Plus Lucy Liu’s erotic paintings, Diane Keaton’s wine, Nic Cage’s fossils, and other celebrity side hustles. All in this episode with Alexei Toliopoulos and Gen Fricker.
Plus Lucy Liu’s erotic paintings, Diane Keaton’s wine, Nic Cage’s fossils, and other celebrity side hustles. All in this episode with Alexei Toliopoulos and Gen Fricker.
Further reading:
Seth Rogen’s ceramic vases
https://www.thecut.com/2020/12/interview-seth-rogen-on-his-ceramic-vases.html
Seth Rogen’s Houseplant
Lucy Liu’s erotic paintings
https://www.thecut.com/2019/11/did-you-know-lucy-liu-creates-beautiful-erotic-paintings.html
George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila
https://www.businessinsider.com/george-clooney-tequila-brand-casamigos-started-by-accident-2017-6
Puff Daddy’s Ciroc vodka
https://www.ciroc.com/en-us/vodka-drinks/the-diddy
Dan Akroyd’s Crystal Head vodka
https://www.crystalheadvodka.com/ourstory
Diane Keaton’s chilled red
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2015/10/diane-keaton-launches-unpretentious-wine/
Lorde’s love of pub trivia
https://mashable.com/2017/05/11/lorde-pub-trivia-russell-crowe/
Lorde’s onion ring review account
https://www.instagram.com/onionringsworldwide/
Nic Cage’s million-dollar comic book collection
Nic Cage’s fossil collection
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/10/nicolas-cage-leonardo-dicaprio-dinosaur-skull
Nicole Kidman’s rumoured coin collection
Tom Hanks’ typewriter collection
https://www.insider.com/tom-hanks-typewriter-collecting-new-york-times-2019-11
Alex Dimitriades’ DJ career
https://playbar.com.au/project/boogie-monster-alex-dimitriades/
Penelope Cruz’s coathanger collection
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Alexei Toliopoulos:
You are listening to the snack edition of The Big Film Buffet. I'm Alexei Toliopoulos.
Gen Fricker:
I'm Gen Fricker.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
And we talk about the things that we are obsessed with in the world of film and pop culture.
Gen Fricker:
I know you're a long time follower of Seth Rogen's Instagram.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Guilty.
Gen Fricker:
Guilty as charged. Have you noticed the beautiful ceramics he's been posting?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Aren't they just stunning?
Gen Fricker:
That he's making himself.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
He's making them all, like it's his brand new hobby. It's his obsession, right? With just making these gorgeous ceramic vases and mugs, cups and stuff.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Unbelievable.
Gen Fricker:
I love that we're seeing this whole new side to him.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
It's so sensitive, right?
Gen Fricker:
It really feels like, in lockdown, he found this outlet and now he's sharing it, and I love that.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Absolutely. He's sharing it with the world. Seeing them come up in my Instagram stories, so close to just being like, "Great work, love them," or something.
Gen Fricker:
Oh, like replying to the stories?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
I've never replied to a celebrity story, but these are the ones that are like making me go, "Yes. I also loved ceramics once upon a time."
Gen Fricker:
As in you want to encourage his creative output, or you want to become friends?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Bit of both, obviously, but I feel like it makes him seem so human, to be like, "Yes, I have an obsession. I'm creative in another aspect of my life." It's been cool seeing his obsession with these ceramics evolve into now he creates like homewares, almost, for this new weed and homeware company, Houseplants.
Gen Fricker:
You're so about the evolution of Seth Rogen [crosstalk 00:01:36].
Alexei Toliopoulos:
I fully am. I think I'm like a day one Seth Rogen guy. I'm back there with Freaks and Geeks, the TV show. I'm there since then.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah. Have you watched his standup from when he was like 17?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Tragically, I have, okay?
Gen Fricker:
You have?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
It was a bonus feature on the Funny People DVD. I've seen it.
Gen Fricker:
How was it?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
It's good. Probably better than ever I was at stand up.
Gen Fricker:
Far out.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
He's good. He's a master.
Gen Fricker:
Well, this week we are talking about celebrity side hustles, [inaudible 00:01:59] things they're doing when they're not on screen.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Yeah, they're little moneymakers as well.
Gen Fricker:
Oh man, I'm obsessed with just like celebrities, actors, creators, whatever, bringing out their artistic side, you know what I mean? Like, one that I've been really, really excited about is Lucy Liu. She makes these very erotic paintings and has been exhibiting them.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Really?
Gen Fricker:
Yeah. They're stunning paintings.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Describe a painting to me.
Gen Fricker:
They're just very soft and sensual, like figures of women like embracing and things.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Oh my god.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah. I'm really into it. Apparently she's been painting her whole life.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Wow. I love Lucy Liu.
Gen Fricker:
She's great.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
We know her from Charlie's Angels, but now we know her from erotic art. There's one thing in celebrity, like their side hustle nature of like going, "I have to create a brand or something," that I think it leads to this idea of them going like, "I've got an alcohol brand." Like, George Clooney has a tequila. I think Puff Daddy has Ciroc vodka, and of course Dan Akroyd, the most famous man in the world from Ghostbusters, has Crystal Skull vodka.
Gen Fricker:
Oh yeah!
Alexei Toliopoulos:
But there's one alcohol purveyor in the celebrity world that is my favourite.
Gen Fricker:
Who?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Top tier world of film, Academy Award-winning actor Diane Keaton has a very unique line of wine that she's created from special grapes, her vineyard, and this is based on something that she held close to her heart. I think with celebrity alcohol, they have everything on the line, so they want it to be good.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
That's something that I will say now. Celebrity alcohol, usually it's really good. You think it would be pretty bad. And she has developed a red wine to her specifications that she's always dreamed of. It's a red wine that is meant to be served over ice.
Gen Fricker:
Wow.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Isn't that the most Diane Keaton thing you've ever heard?
Gen Fricker:
That is, 100%. I can absolutely imagine her popping on like a fun hat-
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Yeah, she's got a fun hat.
Gen Fricker:
And sitting out on her balcony, clinking the ice cubes into the glass.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Oh god.
Gen Fricker:
Oh god.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Oh god, I love this.
Gen Fricker:
Oh, I've got to just put my hat on, just a second. Oh my gosh.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Well, geez, you know, I love this. I love this wine. La-di-da, so fancy.
Gen Fricker:
I'm with her on that. I don't mind a chilled red.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
So do I. I imported a bottle out.
Gen Fricker:
Did you really?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Yeah, it's real good.
Gen Fricker:
Was that like a film fan thing or like a wine thing?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Obviously a film fan. I actually don't like wine, but Diane Keaton's one of my absolute dreams. I love her so much. She's the personification of a turtleneck, and that's why I just like, I got to try this wine.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah, it's so funny, like when I think about her, I do imagine her just sitting on a beautiful, like vineyard. I watch her Instagram a lot for the hats that she loves to show off.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
She's got great hats. And I love her tiny blue glasses that she puts on every now and then.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Little tiny blue glasses. That's what should release next, a line of tiny blue glasses.
Gen Fricker:
I found out recently that Lorde, the musician, loves pub trivia. Loves it.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Really?
Gen Fricker:
Hits the pubs regularly in Auckland and just gets into the pub trivia.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
What do you think her specialty topic would be?
Gen Fricker:
I mean, obviously music, but then I feel like maybe something more obscure, like history.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Oh yeah.
Gen Fricker:
Don't you feel like she'd be like a history buff?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Gen Fricker:
It's that witchy thing, it's like-
Alexei Toliopoulos:
She's got that witchy vibe. She's got that beyond her years...
Gen Fricker:
Yeah, like she's existed for many centuries.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Yeah. She has that Instagram account.
Gen Fricker:
Onion rings.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
She reviews onion rings.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah, yeah.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
So perhaps a culinary art?
Gen Fricker:
Ooh, ooh.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Well, in my former life, I was a quiz show host at pubs.
Gen Fricker:
I never got a trivia host job and I always wanted one.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
You would have been great at it.
Gen Fricker:
Do you think?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Yes.
Gen Fricker:
Why?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Because you are informed. You have a power, you have a presence. That's all that matters, so just be powerful and present so people don't talk up to you.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah. But you've got to do the questions yourself, right?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Yeah, I write my questions. They're all movie questions though, so it was like, you have to be the smartest person in the room. And if there's a sports question, I'm the biggest dummy in the room, so you've got to have that power above them all.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah. What are the most common trivia team names?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Get Quizzical, Trivia Newton-John. John Triviolta, that's another one that I've had a lot, but maybe that's just because they can tell that I'm a Johnny-head. I'm also into celebrity collections, because you know, Nicholas Cage had like a big comic book collection. He had fossils and stuff. I think he went bankrupt because he owned a Tyrannosaurus Rex, like big bones for it.
Gen Fricker:
Oh my god. The most Nic Cage thing I've ever heard.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
He's an avid collector, but I was going through some other celebrity collections, such as Nicole Kidman has a big coin collection. Reese Witherspoon collects linen embroidery. Then we've also got Tom Hanks' well-known typewriter collection.
Gen Fricker:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). I feel like I know a celebrity obsession that you would kind of be down with, because you love Australian cinema, obviously.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
I love Australian cinema.
Gen Fricker:
Alex Dimitriades.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Oh, one of my heroes.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah, right?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Head On, Heartbreak High, Heartbreak Kid. I love Alex Dimitriades.
Gen Fricker:
He collects vinyls and performs as a vinyl DJ.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
What?
Gen Fricker:
Yeah. His DJ name is Boogie Monster. Alex Dimitriades is playing vinyls. He's bringing them crates to the club.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Oh my god.
Gen Fricker:
Yeah. We should absolutely go.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
I got to go. I've never met him in real life, but his sister was my local butcher growing up. She owned the local butcher shop for a while.
Gen Fricker:
How do you know it's his sister?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
My mum and I went in, and like first conversation when she just moved in, she's like, "Yeah, Alex Dimitriades is my brother. I'm his sister. You know, now I've got the butcher shop, so you know, buy your bacon from me. It's Dimitriades blessed."
Gen Fricker:
Celebrity cuts.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Celebrity cuts, celebrity cuts.
Gen Fricker:
It's the Dimitriades cut.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
You don't want that high cholesterol from the bacon, like Heartbreak High.
Gen Fricker:
Okay. One more.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Yeah. Do you want this chicken Head On, or head off?
Gen Fricker:
Well done, dude.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
One of the ones that I've researched ages ago has stayed in my head for years because it is so bizarre to think that this is a collection, but beloved Academy Award-winning actress Penelope Cruz, she claims to be a collector of coat hangers.
Gen Fricker:
What?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
She collects coat hangers.
Gen Fricker:
Like, fancy ones? Like what?
Alexei Toliopoulos:
She's said in interviews that she collects coat hangers, she has over 500 in every shape and size. She collects no wire hangers.
Gen Fricker:
No wire hangers!
Alexei Toliopoulos:
To quote Joan Crawford herself. She doesn't have wire hangers, she doesn't like them, but no one can find out if she has them displayed or if they are used just to hang up like thousands of clothes.
Gen Fricker:
I mean, look, whatever. Find beauty in whatever you can.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Yep.
Gen Fricker:
But not coat hangers.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
Exactly. Penelope, go buy hundreds of Seth Rogen's ceramics.
Gen Fricker:
Yes.
Alexei Toliopoulos:
That's a real collection.
Gen Fricker:
I would love it if a celebrity then became obsessed with another celebrity's stuff. Penelope Cruz was just like, "I'm obsessed with Seth Rogen. Seth Rogen."
Alexei Toliopoulos:
"I love Seth Rogen's beautiful ceramics. I have them all over my house. Javier and I collect the ceramics. [inaudible 00:09:02] That's Uncle Seth's ceramics."