Morbid - BONUS: Friday the 13th with our Friends from 'Slayin' It with Juliet Landau'

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

Weirdos! It's Friday the 13th, so we figured we'd celebrate with a little bonus episode! We are thrilled to be joined by our new friends Juliet Landau, Christopher Feinstein & Frank Bonacci and talk about their new show Slayin' It with Juliet Landau. So! Stay away from Crystal Lake, Cozy up to the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, and Keep! It! Weird!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Morbid early and ad free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast. Weirdos, rewatchers, friends, honored guests. Happy Friday the 13th. Wahahaha! That was terrifying. We could not think of a better way to spend this iconic day than having a little bonus

episode with our new friends from Slayin' It with Juliet Landau. That's right. We said our new friends. Juliet Landau. Hell yeah. And you know what? Our new friends are not only iconic, but listen to this kickass opening. Hello, hello.

I'm Juliet. We're going to slay. Want to come? Slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay

it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay it, slay Yeah, we were just rocking out. Like that's awesome. I want to listen to that. But you know what? You know us. You're going to get to know our friends, but you know us. And when it comes to Buffy, we go scene by scene.

Obviously, we really dive into each scene. But have you ever wanted to go behind those scenes where we technically can't take you? Yes, I do want to go to there. Today we have Juliette Landau, Christopher Feinstein, and Frank Bonacci. Hello, friends. Welcome. Hi.

Hello. Thank you. Hi, it's so great to see you again. I had so much fun hanging out with you guys on Crush. Oh my God, we had so much fun. We became best friends that day. So it's a legendary day. I felt like, yeah, I'd known you forever.

Exactly. And here we are just hanging out again. Absolutely. Look at us. Look at us, best friends, meeting again. We have been obsessed with slaying it. No, like it's our Tuesday must listen. Absolutely.

And I was looking for one and you just handed it right to me. So Juliet, tell us a bit about your new podcast, Slayin' It with Juliet Landau. Slayin' It is the first of its kind Buffy rewatch podcast with a cast member as your guide. This has never been done before. I co-host with my Scoobies, Scooby Chris and Scooby Freddy. And Slayin' It has everything that we all love, encompassing heartfelt nostalgia.

It's also a fresh evolution and exploration with new content and new entertainment as well. as well. London 1861. Night the fog dances around our heroin. Slay in hell! Slay in hell! Slay in hell! Slay in it. Slay in it. Slay in it. Why does this keep coming to me? Paris. Beautiful boudoir. 1875. The drapes are pulled tightly closed. Drusilla tosses and turns in her sleep. I'm slain. I'm slain. Microphones.

Swinging Party, Italy, 1953, Joel. Spikes Crypt, Sunnydale. 2001. Night. Tin soldiers put funny little knickknacks in your brain. Can't hunt, can't hurt, can't kill. But you can slay it. What? What? Versailles Techno Costume Ball 2024. Knight, Drusilla and Darla. Dance. Run and catch.

Run and catch. Grandmama and I love a costume bash. Slayin' it. Slayin' it. What is this slayin' it. Slayin' it. What is this slayin' it? For centuries slayin' it has been plaguing me. Mmmmm. Oh. Oh.

It's here. It's the podcast with Juliette. Play it, play it, play it, play it, play it, play it. Dev and I were in our hotel room and we heard, well, I thought I was hallucinating because there was a party outside and the Buffy theme was on a loop. But I thought at first I said, Dev, am I hearing things or is that the puppy theme and he said no No, you're not hearing it unless we're both hearing it. It's happening again I

Have a problem with the master's managerial style. He doesn't dole out punishments equally I mean when he he does the I like you Luciofultchies that one guy's eye just for an easily understandable error. But don't you, having played a villain who's evil, I mean, isn't that part of the thing that makes it so unpredictable is that you never know what's coming your way. You might get your eye out or you might not, or do you think he just has a scale that isn't very...

Darla goes into his lunch. Like, imagine out like somebody who worked for you for coffee and they come back and there's lipstick On the cup. This is like all see I had some before, you know, I got it's like I got thirsty on the way over I hope you don't mind I smoked in third fourth fifth and sixth grade and then never Wow, you just wanted to get it out of the way. Yeah, well, that's good, though, because I mean, it's healthy tissue at that point. It counts as right to resilient. You're resilient at that age. You could put a bunch of stuff in here.

I was raised like a veal. Like my mother wouldn't let me go anywhere. I wasn't allowed to go past the fire hydrant. I'd get beat with a broom. Yeah, yeah. You get attacked for that. Yeah. You can't go past the fire hydrant.

God forbid. God forbid. Cross the street. You mean across the street? I still hear this yells and screams in my ears when I cross the street. Yeah, you can't go past the fire hydra. Go off a bit. Go off a bit. Cross the street. Cross the street. I still hear the yells and screams in my ears when I cross the street. Yeah. Well, I don't know about you kids, but I was smoking at eight. Yeah, yeah, you were. Yeah, we wouldn't be allowed to hang out with you. Giles is the winner. Like everybody wants a Giles in their life. I'd be like a captain of industry if I had a Giles in my life at that time. He gives her information. He trains her. He's on her side. her side he's the font of knowledge yeah it'd be amazing to have a

Giles right yeah that's my favorite relationship dynamic in the show some people like you Buffy angel you Buffy spike do you ship like right excuse me excuse me I'm sorry I'm sorry you mean spike drusilla don't you oh I sure stepped in on that one. Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it! Slay in it We're going to slay it. Want to come? It's such a different approach to a rewatch show. And we've honestly learned so much. We really have.

And it's also awesome to get all these like insider deets from people that were creating the show. Like that blows my mind. That's the thing. It's so cool. So Chris, are you learning a lot of insider info by doing this? Oh, yeah. It's a treasure trove. I'm one of those insufferable people that who watches television and usually has a

laptop or his phone open to be like, how'd they do this? Same. How'd that happen? Who is that? Where do I know that person from? So doing this, it's like, oh, now I have actually someone who was there. Tell me about that. And it's fantastic. Oh, that must be so cool. We love the inside scoop. That's my dream. I'm that same person. Yes. It's terrible to watch television with me.

Let's check out another clip from the show. For season two and beyond, and I'm pretty sure that it was the same in season one, we shot eight days per episode. And we usually shot eight pages a day. Right. And it started out, it was, and also there was a lot to do because each episode was like a mini movie in that there were action sequences. There was just, you're saying there's a lot to impact for us to talk about.

There was a lot to unpack in terms of shooting it. They were very dense and they were shot like mini movies. And in season one, a lot of the location started out as what's called practical, which means you're really at the location. And then later the exteriors were still used, but the interiors were built. And a lot of the reason that that's done

is because the real locations are small, they're tight. So for instance, you know, if in Buffy's bedroom on a sound stage, you can do what they call flying walls out, which means basically you could take certain walls out. So that allows you to shoot interesting angles. You put the camera where a wall would be, or for instance, there's no ceiling on a sound stage with the set so you can do a really interesting angle from above that you feasibly do when there's a ceiling on the room and then the other thing that it does is it saves travel time because if you're all in one stage a crew is

anywhere from 150 to 300 plus crew members, and that takes time and time costs money. And so it means packing up all the trucks and the trailers have to move and all of that stuff. So a lot of the things that were built where we shot Buffy was that in Santa Monica on Stewart Street, the hall was built on the Santa Monica soundstage. There was actually only one hall for all of the hall sequences. So it was used over and over. I love that. Yeah, and so, and the library of course was built

so they can make a much more elaborate library. And later the graveyard was actually built, not on season one, but by the time I came in, we had a graveyard in the parking lot as well. It's hysterical. Wait, wow. In the Stewart Street stages? Yes.

Yes. That's amazing. And then the funny thing is we would start on a Monday at 7 a.m. Like, let's say we'd have a 7 a.m. call or 6 a.m. You'd start at 6 a.m. on a Monday. And then by Friday, you'd be shooting on Monday the interiors, especially the vampires

who couldn't go out until night. And then on the Friday, we would start at 6 p.m. And we would work, often we worked 17 hours. So you'd be working until 10 or 11 a.m. on Saturday. And so the show became called by the cast and crew. We all called it Buffy the weekend slayer should I give you guys a little bit of behind-the-scenes info sure yes so John Voolage of optic nerve made the prosthetics and he won an Emmy for Buffy

he also won for X-Files when it moved from Canada to California and for Babylon 5. And he got the whole gig of Buffy because he had a giant praying mantis already in his shop. Oh, really? Yeah. So they knew that the storyline was coming up and they hired him for the show once they saw it. This is like really like heavy craftsmanship in that.

Yes. And the funny thing is that the praying mantis had been made for Babylon five. And you set up who plays Natalie French was in Babylon five. Um, yeah, now they do 3d scanning for prosthetics, but at the time they did life casts and the first one I did ever was for Buffy and I actually still have it in fact It is used in the basement set of the Darcelle chase sequence in our film. No way Yeah, we put it in there because we thought it would be kind of cool that he had sort of this mold of Jules's head So I don't know have either of you ever had a life cast done for prosthetics? I have not. No, I want to though.

Oh my gosh, it's a very trippy experience because it feels like, you know those impressions you get when you get at the dentist? Sure. It feels like, you know how when that happens, you kind of feel like your teeth might come out with it, but they don't, but it feels like when they do. Yeah. So this really feels like your skin is going to come off when they peel it and they put straws in your nose

so that you have a way to breathe while they put all this goop over your head. James had gone before me and I kept saying to myself as I started this process, James has skin, he still has skin, it's on his face, this should be okay. Oh, you were freaked out by it. I was a little, what happened is the technician was really, really nice and he asked me if I was claustrophobic and I said, no, no, I don't think I'm claustrophobic. And then they start putting

the stuff on and they start to give you the straws. And all of a sudden I thought, well, maybe I am claustrophobic. This is a little bit scary. And then he told me that he had just done John Travolta for a film and they had to stop because John completely freaked out. So they never, they couldn't get the cast and they were trying to figure out what else to do. And so he was just a doll. He literally pet me almost for, cause it takes about an hour and he talked to me

and he kind of pet me almost for, because it takes about an hour and he talked to me and he kind of pet me and this kind of wild life lesson happened where I was under all the goop with the straws and I had this moment where I thought, hmm, it's like this fork in the road. I could either completely lose my shit and freak out or I could go this other way and not do that. And I electively thought, I'm going to take that road. And I did. And I was able to do it. And I thought, I got to apply this to the rest of my life.

This is just really profound and amazing. I think one of the things that I personally love most about the show are like the immersive elements that you guys have been adding in. Yes, they're so awesome. The intro to the first episode absolutely sent me into oblivion. So, so, so good. I love all the vignettes that you do. I'm literally trying to figure out what extra scene you might add.

I know, like before they even add it, you're like, what are they going to do? So Frank, not only have you had all kinds of cool guests on the show, but Drusilla herself shows up every single episode. I don't think me and her, uh, Juliette have talked about this, but this still happens and we've been working together for like months now and every now and again, she'll be talking and I'll just go to myself, holy shit that's true. I would do the same thing. It just hits me every now every so often I'm like oh my god look hey you're in Buffy. Honestly the

same thing happened to me while we were talking to Juliet even now like we just jumped on I was like oh my god that's that's just so us. Yes, 100%. Holy shit. Aw, that's amazing. But can you actually tell us something interesting? Can you tell us about the missing scene? So the missing scene is something Juliet came up with and she writes all the scripts for.

And it was funny, it gives me a space to do fun production stuff, like where I get to like world build and like build out scenes because I love audio drama. And so it's fun to like, put these kind of scenes together. I love that we have a lot of fun like coming up with these like putting these together like she always throws in these amazing ideas. It's like fun to like collaborate with somebody you've been a fan of. Yeah, for so many years. It's just like, oh my god, we're collaborating and we're working on stuff and making creative decisions.

It's like, oh my God, you're Drusilla. We're creating things together. And it gives me an excuse to do silly voices. Oh, hell yeah. Which is my favorite thing. Oh, that's always fun. They are basically the missing scene from each episode that could have been in the episode

that we are focusing on that week. What would we have liked to have seen in this week? Let's make that. Yeah. We love those. And the scenes don't only include Drusilla. We've heard from the master and from Darla. And your portrayal of her was pitch perfect, Juliet.

Let's check out a missing scene. We now welcome our audience to enjoy this recently unearthed missing scene from the episode. Darla, bring me some young blood. Okay, but I want to get something to eat first. Hmm, what to wear. It always makes my kills for the clothes my meals are wearing. So much easier than shopping, especially at night. Let's see... No, no, No... Oh, this could work.

But no... Oh, wait! I killed that Catholic schoolgirl a couple of months back. Yup! Here it is! This is perfect for blending in. I won't stand out in the least. This school does have uniforms, right?

Huh. Ooh. Oh. Ooh, this is small. Oh. Oh. Oh. This is small.

Oh. Ah. Ah. There. Okay. Be back soon. With your takeout. So guys, what has it been like recording Slayin' It? Okay, be back soon. With your takeout.

So guys, what has it been like recording Slayin' It? Oh my gosh, it's been such a blast recording it. I had no idea that they were still thinking of me as Drusilla. You know that. We all are. You'll never escape it. Right. But you know, Slayin' It is a perfect companion to your podcasts. Each episode we also discuss the relatable theme and listeners have been getting in touch with us, they've been telling us their similar experiences, they've been sharing profound

and powerful and touching and hilarious and fun and funny stories of their own. And we are also really loving that the fans are coming on the show. We are building up to the ultimate trivia contest that we are calling the Battle of the Uber Buffy fans. Let's get ready to Buffy. That's always fun. I love that. I'm just amazed this show is happening because it was one of those Hail Mary, I'll ask her because we had been talking for a few months about just whatever.

And it's just like, it'd be so amazing because I'm such a huge Buffy fan for so many years. It's like, it'd be great if she wanted to do this show with us. And then she said yes, which I wasn't prepared for. You're like, wait, what now? She said what? You're like, I pictured you saying yes, but I didn't think you'd actually say yes. Yeah, I just threw it out there. It was like, oh, let's do that. Oh, we have to do this now. Oh, well, it was such an organic flow because we met

at a New York Comic Con where Frank was doing press and I was there for Slayers, the audio drama and also for the worldwide release of my feature film. And we got along really well. And Frank came to the New York premiere, and he promoted the film and we did all this stuff together. And then we started talking about Buffy. And we basically had an episode and we started, Chris came in, we started talking and then we said, wait, why does this not exist? Why has this not been done before with a cast member? This just is crazy. And so then we embarked on the voyage.

No, this is seriously the best idea. And it's just been crazy. Like going to the Hellmouth Con where we were at Sunnydale, except for Chris, Chris couldn't make it. I got it in. He did, he make it. Aw. I got it in. You did. You do it every episode.

I bring it up every episode that I wasn't able to go. But it was so wild just being in Sunnydale with the cast. And it's like that, like two months earlier, that wasn't even a thing, a thought that that could ever possibly happen. And now it's like, oh, this is what I do now. Now we're going to Orlando. And it's just like, oh, we're going I do now. Now we're going to Orlando.

And it's just like, oh, we're going to be with the whole like, you know, nine people from the cast. It's like, and we're going to be doing a show. It's like, OK, OK. It's reality. I guess. You're like, all right, life, I guess. No, that's true.

Sure. We're so excited about this show. And I'm so excited that it's like so much fun for you guys to work on. Yeah. And it's such it really was such a brilliant concept to have like, because you have every angle covered because you have that like behind the scenes stuff, you have an actual, very pivotal cast member a part of it. And I think it's just like, like you said, it's a perfect companion. Like our podcasts are best friends now too.

Yay. Yay. We're so excited for you to come on Slyonit as well. Like our podcasts are best friends now too. Yay! Yay! Yay! We're so excited for you to come on Slayin' It as well. Oh, we are so excited. Oh my gosh, we can't wait. We cannot wait. We can't wait.

So everybody's got to look out for that. We have been absolutely gobbling up your episodes, but guys, let everybody know where they can find you. Apartment 6A. Oh, like on the show. Slayin' it is available every Tuesday we put a new episode in the watch along whether it's an interview or a rewatch and Wherever you get podcasts re watchers, you heard the man go check out slaying it with Juliet landau

You will not regret it and this is so exciting to get to do this for Friday the 13th. Yeah It's perfect. I'm to do this for Friday the 13th. Yeah. It's perfect. I'm just excited there is one. It's such an honor to talk to the rewatchers. You guys are OGs in these Buffy rewatch streets. Thank you. No, this is honestly, we are so excited and we can't wait to see you guys just explode. Oh, thank you.

Yeah. And it's so nice to meet you virtually, Chris and Frank. I know. Nice to meet you both. Yeah, and it's so nice to meet you like virtually Chris and Frank. I know nice to meet you both Yeah, yeah, definitely you guys are Literally the reason I podcast so And we showed you how professional we are Six years in it doesn't get any different. How the sausage is made over here. But thank you so much guys, this has been awesome.

And we can't wait to join you on Slaying It. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+, in the Wondery app, or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.