Episode 209 - The Snowman: LIVE! (w/ Erin Gibson, Bryan Safi)

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi of Throwing Shade join Paul and Jason to discuss the 2017 psychological crime horror thriller The Snowman. Recorded live from Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles, they talk about detective Harry Hole never bringing up the snowman, ADR Val Kilmer, coffee bean torture scene, and more. Plus, we hear some exclusive behind the scenes info from someone very close to the film.

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[sleepyweasal 2]

Quick note on Scandinavian privacy. They don’t believe in curtains or blinds.  I live in Scandinavia and The Who gives a hoot attitude to personal privacy is amazing. I have lived in plenty of apartments and spent many an evening staring At the apartment building across the street invading people privacy with my eyes.  I once spent an hour watching  the most ackward  3 person dinner party in fascination.  It Was made even more awkward when I locked eyes with the third wheel at the table . We shared a look that made us both sad. Anyway love the show 

[MrSnuffleupagus 4]

My poor ears :( Erin, please stop screaming the entire time.

[IRONicmerMAN 391]

3 hours ago, sleepyweasal said:

Quick note on Scandinavian privacy. They don’t believe in curtains or blinds.  I live in Scandinavia and The Who gives a hoot attitude to personal privacy is amazing. I have lived in plenty of apartments and spent many an evening staring At the apartment building across the street invading people privacy with my eyes.  I once spent an hour watching  the most ackward  3 person dinner party in fascination.  It Was made even more awkward when I locked eyes with the third wheel at the table . We shared a look that made us both sad. Anyway love the show 

Even in bedrooms?  I mean, how can you sleep with all that light coming in?

[IRONicmerMAN 391]

28 minutes ago, MrSnuffleupagus said:

My poor ears Erin, please stop screaming the entire time.

I just started, but this episode seems like a complete mess.  Erin yelling, Bryan booming, Jason yelling.  Poor Paul.  I was really looking forward to them covering this..."film"...but I'm not sure I'll make it through if this continues.

[MrSnuffleupagus 4]

41 minutes ago, IRONicmerMAN said:

I just started, but this episode seems like a complete mess.  Erin yelling, Bryan booming, Jason yelling.  Poor Paul.  I was really looking forward to them covering this..."film"...but I'm not sure I'll make it through if this continues.

It gets VASTLY better.
 

I was in the same boat as you though. I started this and about 5 mins in I was seriously contemplating turning it off because it was just so much yelling over each other. I usually enjoy Jason's yelling and that wasn't the problem; it just seemed like Erin was absolutely screaming into a mic for the first 10-15 mins.

 

[grudlian. 4725]

I'm with Erin. I think Michael Fassbender was Oleg's father.

Also, thank god they addressed that part of the movie was 7 years earlier. I missed that and halfway through, one of my notes was "it's this movie not in chronological order?"

[IRONicmerMAN 391]

39 minutes ago, MrSnuffleupagus said:

It gets VASTLY better.
 

I was in the same boat as you though. I started this and about 5 mins in I was seriously contemplating turning it off because it was just so much yelling over each other. I usually enjoy Jason's yelling and that wasn't the problem; it just seemed like Erin was absolutely screaming into a mic for the first 10-15 mins.

 

Erin screaming and Bryan seemed hellbent on over-emphasizing everything he said.  Glad it gets better later on!

[Jolini 0]

Erin is just shrieking.  I don’t know that I can make it through.  I just listened to Gods of Egypt again a few days ago so that makes it even worse - I am Erin-ed out.  

 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

The comments on female guests "screaming/shrieking/yelling" during live shows are getting boring. I've listened to the episode and she is matching the volume set by the men, but nope apparently it's just her fault and she's the one no one can listen to. We get it y'all.

[IRONicmerMAN 391]

16 minutes ago, taylorannephoto said:

The comments on female guests "screaming/shrieking/yelling" during live shows are getting boring. I've listened to the episode and she is matching the volume set by the men, but nope apparently it's just her fault and she's the one no one can listen to. We get it y'all.

For what it's worth, I had a hard time with all of them, which I mentioned.  "Erin yelling, Bryan booming, Jason yelling.  Poor Paul."

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

Oh I thought it was only lesbians whose voices people hated. Way to branch out.

So I did not watch this movie. I did not understand much of the podcast, but it sounds like I wouldn't understand it even if I saw it. I read a couple of true crime books lately,  and I'm really kind of sick of how media makes serial killers seem cool (no snowman pun intended) and smart. Or the whole Ted Bundy was hot thing on Twitter. I can't.

But anyway, I don't know anything about Norway but I was listening to this thinking "are there really that many serial killers running around Norway?" I thought it was a safe place to live. So I found some Norway crime statistics and it says 24 people were murdered in Norway in 2015 (the most recent available data). By comparison, the FBI reports the United States had 15,696 murders that year. I think Jo Nesbo has murdered more fictional people than have actually been murdered in Norway.

I don't know where I'm going with this, but I think it's weird that we WANT violence where there isn't violence because it's "interesting"?

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

20 minutes ago, Elektra Boogaloo said:

ut anyway, I don't know anything about Norway but I was listening to this thinking "are there really that many serial killers running around Norway?" I thought it was a safe place to live. So I found some Norway crime statistics and it says 24 people were murdered in Norway in 2015 (the most recent available data). By comparison, the FBI reports the United States had 15,696 murders that year. I think Jo Nesbo has murdered more fictional people than have actually been murdered in Norway.

I don't know where I'm going with this, but I think it's weird that we WANT violence where there isn't violence because it's "interesting"?

I'll just add that Norwegian/Scandinavian art and literature is quite often dark af -- serial killers, existential detectives, gruesome bloody scenes, etc. It's also the home of Satanic-based death metal music, even though most of the country is really quite secular. I've read a lot of Nesbo's books (including this one), but also many similar Swedish and Icelandic books. Basically what I'm saying is, this is a genre. It's not a Jo Nesbo thing. My theory is that it's about the long dark winters and maybe Nordic/Viking mythology. 

Anyway I haven't listened to the ep yet (nor watch the movie) but as I said in the mini-ep thread I'm quite curious because the book is very good. I'm in for a fun weekend lol

[Mistweave 15]

Finally have caught up again to comment on the show when it comes out!

Great episode on a baffling movie! 

did anyone else notice that no one seems to dress for the cold weather in this movie? For example Charlotte gainsbourg wearing a sleeveless shift dress. Also none of the characters seem to zip up their coats! Maybe “real Norwegians” are just immune to the cold

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

2 hours ago, AlmostAGhost said:

I'll just add that Norwegian/Scandinavian art and literature is quite often dark af -- serial killers, existential detectives, gruesome bloody scenes, etc. It's also the home of Satanic-based death metal music, even though most of the country is really quite secular. I've read a lot of Nesbo's books (including this one), but also many similar Swedish and Icelandic books. Basically what I'm saying is, this is a genre. It's not a Jo Nesbo thing. My theory is that it's about the long dark winters and maybe Nordic/Viking mythology. 

Anyway I haven't listened to the ep yet (nor watch the movie) but as I said in the mini-ep thread I'm quite curious because the book is very good. I'm in for a fun weekend lol

I am aware of the genre. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is kind of part of that, though he was Swedish, I think. But that was another series I couldn't handle. Maybe I just hate crime fiction. I mean, at least Norway people don't actually go out and commit murder, apparently. So they are winning there.

[Omaxem 232]

2 hours ago, Elektra Boogaloo said:

So I did not watch this movie. I did not understand much of the podcast, but it sounds like I wouldn't understand it even if I saw it.

If you want to learn more about this FILM without actually having to watch it you can listen to the The Flophouse episode that covers it ( its #253 ). They get more into the actual " plot " while still ripping it to shreds and laughing at it.

 

Also, i fuck!ng love Erin ( and Brian ).

[Cam Bert 8145]

If anybody is interested in what a Norwegian novel turned into a good movie with an actual Norwegian cast (and one Dane) actual looks like then I highly recommend the 2011 film Headhunters (Hodejegerne). Also recommended if you are a Game of Thrones fan and can't wait another month to get your Jamie Lannister fix.

[RyanSz 3140]

Okay so I have a few possible explanations for some things addressed in the episode, mainly about the serial killer. About the man the killer's mom is sleeping with in the beginning being called "Uncle Jonas," since he's the actual father of the boy, but the boy didn't know I'm assuming it's the trope in movies/TV where the cheating parent calls the lover "uncle" or "aunt" so as to not clue the kids into what's actually going on, though in this case it's so as to not let the son in on the fact Jonas is his dad, also make a vague connection to Harry being Oleg's father, but Oleg not knowing. As for the killer going after single moms rather than absent fathers, that's a common trigger for serial killers as either mommy issues or inadequacy, self-perceived or real, with women, are a big jumping off point for a good number who have taken that road. So while Mathias' should rightfully be mad at Jonas for abandoning his mom and him, what he focuses on is the fact that her mom completely loses it and then kills herself while also trying to kill him at the same time, leading to his anger towards single moms. This was also more fleshed out in the books as the killer was targeting married moms who had illegitimate children. The only reason I think a snowman head was put on Kilmer's body was that the killer figured that the body would have been discovered sooner, but more likely it was just shitty filmmaking.

In concern to the book series, from what I've heard from people that have read them, the books are actually pretty solid mystery/thrillers, but to choose book seven of an eleven book series is nuts, the only reason I think it was chosen was that this was the book in where Harry first deals with a serial killer on Norwegian soil, while prior books ranged from stopping assassination attempts, bank robberies, or murders/serial killings in other countries. At least when the James Patterson Alex Cross series started to get adapted, they went with the second book in the series, Kiss the Girls, which was actually a better book than Along Came a Spider, which was adapted later. Hell even the Tyler Perry Alex Cross film had the decency to be based off the book that was basically a prequel for the whole series rather than one of the other 25 books in the series for no real reason

I was also wondering if the 15-20% that wasn't filmed was due to it involving a bit more of Val Kilmer's character and he just wasn't able to do it since he was still recuperating from his medical ordeal. Yet when reading further this film seemed to be done in order to fully take advantage of Norwegian tax incentives to film there, leading to a rushed production. What I read also said that great care was taken to REMOVE any trace of Norwegian accent's/writing, I'm assuming because of the rushjob to finish this movie and the actors having no real time to prepare accents. Finally after hearing that Jennifer Lawrence was the original choice for the female lead, the death scene makes sense as when I watched this a few months back, it was really vague as to if she was dead or just dazed from what just happened to her, which depending on how this did at the box office could have left an option for her to return in the sequel.

[JimKata 62]

Correction: "Norwegian Wood" was primarily written by John Lennon, not George Harrison.

[RyanSz 3140]

After some research about the limb removal weapon, which I first thought was an updated version of a bonesaw for preparing limb transfers from brain dead person to viable hosts, what I found was that the most likely option was it's a tool used in modifying cable railings in cases when a human hand or simple tool wouldn't have the required strength/torque to do so. So when used properly it wouldn't slice through the materials of cables, but human flesh wouldn't stand a chance.

[contrafact 0]

I'm surprised no one knew that Val Kilmer has/had throat cancer and thats why his voice was all fucked up and he looks weird (for a lack of a more poetic description).... I get the feeling they wouldn't have been riffing on that if they knew why.... eeek.

 

Overall.. not the best the episode.. the guests jokes just did not land at all. Still fascinated by The Snowman, I'll have to watch it.

[RyanSz 3140]

45 minutes ago, contrafact said:

I'm surprised no one knew that Val Kilmer has/had throat cancer and thats why his voice was all fucked up and he looks weird (for a lack of a more poetic description).... I get the feeling they wouldn't have been riffing on that if they knew why.... eeek.

 

Overall.. not the best the episode.. the guests jokes just did not land at all. Still fascinated by The Snowman, I'll have to watch it.

They mentioned the throat cancer in the episode when they were talking about the ADR.

[TomPretty 29]

What exactly was the purpose of the whole Jk Simmons thing in relation to the Snowman???

[JimKata 62]

Dwayne Johnson is franchise Viagra. Michael Fassbender is franchise saltpeter.

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

18 hours ago, RyanSz said:

I was also wondering if the 15-20% that wasn't filmed was due to it involving a bit more of Val Kilmer's character and he just wasn't able to do it since he was still recuperating from his medical ordeal. Yet when reading further this film seemed to be done in order to fully take advantage of Norwegian tax incentives to film there, leading to a rushed production. What I read also said that great care was taken to REMOVE any trace of Norwegian accent's/writing, I'm assuming because of the rushjob to finish this movie and the actors having no real time to prepare accents. Finally after hearing that Jennifer Lawrence was the original choice for the female lead, the death scene makes sense as when I watched this a few months back, it was really vague as to if she was dead or just dazed from what just happened to her, which depending on how this did at the box office could have left an option for her to return in the sequel.

First of all, you looked up about the weird head cutting weapon so I think you win this week. But I don't think it was Val Kilmer's part that wasn't filmed. Because they could hire another actor to do it. There must have been budgetary or scheduling conflicts with the movie?

I've tried to listen to the Flop House but I can't get into it. HDTGM is my bad movie podcast.