in the situation. She was, she wasn't really taking it as seriously as the,

Casey G. Smith: Or she was just acting.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Nothing's wrong, just smile. It's great. But that's not what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to look guilty. You're supposed to be serious. The, you know, the public wants you to treat this serious. And they want to see that you're hurt. They want to see like, this is hurting you. Every time you see Felicity, they're not smiling, they're just like straight ahead, like, stone face, like, hey, we got to get out of here.

Casey G. Smith: It's so fascinating what people believe they can get away with. I'm the exception, you know?

Reginald Titus Jr.: But, I mean, living with the privilege for so long that they were getting away with it, you know? A lot of people have gotten away with it. Yeah, and that's probably why, hey, this is just a thing. This is just a thing. This is what we do. This is what you should do. I, I know a guy. Yeah, it was part of the system. You know?

Casey G. Smith: You're right. It is a system. Totally a system. I know a guy.

Reginald Titus Jr.: You know a guy. I know a guy.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That was, uh, what was that? Uh, uh, *Ocean's 11*?

Casey G. Smith: Maybe.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Clooney. I know a guy. He was talking to Andy Garcia. You know a guy.

Casey G. Smith: I know some movies I'm watching recently. Yeah, but, yeah, about these ladies they're locking up, it's crazy out here. They're locking up white women.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's a different time, different times.

Casey G. Smith: Que date, que date. Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Movies and TV shows, man. What you got?

Film Reviews and Comedy Insights
Casey G. Smith: So, um, you remember the movie *Happytime Murders*? Came out last year. Oh, by, by, um, Jim Henson's son, Brian Henson. It was like the Muppets, but it was like crazy dark and like Sesame Street had to like distance themselves from it. It was all, all, no, uh, no Sesame All Street. It was like one of the taglines for it. Melissa McCarthy was there.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I never watched it. Was it good?

Casey G. Smith: So, I, I, I saw it at Movie Trading Co.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: And it was Blu-ray, on sale. I was like, you know what, why not? It was like five bucks and I saw, I bought it. It was okay.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Five, when this is, yeah, a year has gone by, it's not a good sign.

Casey G. Smith: It was okay. It was one of those things where all the, the funniest bits are like in the trailer, pretty much. And it almost takes itself slightly too seriously. Where the humour is there, but all the jokes don't land. And with, I'm always hit and miss with Melissa McCarthy anyway. But, uh, it, it had potential to be just amazing and it just doesn't quite hit the way you want it to. Again, like you're waiting for that, you're waiting for that punchline. Like we had a discussion earlier and I'm just like, ah, come on. But it does have commentary. I am gonna go back and watch the commentary because they do some pretty cool things. And honestly, some of the outtakes at the end, when the credits are rolling, are actually some of the, are pretty funny. Some of the funniest bits actually that, that come out of it. Uh, but yeah, *Happytime Murders*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Don't watch it.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, it's an okay time.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Anything else?

Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah. Um, and I will sing this, this next show, I'll sing its, its praises to the high heavens. Uh, on HBO, a Black Lady Sketch Show.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. I, I've seen the trailers on it.

Casey G. Smith: Yo. It looked hilarious. If you have HBO, check it out. It is so good. It is so well done. It is a, it's a, to me, it's a game changer. It, it's, uh, it's only six episodes, 30 minutes a piece. Uh, there's four main women in the cast. Uh, the, the, the lead, the, the, the, the head writer and creator of the show, uh, Robin Thede. Uh, I, I haven't seen her in, in other things before. I don't recall ever seeing her before. She is a revelation, man. All four of these women, like they are, they are versatile, comedic actors. And they're playing so many different roles. Think in Living Color, okay?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: Think in Living Color and you've got just, just multiple characters that they're playing. And you have certain sketches that they actually will, you know, kind of continue, um, throughout the six episodes. Okay. Um,

Reginald Titus Jr.: I'm looking for a good, uh, sketch comedy, right? This will be, I'm, I'm telling you. Ever since like Jordan Peele and them kind of left, you know?

Casey G. Smith: Yes. This, this, and there's, there're times where where Robin Thede will, will dress up as a, as a dude. Yeah. And she's showing, flexing her range and it's impressive. And it's, and the whole show is set through the backdrop of a, a story that involves all four women, where they're together and it's a story that, that continues throughout the whole season. They constantly come back to the four of them together in this situation. I won't give any of it away, but it's, it's so well done because it, it comes back to this scenario. And then you have these other, this random sketches in between that are well thought out, well shot and, man, yeah. So, yeah, first episode was, was good and then from there it just takes off. Up until you get to like, man, episode six just had me dying. Particularly, there's, there's, there's one, uh, sketch called, uh, Get The Belt. Man, there we go. Yes. A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. I'm watching it. Check it out. What you got, Reginald?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Speaking of comedy and being in trouble. I watched, uh, Aziz Ansari. Finally got a chance to check that one out.

Casey G. Smith: What'd you think?

Reginald Titus Jr.: His voice, he's like a cartoon. His voice, he's like, hey guys. He's a cartoon. He is a cartoon in real life. Um, I did enjoy it. Spike Jonze who directed it. I like Spike Jonze just in general. Um, I think it was a, it's a cool way to approach the whole comedy special. Look like, the style, right? The way it was shot. It looked retro. Yeah. Very retro. They might have used an older, you know, film camera to shoot that one with. Uh, so I did enjoy that. And Spike, he's, he's always doing something interesting. What I didn't like is how he kind of brushed over his situation. Cause, um, you know, with Aziz, there was like just some article that came out about him and a lady, how, how did the whole situation pop off?

Casey G. Smith: It was something about like, there was a, a woman that, uh, he'd gone on a date with and potentially the, an opportunity came for them to, you know, they messed around and she's like saying like, that she wasn't like kind of feeling at the time. And then they kind of, but they kept kind of like hanging out and making out and whatever. And then, but then eventually they did end up like sleeping together. But then after the fact, though, like she, she felt like she was pressured. Something in the fact that she said she was pressured. And I, I'm, I am, come on. Come on. I read the article, I just kind of forgot cause it was like almost a year and a half ago. Yeah, and I'm, and I am by, by no means, uh, I am, uh, paraphrasing, you know, what I, what I've heard. So, uh, feel free to go and find the article, read it for yourself. But that's the gist of what I got, what, what I remember hearing, hearing about it. And I don't know, when I, when I listened to him talk about it, I felt like he, that he tried to talk about it from a standpoint of, you know, having to stop and and kind of being introspective about it. Like he felt like he learned from the scenario, from the situation and, I don't know, I'm not, I, I was like, I, I thought, I thought, I thought he handled it well in terms of bringing it, bringing it up and, I don't know how, you know, how deep you wanted him to go into it, but I was like, I wanted him to kind of, I'm telling you, but, but that's the gist of what I got. 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I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, you can make it, I think you'm like, oh my goodness, you should have just stayed out there and waited until everybody was like sitting down and settled and then you come on as the quarterback with all the attention, and you got The Rock, right? That's right. Because they had the ball rolling out and he was walking down and talking to him, you know, being very calm, cool and collected. And then as soon as he gets in there and start screaming and yelling. And then The Rock is getting fired up. I'm like, oh man, it's pretty cool. Uh, this is why I kinda wish the movie was about him being the quarterback. Yeah, just throw it out there. That could be a good little movie that he could have did but I don't know why they did that. That could be another movie that he could have done. Yeah.

Final Takeaways and Recommendations
Reginald Titus Jr.: All right, so that's all the sections we have for this one. Next time, we are going to dive into the film, *Remember the Titans*. So far, what's your favorite football film? Of the ones we covered, we've only covered three.

Casey G. Smith: *Any Given Sunday*, still, I mean, that's still top. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it.

Reginald Titus Jr.: How about you?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I agree. I'm there. I could, I could watch that one again.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Sacrifice. Good soundtrack. I love the hits. I mean, yes, sign me up for that. Uh, so we're gonna tune into, uh, uh, uh, *Remember the Titans* next time and you can catch us where?

Casey G. Smith: facebook.com/filmmakercommentary. You can also like, rate, and subscribe at iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher Radio as well as SoundCloud. And if you have a movie you would like us to review and talk about here on Filmmaker Commentary, please, number one, make sure it has commentary. And, uh, we'll be happy to, uh, to take a look at it. You can also find us on Twitter, you can find Reginald at ReggieTitus. You can also find him on Instagram at Reginald Titus Jr., that's JR. Uh, you can also find Filmmaker Commentary on Instagram, simply @FilmmakerCommentary. And you can also find me at both Twitter and Instagram, simply @CaseyGSmith32.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Until next time, peace.

Casey G. Smith: Respect.