And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. If you dont recognize wallace seans memorable face, you would definitely know his distinctive voice in a career one might describe as inconceivable, hes been entertaining children for decades in films like the Princess Bride and toy story, but its his Award Winning writing thats caught the attention of grownups, his latest text is called night thoughts. Wallace sean an honor to have you on this program, sir. So great to be here. Why would one call your career inconceivable . Well, i suppose i participate in Popular Culture or i certainly did in my greater days and i suppose some of my writing is hostile to the way our society is organized and might seem to be at war with the things that i do. I dont know. Yeah. I dont feel it that way, but some people think that. That, that counter narrative if i can put it that way comes from where . Well, its hard to i mean its hard for me to analyze it, but to i suppose i was brought up in a privileged way, and from a fairly early age, i was a little bit upset by that. And then why . Whats there to be upset about . I dont know. I dont know. I did see some poor children when i was a boy and asked my parents why dont they have better clothes and they look ed sort of dirty and even their facial expressions are less tranquil than the expressions of my private school classmates. And i suppose my parents must have been upset by the question. And i must have picked up that upsetness because either, you know, to answer that question you either have to say well, the world we live in is very unjest and we are thieves or you have to say, well those people are inferior and they deserve to not have, you know, good clothes. So i think they didnt to want say either of those things, they were very nice people, and they must have given off some vibrations of distress that troubled me maybe. But that those, those feelings obviously stuck with you over the years. As evidence in your writings. Well, they went they came and went until i was in my early 40s, then i had a kind of crisis, and i came to feel that id been too complaisant and so i changed. Care to share about the crisis . Well, i i cant explain why it happened exactly, but i had always been, lets say in a liberal way, sympathetic to people who were miserable, but it didnt occur to me that it was my fault particularly. And in my early 40s, i sort of came to understand that those people were kept in desperation because a certain status quo was being maintained and it was being maintained in order to benefit certain people and i was one of them. I was one of the beneficiaries of the system of oppression around the world. So, i sort of freaked out and had a feeling of hatred of myself that well, i havent really recovered from it. Because i i havent caught up in my behavior with the realizations that i had, i suppose. It raises this question then, i didnt know you were going to go there, but since you have, let me ask as a followup then, when one acknowledges or owns ones complicity, thats one thing, but what do you do can you exercise any agency then to do anything about said situation . Well, i mean or said reality. Well, i mean, obviously there is a pretty big spectrum of things you can do. Of course, you can, the simplest way to resolve those emotions, i suppose, would be to give up all privilege. Dont be stupid now. Well, well, i mean, nobody wants to do that yeah, exactly. I dont say nobody, there are a handful of people, ive met some of them, who, you know, give up all attachment to comfort and to ease of life and to, you know, go to work in refugee camps and to live very humbly. Other people, i mean, for me, it was a big change to march in the street in a demonstration before i was i was 40 i had never done that, i thought it was a frightening and sort of disturbing thing to do. I will march in the streets and i will sign these things that, i dont 100 agree with, but i 95 agree with. And, of course, when more and more as, you know, searches for things that one can do, but its i cant set myself up as an example. I mean, obviously, you know, its a beautiful thing to chain yourself to the Nuclear Installation or the pipeline, i, you know, or to go to prison for your beliefs or even be killed for your beliefs, im not dead yet, so well see. But, to, yes, i do have an attachment to comfort i mean, im only hanging on to it by going into debt. Its not that i actually, i dont actually have have really comfortable income anymore. I did, at least in the 80s make some money as an actor. Is there a particular comfort or Something Else that you get in sharing these night thoughts in this book with the rest of us . Well, my basic idea in writing this as you could see, rather small book, this contains everything that i think. Not everything you think it is, really. It is. I thought, im now over 70, i crossed that line and i thought i may soon be senile if im not already, its hard to tell. If im not, i better i want po put down everything i think. I mean, i was originally invited to give a speech and i gave a speech and it, it was incomplete and someone offered to turn that this was anthony arno who published this, turn that speech into a book, and so i sort of thought, okay, im going to put absolutely everything i think into this, and, you know, see if it has any value to anybody else. Its not really all that you think, it is put another way, all that you believe . Not what you think, but it is what i get a chance to go through this, it is, its pretty clear what your core believes are. What your Mission Statement of about life is. Whats fascinating and it and i say this respectfully and with love, you are like a democratic socialist. You wear that with pride, youre like a Bernie Sanders in some ways. Well, is that a compliment to you or did i just diss you . No, no, no, i have the greatest respect for Bernie Sanders. Enormous respect for him. Im happy to call myself a democratic socialist. I suppose in the book i get slightly ahead of myself and talk about what would happen if people like me by the time you get to i dont know, 55 out of the 65, im warning the people who will follow me, you know, about some of the pitfalls of power because i sort of feel human beings have demonstrated a poor record of having power. Even people with the most wonderful beliefs. Yeah. Its important that each of us, i think imagine, or reimagine for that matter the kind of world that we want to live and then engage the kind of work and witness to make that imagination a reality. That is, to my mind at least what wallace sean does in this book, its called night thoughts, challenging us until we imagine the world that we inhabit, thank you for the book. Thank you for your work ongoing and youve entertained us so well and so long. So thank you for your time, sir. Thank you so much. My pleasure. More to come in just a moment. Stay with us. Jordan peel, most known for his work as onehalf of the due comedy made his debut as a writer director with last weeks release of get out, the movie, of course, has been called funny, but its also been called brilliantly submersive and it is, critics have been unanimous in their praise and the public was unanimous in making it number one, you bad boy, number one at the box office this past weekend before we start our conversation with mr. Peel, first a look at, get out. Good to see an old brother around here. Yes. Of course it is. Something wrong . There you are. Yes, yes. Oh, hello. And you are . Chris, roses boyfriend. Chris was just telling me how he felt much more comfortable with my being here. Thats nice. I hope youre not trying to tear you away, dear, but the wind cuts were asking about you. Well, it was nice to meet you, chris. I fell out when i saw. Thats some funny thing. Honored to have you on the program, sir. Congratulations. Im glad we didnt do that one. Do it again. We didnt do that one. Number one well, thank you. I brought my thing to get you to sign it. This is my movie ticket, the studios are very nice to me, they usually send me private singer so i can watch it before the guest comes on the show. Horror films are things you must see with crowds. Thats right. I went to the city to see this. I love it. And i loved it. Its like, its one of the ways its related to comedy yeah. As an art form. Its collaborative, you know, as an audience, its exponentially improved by getting to have a communal experience. So one of the things that i love, i keep hearing from people is, after the film, the whole audience felt closer, or like familial, whether its, you know, mixed or predominantly one group or the other, there is something communal about the experience of this movie which is so the crowd i saw was mixed and which is always fascinating for me as if youre here to hear this. They break out into applause. Okay, ill tell jordan he said that, what i said. Its some grade and, you know, the premise of the movie is on paper, its a divisive idea, right . You know, most of the white people in this movie are the villains. And so, its i think the greatest feat that we pulled off with this one is creating something that doesnt talk down to the audience, that, you know, honors the audience and says look, im giving you credit that you are intelligence, you are an empathic person, you are you are human. So at a certain point, thats the power of story is we can show the perspective of a different human beings it is, jordan, the power of story, but there is a risk, i would think, whenever you do a film, where you make the white people the villains, and yet, white people spend their noun go see the movie, howd you pull that trick off. Well, you know, it really was just taking care of the reality of it. The, you know, the scene that this, this follows is this Party Sequence that seems to resinate with a lot of people and put everybody on a similar page where, you know, we see these connections that, you know, chris, the only black guy at this party until he runs into logan, but he, hes approached by white people who are trying to make their connection with him. Their black connection with him. We, you know, everybody black person knows i understand that. Many other, you know, every other Minority Group or someone, you know, whos been in the other category knows, a lot of white people are woke too, but some people are coming, like oh my god, is this a thing, oh my god, have i done this. So getting everybody on the same page as to a really grounded part of the African American experience does just that. It gets us all on the same page. There were so many moments in this film where if you were black you were late to those experiences, you get this, particularly his boy telling him, do not go to your white girlfriends house, i will not do that. You would go on to meet her parents, you sit there and you laugh because its funny, but its rooted my friend mya angelo would say its as real as rain, and you relate. You know, if something rings true, it just does. Its really worked. I think its part of the reason guess whos coming to dinner. Some of the jumping off point to this movie. The premise. Even down to the sydney, you know, asks his girlfriend, do they know . First scene of the movie. No, why . The fear of meeting your inlaws. Theres an added dynamic to that or an interracial couple or some fate or something, the reason is really worked was we were all on the same page instantly because we all relate to that fear. This could have been as i said watching it, jordan, it could have been a comedy, straight out, could have been a horror, straight out, you combine the two, why the an ex us is . Really i felt like tone was the most important thing in getting this right, and i know that if its too funny, it doesnt really do it risks not doing justice to the seriousness of the subject matter, if its too serious, it risks not being a pleasant viewing experience. Uhhuh. So really, the comedic relief, you know, is not meant to come in and tell a bunch of jokes, its meant to give these moments where the audience can feel safe, where they can feel taken care of, and they can feel the release because so much of this movie is just building the tension. Building the tension. And, you know, i feel like if youre going to do that to an audience, put an audience through that. You have to reward them with some safe zone. Im glad you said that. The comedy wasnt gratuitous, its not fair to call it comedy, its funny, its only funny because we can see ourselves in those situations. Right. We can see ourselves in the area and thats what we would have said and done. Its only funny in that way. Did you hear that one. Its funny in that sense. The other thing to your point about it builds and builds and builds, im watching this, im with you, but it is building and building up. You have to as a director and writer trust that the audience will stay with you, and have the patience while you build this thing, why did you think that would work because lets face it, most of our Attention Spans are like that. You like forced us to be patient with you. These are films that utilized terror which is the moments which is before the horror takes place. And it proved to me that you can enrapture an audience with terror. If they know somethings coming, if they know and they dont know what it is i love that phrase. You can enrapture them in fear. That sounded like donald trump. I was going to say it if you didnt. Yeah. Yeah. Its true, well, no, you make a good point, and this country you know, theres a reason that right now in this country, we are enraptured with terror. We are afraid. Many of us are very afraid. And but at the same time, its fascinating to watch this the sensationalism and the fascination with this over the top personality administration and movement is partially what perpetuated the his ability to sell his brand. Ill close on this. Youve done this directing thing, obviously been writing for a while. The directing thing, marketed blue whale, i assume that this is the first of many is that where youre headed now. You want to do more directing and less act kpg. I like it. Yeah. Im a bigger fan of my directing than acting. And acting is its just harder, you know, not harder per se because directing was the hardest thing ive ever had to do. Its harder to enjoy my work as an actor, you know, and thats part of why this film was so rewarding is because i got to make one of my favorite movies. Well, well enjoy the aking for you. All right. I love it. Especially reruns. Hey. Thank you for all of those years. Thats a lot of good stuff there. Congrats again, my friend. Good to have you on the program. Get out, theater near you right now, the number one movie in america, go check it out. Thats our show tonight. Good night in l. A. , thanks for watching and as always, keep the faith. For more information on todays show, visit tavis smiley at pbs. Org. Hi, join me next time for a conversation with violinist, thats next time. Well see you then. And by contributions from pbs viewers like you. Thank you. Be more, pbs. Be more, pbs. Today on americas test kitchen bridget and julia make panseared flank steak with mustardchive butter. Adam reveals his favorite carbonsteel skillets to julia and becky shows bridget an easy recipe for walkaway ratatouille. Its all coming up right here on americas test kitchen. Americas test kitchen is brought to you by the following Fisher Paykel. Since 1934, Fisher Paykel has been designing