Diane Lane & Michael Gandolfini (Extrapolations); Keifer Sutherland & the cast of Rabbit Hole

0:00 In this week's episode of Pop Culture Weekly, I talk to the one and only Diane, Lane, and Michael Gandalfini about their Apple TV+ series, Extra Preleations. Then I talk with Keither, Sutherlin, and the cast of "Rabbet Hall," let's go! Welcome to Pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from I Heart Radio. Your pop culture news, views, reviews, and celebrity interviews on all the movies, TV, music, and pop culture you crave weekly. Here's Kyle McMahon. (upbeat music) ♪ Nanna, nanna ♪ ♪ Hello and welcome to Pop Culture Weekly ♪ with Kyle McMahon, I of course am Kyle McMahon, and there is no special rotating guest, or wait, there is no special guest host in the rotating panel of guest hosts this week, as it is an all interview episode because we have got fire today.

0:56 Starting with Diane Lane and Michael Gandalfini, and we're gonna talk about Extra Preleations, which we had David Diggs on last week to talk about this series on Apple TV+, which is so incredibly amazing and so incredibly powerful, and you've got to watch it. And talk to me on social about it. Let me know what you think of Extra Preleations. It is really just one of those pieces that makes you think, and it's what great art really does, I think. So I talk with Diane Lane and Michael Gandalfini about their roles in Extra Preleations, then I talk with Kiefer Sutherland and the cast of Rabbit Hole, which is exclusively available on Paramount Plus.

1:48 Rabbit Hole is so good. I'm a huge 24 fan, I watched that growing up. I was obsessed with it. It really, I think, redefined what television could do. Again, after the X-Files did it before. And it really, in my opinion, popularized, or I guess repopularized, cereals on television, where the one episode ends, and then when the next one begins, it takes place right where the last episode ended off. So I love 24, I love Kiefer Sutherland. And I love the show Rabbit Hole. It is an edge of your seat thriller.

2:30 And I don't even know how to describe it. I guess you could say, so Kiefer plays John Weir, who is this kind of in this world of corporate espionage, where he like, you know, goes undercover and uncovers it. And then he is framed for a murder, which it gets, that's really all I can say, but it is so, so, so good. So I talk with the cast of Rabbit Hole, including Kiefer himself, Glenn Fakara and John Rekwa, Metagolding and Charles Dance, Walt Clink, Enid Graham and Rob Yang, literally the entire cast. It is such a good show.

3:12 We're gonna start off with Michael Gandalfini and Diane Lane. And if for some reason you live under a rock, Diane Lane, besides being Mac Hent in DC's Superman series, the DC extended universe, Martha Kent. I feel like she was kind of young to play Martha Kent, but she did it so well, so it's like, you know, love her. And I love her anyway. She is an incredible actor. She debuted in a little romantic comedy film in 1979, called A Little Romance. And then of course, just became a huge, you know, power player.

3:53 She was in the outsiders from Francis Ford Coppola. Actually, she's been in three or four Francis Ford Coppola films, Rumblefish, Streets of Fire, The Cotton Club. I absolutely love her in murder at 1600, which is a great kind of action, political thriller. Of course, she was in the perfect storm. I mean, like one of my favorite movies, it's just so, oh my God, that movie is just so good. And I just have such great memories of it. And still love it today. And she played Chris Cotter and that. Then she was in Unfaithful, which, I mean, she was in a whole bunch of other stuff, but like the next huge one was unfaithful with Richard Geer, which was really, really good, twisty, turny, thriller.

4:42 I love thrillers. And then of course, man of steel. She, oh, she was in Pixar's Inside Out. Batman vs Superman, Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Zack Snyder's Justice League. And that's just a few things on the film side. You know, she's been on television as well, loan some dub back in the late 80s and House of Cards, which of course was, you know, a huge series. And now extra relations. She's also, by the way, just FYI, she has a new series coming up soon. It's a mini series, I believe, with David Akelli and directed by Regina King called A Man in Full.

5:28 And Jeff Daniel Starr is in that with her as well. So I'm looking forward to that one. So that for you people living under a rock, it's just a little tiny glimpse at the one and only Diane Lane. And along with Diane Lane, I speak with Michael Gandalfini, who of course, of course is the son of the late great James Gandalfini. Michael made his film debut in Ocean's Eight. And he starred in the many Saints of Newark, which was kind of a prequel to the sopranos that takes place in Newark, New Jersey during the 60s and 70s. So I talk to both of them. And we're gonna jump right into my interview with Michael Gandalfini and Diane Lane.

6:17 (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Thank you so much Diane and Michael for speaking with me. I really appreciate it. Totally, of course. Thanks for joining in. - Nice to meet you. - Join in, yeah. - Join you. - Thank you. So this series is incredibly powerful. It's also very scary in many ways. And at the heart of it, for me at least, is the human element of it all? Was that what attracted you both to your characters in the series?

7:00 - Yeah, I definitely think that when I got the script, it's such an inspiring sort of, you know, series about things that I'm really passionate about. And I think a lot of people are in sort of this, you know, within the last, I don't know, 20, 30 years become a real civic duty to be aware of these things. But what drew me in was the relationship that Rowan has with his father, you know, and sort of the estranged relationship because as he's doing something that he really believes in, he knows that it's gonna cause his relationship with his father to be more strained, you know, and I think that there comes to a point when you begin to grow up where some of your views and some of your sort of opinions on things differ from your parents.

7:58 And it's a really scary part of growing up. And I like really related and really thought that it was a beautiful, you know, relationship to have within this giant sort of world about, you know, global warming and sort of our earth. So it definitely drew me in, yeah. - And how about for you, Diane, with Martha? - Well, I like the fact that my character has a sort of moral dilemma and she wants to be in service to what she believes is the greater good, but things are revealed as she goes along.

8:45 So we sort of see her earlier in the story and then I guess maybe several years later within the same story. We see her trajectory of her line of work and her involvement. We get to understand more about technology and the corporations that are in control of so many access points to what we've become dependent upon. And I think that that is an interesting parallel that Scott Burns is very gifted at paralleling our current experience and extrapolating on where we're headed based on trajectories that have already been seen in our rear view mirror.

9:29 We can sort of tell the world we're on, right? Interesting. Yeah, so I was interested in her journey and the journey that she's on, yeah. - I love that. And for you as actors, obviously you're also fans of great work, was it exciting for you to see the story lines of the other characters? 'Cause it's such a big cast to see their progression through the scripts. - Yeah, I mean, I hadn't read any of the other ones. So to begin to watch it as just a viewer, I got to fall in love and hate characters and be excited and not know where we were going and be surprised and laugh and laugh.

10:23 - Yeah, for sure. And it's a great, great show. And I got to watch it as a viewer 'cause I didn't know where it was going. So it was such a pleasure. I liked how it left, it leaves you with hope at the end of each episode. You get this little surprise gift like the bottom of the cracker check box. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - So this would just leave you thinking, oh, thank God. - Yeah. - Yeah, absolutely. - And I think it is important. What I think is so great about extra relations is that on one side, you know, I'm a huge fan of disaster films and that sort of thing. And this has obviously an element of that, but it has the human element that I was talking about before where we see how it affects us in so many ways that many of us may not even think about until seeing something like extra relations where you're like, oh, that's me doing, you know, whatever one of the characters is doing.

11:24 Or that's affected me. And I think that's such a powerful thing that the series does. Also seeing things on the news and just realizing, oh, the global seed bank, you're like, all right, I've heard that there's concern about their future when that's something that we really rely on. And he's so gifted at threading together intersecting plot lines. And, you know, our vulnerability as a species does bring us together. And that, you know, not only preserving the biodiversity, but we are also part of the bio and the diversity.

12:08 Yeah, absolutely. And I think that some of these ideas can become so overwhelming and scary and sometimes just want you to shut off and not watch the news or, you know, sort of disappear and not know about it. And like the human aspect of this, as you were just saying, like really brings it down to like, you relate in ways through your families, through your friends, right, and you start to think about a small piece, an important piece, everyone's an important piece of a much bigger sort of universe in world. And I think, Scott, does so incredibly. So do I. Thank you both so much for speaking with me.

12:49 I can't wait for everybody to see extra relations. Thank you. Thank you. Nice to join you today. (upbeat music) ♪ Diane Lane, Michael Gandalfini ♪ ♪ Love, love, love them ♪ ♪ And love extra prolace, extra polations ♪ I'm having problems with words today, which is funny 'cause I get paid to play with words. So in any event, love them. There's such great actors and such great people, like just down to earth, good people, love their work. I can't wait to see Diane's upcoming series, "A Man in Full," and Michael is gonna be in Daredevil born again.

13:31 I think that's been announced. Oh boy. Okay, I hope the Disney and Marvel studios, gods don't have me suicided. I think that's announced. If it's not, forget that I said that. He's also in "Bose of Freed," which is the upcoming film from Ari Auster, who is a visionary director, and he is starring in a Bob Marley biopic, which I'm really looking forward to as well. And of course, we'll be covering Diane and Michael's work from here till the day I die. So, or get fired, which at this rate, who knows? So in any event, there was my interview with those two amazing people.

14:15 Next stop, we're gonna get into rabbit hole interviews. I can't even, I'm so afraid to say anything about the series because it's so good and it's so twisty and turny. So I'm not gonna say anything that I haven't said already. Okay, we're just gonna get into the interviews. We're gonna start up with Walt Kling, and a Graham and Rob Yang. (dramatic music) - Hi, have your chat with open please. Say your name and outlet, then begin. - Kyle McMahon, I heart radio's pop culture weekly. Thank you for joining me.

14:55 - Thank you. - What a great voice. Oh, thank you, thank you very much. So I absolutely love rabbit hole. Saw the first few episodes, totally edge of your seat. I can't wait to continue. What was it like for all of you to film something that's so nail biting, so edge of your seat, changing all the time? And Rob, we could start with you and go that way. - Oh, it was great. I mean, just, I couldn't wait to find out what happened. We didn't get all the scripts upfront. We had the handful of them, and then the guys were writing, as far as where they wanted.

15:35 They always have ideas, but I think they're really good at just seeing what we're doing and not being precious with things and coming up with better things. So this show really lends itself to like that, what you think is not what you think maybe, maybe not. I don't know, but yeah, it's got that. And it zooms from beginning, it's eight episodes for the first season, and it just, yeah. It's got no problems with that. Trying to follow what's going on and wanting to. - And how about for you, Edith? - Yeah, it was really exciting to be involved in.

16:17 First of all, a spy thriller. It's a great genre. And then this one is a particular kind of spy thriller because it's also funny and witty, and we got great interesting characters. So I, yeah, I didn't know everything that was gonna happen, and when the new script would arrive in my email, I would immediately stop whatever I was doing, open it up and find out. And I definitely think that's what it's gonna be like to watch it. It's very thrilling and you think you know, and then you don't, so. - And how about for you, Will? - Well, is it a question, sir? - So is it, you know, for me as a viewer, I'm like nail biting edge of your seat.

16:57 It was at the same for you as an actor, you know, going through this. - Of course, man. Every, every time we got a new script, I was like, how do you fight seeing more, was beating up keyframes? do we crazy things that I thought I would never do? You know, they're not, I've got along with knives, skateboards and it's a little bit of a voice dream. Absolutely. And it feels, you know, I've said this to all of the talent that I've interviewed today, except for keeper at this point. I don't know who's good or bad. I'm like, oh, I love that character and then I'm like, wait a second, you know, and then I'm like, Oh, no, no, they're cool. I'm going to be like, wait, no, no, no, no, you know, it's very, and I love that ride as a viewer.

17:41 You know what I'm saying? That's great. Yeah. Yeah. It's exactly it. And I feel like the world we live in now is kind of like that. Like you think, Oh, I know what that person's about. And then you find out, Oh, well, maybe not. And I think it really captures the zeitgeist of show of that kind of paranoia that I think we're all living with. Absolutely. I can't wait for everybody to see or have it whole. I absolutely love it. Thank you. All three of you for speaking with me today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. There they are. Walt Clink in a gram and Rob Yang from Paramount Plus's Rabbit Hole, which comes out this Sunday, depending on when you're listening, rabbit hole comes out exclusively on Paramount Plus this Sunday. And then every Sunday from then on out. I love the show. I'm serious. All right, next up from rabbit hole, Meta Golding and Charles Dance. I thank you both so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. Of course. So first of all, I love rabbit hole. I saw the first few episodes and I am already addicted edge of my seat. And I've got to say, and this is actually a compliment to both of you. I can't tell whether to trust you guys or not. And again, I say that as a compliment, because obviously your skills are both incredible for you. How is it to read something?

19:14 Is it as exciting for you as actors to read a script as it is for us to watch you perform that script when it's so nail biting? Well, speaking for me personally, I'm quite a slow reader. I have to read things about three times, right? My first read of this, I didn't know what was going on, actually. And then I read it again and I get a bit more information. And then the third time, I kind of know what's going on. It's very, very cleverly written, this thing. And it's the kind of thing that you have to watch leaning forward. You can't slouch back in a seat watching this because you've got to be on it the whole time. And if people watch it like that, then they'll be rewarded. But if they kind of sit back and think they can coast through this, they're going to be wrong.

20:23 And how about for you, men? Yeah, for me, when I read the first couple episodes, I didn't know, I was like, well, is she good? Like, I didn't know. I had to keep reading and keep asking questions. It's every episode I thought something completely different about my character. So it was really fascinating to play a woman that has so many layers. And I think that that is what is really intriguing about the series is that you just don't know. And as an actor, that's exciting. But also, it just took me a while to figure it out. I mean, obviously, once I signed on, you know, it was told, they said, this is what the deal is, but there are just so many twists and turns that, but I didn't know.

21:13 And I remember when I first started talking with them about this project, I was like, so wait, is she good? Is she bad? You know? So I love it. Thank you so much. We are at time. I really appreciate it. I can't wait for everybody to see Rabbit Hole. Thank you. Thank you so much. Metagolding and Charles dance. So Metagolding, you may know as a nobaria from the Hunger Games series. She's awesome. So it's Charles dance. But she was also on Empire as Terry. CSI Miami. She's done a lot of work and I'm excited to see all of the things that will be coming from her in the future. Charles dance. He played class in four-year eyes only. He was in a freaking bond film. How awesome is that? He was in Gosford Park. I love that movie. Oligine to house. What of my favorite fine films? Dracula untolds. Victor Frankenstein as Frankenstein himself. The Kingsman as Lord Kitchener. And he's got the liar coming up, which I'm really looking forward to. And that's just on the movie side as well. All right. Next up is the creators of Rabbit Hole, which I can go into a little bit more of them because I feel like that's not the, you know, there's nothing spoiler. I could say about them. These guys are awesome. So Glenn and John met at Pratt in New

22:46 York in Brooklyn and then worked together after college at Nickelodeon doing animation. And then together they did cats and dogs, a bad Santa, which like what? So awesome. Bad news bears. What? So awesome. I love you Philip Morris was their directorial debut and they wrote it and whiskey tango frack, frack trot frack trot whiskey tango, Fox trot with TNFA and and Morgan Roby. And they did the incredible we crashed Apple TV plus the mini series about the we work drama as well as this is us by the way, really, really super creative awesome creators. And here they are. They are the creators and writers of rabbit hole. The Glenn Fakara and John Requa.

23:42 Thank you both for joining me. I really appreciate it. Hi Kyle. Hi. Nice meeting you. I absolutely love rabbit hole. I watched the first few episodes was on the edge of my seat and I can't wait to watch the rest for you as EPs, you know, and creators. Is it as exciting and rewarding a process to, you know, kind of put this together as it is as a viewer? I love puzzles. I'm like a puzzle person. So I love problem solving, which is I guess why I do do the job I do. But so putting something like this together is incredibly challenging, but it's also incredibly fun and kind of satisfying.

24:32 Keep your keep your brain elastic. And how about for you John? You know, it's we really wanted this thing to feel like a movie. We wanted it to move like a movie. We wanted to be shot like a movie. We wanted, you know, everything to be kind of like feature level. And that's hard to do in TV because you don't have time and you don't have money. So it was stressful. We had to drive a lot of the situations that would come up and get the stuff that shot that we needed to do and, you know, and by hook or crook. And so it was stressful making it. It was really stressful. But the once we went into the editing room and we had all these amazing performances and camera work, it was just a pure joy for me. Probably maybe the most fun I've had in my career just editing the show.

25:21 Oh wow, that's awesome. And you know, it is one of those shows that I feel like if I was behind the scenes, I would need like a chart to keep track of everything. Are you guys like, you know, for continuity wise, are you like trying to or were you, you know, tracking every single thing to make sure? Because there's a lot going on. Yeah, there were three of us. And there's Glenn and I and Hunt. And then there's Charlie Gogalack and Dominic Garcia who we work with as well. They all understood it. But basically the only people who really understood it was Glenn and I and Hunt. And so, you know, an actor would want to change something. Or a DP would want to shoot something.

26:05 In a different way, we'd all have to huddle up and go, can we do this? Can we do this? Are we going to, are we screwing ourselves? We were we were we were in Toronto for six months making this and we returned to our office and the whiteboard that has everything on it is still still there. Yeah, you know, it's incredibly complicated. I should have taken a picture of it. Yeah, that's awesome. Like whiteboard with Post-it notes, you know. Thank you. Because we wanted people at the end of the season to go. It all made sense. We don't want this lost effect, which is like, oh, it had twists and turns and surprises, but none of them added it up to anything. We wanted it, the audience to go, oh, wow, that's what this was all about, you know. The way big. Awesome. Yeah.

26:49 I love it. Thank you so much. I can't wait for everybody to see Rabbit Hole. All right. Thank you. It was meaning you have you as well. Have a great day. You too. Lemp the car on John Rackwa. Love them and love Rabbit Hole. Like I said, airing, they be premieres this Sunday exclusively on Paramount Plus. It is so so good. I can't wait to talk to you about Rabbit Hole. All right. Next, he needs no introduction, but I'm going to give him one anyway because he's freaking he for Sutherland. Oops. I guess I just introduced him, but I'm going to give him a more formal introduction. I would say most famously, I mean, at least for me, he's Jack mother umbauer. Okay. In 24. Jack mother umbauer. He was in standby. Me, the lost boys, young guns, flatliners, a few good men, three musketeers, dark city, a time to kill phone booth, melancholia, Pompeii, and the new flatliners.

27:54 And that's just again, a little tiny taste of his resume. Oh, and I can't forget designated survivor where he played the freaking president of the United States. Can you imagine? Hefer, mother and Sutherland. As the president of the United States. Yes, please. All right. In an event. There he needs no introduction, but there was 37 minutes of an introduction. The one, the only keeper, mother and Sutherland. Thank you so much, keeper, for joining me. I really appreciate it.

28:34 Hey, Kyle. Thanks so much for having me. Of course. So first of all, I am obsessed with rabbit hole. I watched the first few episodes. It's edge of your seat. I absolutely love it. I've got to know, of course, I've got to know for you as an actor, do you get that same thrill reading through the script and putting the story together as it might be on my side as if you were watching it? Maybe even more. When I read these scripts, immediately I started kind of knowing exactly what I wanted to do with these moments. And I've been doing this for a long time, and I certainly can tell how this moment is going to translate to an audience. So you get very excited about having an opportunity to play something when you know that it's going to have a profound effect on an audience. And you start to kind of lean into that. One of the immediate things that I loved about the characters that almost out of the gate, he goes through a hundred and eight degree shift where he goes from being the hunter to the hunted and literally goes from being in complete control to running for his life and trying to navigate what is true and what is not true in the world around him.

29:50 And so anytime you get a chance to kind of do something as dynamic as that with a character, it makes that character very vulnerable and it lets the audience in. And so I thought, again, John and Glenn, I think are incredibly talented writers and directors. I think they crafted this beautifully. So yeah, when I got to read these, I was as excited as I get. And did you shoot chronologically for the most part, or was it like production order? Well, we shoot chronologically in the sense that we'll shoot all of episode one and then we'll shoot all episode two and etc. But we do not shoot chronologically in the episode. So we might shoot a scene that's in the middle of episode one first and then we might not shoot the beginning till the very end. And that's just usually that's based on locations and what we can get.

30:47 And we've all become used to doing that. I would probably get thrown if we shot something in order. I'd want to go back and fix everything that we did at the beginning. So that doesn't bother you to like, I feel like there's so much going on in each episode where something can go from, you know, as you said, zero, take a full 180 in one episode, you're able to kind of compartmentalize that for that particular scene. I've learned to write stuff down. You know, I think when I was younger, I used to try and wing it. But I, 24 actually taught me to kind of write stuff down and I have a scale of one to ten and kind of, I have a number that I'll put kind of where I'm at emotionally and in the context of that character. So I try and keep track of it like that and when you map it out, you know, it doesn't mean that something doesn't change a little on the day, but I try to have, I try to have a map. Awesome. I love that. I love 24. I love rabbit hole and I can't wait for everybody to see it. Thank you so much, keeper. Two. Thanks, man. Of course. Have a great day.

32:03 Cheers, you two. Kiefer, mother Sullivan. I cannot believe I just interviewed Kiefer, Sutherland. And by the way, Diane Lane and Michael Gandalfini, what a show and the entire cast and crew of rabbit hole. What a show we have had this is what a show this is today. Like I'm just so, I'm so lucky to get to do what I do every day. And it is all because of you. Thank you so much for listening. Thanks for hanging out with me for the last hour ish. And I will see you next week. We got a lot of cool stuff continuing to come over and over and over every single week just for you. Please continue listening. Please continue sharing. Please continue reviewing the show, especially on Apple podcasts. It really helps in discovery. It helps to continue the show to grow every single week, which you are making us do. All right. I'll see you next week. Hit me up. I love you. We out.

33:08 Thank you for listening to pop culture weekly. Here all the latest at popcultureweekly.com. I just interviewed he for Sutherland and Diane Lane. And Michael Gandalfini and the cast of Rabbit, hold on, paramilose.