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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:12] Robert Bannon: Welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World, The Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart and Spotify and wherever artists talk about art. And hello, everybody. Hello. Look at these. Look at these fun guys. Hey, Oliver, Joey. Welcome to the party. How y'all doing?

[0:32] Joey Bader: I'm great. Thank you. Thank you for having me at the party.

[0:35] Robert Bannon: Your background matches Oli's skin tone.

[0:40] Robert Bannon: And mine. Oli, don't be afraid to... You do look very red, Oli. Are you okay?

[0:48] Oliver Woolf: It's because my computer does the red thing at night. Either that or I need to go to hospital.

[0:53] Robert Bannon: Where are you right now?

[0:55] Oliver Woolf: I'm in London. Where are you?

[0:58] Robert Bannon: I'm in Detroit, which is just as beautiful as London, allegedly. And where are you, Joey?

[1:02] Joey Bader: I'm in New York City.

[1:08] Robert Bannon: In New York City. So tell me a little bit... I love this, you both acting and making this movie. The movie is called Littermates, Everybody. It's about two survivors who survive an isolated English countryside... They find refuge in this cottage. I watched the movie the other day. It's beautiful. It is very moving. It is very sweet and timely. And in a time of unrest everywhere in the world, especially here in the United States, it made me feel like community and things are really important. How did this come to you, Joey? How did this whole entire project come to you?

[1:39] Joey Bader: So Michael and Scott, the co-directors, and Scott, the writer, are actually my best friends and Oli's best friends. So they wrote... Scott wrote this for me, Oli, and Kaylee, pretty much. We've been wanting to make a feature for a few years prior to this. We've known each other since 2017. And we shot this in 2024. So it was basically seven years in the making, but he came up with this idea for us, and there we were. And there it was.

[2:09] Robert Bannon: Well, okay. So no shade to you, Joey, but Oliver...

[2:13] Joey Bader: Give him shade. Give him shade, Rob.

[2:15] Robert Bannon: Oliver's character is quite the juicy character in this. He plays the caretaker, right? And we don't know if you're a good guy or a bad guy. Did they model this... Are you really like this character, Oliver? Because I'm scared a little.

[2:29] Oliver Woolf: Who, me or Joey?

[2:37] Robert Bannon: No. Oliver, I mean, would I stay in your house? I don't know if you're like...

[2:44] Oliver Woolf: Dude, come over. You're kidding. No, I don't think it's... I mean, they're sort of art-based, not idiosyncrasies, I guess. Scott always has this bit thinking that I'm super enigmatic.

[2:55] Oliver Woolf: Enigmatic? Yeah, that's a word. Whereas Joey is just like a little kid bouncing around in this big old world. But yeah, I mean, dude, come over. Like, look how I looked after Joey. I was washing him. I was feeding him. I was singing with him. Dude, what a beautiful privilege and joy.

[3:12] Robert Bannon: Oli, you're not scary because you're a trained clown.

[3:18] Oliver Woolf: Yeah, I am. Yeah, I went to... Look, here you go. I'm in my room. Unless you're scared of clowns. That's my clown nose.

[3:24] Robert Bannon: Joey, does he do clown tricks for you? Do you ever see him dressed as the clown?

[3:29] Joey Bader: Oh, he's a clown every day. Look at him. He doesn't need the red nose.

[3:33] Oliver Woolf: I mean, I don't think that was a nose.

[3:36] Oliver Woolf: I, yeah, I went to clown school. I went to Cole Philippe Gollier, who actually passed away this year, rest in peace. Yeah, it was like the best, funnest thing ever. I met like the greatest people ever. And yeah, I went to clown school and it helped with all my movements in the wheelchair.

[3:53] Robert Bannon: Okay, perfect. I get that. I get that for sure. Joey, you are somebody who has spent years, you know, at this business. You studied at the Groundlings. You're a writer, you're a director, you're an executive producer on this. What moves you to be inspired to say yes to a project or to take on a project? What is it about this project in particular that was like, besides your friends? Because sometimes friends could write something and you could be like, oh, I'm busy. Oh, I got to walk my dog. Oh, I got a haircut.

[4:17] Joey Bader: Scott wrote something a couple of years before that was going to be our first feature. And we were just like, no, we're like, Scott, you got to do something different. So we're honest with each other. I really liked that I wasn't just playing some guy named John in his mid-twenties that's like a romantic lead. It was a very unique character. And I liked doing that. Like you said, I come from improv land as well, and that's all character work. And so, yeah, I was ready to sink my teeth into something that was absurd and strange and different from scene to scene. I love it.

[4:51] Oliver Woolf: So Chester, how'd you find Chester? Who is Chester? What is it? What are his, he has these things called little nifties, right? Is that what they're called nifties?

[5:02] Oliver Woolf: They're nifties, yeah, yeah. And you got to watch it. Okay. So he's terrifying. See, there's a nifty. There's a nifty. Have I got a nifty? Do not let your kids go in at the hands of this man. How did you balance between making him charming enough to let people in, but then also there's a scary part of him? How did you find that balance?

[5:24] Oliver Woolf: I think it was like me, Scott and Mike were chatting about it beforehand and we wanted to like find that line between like creepy and like caring. And you know, it just sort of like bleeds out of me when Joey Bader's around me, because I'm just super parental of this little, little bunny. And I just want him to be happy, well fed, dressed, washed. So really there was no acting at all on the, on the looking after Joey side of things.

[5:49] Joey Bader: Oh, that's, he just acted like him.

[5:56] Oliver Woolf: Yeah. I mean, and he likes to say that, but in reality, it's the complete opposite way around.

[6:01] Joey Bader: You're Liam in the film and Liam and Mel is the other person in the movie. Where's he? What is he too busy for us? Where's Mel?

[6:10] Joey Bader: So Mel is played by Kaylee McGregor and she is, yeah, she is on set right now, actually. That's a good reason, everybody.

[6:25] Robert Bannon: Your character seems to be more willing to accept this in this, these circumstances in my, in my opinion. Why do you think he is comfortable with, with crazy Chester? Why, why do you feel like, you know, Chester's rules and his is, is good for your character? How do you accept that in your, in your portrayal?

[6:43] Joey Bader: I think it's like when a baby bird will, like any creature that picks up a baby bird, they will latch onto that as their mother because they don't know any better. And so Liam's coming in with a completely blank slate, literally. And the first creature to show him love and a nest is, is his mom. He imprints, I believe is the word they use in nature. So I, I guess I just imprinted on Chester and there's a sweet scene where I'm like laying my head on his chest and it's a very, it's very moving yet creepy situation.

[7:16] Oliver Woolf: It's so moving and creepy. Did you see Twilight when the wolf imprints on the baby vampire?

[7:24] Joey Bader: Exactly. Spoilers, I haven't seen it yet.

[7:30] Oliver Woolf: Oh, come on, man. Spoiler from a movie from 10 years ago. No, we can't spoil the ending of this movie. Ollie, when you, when you, you both have now this, this film is out, the making of it is pretty interesting because did you guys really shoot this in 15 days?

[7:46] Oliver Woolf: Yeah. Yeah. 16, but who's counting?

[7:51] Joey Bader: Yeah. Straight. We had a day off in the middle and we all looked at each other and we were like, let's just keep going. Why are we taking a day off? We had like a hard, we had like a three-quarter day that was like our break.

[8:00] Oliver Woolf: Yeah. But yeah, no, all shot in 15 days. All, like every single person I worked on the crew was like under the age of 30 and there was only like 15 of us at the peak, but throughout the whole shoot, it was pretty much like seven of us.

[8:19] Robert Bannon: Incredible. So Joey, what's it been like? You guys have been on the film festival. You guys have won awards, Manchester, Dances With Films. You screened a fantastic fest. You've been on the hustle now. What's been the festival journey like for this film for you all?

[8:30] Joey Bader: I mean, it's been so fun. We, we premiered in Manchester, which is fitting because we shot it in the UK and the whole crew was UK based and obviously Ollie's English. So it was nice being able to do it there because it felt, it just felt right. So that was great. And then Austin was great and Dances With Films was kind of a full circle because I acted in Michael's thesis film for film school, this short film called The Jester's Song. I believe it's still on YouTube if anyone wants to check it out. And that was in Dances With Films. And at the time we were like, oh my gosh, we got into a festival. So like, it was really cool to go have it, have this play there as well. And then now we're just stoked for Alamo Drafthouse is kind enough to be playing our film in all their theaters Friday.

So that's like such a wild concept that strangers around the country will be watching Littermates, which we, I didn't think it was going to be possible. So it's, it's really done well. It's incredible.

[9:32] Robert Bannon: Everybody, Friday, November 6th, that's right. Alamo Drafthouse theaters in all the major US cities will be showing this film. So get a ticket the way we could support films like this, Ollie, the way we support films like this and want more films like this and be able to see it is show up, put our money where our mouth is. Why should people see this? Who's the, who's the audience for this movie?

[9:50] Oliver Woolf: Well, we basically like my main goal from this film of people going to the cinema is a, I want people to have fun. I think it's just a fun time in the movies with friends or family or whoever. And the other thing is like, also, this film was like made for very, very, very little money, however much you think I'm saying it's less. And, and like, it was also like, you know, just to prove to a bunch of friends, we know as well that like, you can make that feature with your friends that was just like for creative fun and like, make like a fun summer out of it. So we also want it to be like, you know, just to show us, you can make a small movie and to have fun. And then like, obviously, we think it resonates really well with siblings. There's so much sibling rivalry and stuff. So, so yeah.

[10:38] Joey Bader: I love it. I think it's perfect. Joey, if you got a date night this weekend, and you're looking for something to do something new and unique, you're bored of all the regular shmegular stuff. This is perfect. It's great. It's a, it's a fun movie because it's kind of interactive because in a way it's a mystery. So you're kind of piecing things together as you watch it. And then even when you leave, you know, when you're walking out of the theater, you're going to be talking to your date and you're going to, you know, be trying to say like, Oh, I wonder what happens after this. Or I wonder what, where do you think they came from in the beginning? It's a very like malleable movie to your imagination.

[11:18] Robert Bannon: Well, this is my question for you, Joey, two parts. I'm sorry, Ollie, that I'm skipping over you for one second. Number one, do you recommend making movies with your friends? And number two, do you recommend making movies with trained clowns?

[11:32] Joey Bader: To the first one? Yes. It's more fun than you'll ever have with strangers. And to the second one, definitely. Yes. Because our blooper reel for this is like 30 minutes long and it's mostly me and Ollie breaking and ruining every take.

[11:45] Oliver Woolf: And Ollie, you agree working with your friends is pretty awesome gig.

[11:51] Oliver Woolf: Dude, it's the best thing. That's the whole reason we make movies is because we were originally kids in the woods with shitty cameras making films. So we just got to do that on a slightly bigger scale at a slightly older age. So what a beautiful privilege.

[12:04] Robert Bannon: I only bust on you about the clown because when I was in third grade, I went to after school clown class and my dad really. And it's really sad to see a fourth grade kid that doesn't get picked up sad in a clown costume. That is pathetic. So I gave up.

[12:13] Oliver Woolf: Why don't you continue clown stuff?

[12:18] Robert Bannon: I'm love the UK. I'll come to your house and sleep on your couch. America's amazing clown program. So many amazing clowns out there. Tons of clowns here.

[12:30] Oliver Woolf: Yeah, we elect a lot of them, too.

[12:37] Robert Bannon: Lettermates, everybody is a film that you need to see. I'm going to take you up. I'm going to think about that. November 6th at the Alamo Drafthouse theaters in all the US cities. You can follow it. You can click the link. The link to find tickets and information about the theaters are going to be below. Congratulations to you both. We'll be following and sharing and we'll be looking forward to what's next. And I can't wait to for people to see this. And thank you for spending some time and hanging out with me.

[12:59] Joey Bader: Thank you so much. And appreciate you both. Have a beautiful day.