Derick: I'd say the worst piece of luck, I brought up COVID earlier,

Derick: and I'd say the timing of that was a really bad piece of luck because I went

Derick: through a breakup in January of 2020,

Derick: just like late January.

Derick: So just a couple of weeks pretty much after I was like, well, you know,

Derick: I'm single now, you know, I'm kind of depressed about that, but I'm going to

Derick: get back out in the World and I'm gonna like you know Get ready and then it's

Derick: like you're not going Anywhere buddy.

Danny: Hi, and welcome to 5 Random Questions, the show with unexpected questions

Danny: and unfiltered answers.

Danny: I'm your host, Danny Brown, and each week I'll be asking my guests five questions

Danny: created by a random question generator.

Danny: The guest has no idea what the questions are, and neither do I,

Danny: which means this could go either way.

Danny: So sit back, relax, and let's dive into this week's episode.

Danny: Today's guest is Derick McDuff.

Danny: Derick is the host, editor and producer of the Underrated Movie Podcast,

Danny: discussing underrated, underappreciated and under-the-radar films.

Danny: He also writes about film and pop culture for sites like WatchMojo and FilmFred.

Danny: So Derick, welcome to 5 Random Questions.

Derick: Hey, thank you for having me. Very excited to be here.

Danny: You're very welcome and very excited to have you.

Danny: As we were saying in Green Room, this season and last season,

Danny: I'm really looking for new guests I haven't, you know, met before, etc.

Danny: And it's always fun meeting new people. So I'm super excited to have you on the podcast.

Danny: And as I mentioned in the intro there, obviously as someone who's so keenly

Danny: attuned to the movie industry,

Danny: I'm just curious what your thoughts are around the topic of,

Danny: there's like a discussion going on, maybe for the last six months or so,

Danny: about maybe cinema in the mainstream losing its appeal to certain audiences

Danny: who are maybe preferring streaming.

Danny: And now you're seeing movies that are being made exclusively for streaming apps, etc.

Danny: You got a take on that? Do you think that's the case or not?

Derick: Well, it's interesting because I'm not inherently opposed to streaming movies.

Derick: I think it's a new avenue and if you can get more people into film,

Derick: people who either can't leave the house or it's hard for them or financially

Derick: it's difficult to go to the movies, whatever it might be.

Derick: I don't think that's inherently a bad thing. What I think is kind of dangerous is when we're seeing...

Derick: The release window from movies coming out to theaters to being released on,

Derick: you know, VOD and then streaming getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

Derick: It used to be like, you know, six months or whatever.

Derick: And then the exclusive now the exclusivity window, especially if a film doesn't

Derick: do well, is like two weeks. Sometimes it's crazy small.

Derick: So I think that it can be a good thing.

Derick: I know people were freaking out a lot when it looked like Netflix was going

Derick: to buy Warner Brothers because they were like, oh, you know, this is going to go away.

Derick: In my opinion, we're in a much worse situation now with Paramount buying Warner

Derick: Brothers because that's a lot more monopolistic and there's a lot of things

Derick: that Paramount is doing that I don't agree with.

Derick: So, you know, it's kind of one of those things that's like, oh,

Derick: well, streaming seems bad, but, you know, there's alternatives that are worse.

Derick: And so I don't have a problem with streaming. I do, though, I still love going

Derick: to the movies, having that shared theatrical experience.

Derick: And whatever you can do to keep cinemas alive, I think is a good thing.

Derick: And I do think that, honestly, streaming does in some ways help keep cinemas alive.

Danny: Yeah, like you mentioned, the release windows are getting much smaller now, which is crazy.

Danny: I remember you used to have to wait years before a big blockbuster would come

Danny: out of terrestrial TV, for example.

Danny: Yeah, yeah. And now it seems it's almost aligned with the theater release.

Danny: And yeah, the movie-grown experience.

Danny: I always think of something like, you know, a Star Wars or the Daredevil, not the Daredevil.

Danny: Oh, my gosh, I've just lost. Ryan Reynolds, who's this?

Derick: Oh, Green or Deadpool.

Danny: Deadpool. I just lost train of thought there for a moment. So,

Danny: yeah, when Deadpool came out and obviously Wolverine was in it and it was just,

Danny: it was crazy seeing the reactions to some of the cameos, for example.

Danny: So, yeah, there's always a big thing to, you know, big positives to the movie

Danny: gone through experience. So hopefully, I grew up as someone that loved going

Danny: Saturday martinis in the streets of Edinburgh.

Danny: I hope that stuff like that never changes.

Danny: And obviously your podcast is about underappreciated and under-recognized movies,

Danny: and you discuss that. In your humble opinion...

Danny: On the flip side, what is the most overrated movie and one that people appreciate you think? Really?

Derick: I might have to say Gravity, the Alfonso Cuaron movie.

Derick: I'm just not a big fan of that director in general.

Derick: I think that especially that movie, there's not a lot on the page.

Derick: It's a lot of cool special effects.

Derick: It's a lot of like, how did they get this shot? But I don't think that there's

Derick: really that much interesting happening on a script level or,

Derick: you know, not to be rude to Sandy B on a in an acting level, you know,

Derick: there's it's there's a lot of stuff where like she's just kind of going through

Derick: space and shouting and she doesn't know what to do until she imagines what a man would say to her.

Derick: And then she can figure it out like i just i don't

Derick: think there's a lot there and when you see it in like

Derick: the imax in the 3d you know to talk about theatrical experience

Derick: i know a lot of people enjoyed that a lot

Derick: more than i did and i think that if you look

Derick: at it's like ratings on letterboxes over the years it's declined

Derick: steadily because it's just not it's not a movie that translates well to a small

Derick: screen you know speaking of streaming again whereas i don't know you watch you

Derick: can watch the godfather on a plane and it'll still be the godfather you know

Derick: if you watch like gravity on your phone you're not going to have a good time yeah.

Danny: No that's an interesting one i watched it on a small screen i

Danny: think i watched it when it came out i don't know if it was netflix prime whatever it

Danny: may have been uh and i kind of enjoyed the premise and of it man but yeah like

Danny: i say it's kind of tapered off a bit and uh it didn't really do her any justice

Danny: because of that um so yeah so that's a good one i can i can go with that one

Danny: hopefully though what isn't underappreciated is the randomness of the questions

Danny: we're about to go through.

Danny: So with that tenuous link there, are you ready to jump in the random question hot seat, Eric?

Derick: All right, yeah, I'm ready. Put me in the hot seat. Let's go.

Danny: All righty. Let's bring up my random question generator.

Danny: Okay, it's a fairly easy one, I feel, to kick things off with.

Danny: Question one, Derick. Do you believe in luck?

Derick: Yeah, yeah, I believe in luck. You know, I think that, and there's always a

Derick: thing of like, oh, somebody makes their own luck, but you know.

Derick: Things are always going to happen that are going to be outside of your control.

Derick: You flip a coin. Something could be as simple as you flip a coin and it comes

Derick: up heads when you need it to come up tails.

Derick: Or it could be just bigger events in your life. Things that were unexpected.

Derick: I don't think any of us were expecting lockdown to happen. That was unlucky for everybody.

Derick: So I think that just random chance exists in the world. You never know what's going to happen.

Danny: Do you feel you can shape your own luck to a degree?

Danny: Obviously, you mentioned flipping a coin. They're very random. You've got two options.

Danny: Unless it's crazy weird and you're like the teens that try to do the bottle

Danny: lid flip and it lands on its edge, which isn't going to happen, let's face it.

Danny: But do you think you can shape your own luck sometimes where you want something to happen?

Danny: So you're sort of determining a process almost that might seem lucky.

Danny: So it might be lucky that you got a really cool job offer. but in the background

Danny: you've been dropping little snippets here and there to go for that job and put

Danny: yourself in the frame kind of thing

Derick: Yeah i do honestly think that you know

Derick: you can do stuff to you know quote unquote improve your

Derick: odds you know like there's always things you can do you know not

Derick: like if you are like oh that was just

Derick: bad you just like you're complaining about your luck all the time you know that's a

Derick: little much but you know and there's always going

Derick: to be things that don't go your way but you can always work

Derick: on things make things see go that in your favor and if things aren't going really

Derick: bad i always think of i'm um you know we were kind of like before we got on

Derick: talked a little bit about star trek 2 i always think of um for people who aren't

Derick: familiar there's this test that they put the students through in that movie called the kobayashi,

Derick: kobayashi maru where it's this no win scenario where you get put in this situation

Derick: and you can't when the only person who ever passed was Captain Kirk,

Derick: and that's because he cheated and rewrote the situation.

Derick: And because Kirk says, I don't believe in the no win situation.

Derick: And I always think of that. It's like, you know what? No matter what,

Derick: you're in this bad situation.

Derick: There's always a way that you can find some way. There's always a path to success.

Derick: However convoluted and difficult and unlikely it might be, I think you could

Derick: find a way to succeed at what you're doing.

Danny: Yeah, man, that's fair. And I guess then, like just to sort of ease out of this

Danny: one, which is a nice one to ease into the five questions experience.

Danny: But if you had to choose of thinking of your own examples, what's either the

Danny: best piece of luck that's come your way or happened to you? Or what's the worst

Danny: piece of luck that's happened to you?

Derick: I'd say the worst piece of luck. I brought up COVID earlier,

Derick: and I'd say the timing of that was a really bad piece of luck because I went

Derick: through a breakup in January of 2020,

Derick: just like late January.

Derick: So just a couple of weeks pretty much after I was like, well,

Derick: you know, I'm single now.

Derick: I'm kind of depressed about that, but I'm going to get back on the world,

Derick: and I'm going to get ready. And then it's just like, you're not going anywhere, buddy.

Derick: I think that's the one I think of bad luck. That's the one I think of that.

Danny: Yeah, I, I can't, I don't have anything to add to that. I say terrible, terrible.

Derick: I'll say here's some good luck actually that came with that is that I just happened

Derick: to have right at that same time, my former roommates.

Derick: So like my best friend's wife's best friend had to had a cat that she had to find a home for.

Derick: And so and she knew that I loved

Derick: cats and I had had a cat like my whole life you know for

Derick: like 20 years and it died or passed away a couple years prior

Derick: you know lived a long good life but I hadn't had a cat since then and she knew

Derick: that I would be a good cat owner she's like hey would you like this cat so all

Derick: right you know it was like April or something of that same year so it's like

Derick: all right I just happen to have some good luck and get my I always call her

Derick: my emotional support cat because I'm just locked inside all day,

Derick: just thinking about everything.

Derick: And now I have this noisy animal who just wants love and affection for me.

Derick: So that was some good luck that I got my emotional support cat.

Danny: No, that's good. There was a silver lining there.

Derick: Yeah, exactly.

Danny: And cats are awesome. They don't bug you too much like dogs can.

Danny: But when they want to, they're right there for you.

Derick: Exactly, exactly.

Danny: It worked out well. That's awesome. I like that. And like I said,

Danny: it's a nice gentle way to ease into the random questions.

Danny: Hot seat time. So on that note, let's have a look at what question number two is.

Danny: Okay question two what is your

Danny: least favorite part of your day it doesn't have to be the day but your day

Derick: It's a good question because like i feel like my days are always so,

Derick: different you know i guess if it's a if it's a a day where because i you know

Derick: i i podcast on and stuff but i do have a day job um so i guess it would be a

Derick: day where i have to go into work when I have to get ready and leave,

Derick: you know, cause then you've still, I've still got my whole

Derick: eight hours ahead of me. And it's not like I hate my job.

Derick: I like my day job, but it's just like that moment of like walking out the door

Derick: and be like, all right, here we go.

Derick: Let's, let's get this thing over with, you know? And so I think from there it's,

Derick: you know, it's all like, all right, well, I'm, I'm in the flow.

Derick: I'm starting to do stuff, you know, but,

Derick: getting to the point where you're like i have to you have to force yourself

Derick: out of bed walk out the door it's never fun yeah.

Danny: And what's it is it close to you i know sometimes people have got like long

Danny: commutes to their day jobs etc is that part of it or not too bad

Derick: Luckily it is it is close um i did i worked a bit further for a little while

Derick: um but i am closer now so it is at least it's a short commute um and i can like

Derick: you know listen to podcasts and stuff on the way um so at least i I've got that benefit.

Derick: I know it's, you know, it's rough. Like I always think of my dad when,

Derick: you know, I was growing up, he had this like hour and a half long commute and

Derick: I, too much, too much. I couldn't do it.

Danny: Yeah. I used to work in Toronto before we moved to where we are now.

Danny: And my daily commute was two hours each way. It was horrible.

Danny: And that's when I had young kids, like they were super young then.

Danny: So I was leaving before they got up for breakfast and I was getting home as

Danny: they were almost getting to bed.

Danny: I did that for three years and I hated it. So I'm with you.

Danny: I like it. If that was me, that would that would

Danny: definitely be my least favorite part of the day for sure and and i guess maybe

Danny: thinking back to the first question about luck um and you believe in luck if

Danny: you were to win the lottery would you continue this might be a silly question

Danny: would you continue that job or would you ease out that and put more into the

Danny: podcasting your creative side then oh

Derick: I would quit immediately you know like i it's it's nice to have like you know

Derick: things that are a little like a little bit tough to get with,

Derick: like podcasting, like health insurance and a 401k, you know, in the US.

Derick: But yeah, that's that. Like I said, I like that job for a job,

Derick: you know, but this is what we're doing right now.

Derick: This is my passion. This is what I really, really love to do.

Danny: Yeah. Well, as someone that podcasts, you know, a serial podcaster,

Danny: if you like, I'm 100% with you there.

Danny: I mean, I work at a job that I love.

Danny: It's a podcasting platform and industry.

Danny: And I probably still work there, I feel, because it is embedded in what I love.

Danny: But yeah, if it was like a 95 day job at an office or something like that,

Danny: I'd probably be out like you, out like Flynn and into, you know, into the creative side.

Danny: So I hear you on that. so yeah that's uh i feel that's a fair part i feel maybe

Danny: most people would say you know the least favorite part is taking them away from

Danny: doing something they really want to do or enjoy so yeah we'll go with that for sure

Derick: I i always say you know when i started the podcast like

Derick: five or six years ago it was a hobby and

Derick: now it's become a side hustle you know it's it's

Derick: a way for me to like i am i it does afford me the ability

Derick: to work less hours at work you know get some extra

Derick: money like you know obviously flex my

Derick: creative muscles and then i'm hoping you know in another five

Derick: or six years this is my profession you know this is i i this is what i can do

Derick: i'm able to you know make enough of between this and the writing and all the

Derick: other stuff that i don't have to worry about you know going getting the 401k

Derick: and the health insurance and all that stuff yeah.

Danny: Well i feel your podcast as well is very well set up for that kind of thing

Danny: where you can also do live events, you can go to movie theatres and have these

Danny: conversations and these episodes in movie theatres with live audience, etc.

Danny: So, you know, and maybe have the underappreciated movie playing as the entree,

Danny: and then you discuss it afterwards.

Danny: So, yeah, I can see that happening for sure.

Derick: Yeah, I've done a couple of those. It's always fun. I've got another one set

Derick: up for later in the year that I'm looking forward to at a museum.

Danny: Oh, I'm not going to say is that going to be Night at the Museum,

Danny: because that was an appreciated movie.

Derick: Not quite, although that could be a fun one to do at some point.

Derick: But, you know, that would be a fun one we'd all do at a museum and talk about.

Danny: Yeah, see what comes to life and then do a follow up some bonus content.

Danny: Awesome. I like that one. So let's have a look at what question number three brings up.

Danny: OK, it's a bit more of a not somber one, but more like a serious one of you like.

Danny: But question before you, Derick, what is your biggest regret?

Derick: That's, you know, that's, that's a good question. Uh, I mean,

Derick: obviously, you know, you try to live with as, as few regrets as possible.

Derick: Um, but I think, you know, I think I would, there's, you know,

Derick: arguments and stuff that you've gotten in with, you know, friends or family

Derick: members and stuff like that.

Derick: There's always things you, you wish you, you hadn't said to people and stuff like that.

Derick: So, I mean, there's, I just wish that there's times when maybe I've been,

Derick: I've been kinder to people, you know, and I'm not saying, you know,

Derick: like I'm going out and yelling at people every day, but, you know,

Derick: we all, we all do stuff that we, you know.

Derick: Wish we could take back. And I think that, yeah, maybe there's,

Derick: there's a few times where, you know, I've been in the heat of an argument or

Derick: something and, uh, you know, said something that I wish I hadn't said.

Derick: So I, there's not, I can't think of a particular, you know, one,

Derick: which is, I guess, a good sign.

Derick: Um, but you know, I always try to, you know, be, be more empathetic,

Derick: be kinder and stuff like that.

Derick: And, uh, yeah, I, and, you know, you know maybe

Derick: two like you're you know you've had a couple

Derick: and you're just you know you're a little bit more loud and and uh uh and gregarious

Derick: than you should be so i think that probably would be you know my my regret is

Derick: just you know is is uh being a little bit more loud and obnoxious than i should have been in the past.

Danny: Well it's funny you mentioned that about um you

Danny: know having a couple of libations for example um because my

Danny: uh my uncle very typical scottish man um

Danny: he'd have a few beers at the weekend and he'd just unload

Danny: on you with some home truths you like to

Danny: call it and he says you can always tell when i'm being honest with you

Danny: because i'll always just tell you the truth when i've had a few beers and

Danny: people say yeah but you're not being truthful you've been obnoxious you

Danny: know it's there's two they're not mutually exclusive um

Danny: and when you when you recognize that you've maybe said something in that event

Danny: do you feel too embarrassed to apologize after do you find that you do kind

Danny: of make things up or do you think that i should just let that one go and not

Danny: bring it back up at all because that it's just bad for everybody i

Derick: Think you know i think it's always important to own up to your mistakes you

Derick: know i think that especially if you know the people it's people that you care

Derick: about you know it's yeah rather than just sweep it,

Derick: It's good to, to air it out to, you know, cause I feel like if,

Derick: if the situation's reversed and if somebody, you know,

Derick: says something out of line to me or something like that, or, you know,

Derick: has too many and, and to speak in some home truths, uh, you know,

Derick: I, I, I definitely appreciate them trying to like own up and be a big person

Derick: and, and admit their mistakes.

Derick: And I always try to admit my mistakes and rather than just, you know, like, ah,

Derick: like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to bring it up because it'll be awkward,

Derick: you know, apologize, say, hey, you know,

Derick: I'm sorry, you know, I shouldn't have said that, blah, blah,

Derick: blah, you know, so I think it is important to be a big person to realize your faults and to,

Derick: you know, hopefully the people will, that you care about will accept, you know,

Derick: accept that and, and, uh, you know, take it back into the fall.

Derick: As long as it doesn't become a recurring thing, you know, as long as you can,

Derick: I think it's important to look at your mistakes and try and grow and learn from them.

Derick: Because I think as much as my successes have made me who I am,

Derick: I think, you know, a lot of my regrets and failures have as well.

Derick: And you know, you try to be a better person every day.

Danny: Well, it's interesting you mention that. The episode that dropped today, Rai Voss is my guest.

Danny: We were talking about something like that, about time travel or going on in

Danny: the past or something like that. I can't recall exactly how it got to that point.

Danny: And he's on about, he had very active, realistic dreams, if you like.

Danny: And one was going back in time to warn his younger self not to hook up with his younger wife.

Danny: But then to your point, if you do that, then you don't learn from these experiences

Danny: of what went wrong there. and it helped him be with his wife and he's got a

Danny: child now that wouldn't have happened had that not been the case.

Danny: I mean, is there anything in your past that you feel that you really wish you

Danny: could have a makeover, a do-over with or to your point, it would just impact who you are now too much?

Derick: Yeah, no, I don't think that I would change anything. I think,

Derick: like you said, it's something that would impact who you are and you think about

Derick: these big regrets that you have but, you know, things that didn't turn out,

Derick: you know, like not to keep going back to it, but there, you know,

Derick: what that breakup that I went through right before COVID, you know,

Derick: you think, oh, well, if I had said this different, then I had done this differently,

Derick: you know, but then if I mean that person don't break up, then I'm not with my current girlfriend,

Derick: which, you know, I would like, I'm so much happier now, you know,

Derick: like it was such a good, healthy relationship now.

Derick: So if I don't go through, you know, a, a rough breakup and,

Derick: you know a you know learn from things

Derick: you know and just about myself and

Derick: about you know relationships in the world and everything and B you

Derick: know if I'm still with that person who is not necessarily right for me and now

Derick: with a much better person for me you know so I think that you you you know it's

Derick: kind of like what we're talking about before about like making your own luck

Derick: is that even if there's situations you get into that are of your own causing that are not great,

Derick: You can learn from them. You can find a way to go forward. You can make a better

Derick: situation for yourself, ultimately.

Danny: Yeah, it's like that. I don't know what the term is for it, but like you say,

Danny: it's making your own luck. But it's the changes that could happen.

Danny: Yeah, it's positive that you can impact your life for better at that time.

Danny: But the negatives could be so huge at this time, you know, now.

Danny: So I guess it's almost like you're saying, yeah, there's things that we regret.

Danny: Everybody does that. but that's part of just growing and learning and doing

Danny: better the next time, I guess.

Derick: Yeah, exactly. Like that's part of being human, you know, like nobody's infallible,

Derick: nobody's perfect and you're going to make mistakes.

Derick: And the important thing is to when you make those mistakes to learn from them

Derick: and to grow and to be a better person.

Danny: Well, I like that. I cannot add anything onto that at all. That is perfect. So I like that.

Danny: And speaking of being a better person, we better move on to question number four. Very nice thing.

Danny: Yeah, I have to work on these. Some work, some don't, but we'll see.

Derick: You know what? You're doing a lot of them every episode. So you know what?

Derick: Law of averages, there's going to be one that, you know, but they're great. They're great.

Danny: I appreciate that. Question number four, Derick. What do you want to learn more about?

Derick: Ooh, learn more about, because that's, I'm always trying to learn.

Derick: I'm always trying to grow, you know, I'm, I like to learn a lot about history, honestly.

Derick: I mean, I, that's for like my day to day, just kind of like,

Derick: I like to learn just like interesting, random, fun facts.

Derick: But I guess on a, like, kind of like a more, you know, related to,

Derick: you know, what we're talking about here.

Derick: I always want to learn more about how to be a good podcaster be a good writer

Derick: be a good creator And I think about like, you know, I feel not that I don't

Derick: feel like I know a lot because I do I Think I'm you know very versed.

Derick: I like to you know in that same vein learn more about movies and that's why

Derick: because I didn't go to film school or anything, but I Watch a lot of movies. Obviously.

Derick: I listen to a lot of film podcasts.

Derick: I read a lot of books on film so,

Derick: When you, you know, when it comes to podcasting, when I think about the stuff

Derick: that I know now that I didn't know when I started, I'm like,

Derick: I didn't know anything, you know, I thought I knew a ton when I started.

Derick: And so I'm sure that, you know, a few years down the road, I'm like,

Derick: wow, I was doing this in 2026. I can't believe I was doing that.

Derick: You know, so yeah, just learning more about the craft and about the medium that I'm covering, I think.

Danny: And is there a second obviously movies have got you

Danny: look at the credits on a movie you know and there's so

Danny: many people that can be involved and sometimes you think really there was 10

Danny: producers on that where did that go wrong you know so it's like come back to

Danny: your overappreciated movie um what is there an aspect in movie making a movie

Danny: producing movie promotion whatever that you would really really ideal job love

Danny: to you know learn and excel at i guess

Derick: I would love to learn to be a better screenwriter. I write, obviously,

Derick: a lot. I've written some fiction.

Derick: But I don't think I'm a great screenwriter. I've read a few screenplays.

Derick: I've read William Goldman's book on screenwriting, which I highly recommend

Derick: to anybody. I've read some Sid Field stuff.

Derick: But if I was going to have a job in the film industry, I think I would be a screenwriter for sure.

Danny: And what's the, because as you mentioned, you write a lot. But there's,

Danny: apart from just the format, because obviously screenwriting and screenplays

Danny: are different from, say, written books and, you know, journalism.

Danny: What do you feel is the biggest hurdle, for want of a better word,

Danny: that makes a great screenwriter from someone that can write a screenplay?

Derick: I think it's knowing how to best utilize the medium.

Derick: Because, you know, on one level, you're not writing this to be read.

Derick: With so much other writing you write a book or a poem or something like that

Derick: this is meant to be read or at least spoken verbatim whereas the screenplay

Derick: you're writing things that are,

Derick: other than the dialogue you're writing so much that is very technical,

Derick: like you're writing stage direction and all this stuff and you have to know

Derick: how to do that but you also still can't lose that lyricism,

Derick: which is why I think a lot of really good screenwriters, like I just brought

Derick: up Bill Goldman, who's my all-time favorite screenwriter.

Derick: He started as a novelist and kind of accidentally became a screenwriter.

Derick: So I think you have to have that technical aspect, but you also have to be a

Derick: really good storyteller.

Derick: You know, you have to be able to want to, you know, create something that is

Derick: a little with a little bit more ambitions that,

Derick: a play, like, reads like a novel. Because if you read, you know,

Derick: William Goldman's screenplays, or, you know, like, there's a reason Shakespeare,

Derick: his plays are read and studied, those are things that were never meant to be

Derick: read like a book, but they still read so well.

Derick: You know, you can get really engaged with them, even though it's a medium not even meant for that.

Derick: So I think you have to really have that, both of those talents in spades.

Danny: Yeah, I could imagine. So you mentioned it's set in a scene not only for the

Danny: actors, or maybe reading it as a read-through or first impressions.

Danny: But I guess you've also got to set the scene in the actor's head because of

Danny: what could be or should be happening on screen at the time.

Danny: So if there's a bunch of special effects, I can only imagine what a massive

Danny: special effects movie might look like from a screenwriting point of view because

Danny: you're trying to say, well, this is going to be up here, that's going to be

Danny: here, there's got to be floating zargons over here, etc.

Danny: So I'm curious to know whether it can do that. You mentioned you've done,

Danny: or you want to be a better screenwriter.

Danny: Have you done a few yourself that you've submitted, or is that a go?

Derick: No, I haven't written any screenplays. When I've written fiction stuff,

Derick: it's usually more like novellas or novels or short stories.

Derick: I haven't really done any screenplays.

Derick: I would like to maybe work on a documentary, and that's a different thing.

Derick: But I would love to do a documentary slash video essay kind of thing.

Derick: I have some ideas for what I want to do with that.

Derick: It would be cool to write a screenplay, but I think one of the problems with screenplays is...

Derick: Not problems with screenplays, but a problem that a lot of screenwriters bump

Derick: up against is that unless you're directing your own stuff...

Derick: You know, your vision isn't necessarily going to be realized,

Derick: which is why I think you see a lot of the best screenwriters are like,

Derick: are now thought of as some of our best directors.

Derick: You know, you think of like Alex Garland or like Billy Wilder or something like that.

Derick: These people who start writing screenplays and then they just keep getting frustrated

Derick: because they're like, well, you did it differently than I was wanting it to

Derick: do, or you changed this stuff. So they're just like, I'll do it myself.

Derick: So I think that is one of the things too. And, you know, film is obviously a

Derick: collaborative process unlike novels which is like one person writes the novel

Derick: and sure you might have like an editor or something but it is really one point of view whereas

Derick: you know even if you are the writer and the director you still have to have the actors.

Derick: Saying you know the words and they might you know he you can't make them say

Derick: it exactly the way like it's a fincher's always talking about he's like yeah

Derick: these he wants to control his actors so much

Derick: which is a different vibe than like clint eastwood who's like yeah just

Derick: kind of like say it however you want to say you know have your own process i

Derick: don't care um which makes sense because clinton eastwood

Derick: was an actor and uh you know and you know these other guys who started screenwriters

Derick: and stuff like that might have a different opinion so i i'm much more of the

Derick: like i want to create a world and just kind of like work on it myself than i'd

Derick: feel like a screenwriter would do but it would be something fun i think yeah.

Danny: It's funny you mentioned the the relationships between you know,

Danny: the different creatives. I've been really enjoying watching a bunch of YouTube shorts.

Danny: And I'll have to find a full interview, I'm sure it's up there,

Danny: with Russell Crowe talking about his time in Gladiator and the relationship

Danny: he built up with Ridley Scott based on bringing that character to the screen

Danny: and how, you know, Ridley tried to direct when the first we meet,

Danny: you know, Maximus and he's on the battlefield, he's looking up at this imaginary

Danny: bird that flies off, et cetera, and that pulls him back to the battlefield.

Danny: And then how he wanted to,

Danny: When he finds his wife and his child hanging from the beams and he wanted Maximus

Danny: to actually try to hold him in touch and where Ridley Scott said,

Danny: well, that can be pretty dark, we're not going to go there.

Danny: And it's been fascinating to watch. I feel without Russell Crowe being the actor

Danny: in that piece, I don't think it would have been as good a movie.

Danny: Ridley Scott's a fantastic director, but I don't think the relationship would

Danny: have worked with maybe another actor because you could tell Russell Crowe was

Danny: so involved in this creation, this character.

Derick: Yeah and that's the thing is you know it when you

Derick: have creating a character you really need a strong presence

Derick: from writer director and screenwriter to really

Derick: make it work and you need to cast somebody like russell crowe with

Derick: a role that like powerful because i mean i i

Derick: acted before i was you know i was a theater

Derick: major for a hot minute and yeah acting is

Derick: such an important part of that and you might even bring as

Derick: an actor something that neither the writer or the screenwriter thought

Derick: of you know something like i speaking of ridley scott i

Derick: always think of blade runner and how rugger howard essentially

Derick: improvised the tears and rain thing and it's like one

Derick: of the greatest and you hear rugger howard talking about it's like yeah just

Derick: tears and rain i just kind of thought of it you know and and you know ridley

Derick: scott is just like or there's there's uh you know there's this interview i saw

Derick: where like the writers of parks and rec will be talking like yeah we you know

Derick: we write all these great pages and come up with all these jokes and then Chris Pratt or Nick Oferman or,

Derick: whoever would just say something, just improvise something and it's just hilarious

Derick: and gets a huge laugh out of the room. And it's something we never thought of.

Derick: That's one thing I love about film too is how collaborative it is. Is that you have,

Derick: all of these different people that you need to work together to make a film

Derick: and when it really works it's a magical thing.

Danny: No 100 and that parks and rec

Danny: favorite show well not favorite one of my favorite shows and uh yeah to your

Danny: point the blooper reels of that show are just crazy funny if you have like a

Danny: good body sense of humor you want a good laugh go look at the blooper reels

Danny: from parks and rec um it's just you mentioned chris pratt there just some of

Danny: the stuff he comes very funny guy oh

Derick: Yeah yeah i i will say just i miss i miss that era of chris pratt before he

Derick: was like i'm action hero man you know like that i he he was so funny for him

Derick: and he still does that occasionally the guards in the galaxy and stuff but yeah.

Danny: Yeah it needs to it'd be fun to revisit that i mean i don't know if it would

Danny: be fun sometimes you just have to leave the past behind um but maybe be fun

Danny: to revisit that and see what the character is doing 10 years now you know 10

Danny: years down the line from the original show timeline or whatever but great great

Danny: show and yeah that I'm not as obviously involved in the movie space as yourself.

Danny: But yeah, when you watch a good movie, you can see when everything's just come together perfectly.

Danny: And why, if it's underappreciated, why we need a podcast like yours to make

Danny: sure it gets appreciated because it's put all that effort in.

Danny: So yeah, I like that. I like that. And I feel that's a good time to move on

Danny: to your final question in the Hot C, Derick.

Danny: So let's have a look at what question number five brings up.

Danny: Okay, I'm going to go with this one. And I'm not trying to be mean to anybody

Danny: they might have received this from.

Danny: But question number five, what's the worst gift you've ever received?

Derick: Oof worst gift i've ever received

Derick: um okay uh i think

Derick: so my grandpa when

Derick: he was still alive um would was kind

Derick: of notorious for buying these really cheap like it was before timu was a thing

Derick: but they were very like timu style gifts like i don't know what website he was

Derick: buying them from but they were it was like it was old man timu that he was getting

Derick: these gifts from and he would always just get us essentially junk every Christmas or whatever.

Derick: I remember he got me like this really cheap watch once where the second hand

Derick: fell off like a day later.

Derick: I think that's probably the worst gift. Cause like, first of all,

Derick: I don't even wear a watch.

Derick: Like I, I'm not a watch guy, you know? Um, so I, he, he could like,

Derick: he clearly never like knew anything about us, you know?

Derick: Like he, he was like not really that present in our lives, you know,

Derick: no disrespect, but he just kind of was like

Derick: oh yeah derrick he's you know i was probably like 20 or something he's a young

Derick: guy young guys like watches at least they did in the 1950s or whatever so i'll

Derick: get him a watch and it was just like something he clearly spent like ten dollars

Derick: most on where it's literally falling apart the day i get it.

Danny: I wonder if that's like uh i i'm sure it must

Danny: be though but it must like a generational thing because um i

Danny: i like my wife i like to buy stuff for our kids

Danny: just like a surprise nothing major you know um hopefully

Danny: nothing team you like but we never know maybe it is um but and we always think

Danny: our son will like that or daughter like that and half the time they hate it

Danny: and we're thinking do we even know our kids and that's our kids not our grandkids

Danny: that we see maybe once a blue moon you know to hand over a watch or something

Danny: so i wonder if that's something as you get older,

Danny: you're still in the mindset of what you actually would enjoy.

Danny: And you're given that gift because you think, well, I enjoy it.

Danny: He or she's my blood and kin they're bound to enjoy it too

Derick: Yeah that's interesting because i mean i feel like when i'm giving gifts it's

Derick: it's always you know i always try to consider,

Derick: what the person would want but you got to bring your own flair a little bit

Derick: you know like like you gotta like um you gotta because you gotta give it a little

Derick: bit of personal there's a,

Derick: you it can balance too much towards that second

Derick: thing where it's like well this i think this is really cool so they must love

Derick: it too you know and it's especially hard when you

Derick: don't like you said it's different with you have your kids or whatever but it

Derick: was like if when you don't know somebody super well you're like i don't know

Derick: what what do i what do i get them you know like what do they they like and it's

Derick: i end up getting people books a lot of the time you know because i think books

Derick: are always like a like a great gift like you know but it's like well what's

Derick: your taste what are you gonna like.

Danny: Yeah yeah and it's funny like you mentioned the watch at least it was a manual

Danny: one because did still make digital watches now i've never i've haven't worn

Danny: a watch for years but i remember digital was massive at one time and i i don't

Danny: recall seeing them now to

Derick: Be honest yeah i i don't think like i said i don't really wear watches i guess

Derick: i yeah i guess people probably like runners and stuff wear them you know and

Derick: swimmers and like if you're doing something physical i think that they're they're

Derick: still big with that crowd but that might be it.

Danny: Yeah and i guess everybody's got a smartphone now anyway right

Danny: so you don't you know i keep them like messing

Danny: up my my my kids because they'll ask what time it

Danny: is whatever and i i'll generally i'll be checking time anyway

Danny: for whatever reason i'll have a decent idea what the

Danny: time is so i'll reply with the

Danny: time but i'll always make it a minute or two off and they'll say well

Danny: how do you know that because of the sun you know the sun's overhead at

Danny: two two o'clock angle right now so it's got

Danny: to be two o'clock or whatever and they don't know i'll be checking my

Danny: phone they will if they were listening to my podcast but they'll never

Danny: will so i'm safe there but um yeah it's just gifts are funny things like you

Danny: say mate it's uh you know you can make a really good decision or you can make

Danny: one that comes from a place of love but it's just the last thing you would ever

Danny: treat yourself to and what about yourself have you ever given a bad gift that

Danny: you know you made a mistake once you handed it over to the person

Derick: I don't know that I've like necessarily gotten a like given a bad gift.

Derick: But I think one of the funnier times when it was it was it wasn't bad.

Derick: It was like just kind of like, oh, this is weird and awkward was on Christmas.

Derick: This must have been 10 or so years ago because it was when I don't remember

Derick: it was Ted one or Ted two. But one of the Ted movies had just come out.

Derick: And, you know, my family's exchanging gifts and me and my brother Marshall are

Derick: giving each other gifts. and we both happened to have bought each other the TED DVD.

Derick: And we opened each other's gifts and we're like, well, we know each other's taste, I guess.

Danny: No, that's great. I mean, I guess if one breaks now, you've got the backup one.

Danny: I guess people still use discs. DVDs are still fairly popular.

Derick: I'm a big physical media guy. I like to have physical stuff whenever I can.

Derick: I'm a big believer in that.

Derick: Because, you know, for a lot of reasons, partially it's that collector mindset,

Derick: but partially it's like because it's something you own, something that if I

Derick: want to watch something, I want to watch, you know, like the other day I was

Derick: wanting to watch Cloud Atlas. I'm like, well, it's not streaming anywhere.

Derick: I got the DVD, though. I could just throw it on, you know, and it looks a lot better.

Derick: You don't have to worry about, you know, the quality of a stream or whatever,

Derick: the internet lagging, like all that stuff.

Derick: You could just put in a DVD to look crisp and precise. and you know i also love

Derick: the bonus features so there's a lot of reasons i love love physical media.

Danny: Yeah no i i hear you i've got an old

Danny: laser disc player and so i love now and again just getting out my

Danny: like criterion edition laser disc of like the star wars original original

Danny: movie release quality you know uh experience so yeah i hear you and good point

Danny: about the streaming it's not always going to be on streaming and the quality

Danny: can really suffer depending you know who you've got and prime just seems to

Danny: want to throw ads in even as you got the four bucks a one faxer you have to

Danny: pay to not have ads. They still put ads in there.

Danny: And they're getting really cheeky now. Some of them are putting ads hard-baked

Danny: into the start of the video.

Danny: So you can't even skip it. You've got to scroll forward before the movie starts up.

Danny: Physical digital mediums yeah i'll go with you on that one yeah

Derick: Or if you like pause it you know like there'll be like an ad it's like taking

Derick: a coffee break grab like this or whatever you know.

Danny: Exactly maybe off the those are i was at a podcast event a few years back and

Danny: someone their service was a podcast sound better on vinyl you could actually

Danny: download your podcast on vinyl record an lp and just build up if you've got

Danny: multiple episodes you have multiple lps but i I thought that was a really cool

Danny: idea, you know, because you get that crispy,

Danny: like crackly sound of an LP, but it's your podcast. Well, that's kind of cool,

Derick: I thought. That's fun. That's cool. That could be like a good,

Derick: you know, novelty gift, you know, like that could be something cool.

Derick: Like, hey, you know, if you have a podcast, you're like, hey,

Derick: I got you this episode for you on vinyl. You know, that'd be cool.

Danny: That would be cool. Well, speaking of podcasts and hopefully coolness,

Danny: it's the end of your turn on the 5 Random Questions hot seat.

Danny: And I really do appreciate you taking the time and sharing your answers with

Danny: some weird and some fun questions there.

Danny: But this is only fair, Derick, because I've had you on the hot seat for about 40, 45 minutes or so.

Danny: It's only fair to hand over the question asking Baton to you.

Derick: Yeah. So my question for you is if you lived in a fictional world, you know, a,

Derick: you know, something from media, whether it be books or TV or movies or video

Derick: games, whatever it might be,

Derick: comic books, but you're still a normal person you're still just a regular guy

Derick: so like if you say harry potter you you're still you're a muggle you don't get

Derick: to go to hogwarts you say lord of the rings you're not an elf you're just a

Derick: human living in rohan or whatever what fictional world would you choose.

Danny: That's a good one there's so many to choose from so many great worlds

Danny: I think for me, I've got a lot of favourite movies. A lot of them are fantasy

Danny: and sci-fi and fantastic worlds, etc.

Danny: I think I'd like to be probably part of the original Star Wars.

Danny: When it was new, when it was first released back in the 70s and the 80s,

Danny: I guess, for the original trilogy.

Derick: Yeah, yeah.

Danny: Purely because it wasn't crazy CGI special editions.

Danny: It felt like a lived-in universe. All the ships were dirty.

Danny: The interiors were dirty. that you'd go to a dive bar and there'd be fights

Danny: and everything. It just, it felt real.

Danny: And I think I'd like to be part of that during the...

Danny: I guess during the first movie, where the rebels are rising up,

Danny: they've had some successes because they're all gone, etc.

Danny: So they're rising up, and now you're starting to see other countries,

Danny: other galaxies, other worlds, etc.

Danny: Rise up too, but there's still a lot of danger.

Danny: So as a human, because it's such a varied,

Danny: lively galaxy, universe, I feel it'd be kind of cool to go there,

Danny: and just see all these wild aliens and these wild vistas and these wild locations

Danny: that you would never see on Earth as a human, obviously.

Danny: You would never go down and speak to a walking rug, right? You'd never see a

Danny: big googly-eyed patron at a bar drinking a little blue milk, etc.

Danny: So I feel, I'm a Star Wars nerd. I love Star Wars through and through.

Danny: The first big movie I saw at the movie theatre was a nine-year-old boy.

Danny: So it's my childhood. dude so i feel that's probably it's probably a cop-out

Danny: because it's a simple one but that would be me where i could just watch this

Danny: galaxy you know go on around me

Derick: And even if you're stuck on a boring planet or something you're

Derick: like on tatooine you know you can't get up you know you

Derick: still could go to like you said the bar and there's like all kinds

Derick: of crazy aliens there and there's you know people playing these you

Derick: know weird instruments and everything and uh who knows maybe one day you'll

Derick: see han solo walk in or whatever even if you're like a normal person you're

Derick: a grunt in the rebellion or whatever um you know living under you know in a

Derick: fascist imperial empire would not be ideal but other than that i think that's

Derick: a pretty good that's a pretty good answer.

Danny: Well, as well, you've got the, I mean, you've got the Womp Rats.

Danny: You can go hunting Womp Rats, right? You can go, you know, I think it was Tatooine

Danny: that they had the pod race on as well, right?

Danny: From the middle prequel trilogy, I guess.

Danny: So I guess there's a whole bunch of stuff to do. But yeah, I feel that'd be it.

Danny: And like you say, I just feel that it'd be fantastical just to be in these worlds.

Danny: Because I'm not going to get anywhere.

Danny: If space travel became affordable and, you know, widespread for the human race,

Danny: I don't think that would happen in my lifetime. That's going to be my kids'

Danny: or their kids' lifetime, for example.

Danny: So having that opportunity, that'd be good enough for me for now.

Derick: Yeah, that's cool. I like that answer.

Danny: Well, I appreciate the question and taking me back to my Star Wars youth.

Danny: And as I mentioned, I have really enjoyed having you in the Random Questions Hot See, Derick.

Danny: For people that want to check out your podcast, the other stuff that you do,

Danny: I know on your website you've got a whole bunch of stuff that you also do as

Danny: well. You've got another podcast.

Danny: Each year you come up and review special episodes, etc., or movies of the year.

Danny: For everybody that wants to check out all the cool stuff you're doing.

Danny: Where's the best place to connect, find you online, listen to the shows, etc.

Derick: Yeah, like you said, you can go to my website, underratedmoviepodcast.com that

Derick: has links not only to Underrated, but the other podcasts that I do,

Derick: like I do one on the MCU called Infinity Stones and Dragon Bones.

Derick: You mentioned that however year I have a different podcast that I do as a bonus

Derick: podcast over on my Patreon. So you can also go to patreon.com slash underratedmoviepodcast

Derick: or on all the social media just by looking up Underrated Movie Podcast.

Derick: Or, of course, however you're listening to this podcast, we're on all the podcast

Derick: apps. Just look up Underrated Movie Podcast and we should come up.

Danny: Awesome. And as always, I'll be sure to leave all these links in the show notes.

Danny: So if you're listening on the podcast app at the moment or even online on the

Danny: website, just check the episode show notes out as usual and all the good links

Danny: will be there over to Derick's cool stuff.

Danny: So again, Derick, I really appreciate you coming on 5 Random Questions today.

Derick: Yeah thank you for having me and i will say it is very cool to hear my name

Derick: pronounced in a proper scottish accent you know it's it's it's you know i don't

Derick: realize how cool it was that what i was missing until it happened so it's very that was very fun that.

Danny: Is awesome it's funny i saw your name and i thought either scottish background

Danny: or irish background so i'm glad that that worked out

Derick: I was very happy i found out recently i always thought it was irish but i found

Derick: out recently more recently Scottish I did the Ancestry.com.

Danny: Thing Awesome well again well even that's an added bonus that's going to be

Danny: my bonus outtake there for sure that is awesome to hear you're very welcome

Danny: Thanks for listening to 5 Random Questions and if this was your first time here

Danny: feel free to hit follow and check out past episodes If you enjoyed this week's

Danny: episode I'd love for you to leave a review on the app you're currently listening

Danny: on and if you know someone else that would enjoy the show be sure to send them

Danny: this way it's very much appreciated Until the next time keep asking those questions.