Welcome to SmartList, everybody. I hope you have a full charge on your iPod. Do people still use iPods? No.

I don't think so. I think they just use-Is that what they listen to us on? Their phones.

Okay, boomer.

Is boomer, what ages are boomers?

46 to 64. I just looked it up today. Truly?

Truly. Wow. What's a Zer?

Us. That's us.

No, we're Gen X, man.

We're X, sorry. What are the ages of X?

Gen X is like 19-Well, sorry.

We keeping you up. You know we're rolling, bro.

1960. Are we rolling right now?

Yeah, We're cold opening the shit out of this right now. Is this an all new Smartlist? All right, welcome to Smartlist.

Smart. Smart.

Yes. Oh, yeah. Will. Yes.

Well, Will.

Today's Will's guest.

It is.

Yeah.

It is. How are you feeling about your guest today, Will?

I'm feeling very good about my guest.

Yeah.

Well, because I don't want to get into it too quickly, but because it's somebody that we all know.

You'd think I would have a preference as to either your guests or Sean's guests by now? Who ends up hosting better guests? Do you guys have a preference? I think it's pretty random, right?

A lot of times we bring people on that we all know.

Yeah. Then a lot of times it's people none of us know. Sometimes we- Sometimes it's in the middle. Sometimes it's right in the middle. It's fascinating. Sometimes we reach out to guests, and then sometimes guests reach out to us. It's a great blend, you guys. I got to listen to this show.Thank you for pointing it out. This show seems great.

Jason, it was good to see you last night. We all had dinner last night, and we haven't seen you in so long. Yeah, I know. It was so nice to see you. The dinner was super fun, and everybody was funny.

All guinea all night.

I laughed real hard last night. Then I told you-I'm real sweet on that Tig DeTaro. She's great.

She's so funny. I just love her.

Hysterical. Hysterical. I told Will this a couple of weeks ago, Jason, I finally saw The Godfather.

Oh, boy.

Sean says to me the other day. It was really good.He goes, Hey.

Was it good, Sean?

You know what? We watched The Godfather the other night. It's really good. I said, Oh, did you think everybody was lying?

Then I just watched that part two, two days ago, three days ago.

Now, they say that part two is better than the first. I don't remember having a feeling of either way.

Yeah, I think-They're different. They're both excellent. Part two, The Godfather 2 is excellent as well.

Yeah, I had to pause every 10 minutes and be like, Scotty, who's that? There's so many characters.

You're one of those. It remind me never to watch a movie with you. Okay, I'm never watching. Then number three gets a bad rap, but I don't remember watching number three and going, This is terrible.

I think he got a bad rap at the time, and then now people, as they look back, they go like they've had a different...

I just I just got to just say Coppola went back in and recut it recently, in the last five years or so. Oh, really? Oh, really? Yeah. Open it back up. I don't know if that's true.

Yeah, three and a half.

Anyway, check it out if you haven't seen it.

Hey, if you haven't seen any of the Godfather films.

Welcome to Smartlist Hot Takes on new films.

It's like the time Jason came out to me and said, Hey, you know what I want? You know what's really... Blues Brothers is a really good movie.

Yeah.

I remember that. The 1980 film?

I know. I said it was a band Miranda was humming the flash dance song the other day, and I go, You never seen it. She goes, Oh, you're such a loser. I really am. There's so many- Remember last time we were talking about At Close Range, which is a good movie.

I want to go back once.

I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. I need to see it.

Who's in that?

Sean Penn and Chris Walkin.

Oh, yeah. I want to see that. Yeah, let's see. I never saw flash dance.

You didn't?

No.

Now, that surprises me. What about Ghost?

I love Ghost. Sean, I'm surprised you haven't seen flash dance.

I know me, too, because I dance.

Because you like dancing.

And you're flashy.

And flashy.

All right, this is not for the fucking Regis, Cathy Lee chatter.

What are you talking about? It's the fun part. And so is the guest part. But this is fun, too.

I know, but I always feel bad for the guests. They got to sit there and listen to the pattern.

All right, fine.

Well, everybody's got busy lives, too. They're probably sending emails and text and stuff.

You think your guest is sending emails and stuff?

Well, I know that our... I'll put it this way. This is a great segue. Our guest is a very, very busy person. Yeah, because in addition to being a very sought-after actress, she's also a very sought-after writer and producer.

Oh, really?

Yeah. She has written and produced Emmy-nominated stuff. She's produced and written big, huge animated films. I don't Toy Story 4.

Sean.

She's acted in and she's written a new series that she's got coming out. Her new series is called, I think it's called Sunny. Yeah.

It's the worst fucking intro I've ever heard.

No, because I'm trying to- Just take a little time to write something down when you write something down. No, because I'm trying to disguise who it is. You're doing a great job. Because as soon as I say what you know her from, you're going to know who it is. Let's have it. Because you know her really well. Because you know her also very well from things like The Office and Parks and Rec and Boston Public. It's Amy Poehler? No, it's Rachida J. Rachida.

Rachida, did you know you were coming on when I saw you last week, two weeks ago?

I did. Oh, you did. I don't listen to your show, so I didn't know it was a surprise. I'm really glad I didn't say anything. Okay.

Wow. It's happened so many times. I don't even know why we continue the whole structure. Look at your cute pink headphones. I know. Listener, she's got some real headphones on.

My dad's JBL. Really?

He rocks a pink headphones?

No, it's like his design. Oh, his line.

Oh, really? What's it called?

It's JBL, but it's the Q Okay.

We're happy to do some personal experience. If you want to send some of those our way. You got it.

By the way, for my sister- Where are we? Yeah, go ahead. For my sister, Tracy, your dad is Quincy Jones. Please continue.

Okay. Please continue. Yes, Tracy. That's also if you're not a listener of the-I heard about that.

I heard about that.

We referenced Tracy.

Sort of a catch-all for those less informed. But there's no shot at Tracy herself. No. She's a very bright, sharp, Wisconsinian.

She's representing the people. That's right.

She's happy to do it.

Rachida, welcome to Smartlist. Where are we finding you in this great booth of yours?

I'm in my husband's studio.

Question mark. What does husband do? Why does husband have a studio?

He's a musician. He has a radio show, not a podcast, a radio show, but also a musician.

Wait, Jason, do you honestly not know who her husband is?

I don't. You know how old I am. I barely know what day it is. I've embarrassed myself hourly.

You're kidding.

On my kid's life, I have no idea who her husband is.

Her husband, Esra, is singer, songwriter, extraordinary. Have you ever heard of a band called Vampire Weekend?

Oh, no way. Yes. I didn't know. I didn't know that either.

You both met him.

Oh, that's right.

But he didn't-I didn't know that.

He didn't give you his bio. He didn't lead with that.

It's like when people come up to you and they go, Oh, you're an actor. What are you in?

Yeah. I know. Do you want me to start listening? By the way, still to this day, I assume nobody knows who I am. Nobody knows what I'm... People look at me funny, and I'm like, Yeah, I know. I look like that guy you went to school with.

At this At this point?

Really? Come on.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Really? Well, you know why? Because I spent so many years assuming everybody knew who I was, and I had a very uncomfortable adjustment. You peaked early. I was like, I will never make that mistake again.

Yeah, down and hair on the side. Everybody knows you're Justin Bateman. They knew it.

That's exactly right. I get that once a day.

Justin Bateman, a big fan. Not that big. Yeah, that's tough. Rachida.

You guys. It's so good to see you. Tell me what you're doing today and what's going on. You know how much I love you.

I love you. I love you. What am I doing today? This, I'm doing this. What am I doing today? I'm prepping for the summer.

How does one prep for the summer?

Are you cleaning the pool? Got a lot of reps.

Just a lot of reps.

Just a lot of reps. No, just packing. Tannen booth. Taning booth, of course. Where are you going? Well, I'm doing some press for the show.

Oh, yeah.

That will mention Sunny. I didn't write it. I'm in I'm in it. But I produced it.

I thought you wrote it, but you produced it, and you produced it, which is a really cool... The premise is your character lives in Japan, and her husband dies.

Missing, but they're on a plane crash. They're missing. Missing. Yeah.

His company sends you a new personal robot.

Yes.called Sunny.In the future. In the future. Yeah, it's in the future.

I had three callbacks for that robot.

Did you? Yeah. They said, You know what they said? You know what the note was? Too robotic.

Too robotic. Is the only way I tee it up for you, Willy? I know. Wait, hang on now. Rachida, you wrote yourself something that puts you in Japan a little It's so smart.

I didn't write it, you guys. Let's be fair. She produced it. I didn't write it. I produced it. But yes, I put myself in Japan. Yes, I lived in Japan.

How great was that?

It was really great.

I know I've never been. It was really great. It was really great. Have you been before?

Japan is the best.

It's the best. I had I've been there three or four times for a couple of weeks, but I was there for six months.

Wow. Now, Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka.

Kyoto and Tokyo. We filmed in both. Yeah.

Wow. That's so cool. Because I hear if you go over there, you got to have it wired. It's a place you need to have a chaperone or very good notes or tips. You can get lost there.

Yeah, you can. But even getting lost is fun there. It doesn't really matter. There's no bad version of it. But yes, I was dialed in because I had the most amazing PA and people who really knew the cities. I just went to the best, coolest restaurants, gardens, temples, onsen. I love that. Spas, garden, trains. Yeah.

So, Rachida, I loved Silo so much. I told you when I saw you, and I was like, Oh, my God, Rachida's in this show that I heard so much about, that I love so much. And then you died in the first fucking episode.

I was like, wait.

That's how I do it.

I was like, wait, what? Did that bum you out? Because that shot-No, that's why I took the job.

What do you mean?

Okay. Because it looks as locked down.

It's fun to make people like you and then die.

If you guys haven't seen Silo, it's so good.

It's like James Dean.

Damn, dude. It's not even 11.

Guess how old he was. Hang on a second. Guess how old he was when he died.

By the way, not too soon, by the way. There's no fucking way that's too soon.

Willy, guess how old he was when he died.

23?

Yeah. Was he? That's so crazy. Isn't that amazing that he was never older than 23? I looked at him, I always tell you he was like, That's a man.

I just watched the giant with him and Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor. Just giant.

Just giant.

More hot takes from Sean.

Tracy, it's Just Giant.

How was that part of the- Hey, you know what's a great movie?

Gone with the Wind. You guys seen that?

That's pretty good. Nothing's really gone. Nothing leaves. It's got legs. I mean, there's a fire, but...

It's got legs.

Yeah, I know. It was really long, but it was good. I didn't know it was based on... Dallas was based on it. The show Dallas was based on Giant. Oh, yeah? Anyway, let's continue. Yeah, James Dean. I think this is one of his last movies or his last movie.

Wait a second. Hang on a second.

This is like...

Yeah, Rasheed is here, by the way. Rasheed Jones is here.

You're like a one-man Reddit thread. You're like a fucking... You're like, What am I doing?

Why am I clicking? But is that a known fact or is that a weird Reddit thing that Dallas was based on?

No, the guy's name is J. R. I mean, his initials are J. R. And J, he's an oil king and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You're sure?

100% positive.

Okay. Then what Nots Landing was based on? I'd love it if Scottie just slid in on a rolling stool. Well, that was based on...

Just for what it's worth, A Place in the Sun with Montgomery Clift is an amazing movie. Sorry, I just thought we were doing it random.

Let's get to the guests. Will, you have any questions for your guests?

Yeah, would you back off? Come on, let's hear it. Your attitude is so shit. Go eat something for fuck's sake and then come back at me.

Too much open is the problem.

Jason pulled up his shirt last night and I saw his abs It's crazy apps.

Really?

Oh my God.

It's a leaky three-pack. The summer apps? But not by choice, just from diet.

No.

Well, I'm playing.

You just know sugar, there's no sugar, dairy.

No food. There's no dinner. There's no food. There's no dinner. There's no sugar, no dinner.

That's the key. Intermittent fasting, that's what you do?

It's unintentional, but it's-Internet eating.

Yeah, that's it. Wow. Are you hungry all the time? Are you hungry and grumpy all the time?

No, you get past it. You know what? You got to race to get to sleep.

You got Get to bed.

You got to get to sleep.

He thinks it's discipline.

Oh, it is definitely discipline.

It's mental illness, bro, at this point.

People have different words for different things.

Wait, so, Rachita, I want to talk to you a little bit about your experience. Everybody knows you from The Office and from Parks and Rec, but everybody knew you as this actress, and you were working in comedy and TV. Then you started… I want to say that I don't know how long you knew Will McCormick for, but you guys teamed up, you started writing, and you just started writing all your own stuff. You made this shift at a certain point. Was that a conscious decision? You were like, I've always had all these ideas, and I'm sick of doing other people's stuff. I just want to do my own shit?

Yeah. I always I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't feel like I was good enough or anointed to be that person. I think probably because I went to school with a lot of people who ended up writing for a television. Harvard. Harvard.

Did you really go to Harvard?

Yeah. They were all in the lampoon, and they were funny, and the guys who were going to get the jobs and stuff. I never felt like that, so I didn't feel worthy pursuing that. Then a strike happened.

Did you know Sure? Did you know A picture at Harvard? Yeah.

A picture of someone who created Parks and Rec.

We met freshman year. We did a play together freshman year called Love, Sex, and the IRS.

Love, Sex, and the IRS.

Wait, was- It opened with us making up.

Was he acting?

Yeah. How was he?

Yeah.

Funny.

I bet he's great.

Yeah, he was funny. He was great. Yeah, I bet he is. Really good.

For Tracey, Mike Shore started SNL, and he was head writer of Weekend Update, and then he went to the office, and then he went with Greg Daniels, and they He created Parks and Rec, and then he went on to do Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Good Place and tons of other stuff. He's a brilliant writer, and you guys have a long relationship. I feel like I know Sure through SNL, but also through you because you guys were friends.

Yeah. Since since we were 18. Yeah, that's amazing. We wrote a paper together in college, by the way. How stupid is that? He's convinced our teacher that we should write a paper together. What was the paper? The class, The Warren Court.What was the paper?What.

Is About the Warren Commission?

About the Supreme Court Justice, Warren.

Wow. I'd love to read your paper.

It sounds hilarious. It sounds really funny.

So bad.

We will be right back.

Now, back to the show.

Now, wait. So get me back to the writing part of it. What What gave you the fuel to say, Well, you know what? Maybe I can or maybe I should. Did it come from just getting more and more proud of your writing, or were you reading more and more things that were not great that were getting produced? And you were like, I can do at least that.

I think it was that. I think you just read so much when you're auditioning. And even if you're not getting jobs, you just see the landscape of what people are writing. And obviously, there was good stuff. But I was inspired by that moment in time that the peak Judd Apatow, where all those dudes were just writing themselves. I thought I could at least do that, right? Even if it's not as good or as funny, I could find some audience. I also had this feeling that nobody would ever cast me as a certain thing. If I'm going to get that part, I probably have to write it for myself.

You know what? It's so funny. When I was living in Chicago, I would watch certain channels that no longer exist. On those channels were shows that no longer exist, and they weren't really great. I was I was really young, and I was like, I know I can be at least that bad. If that's all that's required, there's got to be some job for me somewhere. You know what I mean? Because they're not fantastic.

Anyway, that was-I wasn't saying that about it. No, I'm not saying that about it. But you know what I mean? I saw the entire spectrum and I thought, there's somewhere I can land. And of course, I had lofty dreams because I grew up on Jim Brooks and Nora Efron, and those were the kinds of movies wanted to be in and I wanted to write. I think Having Bill holding each other's hands through the process, we literally sat side-side and wrote our first script together, and I feel like that.

How did that relationship start? How did you guys We were set up.

We were set up by his sister, Mary McCormick. You know Mary McCormick?

I know and love. I know and love, yes.

We love Mary. I did a movie in the '90s, indie movie with Mary, and I was obsessed with her. She was the coolest, funnyest person I'd ever met. She was like, That's funny. You should go out with my brother. You guys are soulmates. She's not wrong. It didn't work out. We did date for three weeks. It didn't work out. But he is my work soulmate. We still work together.

You guys still work together, you and Will? Yeah.

We produce and we write together.

That's awesome. I love Will. He's such a good dude, and Mary is so amazing. You guys start. You guys have this. You date, but it's not working out, but you realize that there is something else there on another, maybe potentially even deeper level.

Yeah.creatively..

That you connect on. What was the first thing that you guys were like, Hey, we need to write this. How did that happen?

We started writing... It's so weird. No, we started writing a show in New York. I mean, we were just drunk. It's not even worth mentioning. The only thing we completed was Celeste and Jessie Forever. It was the first movie that we wrote in its entirety and went out with.

Were you tempted to write about your relationship and how it- Well, we...

Kind of, yeah. It was that a little bit of it. It was like an amalgam of the first love that we had, our own separate loves, plus our dynamic as somewhere in the middle of romantic and best friend-ship.

Yeah. You just made me think of, sorry to bounce around. One of my favorite movies is Social Network. Was there any... Your participation in that and having gone to Harvard, was there any... Was any of that happening while you were there at that time?

No, bro. No, I'm old. No.

That was way after me. So it was after you left?

Yeah. That was 2004.

We had the Facebook, which was the freshman Facebook, which is what the name is based on. And so you'd get to school and you'd have... Everybody would pick their head shots.

Like a yearbook.

Yeah, like a yearbook, but you submit your picture. Yeah, that's pretty much.

Was it digital or was it a hard copy?

Hard copy. Digital? We had Ethernet my senior year. There was no Internet.

Right. Yeah, we're about the same age. No, you're younger than we are.

I'm younger than you.

Come on. Look at her.

Jason, you're the oldest one here, by the way.

I know. My father. How old are you? 55.

Look at his face. Wow.

You're 55?

That's amazing. Yeah, I've got some gray in here. It's some gray in my beard.

Somewhere under that beard, you do look great. You look great. It's just a lot of beard, but I see it.

That's a hell of a back-end of company.

I'm playing a loser. Oh, you are?

Yeah.

Oh, in the movie?

In the movie.

In real life. My wife and I like role-playing, and so this month, she's got me as a loser.

This month. Hey, growing up around so much music, I'm sure. There's constantly music in your house, I'm sure, right? Yeah. When you were a kid? Yeah. Were you ever inspired to do that? Was your whole family like, Wait, don't you want to come over here and do what we're doing? We're playing instruments, we're singing songs, we're producing records.

I love it so much, and I sing for fun. I've written for fun, and I've sang backup on some albums and things like that. Really? Yeah, I sing backup on the first two Maroon fives.

No way.

I sing for them live. Yeah. That's so cool.

That's so good. Wait, can you read music? Can you write music?

I can write. My reading is limited, but my dad's a musical genius. That's the last I want to do is try my hand in that. But I love it. I have a deep ache for music, and I just don't ever feel like I'm good enough to do it. I'll never be good enough to do it.

Again, I want to remind people, your dad produces Just Thriller. Yeah. Right? That's so... I remember one time, Rachida, going over to your dad's house with you and being blown away, going downstairs and seeing... You know when you go into somebody's office, guys, and you see they got a record, It's like a platinum record or whatever, whatever, and you go into Quincy's house. It's a museum. Well, A, it's a museum, and B, the framed thing for Thriller has like 40 platinum records in the frame.

Yeah.

Literally 40. You're like, what the fuck? It's like the granddaddy of them all.

What about that documentary you did? It was just so awesome. Oh, thank you.

Yes, that was so good. I was going to talk about it. Let's get to the documentary about your dad.

Yeah. What a great thing to do for your For your parents, it's just like, I don't know.

I was going to say, obviously, like Jason said, it's a great thing to do and to be able to do with your dad. But also, do you remember the moment where you're like, the genesis of that? What was the moment?

I'm not going to take any credit. My dad is so well-documented. There was a doc series on BBC. There was a documentary about him in the '80s, and I was with Jane Rosenthal. You know Jane? Yeah.

The great Jane Rosenthal.

Who's a legend. She worked for my dad years ago, like 30 years ago. Oh, wow. She said to me, You have to make a documentary about your dad. I was like, Oh, fuck. I do. I do, don't I? I didn't want to, but she was right. Because the truth is, he's so well-documented, he's so accomplished that it's almost impossible to spend any time storytelling about who he as a person to cover so much ground with just what he's contributed to the world and culture. I wanted to do something that felt like it captured his personality because nothing ever has. And so that was the goal. And then Al Hicks, who I love. By the way, if you've never seen, he made a documentary called Keep on, Keep on, which is about Clark Terry, who's my dad's mentor, horn player, and his last mentee, who's this incredible jazz pianist. He's blind. Justin Coughlan. It's about their relationship. It's like, if you're ready to cry, that's what you turn on.

Oh my God.

It's like waterworks.

It's so good. Keep on, keeping on?

Keep on, keeping on. So Hicks, he directed that. We met on My first day of filming in Montreau in Switzerland at the Jazz Festival, I had a 5D camera. I was trying to figure out what to do, how to do it. And we met that day, and then I asked him to co-direct with me.

That's great. Wow. Yeah. I mean, just the access. So, yeah, all that archival footage that people have already seen about your dad, no one's seen you just walking around with a camera in the house and talking to your dad. That was just this access. It just felt so privileged watching it.

It was really touching. It felt intimate and too intimate, in fact, because there was a whole scene where, I mean, he almost died while we were filming. We stopped filming, and luckily, my brother was filming a bunch of stuff in the hospital. Show my dad because he went into diabetic coma. And luckily, the conclusion of the story was such that we could put it in and felt like the real triumph through that because my dad is a beast, and he has cheated death many times, 91, still crushing it. That's amazing.

What was fascinating to me watching that was seeing you in the document because you're like, You have to check out this documentary. I ran home and watched it. And there's my friend Rachida Jones, and I'm watching Rachida Jones interview her dad, who's Quincy Jones. I had this weird thing. We're like, Wait, they're related? Which is a compliment because-That's really nice. I take that. You've made such a world for yourself separate from his huge world, and you've both become hugely successful. That it was wild just to see, wow, that you both- That's really nice.

Yeah, you came- Well, it's true, Rachida. That was also something I wanted to get to, which is it's not easy, I can imagine. I can only imagine how to... It's not by anybody's fault or design that you have a dad who is larger than life, who is, as you said, a musical genius. Everybody knows he's created incredible things. He's done amazing things. To grow up with that, I can only imagine there's a lot there.

I'll just say that. Then you go to Harvard and get- To create your own thing and to have your own incredible success, that's a real testament to your talent.

I hope you recognize that.

Yeah, to have the courage to even try. Then you nailed it. Now people are like, Wait, she has a famous dad? It's like you've already got your own thing.

It's Janet and Michael. It's Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson. I never think of them in the same family.

His mother, Janet.

No, but Janet, Jackson, and Michael Jackson are in the same family. But when I see them, I'm like, I don't think of the other one.

It's not a great analogy. Also, it's too close. It's too close with Michael and stuff.

All right, sorry.

No, I mean, we would cut it, but we want to shame you, so we're going to leave it in. We might open the episode with it. Yeah.

Have you seen The Godfather? Just kidding.

I heard you guys talking about that, and we actually did. We watched it recently, too. We watched all three. Great films. Great films. I don't know if anybody knows, but really great films. And three, great film. I don't know. I think we watched the edited version, but I watched it because I hadn't seen it since I know Sophia so well and just seeing Baby Sophia in that movie. That was her first on screen, wasn't it? You know what's crazy about three, you guys? It's about first cousins in love.

I know. I just started watching it. It's wild.

That's not the central conflict of the movie.

It's just a B-Story.

Well, so you mentioned Sophia Coppola. So you made a film with Sophia, I want to say five, four, five years ago, right? On the Rocks?

Yeah, 2020. Well, it came out during lockdown. So, yeah, 2020.

Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. I blank that part out of my brain.

Yes, we all have.

I don't know what you mean. You made this film on the Rocks. In 2020 with Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray.

Yeah.

You got a lot of great reviews for that performance. I mean, everybody loved it. Did you know Sofia before, or was that where you guys got to know each other?

We I was in an act. I was like an out-of-work actor in an acting class in New York, and she came to the class to workshop Lost in Translation. What? And so I played the main part for a month with her.

No, wait, walk me through that idea. What is that?

So I work with my acting coach, Greta, works a lot with Frances and Sophia, and they do dream work around, you know, character dream work. And so she came to explore and enrich the characters in the film. And so I was assigned to the lead part, to the Scarlett Johansson part. And then I had to do dream assignments and come in and embarrass myself by acting out my dreams. But it was really very cool. I got to play that part and work with Sophia for a month. I was 27 or something, 26, 27.

Wow.wow. That's pretty cool.

That is cool. Also shot in Japan.

I didn't get the part, but that's fine. Didn't even audition.

But you didn't get the part, but you got to have a really intense working relationship with Sofia, and you guys stayed together. We were like, We got to do something at some point. That's the vibe?

I mean, obviously, I would have done anything for her, but we stayed since over the years. And then I shot. She directed a Calvin Klein underwear commercial that I was in. And then she did this Bill Murray Christmas special for Netflix. And we had a little scene in that, and she was like, There's something happening here. This is a good dynamic. I think she got the idea from that scene we had together.

Nice. What was that like working with Bill Murray? A lot of people-I know. I know. I mean, you don't really talk to many people that work with him. I know. They're as elusive as he is.

Yeah, that is true. Also, by the way-I never thought about that.

That's true.

When we were doing that workshop, Sophia was trying to cast him, and she had a dedicated assistant who sat outside our rehearsals with a phone waiting for him to call back all day, every day.

God, it's amazing. By the way, she already had a relationship with him, had a successful film with him and stuff, but she still had to have that.

No, that was for Lost in Translation. That was before. That was for Lost in Translation. Yes, that was originally when I met her and we were working on that. She She had not cast him. She was still courting him. He's like a Loch Ness monster.

Because the story goes like you can only reach him via fax or something like that.

I know. Yeah, I guess. I've never had that.

He's got a phone number that you can call and leave a message.

He had a toll free number or something for a while.

Yeah, I remember that.

But he really is like, he did a guest spot. I had a show called Angie Trebeca. Yes. And he did a guest spot, and he called me, and I booked his ticket. He was like, I want to leave at 9:00. Oh, no way. On Wednesday, I was like, Okay.

Are you serious? She had blue.

Yeah.

That's funny.

No way.

And is he just about as chill and don't sweat the small stuff as he seems?

He's pretty great. I mean, he is extremely charismatic. And he's also what I didn't really know. I'd worked with him a couple of times before, but doing a whole movie with him. He's so good. I'm not saying anything you don't know, but he's He's such a good actor, and he's so present, and he still works hard as an actor. He's not checked out. He could be checked out because he's like, just his talent is undeniable. But he's like, he works hard. He had a lot of big meaty monologs in that movie where he would talk about evolutionary biology and the nature of men and women. And it was a lot. He had to run down some serious theories, and he was fully committed.

I I love to have him on this show. He's awesome. Ask him questions for an hour.

First of all- Why don't you wait out in the hall?

Yeah, by the way.

Yeah, exactly.

Not good enough? Not good enough? Wow. Yeah, Jesus. I'm already thinking about the next guest.

I'm already thinking about old Bill Murray.

We'll be right back.

All right, back to the show.

All right, so let's switch gears. All of a sudden, now you find yourself You're in with the gang over at Pixar, right?

The crew. The crew, the Pixar crew.

The Pixar crew, they approach you and they go, Rachida, we want you to come in here and start mixing it up on the Toy Story bonanza. How'd that go down? I love these Toy Story movies. I love Pixar movies so much. Yeah, I do, too.

Yeah, me, too. I was on Parks, and they have really Really cool development where their development people, their casting people, they watch indie films. That's how they get their ideas. I had some friends who had written indie movies, who had written there. And we went and screened Celeste and Jessie forever. And then we got a call to meet on a project, all very, very under wraps. They have to keep everything, really. And we went and met, and we got the job. And so I went to Sure. And I was like, Listen, I love you. I love the show. I I want to be here, but I got a job. It's at Pixar. I have to move to the Bay Area, but I need your blessing. And he was like, he's the greatest. He's the best boss ever because he let everybody do everything they wanted to do while we were doing that show. Chris Pratt, they filmed in London so Pratt could do the first Marvel movie he did. That's right. He just wanted everybody to be the best version of themselves. So he was like, Yeah, of course, you have to go.

How long did you live in the Bay Area to do that?

I lived there two years.

Wow. Yeah. And you had to live there while you were writing it because the process is so collaborative and back and forth?

It's collaborative. It's iterative. You're rewriting a script every three weeks. It is not a WGA job. I'll just say that. You're working with the story artist, and they're writing within the way that they draw changes the story, and then you have to change the script to fit the sequences they've-One of the greatest documentaries I've ever seen is the Pixar story. Yeah. They sit down and show that to you on your first day there. Yeah, they should.

It's so fascinating. Yeah, I see that. I did Monsters University, that little movie. Oh, yes. We went up there, too. The whole facility is the coolest. Everybody's just playing ping-pong and walking around.

It's like college. There's a vibe there. It's like college.

They're so good at ping-pong up there.

They're so good at ping-pong.

That's the one thing I love about Pixar is how good at ping-pong they are. I did one movie. I did a ratatouille. It's not a big deal back in the day with Brad Bird. Who cares?

That's a good movie.

That's a very good movie. You created that great big, huge dude, right? The nasty boss?

No, he's the German Sioux Chef.

That's it. So good.

Fun movie. With Brad Bird is such a genius. That guy's a genius. Yeah, he's amazing. It feels nice. They send me a nice coffee table book every Christmas.

Oh.

They do?

Yeah. I don't think It's about just different subjects each year?

Just stuff from your friends at Pixar.

Sometimes it's about boats. It's very nice.

I really appreciate it. I got a lot of coffee tables. I drink a lot of coffee. Okay, guys.

You and Jason both grew up in the valley. Did you ever run into each other? Have you known each other or no? Did you always pass each other?

You don't remember, do you?

I want to hear this.

I don't remember yesterday. No, I definitely... We've crossed paths. Jason. No, no, no, no, no. There's no... There's no raw stories. There's no raw stories. I just remember seeing you around and you were cute. All my friends liked you. I just feel like there's so much crossed for. '80s Valley?

Yeah, but was this before we were driving? Were we at kids' parties?

No, because you were driving when I was 12 or 11. But I feel like there was... I'm trying to think of the '80s parties '80s clubs.

Well, sure. Like, Rocksbury.

Flippers, peanuts, Rocksbury.

It sounds like you didn't see each other. That's what it sounds like.

Well, I wasn't remembering a lot back then.

But wait, let's go back to Flippers and peanuts.

Yeah, Flippers was a roller-skating place where- You're not Flippers? Flippers is now the CVS on the corner of La Cienica and Santa Monica.

And you still go there?

It was like Studio 54, but roller skates. But no way. But maybe not Studio.

It was happening. Very happening. Then there was a big club where the Beverly Center is right now. Oh, yes. It was called Odyssey, wasn't it?

I think that was- Odysee, yes.

Rocksbury, though, that was a spot. Then above the Roxy, On the Rocks, that was a biggie. On the Rocks. The Whisky Bar at the bottom of the Sunset Marquis was a big haunt for me.

Oh, that was banging. Yes, me too.

Yeah, it was a good time. So see, I do remember things.

But just not her.

Did you go to high school? Did you go to high school in sets?

This is a great question.

I did not get any- Imagine Okay, Rasheeda, imagine a school bus. No, no, that was eighth grade.

The back of it has a bunch of massage tables. That was eighth grade. It's a bunch of massage bus, right? She doesn't know about the massage.

You went to massage bus school.

Yeah. It was called Heartlight. It was an experimental school. It was just one year.

Exactly. I also grew up with Amanda.

Yeah.

Amanda? Oh, Jason's right. Amanda.

I've known Amanda since high school. We all go back. Where did the acting bug come from? Was there-What age?

Well, your mom, obviously, your mom.

My mom was an actress. She was encouraging there.

The great Peggy Lipton.

Yes, the great Peggy Lipton. Yes, she was encouraging. My rebellion was like, I'm not doing this Hollywood bull. I'm not doing entertainment. You've been surrounded by it, and you're right. Yeah. I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to be taken seriously. I wanted to be legitimate.

You would have been a great lawyer, by the way. No offense. For real, you would have been.

What lawyer?

I wanted to litigate. I wanted to be like, Spencer Tracy in Hair at the Wind. I wanted to argue the case in court.

Yeah, but you could do that with a lot of different kinds of law, can't you? Yeah. But there's no particular law that really interests you, like environmental law or criminal law.

I probably would want to have been like, yeah, I would have been like a DA or something.

Right. Rachida, with all of your success already, have you slowed down your dreaming? Do you even allow yourself to... Where would you love to see yourself in 5, 10, 15, 20 years? Is it more on the writing side, the acting side, just like harmony, just with your family? Or do your goals move as often as mine do? Do you just settle on anything?

No, I don't know. I'm in a real... Maybe you guys can tell me because you're a tiny bit older than me. I'm having that moment right now where I'm like, I don't know anything. I don't know anything.

That's better. And by the way, you can do it all Because you're already doing it all.

I don't know. I don't know anything. Am I?

I'm also like a person- I just started therapy.

This is true. I'm going to get real for a second. I fucking don't know anything. This is the most scared I've been in my life is right now.

That's good. That's good, though, Will.

Wait, why?

Because it's really scary. I can't even believe I'm talking about this. I had heavy therapy this morning, and I can't believe it.

Is it scaring you because you're admitting that you might not know as much as you're pretending to know?

Yeah, that's the tip of it.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That's so good. I do think there is something at this moment. There's something regenerative, and I'm sure it's coming for you, Will. Right now, you're Resetting, which is incredibly scary. But most people I talk to who are 50, just turned 50, have this thing where they're like, who am I? There's this full rebirth. Who do I want to be for the next 50 years if we're lucky? What does my back half look like? What's actually fulfilling? What does my ego want? Do I need to fulfill my ego? Do I need to fulfill a deeper soul purpose? So much is coming up.

I talk about all that shit in my therapy. I talk about all that stuff. Yeah, so good. Will, I'm excited for you. This is really exciting.

I wouldn't be scared.

I would embrace it. Embrace the fear of doing it.

But the fear is good because we're all scared.

I had to put eye drops in just so that my eyes were white because it was rough. I know. I had a really rough morning. Will. Anyway, it's been a tough couple of weeks. I love it.

It's been a tough couple of weeks.

But good for you for doing that work because you could just slide by and you could probably be okay and live in denial for the rest of your life. The fact that you're going deep right now means you're going to rebuild and be the best for yourself.

Well, by the way, the best part is I told Pola yesterday, and she's like, Oh, I'm so glad. I'm like, What do you mean you're so glad?

She's like 20 years too late.

Oh, my God. We're all here talking about laughing about it on a podcast.

I know, but it is so weird. You're right. I think at this stage of your life, you've done stuff. You've had this huge first couple of chapters of your life, and you have the work stuff, and you have the adolescence, and then the work stuff, then the kids stuff, and then the work with kids stuff, and blah, blah, blah. You get to this point, you're like, Okay, now what?

Right. Also, all that stuff that you thought for your entire life was going to fill the gap, you're like, Wait, it doesn't quite fill that gap. There's still a little piece missing, and what is that piece? We're privileged enough to have succeeded in a way. But I think for everybody, they're like, Wait a second. It's just going to be this forever? All the first are gone. Most of the first are gone. Yeah, it's so interesting. Wow.

I talk about all that, Mershita, in my therapy.

But to your point, Jason, I think everybody here, including me, I want to not to be overly earnest, but I want to be able to create from a real source, from a feeling of connection. So I'm taking a little breath to figure out what that actually is and what that looks like and what I want to say, because I don't know. I don't want to just put shit out. And also it's hard to put shit out right now.

All right. So wait, so Rachida, so then first First of all, everything you're saying is so well said. That's so succinct and to the point, and I love it. What is the best advice somebody's given you to get over what we're all talking about? Or to not get over it, but to deal with it.Manage it.Yeah, manage it.

The thing I always go back to is my dad says, make decisions based on love and not fear, which sounds so platitudinal, but it's really not. When you think about it well, what you were just saying, I have often looked at my life and thought, let me just do this thing that I know is the safe way to do it, or let me do this thing that's going to make people love me because I'm afraid of not being loved, as opposed to really, really loving something and believing in something and not caring.

Worrying about the result.

Yeah.

Well, I realized that I have all these tricks. What I've come to realize, anyway, in the last couple of weeks is that I have a lot of these tricks that I can do that help me get over things and get by, and I can And I can get to a place of, okay, and it can put the things back on track. But there are patterns there. And I'm like, nothing's ever going to really change unless I actually look at it.

I think looking at it, acknowledging it. And then I would say my greatest gift is just continuing to develop my inner life, like something that is not connected to anybody else, creating almost like a little house inside, whether it's meditation or breath, whatever it is, nature.

Yeah, that's self-sufficient, and it's not reliant on external approval, gratification. Yeah, love that.

Anyway. Anyway. Have you seen Goonies? Yeah. I haven't seen Goonies in a while. Good movie.

Really good movie. Welcome back to Sean's Hot Takes.

Hot Takes instead of Hot Cakes.

Triple Hot.

That's good.

Well, Well, Rasheeda, you are real sweet to give us an hour of your day.

That's so fun, you guys.

We appreciate you.

Is that an hour? Wow. That's an hour, yeah. Look at us.

They're breezy. It's a breezy little stop here.

We were just getting into the meat of it, too, right? No, we were getting deep. I know.

We just started to get- You want to take another bite, Will?

No, I don't.

Should we talk about therapy some more?

Another bite. I really, really don't. I can't believe we talked about it at all. I love that you did.

I love that you did. This is good. I love it, dude.

It's great to be vulnerable.

We always talk about that shit. It's good.

It's good. Good balance. Rachida, we love you. I love you. Rachida, we do love you.

I love you guys. This was so fun. Thank you for having me.

Thank you for doing this.

And talking to me. Watch Sunny.

Sunny. Watch Sunny.

Now, Sunny, is it that spelled with an O or a U?

S-u-n-n-y. It's on Apple TV+.

Apple TV+, Sunny, starting the incomparable Rachida Jones.

Rachida Jones.

Rachida. Congratulations on that.

Yeah, congratulations on everything. So much love to your family and continued success. You're great. Same.

Thank you, guys. Love you.

Thanks, Rachida. Bye, guys. See you soon. Well, Willy, now, That's almost your half-wife, right? Isn't she's best friends with Amy?

Yeah. I've spent a lot of time with Rishida over the years. A lot of time. We've vacationed together many times. We've just done... She and I actually went, well, not. We asked her together to Mike Sure's wedding.

What do you call her for short?

Sheeta.

Sheeta?

Yeah, Sheeda. Sheed, Sheedy.

Sheeds.

Jones, Jonesy. Sheeta Jones and me.

Ever Arjay?

Arjay would be good. R. J. Is good. R. J. Is pretty good. You're obsessed with the initials, Jay. Yeah, I do like the initials. I call you Jay. Yeah, she's lovely. She's so grounded.

She's so smart and funny and just razor sharp and has always been. I always like spending time with Rachida Jones.

And easy on the eyes.

And easy on the eyes.

But she's grown up in such a potentially privileged, isolated environment, yet does not seem that at all. No, she's very-Probably worked hard to not be.

Very, very down to Earth. If you didn't know that her dad was Quincy Jones, that she'd grown up in Hollywood, if you met her in a coffee shop in Kansas City, you'd be like, Oh, she's just somebody from any town USA. A coffee shop in Kansas City? Yeah. And who is just a smart, awesome person, but she has no... She's not spoiled to that way. No, no, no.

Yeah, really great. But at the end there, I like that we got real, real about it. I like talking about that stuff, and I'm glad you're doing that, Will. That's really great. I love when Jason asked if we weren't done, if you wanted to take another bite.

Out of the meet.

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