Episode Details

The best movie I have seen in years is called Everything, Everywhere All At Once and it was written and directed by Daniels. Daniels? Yes, Daniels. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, to be specific. Two brilliant artists who met in college and began stitching together short films before working on music videos like Turn Down For What by DJ Snake and Lil John (over a billion views), Simple Song by The Shins, and Tongues by Joywave. Watch those to see their energy and magic.

Daniels made their feature-length debut at Sundance in 2016 with Swiss Army Man also known as the "Daniel Radcliffe farting corpse movie" and then followed it up with this twisting multiverse action flick Everything Everywhere All At Once starring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and Jamie Lee Curtis.

And how's this arthouse flick (with a paltry $25 million dollar budget!) doing? Well, it is the highest rated film of the decade on Rotten Tomatoes. It's being credited with bringing back multiplex crowds post-pandemic. And the people who see it and love it (like I did) end up going back to see it again and again. (You'll pick up so much more on the second time through and now I'm just itching for a third!)

Daniels create art for art's sake — that David Foster Wallace Nature of the Fun ethos we've talked about before — and the result is this incredibly provocative and non-conformist stuff that just squeezes your mind until the smiles and tears start rushing out.

Let's flip the page into Chapter 101 now…

What You'll Learn:

• What is the greatest compliment for a film-maker?

• Why should you journal about a project before sharing it with an audience?

• What is the alpha-verse?

• Why is kindness a power?

• How can we evaluate our own projects?

• What is the tension between listening and hubris?

• How do the greats deal with imposter syndrome?

• What is it like to grow up with ADHD?

• How do people diagnosed with ADHD view the world?

• How can we learn to appreciate discomfort in art?

• How do we create visceral emotion in others?

• How do we supercharge our creativity and access ideas?

• What are schools doing wrong?

• What should school curriculums emphasize?

• How can we cultivate creativity in our kids?

• Why should we talk more openly about sex?

• Why should we question what we've been taught about relationships and sex?

• How can cartoon strips help us answer big questions?

• Are we living in a post physical world?

• How does what we consume shape us?

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here:

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