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00:00With Deadpool there's no rules. It is, in its very DNA, built on tonal audacity.
00:10And so, for a filmmaker, what a delight. And to do it with my best friend Ryan,
00:16my other buddy Hugh, the three of us who have known each other now for a very long time.
00:22It was just a blast because also if you work with friends, you don't mind making an ass of yourself.
00:28And if you're working on something that's comedic, you better be willing to fall on your face.
00:34Exactly.
00:35And so, I would have an idea. Ryan, you want to try this?
00:39Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't, but the willingness to embarrass ourselves in front of each other
00:45because we're buddies, that led to some really unexpected moments, jokes, and surprises.
00:59But since I knew you were coming to visit, I decided to bring them to life with this.
01:16Papa, living things.
01:18Almost. The songs are alive. Everything has a voice, you just have to listen.
01:28Listen.
01:33Listen.
01:34Listen.
01:53Welcome to Behind the Lens today. Wow, he's a busy guy here.
01:57His current show on Netflix, which many people have seen, but if you haven't, you have to see this.
02:04It's called All the Light We Cannot See, and it's an extraordinary limited series.
02:08We're going to talk about that.
02:10Deadpool and Wolverine, everybody's waiting for it.
02:13He directed that.
02:15And of course, Stranger Things, which has been on for four seasons.
02:19Everyone's waiting for the fifth and final.
02:22So much to talk about with Sean Levy.
02:24Welcome to Behind the Lens.
02:25I'm exhausted just hearing the intro.
02:28Like, I'm literally as tired as I was feeling.
02:31Now that you list all of these things, I'm very tired.
02:34It's like, well, you're working a lot, man. You never stop.
02:37I don't stop often, and probably eventually I should unpack that.
02:41But I'm also, I'm having the time of my life.
02:44Because when I was coming out of film school, and frankly, when I first met you back on Real Steel about a decade ago,
02:52this was the kind of career that I dreamed of.
02:56A career where you're getting to make big, world-building-scale stories,
03:02but you're not held to only one genre, one tone.
03:06And so that's really been the most fun part of these last several years,
03:10is the diversity of creative experiences.
03:13You know what I love?
03:14You won the inaugural Norman Jewison Award at the Toronto Film Festival this year.
03:20The late, great Norman Jewison, who I've also always been a huge fan of.
03:25And then I'm thinking about that, you are the perfect recipient of that,
03:28because like him, nothing was off-limits.
03:32Yeah, I mean, what I really admired about Jewison's career,
03:36and there's a few filmmakers like this, Peter Weir comes to mind, for instance,
03:40where there's just a refusal to live in one box.
03:46There's a rejection of the frequent pigeonholing instincts of our industry,
03:51where, oh, that's a comedy director.
03:53Oh, she's a family film director.
03:56This assumption of, oh, well, you're that.
03:59So we can kind of categorize you safely.
04:02I love that Jewison was making everything from Moonstruck to Heat of the Night,
04:07producing, directing, doing so many things, and that eclectic authorship.
04:13Fiddler on the Roof.
04:14I mean, please, we could keep going.
04:16We could fill most of this time just by listing the credits.
04:19But really, on the one hand, you could say, well, that's all over the map,
04:22but there was a consistent quality, there was a consistent humanism,
04:27and it was always built for audience entertainment
04:31and the connection with the audience.
04:33And so those are things that are very much part of what I aspire to do in my career too.
04:37And you've done so much of it.
04:39I remember talking to you when you were doing Arrival,
04:42for which you were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture,
04:45producing that in your company 21 Laps.
04:48You had a great story because you had all these posters in your office
04:53of all the movies you had directed up to that point.
04:56You know, Night at the Museum.
04:59Yeah, it was like Date Night.
05:00Date Night.
05:01And Chevron by the Dozen.
05:02And I remember, I can't believe you remember the anecdote.
05:05Shall I let you continue it?
05:06Yes, no, you do it.
05:08What I said back when we made Arrival was,
05:11when Denis Villeneuve first came into the office,
05:14there's all these hit comedies and family films,
05:17but there was one poster that didn't make sense on that wall,
05:21and it was this small, sun-dense darling of a movie
05:24that I had produced through 21 Laps early on called The Spectacular Now
05:29with Shailene and Miles Teller.
05:31And it was this high school R-rated drama.
05:34And I remember Denis noting that.
05:38And that one poster,
05:40which cost less than the catering budget on Deadpool and Wolverine,
05:45and did some business, but nothing huge.
05:48But it captured a certain imagination,
05:52and what it really did is it disrupted assumptions.
05:55Right.
05:56It disrupted the assumption of,
05:58oh, well, Sean Levy's done these family films
06:00and he has this company, 21 Laps.
06:02Spectacular Now was the first disruptor of that expectation.
06:07And I've really tried more and more over the years
06:11to constantly disrupt those expectations.
06:14Which you do.
06:15You remember when I saw This Is Where I Leave You,
06:18which was another disruptor for you.
06:20Yeah.
06:21No, I mean, look,
06:22Real Steel was in some ways the first as a director.
06:25I was this comedy director,
06:27and Real Steel was this kind of science fiction father-son movie
06:32with boxing robots.
06:34This Is Where I Leave You was a character-rooted dramedy
06:38based on a book that I adored.
06:40The screenplay was adapted by Jonathan Tropper,
06:42who wrote the book.
06:44Adult siblings sitting Shiva for their late father.
06:48Yeah.
06:49And the conflicts and connections that exist between grown siblings.
06:54I loved making that movie here in New York State, actually.
06:57We shot mostly in a house out in Long Island.
07:00And what I remember so fondly is nobody left that house.
07:03Nobody saw the inside of their trailer.
07:06No one left the space where we were shooting.
07:09And it was just this very connective experience.
07:11And the movie didn't do a lot of business.
07:14Yeah.
07:15But it didn't matter
07:17because I had gotten to make a different kind of story.
07:20Right.
07:21And it really was a confirmation for me that,
07:23okay, well, you know what?
07:25The metric of box office is comforting.
07:29I'd grown very used to it.
07:31And yet there's other metrics of gratification.
07:34And for me, getting to tell different types of stories
07:38was really increasingly what I was seeking.
07:41And I also remember you when you said,
07:43I'm going off to Budapest, I believe it was.
07:46I'm doing this book that you said you fell in love with,
07:50All the Light We Cannot See.
07:52And that is completely,
07:54and I think a labor of love for you to do this.
07:57How did you come upon this?
07:58Well, interesting to connect these two projects
08:03because like Arrival, like This Is Where I Leave You,
08:06All the Light We Cannot See was a literary piece that I loved.
08:12And like This Is Where I Leave You,
08:14I couldn't get anywhere near it for years.
08:17It was optioned immediately.
08:18Scott Rudin was developing it as a movie
08:20at Fox Searchlight.
08:22I remember hearing that news
08:23and just kind of saying to everyone
08:25who was at my company at 21 Laughs,
08:27let's keep an eye on this.
08:28Let's just keep our ears to the ground.
08:30And after like five years
08:32of start and stop feature development,
08:36they kind of gave up.
08:37They never quite figured out how to take this epic novel
08:42and condense it into a two-hour story.
08:44The rights reverted to Anthony Doerr, the novelist.
08:47And when Dan Levine,
08:48who's one of my partners at 21 Laughs,
08:50when he found out about that,
08:51we were just, okay, this is the moment
08:54that we were waiting for.
08:55And ultimately, it came about in an interesting time,
08:59three, four years ago,
09:00where we got on the phone with the novelist
09:02and there had been this rise of this new form,
09:06the limited series.
09:07Right.
09:08And so my whole pitch to Tony, the novelist,
09:10was let's not try and shrink your story.
09:14Let's honor it.
09:15Let's do justice to the book
09:17with this pedigree and emergent form
09:21of the limited series.
09:23And so it allowed us to have any number of episodes.
09:28Whatever the story dictated,
09:29that was going to be the North Star.
09:31And the length of the episodes could be different, too.
09:33And indeed, some are an hour, five minutes.
09:35Some are 48 minutes.
09:37When I started off, we got Stephen Knight,
09:40lucky us,
09:41who said, I'm going to write it.
09:43I don't want a writer's room.
09:44I'm just going to write them all myself.
09:46And I think initially the plan was,
09:48I'll produce it, I'll direct the pilot.
09:51And Steve sent me the first draft of the first episode.
09:55And I can pinpoint the moment.
09:56There's a moment where Ruffalo, as Daniel, the father,
10:00is taking his daughter, who's blind,
10:02to the Museum of Natural History, where he works.
10:05And he plays her a recording of bird songs.
10:08And his daughter feels for his eyelids
10:11to confirm that his eyes are closed
10:14and that he is experiencing this sound
10:17the same way that she is.
10:20And I read that scene.
10:21And I remember where I was.
10:23I was in Florence, Italy, and I read that scene.
10:25And I called Steve, and I called Dan Levine,
10:28and I said, okay, I've got to direct all of this.
10:30So you were not intending to do all of them?
10:32No, I wasn't.
10:33I mean, because it's a big commitment.
10:34You commit to, at that point,
10:36we didn't know if it would be four episodes or six episodes.
10:39But I knew it would be a year-plus of my life.
10:41That's a year where I'm going to say no
10:43to every movie I get offered.
10:45Wow.
10:46But I read that scene in that first draft,
10:49and I just couldn't resist.
10:50And I guess I'd gotten to a point in both my life
10:53and my career where I thought, you know what?
10:56It's important, not just okay,
10:59but important to be motivated by things
11:02that just come organically from my heart.
11:05And that story did.
11:07And it's why I committed to directing the whole series
11:10unflinchingly and without hesitation.
11:13And you were nominated for a Director's Guild Award
11:15for directing it, which was fun.
11:17Yeah, that was fun.
11:18And we got a Globe nomination.
11:20We got a PGA nomination.
11:22And, you know, it's an interesting story
11:25because it's very intimate as far as the character work.
11:29But, boy, the scale of it was just,
11:33it needed to be epic.
11:34It needed to be convincingly and compellingly
11:37against a World War II backdrop,
11:39which meant action and practical effects
11:42and visual effects.
11:43And how does hope and any version of empathy
11:48survive in the midst of incredibly dark times?
11:52Right.
11:53Even as I say that sentence to you,
11:55it's so kind of stark how timely that theme is.
12:00Oh, and the title of this is timely, you know?
12:03I mean, it always was.
12:04But, you know, to release that.
12:06It's more timely now.
12:07Correct.
12:08I mean, it was more timely when we released it in November,
12:10mere weeks after the October 7th attack in the Middle East.
12:13It's timelier still now six months later,
12:16six months into a war that has created so much division,
12:22obviously so much loss of life on so many sides.
12:26And, frankly, here in the U.S. and around the world,
12:30we're just seeing a world that can break our heart.
12:33I don't know how else to put it.
12:34It is a world that increasingly makes it very hard
12:39to believe in fundamental goodness
12:43and the possibility of connecting with another,
12:47especially another who is on the other side of a border
12:51or the other side of an issue.
12:53And so, look, I felt privileged to tell this story
12:58and adapt it to the screen.
12:59But I feel that much more so to be a part of a show
13:03that is really trying to say things
13:05that are fundamentally humanist
13:08and increasingly important to be said, I think.
13:11And that's the power that you have
13:13in doing what you get to do.
13:15Because I think when people see this
13:17and shows like this or movies like this,
13:20and it was interesting to me that you said
13:21it was originally a feature film
13:22because it's hard to imagine
13:24that you could make a successful feature film out of it.
13:28I mean, the truth is we've seen so many features
13:31fail at honoring a literary source.
13:35It's very, very hard to take a proper novel
13:38and to make the hard choices one needs to do
13:41to fit it into two hours or so.
13:44And I have to say, as partners,
13:46Netflix was pretty great in being very open.
13:50I mean, not open to the running time of each episode.
13:52Right.
13:53They said, if it's four episodes, great.
13:56If it's six, eight, you tell us what the story wants.
13:59And it ended up being four.
14:01But then equally supportive,
14:03when I went to them in prep and said,
14:05okay, you know this lead role,
14:07this character, this young woman,
14:09and this girl played by two performers,
14:12this character's blind.
14:14I want to open it up to a global search
14:16and I want to cast two females
14:19who are either low vision or blind themselves.
14:22And again, to Bella's credit,
14:24to Ted's credit at Netflix,
14:26they said, look,
14:27if you think that's the best way to make it,
14:29not just the right way,
14:31because optics are one thing,
14:33but creative best practices are another.
14:37And they were really supportive
14:38because that's why I was doing it.
14:39How hard was it to find these two?
14:42Because one's obviously the younger version,
14:45Nell, I believe.
14:46Yeah, Nell.
14:47So it was a seven-year-old girl named Nell Sutton
14:50who responded to an open call,
14:52sent in an iPhone video from a small town in Wales,
14:56and I Zoomed with Nell.
14:58At that point, I didn't really know
14:59what I was going to do with the older version of Marie.
15:02But when I Zoomed with Nell,
15:04I was so instantly smitten.
15:06And it wasn't just that she was charming
15:08and funny and vivacious and smart,
15:10it was that I saw the way Nell used her hands.
15:14I saw the way Nell interacted with space
15:18and with objects and the way she communicated
15:21and that was a very,
15:23just kind of an epiphanal moment for me
15:25because I was like, oh, you know what?
15:27The way we've seen this experience represented
15:30for a hundred years of cinematic history,
15:34that's not the same thing as the real thing.
15:38It's doing its best to be authentic,
15:40but there is a certain authenticity that you get
15:43when you cast a performer
15:45who's walked that road themselves.
15:47And so Nell got the part
15:49and I doubled and tripled down on my global search,
15:52which was literally an internet e-blast.
15:55Wow.
15:57An open call, anyone who could audition
16:00for the 20-something Marie sent in auditions.
16:05We got over a thousand.
16:06Wow.
16:07And among those thousands of readings,
16:09we found this one,
16:11this young woman who was getting her PhD
16:16in rhetoric at Penn State.
16:18Her name was Aria Mia Liberti.
16:20It still is her name.
16:21And she didn't know what she was doing as an actor yet.
16:25Right.
16:26But she was fiercely intelligent
16:28and I could tell that the material spoke to her
16:31in a really, really intense and deep way
16:35and that paired with her intelligence,
16:37I knew that we could build this character together.
16:40And they're both wonderful in this.
16:42Thank you.
16:43So it just shows your instincts on the casting.
16:45Yeah, it was...
16:46Well, right, but that's a challenge and you don't know.
16:48It really was.
16:49And look, early on, I'm not going to lie, Pete,
16:52there were shooting days early on
16:54where it was so clear to me, to my crew,
16:58like, oh, these girls do not know what they are doing.
17:01Yeah.
17:02Right?
17:03Some basic things like,
17:04how do I convey where the camera is?
17:06Right.
17:07How am I conveying how tight the shot is?
17:09What does that mean as far as how big or expressive
17:12to go with your facial expression?
17:14Right.
17:15And there was a moment early on where I gave Aria an acting note.
17:20Yeah.
17:21And she said, well, what do you mean?
17:23I'm like, well, you know, just like with your face,
17:25maybe da-da-da-da-da.
17:26And she said to me, I've never seen my face.
17:30Wow.
17:31So I don't know what it looks like when I do that.
17:35Wow.
17:36And it stopped me in my tracks.
17:38Oh, my God.
17:39It stopped me in my tracks.
17:41And that was a critical moment early on where I realized,
17:46A, I was going to have to find different ways of directing
17:50than I ever have.
17:52I would have to be specific and articulate with my words in a way
17:58because my facial expressions, which are endless,
18:01and my hand gestures.
18:03Everything you use as a director.
18:04And especially me more than some.
18:06Like, I'm not a stay behind the monitor and shout out notes.
18:10I'm in it with my actors.
18:12But now I needed to be in it in a different way.
18:14Wow.
18:15And it ended up being completely reciprocal
18:18because every day I would teach Aria about acting for the camera.
18:23And Aria would teach me about what the real experience
18:26of being blind in this world is really like.
18:30Amazing.
18:31And the other thing you did, too, as a producer,
18:33put your producer hat on,
18:34you could have shot the whole thing in Budapest.
18:36But you made a decision to go more authentic.
18:39Yeah.
18:40And trust me, it would have been cheapest by a large margin
18:45to just do everything in Hungary.
18:48The rebate was good.
18:49The currency was in our favor.
18:51But as a fan of the book, I just felt that the flavor of this French town,
18:57the town of Saint Malo, that it was a character.
19:01And I know that's kind of a thing that people say,
19:03oh, it's a character.
19:04But it really is.
19:06As in anybody who has read that book knows that that seaside town
19:11that got 85% decimated in the liberation of France by the Allies,
19:19that that was going to be critical.
19:21So there are some times where literally I'll say to my line producer,
19:25and this was Mary McLaglen who's been with me since Real Steel,
19:29so many movies, many shows over a decade,
19:32I'll say, Mary, the producer in me agrees with you.
19:35We should stay here.
19:37But I'm now going to just pretend I'm only a director.
19:40We got to go to France.
19:41And we got to go to Saint Malo for that rampart wall
19:45and for the way that the sea relates to the light and these scenes.
19:49But because that town was bombed to hell at the end of the war,
19:54it didn't exist anymore.
19:56So for the innards of the town, for those winding, narrow streets,
20:00we went to a third location, a town in south-central France
20:05called Villefranche-sur-Yergue, which I'm butchering the name.
20:09I apologize.
20:11It's a medieval French village that hasn't changed,
20:13that wasn't touched and damaged by the war.
20:17So we ended up doing three locations, none of which was fiscally efficient
20:22but which were, I think, creatively imperative.
20:25But it makes a difference.
20:27And you feel it, right?
20:28Because you see it in the way that the paint is peeling with a certain patina
20:34on the door.
20:36And all these little details that I think are baked into the DNA of the show.
20:40And as we sit here and speak, you are locking picture, as they say, on…
20:45Literally this week.
20:47By the time someone's watching, I'm looking at every camera
20:50because I don't know what your frames are.
20:52By the time anyone's watching this,
20:54we will be in the final stage of post-production on Deadpool and Wolverine.
20:58It's amazing because we're here in New York City doing this,
21:01and this is a big deal.
21:04I don't want to jinx it or anything, but everyone,
21:07when you read all the pundits and things,
21:09the industry is looking at this in a big way, post-strike, post-pandemic,
21:14to really be something.
21:16Yeah, I mean, it's an interesting moment in a few ways.
21:21We didn't expect to be releasing Deadpool and Wolverine
21:24in this moment of Marvel's cultural kind of arc.
21:30Right.
21:31It's relentless, massive success.
21:35A few movies that missed, a few shows that missed.
21:38Everyone's kind of piling on with a lot of negativity,
21:42some of which is wildly undeserved.
21:45But the bottom line is we're the only Marvel movie
21:48that's going to be released all year.
21:50And it's also at a time where, frankly, theatrical moviegoing
21:55needs yet again to be reaffirmed.
21:58Exactly.
21:59And as someone who not only loves making films for the big screen,
22:04but I like sitting in that dark theater.
22:06Right.
22:07I like it.
22:08Okay, I make movies for streamers.
22:10I make movies for theaters.
22:12Deadpool and Wolverine is every inch of itself a big screen experience.
22:18Right.
22:19And so to be coming out in July in the summer of 2024, daunting for sure
22:24because I read those pundits too.
22:27So definitely not going to pretend that expectations aren't lofty.
22:31Right.
22:32But I've loved making this movie.
22:35And to Disney and Marvel's credit, they've let Ryan and I,
22:39who we co-produced it, we co-wrote it with our fellow writers,
22:43he stars, I directed, it's really the movie we set out to make
22:46with a very specific tone and really, at its core,
22:50just a movie that's built for audience joy.
22:53I love that.
22:54And, of course, with Hugh Jackman,
22:56reuniting with him after all those years of Real Steel.
22:59Yeah.
23:00You have this dream kind of teaming.
23:03And Ryan, you seem to be just partners basically now in movies.
23:09I mean, I have to tell you, Free Guy, I saw twice within two weeks.
23:14I remember I saw it at the El Capitan at a press screening,
23:17and then I came home and told my wife,
23:19oh, my God, you've got to see this movie.
23:21So we went the opening weekend when it was in the biggest theater
23:24at our local place in Playa Vista, and it played just as well,
23:28and I usually don't see movies that close together again.
23:31Thank you.
23:32But to me, that was just such a revelation.
23:36It was almost like if Frank Capra made a movie like that, it would be that.
23:42You're mainlining into my heart right now.
23:45But really, it was so good, and that began the Ryan Reynolds.
23:48It did, and ironically, when I first met you back during Real Steel,
23:53Hugh, in like 2011, Hugh said,
23:57you know, if you ever meet Ryan Reynolds and work with him,
23:59you're never going to stop.
24:01He said that a decade ago.
24:03Oh, my God.
24:04Over a decade ago.
24:05And it took several years until I met Ryan.
24:07But the first time we met to talk about Free Guy,
24:10it was clear that, okay, we both had successful careers,
24:14but we are meeting in the right moment.
24:17Yeah.
24:18We're old enough to know a really good thing when we stumble into it.
24:21Exactly.
24:22And not let go.
24:23And it's how really, you know, Free Guy went into Atom Project.
24:27It was on the set of Atom Project that Ryan told me he only wanted
24:30to do Deadpool 3 if I would direct it.
24:32Wow.
24:33And I remember him going, I know, I know, you're going to say no.
24:36I'm like, I'm not going to say no.
24:38I'm definitely saying yes.
24:40And that was before I knew that we would get the greatest gift
24:45imaginable for a Deadpool movie, which is Hugh Jackman saying,
24:51I'm in.
24:52I want in.
24:53Wolverine.
24:54And when it became Deadpool and Wolverine,
24:55it became a whole different story.
24:57And just the majesty of the movie, the fun of the movie,
25:02and the story potential of the movie changed completely
25:06because then it really becomes a descendant of the great buddy
25:13at each other's throats, shoved together through circumstance genre.
25:19Whether it's a midnight run or a plane's trains or 48 hours
25:24or Rain Man, this is really very much a two-hander.
25:27And while it's certainly the third Deadpool movie,
25:30there's a reason it's titled Deadpool and Wolverine.
25:32It's really these two characters, these two iconic characters.
25:35Yeah.
25:36Going on a journey alongside each other.
25:39So perfect.
25:40Does this make you want to do, is there going to be another Deadpool,
25:43a Wolverine?
25:44Usually when I have to lie, I'm waiting for the questions that I have to lie
25:50and pretend I don't know the answer.
25:52But this one, I can sincerely say I don't know.
25:55Yeah.
25:56But I can in the same breath say, man, this thing has been the hardest,
26:01most all-consuming thing I've ever done.
26:03But it's also been the most creatively gratifying
26:07because with Deadpool, there's no rules.
26:11It is in its very DNA built on tonal audacity.
26:16And so for a filmmaker, what a delight.
26:20And to do it with my best friend Ryan, my other buddy Hugh,
26:24the three of us who have known each other now for a very long time,
26:28it was just a blast because also if you work with friends,
26:32you don't mind making an ass of yourself.
26:34Yeah.
26:35Right?
26:36And if you're working on something that's comedic,
26:38you better be willing to fall on your face.
26:40Exactly.
26:41And so I would have an idea.
26:44Ryan, you want to try this?
26:45Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't.
26:47But the willingness to embarrass ourselves in front of each other
26:51because we're buddies, that led to some really unexpected moments,
26:57jokes, and surprises.
26:59I can't wait.
27:00In the midst of all this, are you still doing a Star Wars movie, too?
27:03I am still developing my Star Wars movie,
27:05and I would love to make it someday.
27:07Cool.
27:08I have an idea that I'm excited about.
27:13Look, development is slow going,
27:15and developing something with that amount of mythology scaffolding,
27:22it takes time.
27:24You've got to be aware of, okay, well, wait,
27:26what are they doing over here?
27:27What's that group doing over here?
27:29Because they have television, they have films.
27:31But some really exciting conversations with Kathy and Dave Filoni
27:35and the group over at Lucas.
27:37I don't know, man.
27:39I'm trying to preserve some dreams,
27:41and that's definitely one of them that's out there in my future,
27:45and I hope to not rest until I get there.
27:48Could be.
27:49Now, before we go, everyone wants to know about Stranger Things 5.
27:52This is the final season.
27:54I think 4 was supposed to be the final season, but 5?
27:56I don't know that we ever promised that.
27:58We might have just been cagey.
27:59Yeah, the Duffers might have said, oh, we're going to do whatever.
28:02Fair enough.
28:03But Stranger Things 5 got delayed and all kinds of problems,
28:07as so many projects did.
28:09Is finally, you know.
28:11Yeah, we're in it.
28:13We're deep in it.
28:15And I'm going to, as always, not only do my duties as executive producer
28:21and kind of in-house big brother to the Duffers and whatever they need,
28:26which has been my North Star kind of credo on that show for almost a decade now.
28:31But directing some of every season has been,
28:36it started out as a bailout for the brothers
28:39because they needed time to write more of season 1.
28:43That's how I started directing episode 3 and 4.
28:453 and 4, yeah, you did.
28:47This year, because of my Deadpool schedule, I'll direct a later slot.
28:52But I love the ability to do both.
28:54Because producing is a blast.
28:56But you're up here kind of in the coach's box.
29:00But when you direct, you're in it.
29:03And your hands are on the ball.
29:05And you're in all the stressful, dirty morass of making the thing
29:11and getting to direct Stranger Things every few years.
29:15That's been a huge part of my creative life, too.
29:17And everybody loves that show.
29:19You know, it was even become a play.
29:22The play's awesome.
29:23Animation.
29:24It's a play.
29:25It was in London, right?
29:26It is still in London.
29:27It's still there.
29:28It is still one of the biggest hits in London.
29:30And it just won the Olivier Award for Best New Entertainment.
29:34Wow.
29:35It is legitimately, and again, we don't take all the credit for this.
29:39In fact, I take very little credit for this.
29:41But we have Sonya Friedman producing and Stephen Daldry directing.
29:46Oh, wow.
29:48They have taken care of our baby and raised it to become something else
29:54that is both connected to what we know of this thing we love,
29:57but its own thing.
29:59Wow.
30:00And my hope is that American audiences will be lucky
30:02and get a taste of it for themselves.
30:04But it's called Stranger Things First Shadow,
30:06and I think they're doing exceptional work on that stage.
30:09And then there's the animation.
30:11There's a lot.
30:12There's a lot.
30:13That's amazing.
30:14And some of which is known, some of which isn't.
30:16When are we going to see season five?
30:17Netflix hasn't announced this yet.
30:19I think that by the time people watch this,
30:22a little bit of an answer will be out there.
30:24So I'm going to let people higher up than me blow it.
30:30I've spoiled enough things.
30:31I know.
30:32I'm not going to let you spoil it.
30:33Thank you.
30:34People will get mad at me if I, you know.
30:35Do they get mad at you?
30:36Because I live in constant trouble.
30:38Yeah.
30:39But I am grateful to Stranger Things because that is the experience
30:42that really trained me to shut my mouth.
30:45And if I were making a Deadpool Wolverine movie without that training,
30:49I'd be blowing secrets left and right.
30:52Well, you know, I just wish you the best.
30:55For a guy who started as an actor in Zombie Nightmare.
31:00Can we acknowledge that Pete waited until like the 29th minute
31:04to mortify me with my B-horror movie credit from literally when I was 16?
31:10Thank you.
31:11Well, you've done well.
31:13Little did I know when I was being impaled by the zombie on a softball bat,
31:17which is how I met my end.
31:19It was tragic.
31:20It was gruesome.
31:21But, yeah, come a long way from that.
31:23Come a long way.
31:24Thanks for joining us on Behind the Lens.
31:25Thanks, Pete.