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Blank Check with Griffin & David

Finding Nemo with Rebecca Alter

21 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?

1.853 - 24.04

Blank Check with Griffin and David Blank Check with Griffin and David Don't know what to say or to expect All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check Hey, guess what?

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25.222 - 27.485 Eddie Pinero

Podcasts? I recorded one.

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28.085 - 31.39 Kim Holderness

And it was three and a half hours long. Three and a half hours long?

0
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32.313 - 40.525 Kim Holderness

Oh, because Sandy Plankton said they only run two hours tops. Sandy Plankton? You think I would do an entire podcast and not know as much as Sandy Plankton?

40.545 - 42.448 Eddie Pinero

It was three and a half hours, not two.

43.569 - 47.014 Kim Holderness

Very good. So it's the end of the movie. Yeah, it's one of the last lines.

47.054 - 59.951

One of the emotional lines. It does make me cry too. There's like five different moments in this film that at very least get me right up onto the edge. On the brink of the tears. To me, the big moment is just Crash seeing his age.

59.991 - 64.42 Kim Holderness

That's the moment that gets me. That's the one? Yes. Interesting. Beautiful moment. It's so beautiful.

Chapter 2: How do emotional moments in Finding Nemo resonate with viewers?

144.596 - 147.261 Kim Holderness

Because famously you rated it five stars in the App Store.

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147.281 - 149.344

Perfect app. Only good things have ever come of it.

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149.898 - 177.778

uh in my mind there are only a few perfect apps facebook twitter x but yeah yes truth social well i truth social very good i count twitter and x as two separate apps and both of them get five stars for me right it's terminator versus terminator 2 right x i wish i could give it six stars that's because they improved on perfection they did um i'm just saying that to invoke another albert brooks film yeah everyone

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178.028 - 196.746

made a fucking meal out of you're telling me Emma Mackey is Ella McKay we've gone too far no one's saying really in this day and age in this economy Ryan Gosling is Ryland Grace Ryland Grace oh you can't spell one without the other they're just very similar

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198.042 - 201.969 Kim Holderness

What's the, um, oh, Rocky. The rock character's called Rocky.

202.09 - 208.863

Yeah. One of our biggest movie stars, I would say now. He's maybe top ten, Ren track. What was Tony Erdman called?

209.744 - 217.699 Kim Holderness

What was Tony Erdman called? Sandra Huller. You know, it'd be funny if she was just called Tony Erdman. I know that's not her name in that movie either.

217.719 - 222.154

Yeah, it's the dad's character's name. I know. What's her name in the movie?

222.494 - 227.662 Kim Holderness

It'd be funny if she was just like, hello, I'm Tony Erdman. I run space over here.

Chapter 3: What makes Finding Nemo a perfect film according to the hosts?

1013.532 - 1031.113

And Oscar nominee Thomas Newman kind of going hard in that moment. Oh, the score. His eyes widening as Nigel's story goes down in the mix. Of his dad's heroism. And you see him pantomiming all the things that have happened and Nemo realizes how much his father loves him. It gets me choked up just thinking about it.

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1031.574 - 1043.03

Today we're talking about Finding Nemo, which is one of the most successful movies in history. What is this miniseries called? I'm telling you what it's called. Please. I was talking about it with a guest who will be coming up on this miniseries.

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1043.591 - 1044.553 Kim Holderness

Yes.

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1044.573 - 1058.994

I'm not going to say. And I said, I've had this one locked and loaded in the chamber. No need to pitch. This miniseries is called, and it's not going to work when I say it out loud, but it's really going to work visually. It will spell. This thing will spell. Podsy.

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1061.398 - 1062.72 Rebecca Alter

P-O-D-D.

1064.185 - 1088.404

hyphen c i love it pod c i mean what else are you gonna call it we're not gonna call it podding neem cast right or finding podcast who cares potting cast oh in the pod of a cast potting casty that's that's what was pitched to me and i said i don't think that's what's the pod c pod c great i love it we're discussing here on blank check the pod carter

1088.384 - 1089.826 Kim Holderness

Pod Carter.

1089.966 - 1110.949

Name it after his most famous, memorable, beloved film. You know what I also like about calling it Pod Carter? It implies that it should have been called Pod Carter of cast and then the of cast was cut out. That is fun. It could just be Podcaster, but then it would be impossible to tell what that even is. We can't do that. Right. Right. But also it's to pay respect to John Carter.

1111.069 - 1114.172

It has to be the version of the title that doesn't really work.

Chapter 4: What challenges did Andrew Stanton face in reworking Finding Nemo?

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And they beg for three days to rework the film. And I think Stanton does a lot of the story heavy lifting. And they do the just like, fuck it. Let's get back to the exact movie we want to make. They green light that conditionally and the film ends up happening as it is.

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But there is this kind of like Stanton's attitude mirrors Woody very much of constantly being frustrated but wanting to put forward the face of like, I got this under control. I'm looking out for all of you.

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3910.823 - 3930.016 Kim Holderness

Right. Yeah. Well, that makes sense. Yeah. So, Jim Morris says he's the best sort of genius for story structure. Yes. That's one Pixar guy. Michael Arndt, that guy, you know, says that he's kind of good at being harsh in a story. Like, he'll say the thing that's not working or whatever. Like, he's more blunt.

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3930.237 - 3949.828

I saw him say in an interview that that was a big thing from Steve Jobs, who, you know, in this era is still very hands-on with Pixar. Yeah. That he was just like, people would get really turned off by how blunt Steve Jobs was, but he was just kind of ruthless in identifying what is the problem and what is the thing that needs to get done.

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3950.109 - 3957.781 Kim Holderness

Right. Yeah. Some of the other credits before Nemo, obviously, he's also a co-director and writer on Bugs Life.

3958.121 - 3958.302

Yeah.

3958.322 - 3961.447 Kim Holderness

He's also the voice of Bug Zapper, Bug One, and Singing Grasshopper Two.

3961.907 - 3984.965

Uh-huh. In the Disney parks. There is an attraction that is now closed called Tough to Be a Bug that took place inside the tree in Animal Kingdom and had a giant animatronic hopper that they didn't need to remove when Kevin Spacey got canceled because Kevin Spacey refused to do the recording. Andrew Stanton did it instead. Andrew Stanton does a weirdly good Kevin Spacey impression.

3984.985 - 4006.131

And that was already one of the scariest things in Disney parks without Kevin even doing the voice. True, true. And it has been replaced by a horrible Zootopia attraction. Right. Interesting. Tough to be an animal. He's the voice. No, I was just going to say, co-director in animation can mean a number of different things. Sometimes it means that two people are directing a film equally.

Chapter 5: How does Marlon's anxiety shape the narrative of Finding Nemo?

4033.73 - 4039.099 Kim Holderness

So Toy Story 2, he's got the credit. Of course, he's the voice of Hammond, Buzz Lightyear, Star Command, The Adventure Begins. Can't say I knew that.

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4039.568 - 4057.554

Yeah, that's just in the opening. This is the thing. He's a really good performer, and he would often do sound-alike voices for when the stars didn't want to come do something like a ride or a commercial or whatever it is. He is the voice of Zurg canonically in Toy Story 2. That is him. He's the real Zurg voice, obviously with a bunch of modulators on him.

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4058.094 - 4078.623 Kim Holderness

So, Finding Nemo's been swimming around in his head. Interesting. Use of words there. It's about fish. Since Toy Story, he says, he'd always wanted to do the ocean. He was fixated on a child on his dentist's water fish tank. When he was a child, he would look at the fish tank. Which was a weird way to see humans. What's the movie about? What makes me care?

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4078.643 - 4087.136 Kim Holderness

He says he's on a walk with his five-year-old son, Ben, and he has the terrible anxiety that he realized that his terrible anxiety was making him a bad father.

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4087.477 - 4105.179

That he kept being like, careful, you know, like... That he was like... Pulling him from running into the street and all the sort of things. And he went like, you should do that. Yeah. Yeah. But but it was the intensity of his worry that he felt. Right. And he was like, here's my day. I have a, you know, a day alone with my son.

4105.219 - 4118.175

And I'm going to have no good lasting memories of this because I spent the entire day concerned about everything he was doing and not actually connecting to him. And that's the real germ of the idea. I want to make a movie about that.

4118.155 - 4141.323 Kim Holderness

He also had seen an early cut of Lion King and apparently remembers just slamming on it. Says, like, sort of shows what I know. He hated the idea of the sort of circle of life of like, oh, we're all just part of this grand chain and we're all, you know, it's all helpful. He likes the Bambi idea of like... It's a real scary predatory world. And he's like Nemo is set in the Bambi world.

4141.683 - 4154.085

This is another thing that I really give him specifically credit for changing in the language of American movies because I really think it starts with Toy Story animated movies in which characters talk like grownups.

4154.626 - 4155.047 Kim Holderness

Right.

Chapter 6: What role does Dory play in the dynamics of Finding Nemo?

4188.712 - 4191.957 Kim Holderness

If they don't say that, missed opportunity. Ackerman fucked up.

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4191.977 - 4220.1

They do sound like grown-ups, but not in that DreamWorks way, which is a different thing. Yes, I think it's that the DreamWorks movies start really iterating on other things in pop culture. Mm-hmm. in a kind of postmodern, metatextual, self-referential kind of way. And what Stan sort of identifies is, like, an audience will laugh if a character suddenly reminds you of a type of person you know.

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4220.161 - 4228.032

Not an archetype in sitcoms, you know, but, like, a type of person with a specificity. Yeah. Yeah.

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4228.012 - 4238.325 Kim Holderness

So, finding Nemo, he settles on clownfish because he sees, like, a coffee table book and finds them resting. I mean, it's obvious, like, it's a great idea.

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He saw a picture of two clownfish coming out of an anemone, and it looked like they were sort of hiding. And he was like, and it looks like a parent and a child.

4246.034 - 4264.51 Kim Holderness

He presents an hour-long pitch to Lasseter. Lasseter is a longtime scuba diver. He was hugging the fish down there, too. Unfortunately. And Lasseter says, you had me at fish. Yeah. And then he's like, how about a hawk? The other part of that story is... Bring it in, buddy! Anyone else want to join?

4264.55 - 4272.126

Stanton, the worrywart, planned an hour-long pitch that involved him doing all the voices, the sound effects, and he had audio cues and...

4272.106 - 4274.29 Kim Holderness

Lester's like, fish, that's a great idea.

4274.31 - 4275.112

We can sell fish.

Chapter 7: How does Dory's memory play a role in Finding Nemo's narrative?

8195.006 - 8213.333

Right. And that's when Dory introduces the just keep swimming to cheer him up. That she's also invested in him. She was able with the angler fish because he used the light like a reading light. She was able to do P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney. Yes. They've lost the goggles. But this is for the first time she's learning to remember.

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Yeah, which I just think is so elegantly done that it's a gradual thing rather than at one moment suddenly. You have your payoff moments with her. You have the, like, her making the emotional plea to him that, like, when I'm with you, I remember things. And you have the moment where the whole Nemo thing comes flashing back to her.

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But she's so proud of herself right now for she's like, I've remembered the address. It's incremental. You give her little victories so it's not just like at one point in the movie, suddenly she's fixed.

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And because her, well, A, she repeats it a hundred times, but also, like, because the remembering the address is something so emotionally important to her, that, like, I won't remember the address of a house I grew up in, but I'll remember P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney, until, like, I die, probably. And especially her riffing on it and her turning into the songs.

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Ask me again and I'll tell you P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way. So they get to this trench, and the trench looks dark and scary. Marlon... Sorry, I was pulling up to remind myself where I was. Instead, I just got the scary sounds of the trench. And Marlon is obviously like, well, we don't want to go through the dark, scary trench.

8278.903 - 8296.589

We need to go over a fish who she had asked for directions earlier, told her it's the school of fish. It's the final thing after they've been making fun of Marlon. And he's like, fuck these guys. Then they're like one last thing. But it's after he's swum off. So only she's there to hear it. And they don't know that she can't remember. Oh, right. That is then.

8296.649 - 8309.474

I thought this happened later in the movie, but I'm getting them confused with the school of fish in the end who we'll get to. We're also a big silver school of fish. But the clockwork kind of precision of just like there aren't any cheats in the story. They are so funny.

8309.494 - 8326.883

They're so specific, like the conflicts they find themselves in, why they're there, why there isn't an easy out, why they need to fight to work through the thing. Mm hmm. Like if Marlon wasn't offended by them mocking him because he's so self-serious, then he would have heard the thing about the trench. Right.

Chapter 8: What themes are explored through Marlon and Dory's journey?

8327.003 - 8349.554

And he doesn't like asking for directions. She's very friendly. She doesn't mind going up to anyone. His stubbornness screws them. They do the like, hey, is this fellow bothering you? Yeah. Lady. So they play a game of charades to cheer her up. And so we've seen that they can move in this really fun way. And then they do a big arrow because they tell them they need to get to the EAC. Oh, right.

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They know where Sydney is.

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8351.376 - 8359.987 Kim Holderness

They show the little waves. They show the opera house. They turn into Marlon and they do like a sad face Marlon, which is pretty funny. They do a mocking impression over his shoulder.

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8360.027 - 8372.906

They are very funny. Yes. And then they give them the directions. Right. Swim through, not over. Yeah, he doesn't trust her, so he distracts her. He's like, look, a shiny thing. And they go over.

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8373.386 - 8375.771 Kim Holderness

And the jellyfish fuck them up. The jellyfish fuck them up.

8376.031 - 8376.432

Yeah.

8376.452 - 8382.081 Kim Holderness

This is the sequence. But then they're woken up. I mean, we cut to the tank, and then when we cut back to them, they're woken up by the turtles.

8382.101 - 8405.034

But it's so scary, intense, and so beautiful. It's another camera decision where he said they animated this whole sequence and he was like, it looks too neat and clean and perfect. There isn't tension to this. And the guy who was head of camera on the movie was like, let me try something. And he clicked twice to zoom in. Like literally just did that. Sure. And did it kind of like arbitrarily.

8405.375 - 8424.684

Right. And Stanton was like, oh, if the compositions are asymmetrical, if the jellyfish's bodies are cut off. Right. And it feels like there's just this weird environment that you can't see as full bodies. And so all of the camera placements within the sequence, which is a lot more quick cutty, are all kind of a little disorienting. How did they stop the camera from getting wet?

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