Transcript
WEBVTT
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Hello again, Art. Oh, I do not hear you.
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Let's see. It doesn't show that you have
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any audio coming through on your end. And
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I'm not sure why. Double check my settings.
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Yes, OK.
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KJ, here's David. Are you with me, Art? It's
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David. Yeah, I'm here.
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Oh, well, hey, David. How you doing? I'm
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good.
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How are you, KJ?
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I'm good. Oh, my gosh. I mean, are you kidding?
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I get to start my morning off talking with
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you, Mr. David Arquette. Life is good. Have
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you had enough coffee? Are you ready for
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my energy?
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I have and I'm ready.
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All right. So we are talking with David Arquette
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and the movie that we're here to talk about.
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I am just so intrigued with this for so many
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reasons. It is called The Good Half. And
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what a cast. You, David, Nick Jonas, Brittany
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Snow, Matt Walsh, Elizabeth Shue. I mean,
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it just goes on and on. Alexandra Shipp.
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Can you talk, first off, what it was like
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to be able to kind of, it sounds like you're
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a bit of the comedic relief here in this
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movie that is kind of surrounded by some
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more difficult topics like death and planning
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funerals.
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Yeah, it is. It is. I am. I'm sort of the
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cringe-worthy comedic, I'm the stepfather
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named Rick. And Nick Jonas' character, Wren,
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comes back to Cleveland, his hometown, and
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unfortunately he has to bury his mother and
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his sisters, played by Brittany Snow. But
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I don't really, as their stepfather, I don't
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really take their feelings into consideration
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too much when planning it. So it leads to
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some uncomfortable moments. And yeah, Rick
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was a funny character to play because he's
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like this narcissistic character. So I'd
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have all these moments where we'd ad lib
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something and I, in my head, would think,
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oh, that's funny. But I would think, oh,
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my character wouldn't think that's funny.
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He'd be annoyed by it. So I'd have these
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reactions that weren't my natural instinct.
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I mean, was it difficult for you there in
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Hollywood to find inspiration playing a narcissist?
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No, absolutely not. I was always fascinated
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by narcissism. And you have to have a certain
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amount of it just to be an actor. I mean,
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in general, just to have the confidence to
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stand up in front of camera or in front of
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an audience and sort of own the performance.
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So you have to balance it. But in Hollywood,
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there tends to be a ton of them. And some
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of them don't understand the balance element
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of it. So I was obsessed so much that I once
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mentioned to a therapist, I was like, I'm
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really interested in narcissism and narcissist.
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Do you have any narcissistic clients? And
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he said, no. Do you want to know why? I said,
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why? And he said, they don't need me. That
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really told me everything I needed to know
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about narcissism.
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So in dealing with family dynamics, I've
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been doing this a long time. And a lot of
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my followers were with me, actually, when
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my parents were passing away. And I made
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a lot of jokes on the air about the process
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you go through in planning a funeral I think
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if you're not laughing about it, I don't
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know how you get through it. Did you find
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when you were creating this film that there
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was, I mean, there has to be a balance of
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like, this is serious, we're dealing with
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death, but also sometimes this is just utterly
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ridiculous and you had to kind of portray
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a little bit of both, right?
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Absolutely. I lost both my parents too and
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that whole process is just so heart-wrenching,
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but there is a lot of Humor in it. I mean
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even the awkwardness of someone saying are
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you doing when it's like the worst day of
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your life? I mean those moments happen all
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the time and it also triggers like the extremes
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and everyone's personality if someone's a
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controller Then they want to just control
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everything. It's the most uncontrollable
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situation ever so it peaks everyone's sort
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of trigger points and And you kind of have
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to find these ways of laughing at it. But
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the director, Robert Schwartzman, has a really
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wonderful way of balancing it. It was written
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by a guy named Ben who took from his own
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personal experience of losing his mother
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and sort of noted down all of these moments
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and having to deal with his stepfather and
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all this stuff. So I think it was really
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cathartic for him to sort of experience that
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and write it down and have this film made.
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and sort of go through that process.
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We are talking with David Arquette. The film
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is The Good Half, and we're doing this as
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a Fathom event. So we've got tomorrow and
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then the 25th. And I did look at, we're here
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in Indianapolis. There are like four or five
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theaters that this opportunity to see the
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good half. And then also there's a Q&A with
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Nick Jonas and some of the other cast and
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crew. So I wanna make sure that we are getting
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those tickets if you wanna come see the movie.
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And then I would imagine, David, are we gonna
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get a digital release on this as well?
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Yeah, I'm sure they'll have a digital release.
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But hopefully if enough people go out, it
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could stay in theaters longer. So really
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kind of the film you want to see with a big
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group because there is like laughing and
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there's emotional moments and it really,
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I don't know, hopefully could be healing
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in a way. I mean, I've found like in losing
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people and the director does a really wonderful
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job of like flashing back on some really
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beautiful memories. And it is really about,
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I don't know, the most healing aspect to
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it that I found was when you can reach a
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point of gratitude of having these people
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in your life to start with, even though it
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may have been a short time. I mean, that
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really has brought me the most healing and
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remembering their memories and keeping those
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memories alive. And then for me, in losing
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my parents, to continue to live my life so
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that they'd be proud.
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Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, and there
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are moments, I think, for everyone where
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you're like, man, I wish I could call my
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dad. I wish I could call my mom and tell
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them that. But you live it as if you could,
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right?
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Totally. But I had this one experience when
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I was my second child, my son was born. I
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was looking at him and I was thinking, oh,
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I wish my mom and dad got to meet him. And
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I had this overwhelming feeling that they
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were right with me at that moment. They were
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watching him as well.
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Absolutely. I know that feeling, too. David,
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this has been such a wonderful conversation.
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I'm so excited that we could talk about the
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good half and know that you've got a lot
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of fans out there. And people wanted me to
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talk with you about about Buffy, because
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I actually have a cat named Buffy that's
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sitting in the room watching, watching me
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talk with you. You've had an incredible career.
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Do you look back on some of those things
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you've done, Buffy and Scream, and kind of
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take it all in and be in awe of yourself
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and the things that you have done?
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I'm not sure I'm in awe of that, but I also
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have a cow named Buffy. And from Buffy specifically,
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I met so many of my wonderful friends You
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know, Paul Rubens, Luke Perry, I just loved
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him. He helped me, you know, put in a good
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word for me to get that role. But, you know,
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getting to know Paul Rubens was just such
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an, and we just lost him recently a year
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ago. So it was just a real gift for me just
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in my life. So that's what I usually do is
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just lean back on gratitude again.
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I love it. Thank you so much, David. We'll
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let you go today. And again, the good half,
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go see it either tomorrow or Thursday so
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that we can keep it running in theaters.
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Cause it sounds like a movie that we all
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could really use right now. David, have a
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great day.
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Thank you, you too.
