391: A conversation with actor & author Molly Ringwald!

[00:00:00] This is Pop Culture Confidential and I'm Christina Yearling-Biru.

[00:00:30] This was a time when female teen main protagonists were few and far between.

[00:01:00] The first was Jeffrey Dahmer's stepmother in Dahmer.

[00:01:30] She was on the cover of Time magazine and it was a level of fame that was incomprehensible.

[00:01:36] At 20, she went to France and ended up staying there for many years and she says that felt like she could breathe again.

[00:01:44] Molly Ringwald has worked with Cassavetes, Gordard and Cindy Sherman.

[00:01:49] She's played Sally Bowles on Broadway, she writes novels and has translated books from French.

[00:01:55] It was fascinating to talk to her about all that. Her complicated feelings towards her early teen films, her Swedish roots, Capote versus the Swans and the incredible group of actors she's worked with on the show.

[00:02:09] The Swans as Truman Capote called them are played by Callista Flockhart, Demi Moore, Chloe Seventy, Naomi Watts to name a few.

[00:02:18] They played the New York socialites in the 60s and 70s who were close friends and confidants of Capote, played by Tom Hollander.

[00:02:26] In 1975, Capote wrote a gossipy and thinly veiled account of the Swans going on in secrets for Esquire titled Lecotte Bask 1965.

[00:02:38] Suffice it to say it majorly ruffled some swan feathers.

[00:02:44] We made New York the capital of the world, the center of everything and who is at the center of that center?

[00:02:54] Truman, Truman, Truman, Capote.

[00:02:57] It's our great protective and our best friend we tell him everything.

[00:03:01] Even the awful things we've all done to each other.

[00:03:04] You earn the face you deserve.

[00:03:07] Yes I think so.

[00:03:08] Oh my.

[00:03:10] Hey.

[00:03:12] Truman, these ladies are swans? Why'd you part about them?

[00:03:19] Because they are beautiful and predatory.

[00:03:22] Why can't it be everything all at once? Sex, money and an endless invention.

[00:03:30] Truman Capote's famous black and white ball that took place at the Plaza Hotel in 1966 has gone down in history as one of the most iconic parties ever.

[00:03:42] Just a few days before my talk with Molly, the show had their premiere and after party and of course it was at the Plaza Hotel with a black and white dress code.

[00:03:53] I had to ask her all about it, the dresses and what it was like.

[00:03:58] Oh it was really fun.

[00:04:00] The invitation was to come.

[00:04:04] It was strongly encouraged that we wear black and white or black or white.

[00:04:10] And so my dress was from Rudard A.

[00:04:16] They did a custom dress for me.

[00:04:18] I wanted something that was really sort of big and you know sort of like fancier than I normally do.

[00:04:27] And it was really fun. It was beautiful.

[00:04:29] It's like a swan with a white feather boa type of thing coming in.

[00:04:33] Yeah, yeah.

[00:04:35] It was black velvet had like a halter that had a bow in the back going down the back and then sort of underneath there was tool.

[00:04:47] And you know it had a really great silhouette shape.

[00:04:51] Because I knew that all of the ladies were going to be bringing it.

[00:04:56] You know, we have Naomi and Chloe and you know, to me and they're all such incredible, you know, fashion icons Diane and Calista.

[00:05:08] So I knew that I had to look my best.

[00:05:12] I did and you had a second outfit which was more because I'm very self conscious about dresses but like a tux.

[00:05:18] Yeah, oh my god.

[00:05:20] I had a tux.

[00:05:22] I was originally just going to wear the word I heard that the other ladies were doing a costume change.

[00:05:29] And I thought, you know, okay, well then I have to do a costume change.

[00:05:34] So I ended up wearing this texito by a designer who's a friend of mine named Todd Thomas.

[00:05:40] That I just loved it was it very, it felt very kind of you know, Salaron helmet Newton, you know that famous photograph of the smoking, you know that one that I'm talking about.

[00:05:54] Yeah, you know very chic silhouette.

[00:05:57] So yeah, so I had two very different looks in the same right it was really fun.

[00:06:02] Well, it was amazing. It felt so right for what you guys are doing with this amazing show and I want to get into that now in the story you play Joanne tell us who she is.

[00:06:14] Joanne Carson was the second wife of Johnny Carson, who was a very famous talk show host of the tonight show for years.

[00:06:27] I mean, I don't know actually how many years he did the tonight show but it was it was a really long time and he sort of was yeah decades and he was kind of like one of the most important people in Hollywood and she was his wife.

[00:06:43] And and then she divorced him.

[00:06:46] And and sort of became a little bit of a social outcast herself because you know she went from being the wife of the most important man in Hollywood to to sort of yeah not really the divorcey.

[00:07:01] Yeah, she was a divorcey and I think it was one of the things that really bonded her to Tremacopodi.

[00:07:09] They were sort of outcast together, you know towards the end, I think she was really one of the only people who stood by him and you know he lived in her house and I think he you know he died in her arms and or if not in her arms, you know in in the house but she was really.

[00:07:28] You know it was just the two of them sorry it's my my dog is barking.

[00:07:34] Oh hi, that's this is Millie Ringwald. Hi Millie Ringwald. Oh my god she's the cutest.

[00:07:43] Yeah, Joanne was actually even buried next to him I understand they were close yeah yeah I think you know when when Kapodi was.

[00:07:54] Cremated I think you know she she gave half of the ashes to his his former lover and then I think she kept half of them herself and then yeah they were in turn next to each other.

[00:08:08] Where was he in his life and his psyche when he was closest with Joanne during this period as you were mentioning outcast from these swans in New York that he was so she was really taking care of him both physically and psychologically.

[00:08:26] I think she was doing what she could but I don't think that there was any saving him I think he really was too far gone by that point.

[00:08:36] I actually remember Tremacapodi from when I was little.

[00:08:41] I the first play that I ever did when I was three years old was an adaptation of the Grasshoppe which was a an autobiographical piece of work.

[00:08:52] So I was always interested in him and then when I was little growing up, I would see him on the tonight show or you know or Dick Cavett some show that my parents were watching.

[00:09:04] Or you know that movie murder by death that he was in and he always was so fascinating to me because I thought who is this guy who is this man and he seems so strange and he had that that sort of other worldly voice and it you know.

[00:09:20] He was he really kind of seemed like he was just completely falling apart you know and I remember asking my parents about you know my mom like why is he like why is he talking like that why does he see he was drunk he was basically drunk on national television.

[00:09:38] And that's yeah that's when they were friends and I think I think she really loved him and you know believed in him as as a writer I think she really thought that he was a genius and he really was I mean he really wasn't incredible writer but I think he really got this whole thing with the high society and the women and being cast out I think it really kind of did him in that whole he just lost.

[00:10:07] He lost his focus part of it angry as well in the whole situation or bitter perhaps yeah I think he.

[00:10:15] I mean look you know he could have written something and not expose them in the way that he did I think he was he was rather cruel.

[00:10:27] In the way that he told their secrets there there's a way that you can write and use people you know as material but mask it and change it and use your imagination do it in such a way where you're not.

[00:10:45] You know exposing them like that it was very self destructive I don't think that he wanted to be cast out but I think that maybe there could have been some anger at sort of feeling like their court jester as well you know there could have been some conflicted feelings in him.

[00:11:05] Live by the never let the truth get in the way of a good story and he said things like all literature is gossip I mean that was sort of part of his.

[00:11:14] That was kind of his thing I mean that those you know he was really great with the bone mode like he had the great clip and he was but I I feel like he really cared about his writing and I really do think that he was an incredibly gifted writer and I feel like there's no reason to be.

[00:11:35] There's no reason at all why he couldn't have written about them and still manage to sort of maintain their dignity in a way like there was a way to do that he could have used his imagination a little bit more you didn't have to write it the way you know because of course like he's you know of course that was coming nobody would have been.

[00:12:00] I'm happy with that with being exposed in the way that they were.

[00:12:07] And I want to mention your post art Tom Holland or who plays him he is absolutely spectacular as him and I was thinking today is the 10 year anniversary of Philip Seamer Hoffman's death who of course sort of made a version of Capote which was incredible as well and Tom Holland did his own thing and it's just as powerful and magnetic in this setting.

[00:12:29] So what was that like to see him transform you know it was it was extraordinary I have been very lucky and the this is my second project that I've done with Brian Murphy and you both times all of my scenes were with incredible actors you know in Dahmer all of my scenes were with Richard Jenkins and you know it was it was a blessing to you know anytime you're paired with somebody who is.

[00:12:58] That good it just sort of you know it brings it brings you up it's it just makes everything so much easier so I didn't know what it was going to be like I never met Tom Hollander you know I knew I knew his work but I didn't know what it was going to be like or how we were going to be together.

[00:13:18] And from the very moment that I met him we just we got along so well I mean he made me laugh he was you know but he was he was extraordinary because I would be talking with him at one moment and he would be Tom with that incredible beautiful voice that he has you know that accent and like he's very charming as him and then and then all of a sudden it would be you know I have to get into you know and he would start

[00:13:47] getting into to Truman and start listening to you know he was always had access to recordings of Truman and then he would he would just all of a sudden his posture would change and it would be just it was it really seemed like you were watching a magician you know you're watching like yeah how it was really exciting you know it was such a transformation and you know unlike a lot of American actors who I think

[00:14:15] would just stay in character all the time I don't know how Philip Seymour Hoffman was when he was making it but I can imagine a lot of actors just kind of staying with it because it's such a specific character.

[00:14:27] I would think it would be hard to go in and out but that's what Tom did he just went in and out and in and out sort of effortlessly and it was it was really beautiful to watch it amazing you guys are so great together.

[00:14:40] And speaking of Ryan Murphy what is this visionary power that he has to reimagine these stories that are so fascinating for us again and again like right into the zeitgeist of what we think what do you think it is he has.

[00:14:58] I don't know but I would like some of it myself.

[00:15:04] You know he is he seems like he's he's tireless I don't know when the man sleeps you know he has so many different projects going all the time he.

[00:15:18] You know he really just I think does have a gift for sort of tapping into the zeitgeist but also you know really kind of tapping into what is interesting to him and you know I think he's very interested by obviously you know LGBT.

[00:15:38] He's interested in a lot of people that have been disenfranchised he's interested in you know women and also women of a certain age which I fall into that women of a certain age category you know he's.

[00:15:57] I'm super grateful for that yeah as as our most women but unlike the rest of Hollywood who wants to put women out to pasture or once they're no longer 22 years old not Ryan he's interested in telling stories that other people aren't interested in telling you know and and he does it.

[00:16:21] I don't know I'm really sort of intrigued by him I find him a very intriguing person and you know and I have a lot of respect for what he's what he's doing.

[00:16:32] And sort of you know the and also the way that he puts it's almost like he has his own little studio you know he works with a lot of the same actors but he also works with the same you know crew.

[00:16:47] Same directors and you know the costumes in this were you know Lou and Rudy you know I worked with Rudy Mance on on Dahmer but Lou I think has done almost all of his projects and you know.

[00:17:02] And I really love that I love people who who work with the same people and you know he builds he builds this trust around yeah.

[00:17:14] Hello and welcome to guilty greenie I feel like we should start off the show by saying it's nearly impossible 100% sustainable given the current world we live in.

[00:17:26] How do you know that one bite of time not quite an LJ for a picture you know we're telling us sustainability maybe not the best analysis.

[00:17:36] The first rule of the game there's your first challenge of the week.

[00:17:42] Avoid elephants.

[00:17:45] What they used to call frugal is now considered sustainable.

[00:17:49] It's such a now hard moment for you to sustainable.

[00:17:52] You can save money and help the planet that's going to be our new.

[00:17:55] To headline for sure.

[00:17:57] You can find guilty greenie on Apple podcast or whichever podcast platform you prefer and join us in tackling the guilty greenie challenges until then stay curiously green.

[00:18:09] Speaking of those women you talked about them before me we have you Naomi Watts and Diane Lane Demi Moore close 70 I mean just to name a few.

[00:18:23] This is as you were saying women of a certain age you've had these incredible careers and then kept them going when you guys get together.

[00:18:32] And just share wisdoms of how you manage to get through the business what are some of the things you learn being together with this group.

[00:18:41] You know I think when most of my stuff was with Tom so I didn't have a lot of scenes with the other women.

[00:18:49] I had one scene at the black and white ball and and then I had one scene I think with Chloe but most of my stuff was with Tom so usually when we see each other it's when we're doing press stuff.

[00:19:00] Yeah yeah and you know usually it's it's just really nice to you know usually we're just laughing at at stuff that we've been through and it's you know it's not very often where you get to like talk to other people who have been through a similar experience who have been through these incredible highs and also lows and you know been rejected and you know applauded and rejected and all of that stuff and I just find it very.

[00:19:29] Very comforting in a way to be around all these other women who have had you know similar not exactly the same as me but similar similar experiences and they're all just so nice and dynamic and also like really supportive like I think all all of the women I mean Chloe went on the tonight show a couple days before I did you know with Jimmy Fallon and and like she told a story about like crying when she met me.

[00:19:57] Which I know it's so sweet so like so lovely and you know and there's just something that's so nice about women supporting other women because I don't really feel like when I grew up we were necessarily encouraged in that way I feel like we were kind of pitted against each other and competitive with each other in a way.

[00:20:20] And I don't feel like that's the case anymore. I feel like women have really banded together a lot more or at least maybe it's our age and our wisdom I don't know but that's kind of the way that it feels to me.

[00:20:33] Oh it feels like that very much and I mean especially compared to the group of women you guys are playing.

[00:20:39] I mean that's such an oppressive sadness in that and I mean I'm sure they they supported each other in some ways but just in general.

[00:20:49] Yeah definitely definitely I don't really feel like those women led very happy lives.

[00:20:57] I mean I don't really know I didn't know any of them myself but yeah I don't it was it was a time where women really were expected to be you know ornaments and they were expected to to just pretty much exist on the arm of a powerful man.

[00:21:22] They're all women who could have run businesses themselves. I mean they were all powerful powerful and smart and influential and yeah they they could have easily all run businesses if they wanted to in a different time they weren't they could not do it in the time where where they lived when they lived.

[00:21:46] I'm talking about being in female influence. I mean for me movies as a kid for me was Rebel without a cause it was ET, Elliot and things like that the outsiders and then Samantha came from 16 candles and then Claire from breakfast club and then Andy and pretty in pink and I realized that there's huge blind spots in these movies but how do you feel about being such an incredible influence or or a phrase that's just like that.

[00:22:15] A phrase that's just such an importance for someone like me, someone who was a teen in those years and because it really was something else. It was a different thing I had not seen that portrayal of a girl before.

[00:22:29] Yeah um I think it was you know I I have mixed feelings about the films I you know which I've written about extensively in the New Yorker.

[00:22:44] I love them you know I there's so much that I love about them and and the fact that.

[00:22:54] And and the fact that they still resonate today you know there are still kids that come up to me who are huge fans of the movies because they feel they connect with them they were saying something that that hadn't it hadn't been done before or since you know he managed to tap in.

[00:23:13] To tap into the psyche of young people in a way that nobody had done and particularly like having a female protagonist I mean there was huge I mean to have to be the lead in a movie and and have the movie sort of you know everything that happens is because of this character

[00:23:37] and I was moving the action along it was it was everything that was happening to my character like that was extraordinary.

[00:23:45] Yes the movies are flawed but they were also very representative of their time and you know I watched the breakfast club the other day with my 14 year old I have 14 year old twins

[00:23:55] and I hadn't watched it in a really long time I think maybe the last time I watched it was with my elder daughter when she was younger.

[00:24:02] And my kids had been wanting to see it for a long time and I kept sort of putting it off putting it off and we finally watched it

[00:24:10] and I noticed that they didn't take out their phones once which that's the sign right there you know on the other hand like so they were really drawn in and which is no small feat because of the way that media moves now

[00:24:26] and I think that's the way that things are edited and cut and just what is being offered to kids now is so different you know by me it's all like they're on this like Marvel diet

[00:24:36] and it's hard to know how to watch movies and anytime we try to show them a movie you know from the 70s or 80s or even 90s you know it's really hard for them to not want to pick up their phone because they're not used to

[00:24:53] to having that kind of you know drawn out focus the way that movies were you know just constructed they were slower and you know so I really didn't know how they were going to respond to that but they they were totally intrigued on the other hand

[00:25:10] they really took issue with you know they of course none of them have you know neither my son or my my daughter had had read the article that I wrote but everything that I took issue with they immediately clocked like why is she going with this guy who was so like he's harassing her the whole time

[00:25:31] sexually harassing her like why does she why does she want to be but like they were honestly like confused like be wildered by it and and and it's you know it was an interesting conversation like well it was a different time

[00:25:46] yeah like that was like seduction and you know in the 80s like you know you were supposed to go for this romantic yeah like that was hot yeah you know it's like good guys guys that like treat you well

[00:26:00] are are you know that was synonymous with boring when I was when I was growing up and obviously that's changed now you know but it took a while I mean it took me a while in my own life to sort of get over that idea that if somebody was treating me badly

[00:26:17] that didn't mean that they were interesting or smarter than me you know and that's like a lesson that you know that's that's on us that's on our society and I mean that's what you see yourself for the longest time.

[00:26:29] So of course but it's also if we're talking specifically about breakfast club it's also a group of kids who get together and talk about everything they're going through and terrible home lives and just that I mean what if you would be doing more of that today just talking with people from different sections of life.

[00:26:49] Yes yes exactly and I think that that is what for me makes the the movie really durable and makes it something that I'm ultimately really proud of is the fact that yes he managed to do this movie and cast these characters in the way that we all interacted together.

[00:27:08] You know I mean it's extraordinary you know it's all one set is practically a play you know and and it managed to be this big hit in this movie that endures and I think it's because it really is hard when you're in middle school or high school.

[00:27:25] It really is hard to talk and it's hard to like expose yourself and to be honest and to be vulnerable like that is is still incredibly hard.

[00:27:36] Another day I was in the car with my daughter who was I don't know she was I think 13 at the time and she was talking to her other 13 year old it's really entertaining when you're in the car and you're listening to them.

[00:27:48] And they were talking about like everything that was embarrassing oh my god can you imagine can you imagine if that happened and they were talking and then it came up like can you imagine if we were hit by a car or something oh my god that would be so embarrassing I would be so embarrassed by that like everything you know oh I don't know what I would do I'd be so embarrassed.

[00:28:05] Like everything at that age is so embarrassing and being talking about your feelings like you're the most vulnerable part of yourself and crying in front of another kid your age is you know extraordinary and and that that film kind of gave them permission.

[00:28:25] Then that was so tough for us can you imagine then having it all on cell phones everything you do and having to be out there all the time it's yeah so much harder so much harder to be a kid now.

[00:28:39] It is now 706 you have exactly eight hours and 54 minutes to ponder the error of your ways any questions yeah it's Barry Manolo know that you rate his wardrobe.

[00:28:52] A brain a beauty a jock a rebel and a recluse can't believe this is really happening to me before this day is over they'll break the rules.

[00:29:04] Hicks cannot hold these smoke that's what it is bear their souls coming in from any act your parents were this take some chances being bad feels pretty good and touch each other in a way they never dreamed possible why'd you do that.

[00:29:21] I'm sorry when.

[00:29:25] The breakfast club.

[00:29:27] After this period you move to France in your early 20s right why well I was really looking for some place where I I wasn't known you know because I kind of became famous at a pretty young age and

[00:29:45] I feel like I kind of needed to sort of be out of the public eye for a while and that's kind of what France gave to me I didn't know that I was going to move there when I went there I went there originally on a job and then I just fell in love with France and then fell in love with the person and you know ended up saying yeah as that as it happens.

[00:30:08] You know I it was really amazing for me to be somewhere other than Hollywood you know where when you're in Hollywood and you're you know it sort of feels like you're somewhere where nothing else matters except for these movies and having this career and it really kind of and I felt like I wanted to know what.

[00:30:34] What life was outside of that and so then I went to this place where where they think they're the center of universe you know so then I was a center you know that I was like in this other place where.

[00:30:44] You know everything's different and like the history that I had learned you know in school was not like you know it suddenly made me question everything.

[00:30:55] And sort of like opened up my world in a way and really sort of changed my life and certainly changed my trajectory you know I don't know if it was the greatest thing for my career as an actor at the time but it was but it was it was really invaluable for my development as a person as a human being.

[00:31:18] I mean you were just 20 or something like I mean that's a really mature thing to say I want to get out of this fame world this toxic where the most I would say one of the most famous people in this world at that point yeah well I didn't know that I was doing it for that reason I think it's it's only in retrospect that when I look back on it and I think about the choices that I've made.

[00:31:45] You know why why I was doing it I mean I knew that I wasn't happy.

[00:31:51] At the time you know and and I was you know battling depression and anxiety and all of that and and just really didn't feel.

[00:32:05] Inspired by the kinds of roles that I was being offered at the time and.

[00:32:13] And I knew that I had to do something to sort of get out of that and I didn't know exactly what that was I applied to college and I was accepted and I was you know my plan was to go to college in the fall and then I went to France and then and then stayed there and that sort of became my my college i've always done things a little bit you know differently I'm I'm pretty self educated.

[00:32:39] So yeah I think it's it's only in retrospect that I understand what I was doing but it was really just very instinctive at the time it was just like oh my god this feels amazing it was it was like it was feeling like I could breathe all of a sudden you know after sort of breathing through a straw it was suddenly like oh I could actually breathe and you know and.

[00:33:05] And I was just so I just loved it you know coming out of I was living in Los Angeles at the time and you know where you're just kind of isolated in your car you go from your well you know if you go from your house to your car to another thing you know.

[00:33:18] And it's I really love living in a walking city you know whenever I'm in France I just I just get out in the morning and I just walk and and then I come home at the end of the day and.

[00:33:31] And I just love that and same in New York I really love to be in places where I can just walk everywhere.

[00:33:38] What are the stories you want to tell now I mean be it the ones you write or what you act then well I want to tell stories about people you know about interesting women and you know I feel like there are a lot of incredible women out there and and.

[00:34:00] And you know and I want to play them and I want to I want to do stories that that.

[00:34:08] That are about human relationships and and and love and and.

[00:34:17] You know the complications of that and you know society and you know I don't I don't know exactly what it is but I know that that's what I'm drawn to and that's what I want to watch so I think I want to just make movies about.

[00:34:36] People that I want to see if that makes sense and I'd also really like to work with you know interesting filmmakers in fact one of my favorite filmmakers I would love to work with is Swedish who's.

[00:34:52] Let me guess yeah.

[00:34:54] Ruben yes.

[00:34:56] Of course I mean I love his movie I think I've loved every movie that I've seen and his you know I and I am I am Swedish I don't know if you know this I am.

[00:35:11] I am Swedish on one part of my family in fact I did I did this show called who do you think you are.

[00:35:18] That Lisa Kudrow produces one of the producers and they basically do your family tree and they say you know you and you don't know where you're going but they basically give you a you know they say pack for cold weather or warm weather you know pack for this amount of time you know and then they follow the story and I was almost like 99%

[00:35:40] sure I was going to end up in Germany because of my name you know I thought I was going to end up in the black first in Germany and then ended up in Sweden and it followed the Swedish line of my family.

[00:35:51] So I got to go to Sweden and you know Stockholm and my my family it was my great grand my great great grandmother who came from Sweden and from southern Sweden and it was it was amazing I loved it I like I can't wait to go back it was it was.

[00:36:09] It was great to like go and and like feel like oh my people I get it like you look like me I can see like you know well.

[00:36:17] Even Eston would be so lucky to work with you so I'm sure he is still get the call I mean he's incredible I really love I mean I just watched the square again with with my daughter like we we love his movies love your ghost Latimos Greek would love to work with him.

[00:36:37] Wasn't your father from Greece was you know no no my father is I know I'm married to a Greek American you're married to that's yeah yeah and all of my kids are half Greek well according to them they're full Greek.

[00:36:50] They yeah they reject the Swedish part I know well that's the only part that they're okay with they like the Swedish but but they really love the Greek.

[00:37:01] But yeah I would love to work in other countries I would love to do another movie in French that would be you know because I only did I worked with Godar but everything was in English and I only did one movie that was completely in French.

[00:37:15] I'd also love to do more theater I would love to do a play in France I mean there's still like a lot of of acting that I'm excited about doing you know I'm really sort of it's I'm really excited about this space.

[00:37:30] I'm excited about this phase of my career. I saw you do Sarah Sally bowls. Oh did you yeah amazing I mean if someone doesn't know what a good singer you are I can tell them now so that's not an easy there's some really big numbers in that one.

[00:37:50] Yeah there's some really big numbers but it's kind of an ingenious play because you actually don't have to be a great singer to be in the play because Sally is not supposed to be like a particularly great singer so you know there it's been.

[00:38:03] It's been nice for a lot of you know actors who don't necessarily have a singing voice but yeah I started out as a singer so so it was it was really fun to do that yeah so I mean I would love to do another play as well.

[00:38:18] I'm a musical you know there's there's a lot that I would love to do.

[00:38:23] Recently I talked to Sophia Coppola who someone else who sort of followed trajectory of first making movies about being the teen and you know exploring that and then I was talking about Priscilla you know now being the parents looking at the teen.

[00:38:42] Your teens or other teens in general what is the main difference you see from the 80s teen that you were and what they're looking for in their female stories.

[00:38:53] Oh I think it's so different now like I like we talked about being a teenager and I mean first I have to say I love Sophia Coppola she's another director that I would love to work with I mean both my daughter Matilda and I just completely fangirl out over her.

[00:39:11] And you know her aesthetic and you know she's she's so I think she's so massively talented.

[00:39:21] I'm not sure exactly what they're looking for I think I think it's just really hard for them now to to unplug you know from from the phone they're on their phones all the time they're constantly scrolling.

[00:39:40] And it really has changed the way that they experience stories and storytelling.

[00:39:48] You know it's hard to know I mean they they definitely I know that that that quibi was at what it was called the thing that that that they were trying to put out with like the little short.

[00:40:03] Yeah I know that that was a failure but I think the basic premise I think makes sense because the way that our kids really digest their stories now it's not long and drawn out the way that that I learned you know how to you know when I learned how to make movies or you know be in movies that's that was how we told stories and I think that's really changing.

[00:40:32] Based on the way that they consume their content so you know I don't really know I'm always kind of interested to see what what they're drawn to and you know and obviously like kids are different you know like what my 14 year old likes is very different than what my 20 year old likes and I don't think it's just a matter of age I think it's who they are as as people.

[00:41:01] You know my 20 year old Matilda who's also an actress now you know has always really been interested in art and cinema and you know and she she experiences everything as an artist my 14 year old is very much a 14 year old and you know she's into whatever is trending on tiktok like that's that's what she's into.

[00:41:27] You know so I and I think that she's she's going to sort of like discover as she goes along you know what what she wants and you know and hopefully there'll be some interesting you know hopefully i'm really hoping that that Hollywood kind of like not to say that like Marvel movies shouldn't exist obviously they they they fulfill a sort of.

[00:41:54] Need or desire or escapism or whatever it is you know my son loves Marvel movie as does my husband they're like the Marvel boys together.

[00:42:04] You know but I feel like there it would be really nice if there was something to offset that a little bit because not everyone is going to be in Marvel movies and I feel like there has been like a real dearth.

[00:42:15] Of of movies about like like the breakfast club movies that are you know sort of that speak for.

[00:42:23] Kids that are like intelligent and don't pander to them and are not exploiting in any way.

[00:42:31] Well that's one of the wonderful things about watching your movies like bring together with my kids is that you see that it's the same things they're going through.

[00:42:41] In a different scenario but in general it's the same anxieties and it's the same things in the same.

[00:42:47] Who am I and can I get out of this role and be someone else and and so those movies are important are important I just watched all of the strangers with my oldest son and that was hugely impactful so yeah you know yeah I think i just really want those movies to.

[00:43:08] Be made like I feel like 8th grade was was a movie that I really really loved you know the boburner movie yeah boburner with LC Fisher a few years ago I felt like that was really.

[00:43:23] That to me is the most realistic movie about what it's like to be a teenager right now with the you know with the social media you know it's like a real thing.

[00:43:37] And I know like I don't want to sound alarmist or anything but I really do think that it is changing the brains of our kids.

[00:43:46] In ways that like I don't know what the answer is because there's you know we can't put the genie back in the bottle like it's not it's not going to change if we can't all of a sudden say like okay now.

[00:43:59] Now we won't do that we realize that it's actually better if you're not on screens all the time you know it's really really hard and once your kids get to a certain age you know they're just so much more digitally savvy than than we are because they grew up with it.

[00:44:13] But you know I worry about what's you know how what what the long lasting impact of of their brains are going to be anyway that's like a really depressing note to.

[00:44:24] Yeah no I was just going to say that i'm so happy that your movies exist and that you that you'll keep making these stories for us and thank you so much for taking the time it was a real thing for me to be able to talk to you.

[00:44:38] Sure oh thank you I look forward to talking to you again bye take care.

[00:44:44] Thank you so much to Molly Ringwald don't miss few decapote versus the swans it's out now.

[00:44:51] And thank you so much for listening pop culture confidential is a part of the evergreen podcast network subscribe wherever you get your podcasts see you next time.

[00:48:21] Hello and welcome to novel conversations a podcast about the world's greatest stories I'm your host Frank Lovalo and for each episode of novel conversations I talked to two readers about one book.

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