Joe Rogan Experience #1871 - Jon Peters

Jon Peters is a veteran Hollywood film producer and executive. His credits include such films as "Batman," "Tango and Cash," "Superman Returns," and "A Star is Born."

Jon PetersguestJoe Roganhost

Jun 27, 20241h 13mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

150 min read · 30,009 words

0:00 – 0:13
Cold open and the “Are you a hustler?” Barbara Walters moment
1. JPJon Peters
  (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (upbeat music) All right, we're up and rolling. (clapping)
0:13 – 1:05
From hairdresser to power player: proving legitimacy in Hollywood
1. JPJon Peters
  This is the first interview I've ever done except for Barbara Walters 30 years ago.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Holy shit.
3. JPJon Peters
  When the first question she asked me was, I was with Streisand at the time, she said, "Are you a hustler?"
4. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
5. JPJon Peters
  And I said, "If you mean do I hustle every fucking day of my life? Yes, I'm a hustler."
6. JRJoe Rogan
  What does that mean, are you a hustler? What was she implying?
7. JPJon Peters
  That I was using Barbra.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow.
9. JPJon Peters
  That I was a, a hairdresser with the biggest star in the world.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Isn't that crazy? She would never dare ask that question if you were a woman.
11. JPJon Peters
  No.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  And, and, you know, you were with Roger Moore or whatever.
13. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. Oh, yeah.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, never.
15. JPJon Peters
  She was angry, you know, and, uh, yeah, she was angry.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  That's a wild question to ask someone. Like, a- a person who's a hairdresser can't fall in love with, uh, some famous singer?
17. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  That's not possible?
19. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, well, you see-
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, are they, are they out of reach?
1:05 – 4:10
‘A Star Is Born’ origins, meeting Elvis, and the movie that got away
1. JPJon Peters
  And... Yeah, I think that the fact that I was making decisions for her, or not making decisions, I was creating alternatives for her, and she was like, "Yeah, man." Star is Born was something that when I first read it, I called her and I said, "I read this thing." She goes, "You schmuck, it's been made three times before." And she hung up the phone on me. That was 1976 with, you know-
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow.
3. JPJon Peters
  And that's when I met Elvis.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  I went through your IMDb. Holy shit, have you produced a lot of movies.
5. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
7. JPJon Peters
  A lot of marijuana, man. (laughs)
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm.
9. JPJon Peters
  A lot of getting fucked up, Jack. (laughs)
10. JRJoe Rogan
  You made so many movies, man.
11. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, over 100.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  That's incredible. That's incredible.
13. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, because I always was a storyteller. And as a kid, I was n- I didn't always tell the truth, but they were my stories. My life became my story. My stories became my life. The things that I'm doing today are things that I said I would do. I wanted to be... I wanted... I was in love with Ali. I made Ali, the life story of... I was in love with Presley, I wanted him to be in Star is Born. We flew up to Vegas, and we met with him. And, uh, he was so fat he couldn't sit in a chair. He was about 100 pounds overweight.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow.
15. JPJon Peters
  And he said, "I got a problem, man. I got a problem." I said, "What's your problem?" He said, "I'm having a fight with my girlfriend." And I said, "What does that mean?" He says, "Well, she's flying in my 747 for two hours, and I haven't decided whether to let her, let her land or not." (laughs)
16. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
17. JPJon Peters
  So, yeah, so I've been lucky. I've been a really blessed, lucky guy.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Did you meet Elvis when he was doing karate?
19. JPJon Peters
  Uh, yeah.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  So, that was when he was an Ed Parker student?
21. JPJon Peters
  No, no, no, no, no. I met him once when he was, uh, really fat. And, uh, Colonel Parker called me and said, "He wants to do the movie, but you can't be a part of it." So, I called b- 'cause I was a producer. I created it, I wrote it, I, I, I... it was my thing, man. I was obsessed with this movie. And, uh, the love story was me and Barbra. We copied it. And Barbra said, "Fuck him." I said, "Fuck you." And so he didn't do it, and then later...
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow.
23. JPJon Peters
  After the movie, Priscilla Presley called me and said to me, "I gotta tell you, I..." he wanted to see it on opening day, and he did. And he cried that he didn't do it, 'cause I woulda got to the other side of Elvis. I woulda got to the pain. I woulda got to the feelings. I woulda got past the other thing.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm.
25. JPJon Peters
  It woulda been gigantic, 'cause I saw that in him. I could feel the pain in him.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  So, when, when you met him, it was towards the end, then? Like, th- this time?
27. JPJon Peters
  Yes, towards the end.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Did you watch the film, the new one? The new Elvis movie?
29. JPJon Peters
  Fantastic.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  It's amazing, right?
4:10 – 5:46
Michael Jackson, Prince, and the ‘Thriller’ connection to practical effects
1. JPJon Peters
  Michael Jackson and I, uh, um, I went to him, and I... when I was doing Star is Born, I mean, uh, Batman. And I had Prince to do the music, and I wanted Michael to do the warring theme, so it was like a fight. So, Michael Jackson plays... no, thank you. Michael Jackson plays, uh, you know, Batman, the, the guy, and Prince plays the Joker, Jack Nicholson. But Michael backed out. We became friends. He took me to his house. He showed me Thriller, and, uh, he said... I s- I show him this 'cause you did American Werewolf in London, and I copied you to do Thriller.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow. American Werewolf in London's the greatest horror movie of all time.
3. JPJon Peters
  Yes, I made that, I wrote that. I mean, I- I didn't write it, write it, but who did?
4. JRJoe Rogan
  You Saw the Wolf out There?
5. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, yeah.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  I, I fucking worshiped that movie.
7. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  That movie was so fun. It was such a great movie, 'cause it was a such a great combination of sheer terror and comedy.
9. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  It was amazing.
11. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, thank you, man. That's, that's-
12. JRJoe Rogan
  It's an amazing movie.
13. JPJon Peters
  That's what we did.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  It stands the test of time.
15. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  I watched it again, like, a year ago. It's fucking great.
17. JPJon Peters
  John Landis, John Landis.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh.
19. JPJon Peters
  He's the guy that unfortunately, the d-
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
21. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, you know.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, the accident.
23. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  The helicopter.
25. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  It was terrible. He's, uh... that, that American Werewolf in London movie, uh, y- you know, what you guys did was, uh... it's just like a, a real m- like a horror classic.
27. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, thank you.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  There's a few class- like The Shining, there's a few classics.
29. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, amazing.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  American Werewolf in London is the monster movie classic.
5:46 – 10:44
Caddyshack sequel pitch, why making movies is ‘impossible,’ and the long Africa project
1. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. Well, one of the other things that I was lucky enough to do is Caddyshack.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh.
3. JPJon Peters
  And everybody golfs, so I'm gonna make a new one now, and I just-
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Nice.
5. JPJon Peters
  I just got off the phone with Shaq. I'm gonna, I'm gonna put everybody together in this motherfucker. It's the elite, which will be Billy, Chevy, uh, that, that own the club, and they one day get Madoffed.... now all the guys, our kind of guys that have money, that they turn down, they take over the club and these guys work for them. And it's, uh, it's gonna be a very funny story. Wow.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  How come no one's done another good werewolf movie?
7. JPJon Peters
  Uh, 'cause any movie that you make is a, a gift from God they're so hard.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Is that what it is?
9. JPJon Peters
  It's, it's hard, man. I give people Academy Awards just for the movie I made. The pieces, the agents, the story, the acting, the distribution, the this, the that, the bullshit, the lying, the cheating. It's impossible.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow.
11. JPJon Peters
  I have a movie that I'm gonna do. It's called Africa. And it's, it's like Out of Africa. And Eric Roth wrote it, who wrote the, um ... He's a gr- one of the greatest writers in, in, in Hollywood. And he wrote it 22 years ago for me. I've been developing this for 20 years 'cause I never got the love story right. I had Brad Pitt, I had Angelina Jolie. They broke up, the story fell apart. But I'm, I'm working now on getting the story and then I'm gonna make the movie. It's about a journalist doing a story on a guy who's trying to stop the poaching and the killing of all the animals in Africa.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Hm.
13. JPJon Peters
  Beautiful love story. He loses two legs. You got all the ... Yeah, he got shot down by the poachers.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh.
15. JPJon Peters
  And he, you, we see the whole Black experience and their culture. And they have, uh, one day of fighting and you see swords and shit that it's amazing. All in that, the African culture.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow. What, what excites you most about making movies at this point in your life?
17. JPJon Peters
  Stories, stories.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Stories?
19. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. Like they-
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Just, it's gotta excite you.
21. JPJon Peters
  Like Dana White fucking makes me crazy.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
23. JPJon Peters
  Crazy. I love him. He wrote me something, "JP, I love you." I love you, motherfucker. And he can box. He was gonna box, knucklehead.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Tito Ortiz?
25. JPJon Peters
  I, I saw that on the thing. I was like-
26. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
27. JPJon Peters
  ... "Fuck, got big balls. Tito's not, not, not, not, not tough."
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Tito's not tough?
29. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. No, he was tough. I'm saying he's not-
30. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh yeah, he's very tough. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, very tough.
10:44 – 12:50
UFC as a passion: Rockhold’s blood moment, fighter psychology, and charisma
1. JPJon Peters
  Me too. Mine's gone. So, uh, you know, yeah. No, it's, it's been, uh ... I've had an amazing career. The UFC thing has been my, my hobby. I try to pick every fight before it happens within about thir- uh, uh, a minute into the round by the way they walk and move and stuff and everything like ... It's like a hobby.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Weren't you entertained by that Luke Rockhold fight though? That was very entertaining.
3. JPJon Peters
  Phenomenal.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  That was an incredible fight.
5. JPJon Peters
  Phenomenal. I was ... I loved him for that 'cause he let it all go.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  And there were scenes in it that were like a movie, where he said-
7. JPJon Peters
  Yes.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  ... "Fuck you."
9. JPJon Peters
  Yes, yes.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  And then he punched him in the face.
11. JPJon Peters
  Yes, it was definitely a movie.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
13. JPJon Peters
  Even you said it.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  I even ... It was like a movie.
15. JPJon Peters
  You said-
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
17. JPJon Peters
  ... on the thing, "This is like a movie."
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
19. JPJon Peters
  And I was like, "I- it is like a movie."
20. JRJoe Rogan
  It really was. It was like if you saw that in a movie, you'd be like, "Come on."
21. JPJon Peters
  Especially if you had, um, got to know him and had his life before and realized-
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm.
23. JPJon Peters
  ... that this was his real ... In his way, because he's been so beautiful, this is his license of manhood, because now he could actually be tough and beautiful.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Hmm. Well, he was even when he was the champion. You know, he was a Strikeforce champion and he was-
25. JPJon Peters
  Right.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  ... then he was the UFC champion. And when, when he was in his prime, like th- but see, the thing about o- an elite high-level fighter, and this is the reality of it, the s- the consequences on your body are so grave.
27. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  There's so much going wrong. Your neck and your-
29. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  ... fucking shoulder and your knee. It's always happening. And so, these guys only have a few years to perform at like the elite of the elite level.
12:50 – 15:07
Training with legends: Vitor Belfort, Carlson Gracie, and early MMA culture
1. JRJoe Rogan
  ... that you, you knew Carlson Gracie, you knew all those guys back then-
2. JPJon Peters
  He, I trained with him.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  That's wild.
4. JPJon Peters
  For three years, man.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Was it a-
6. JPJon Peters
  Every day.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  ... when he was on Hawthorne?
8. JPJon Peters
  When he was at my house.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, he came to your house and trained you?
10. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh.
12. JPJon Peters
  With Victor.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh. But that was back when they were calling him Victor.
14. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  We were talking about that earlier.
16. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, yeah. I introduced Victor to marijuana.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, no.
18. JPJon Peters
  Because he wouldn't train. And I got him loaded and he stayed in the gym the whole day.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  Really?
20. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  He wouldn't train unless he had a high-
22. JPJon Peters
  Well, he was lazy, he was lazy. A lot of guys that are good-looking and built like that, they're lazy, 'cause he beats people up like that.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow, he was a spectacular athlete.
24. JPJon Peters
  He was, yeah.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  He was so fast.
26. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. That's when I called Dana-
27. JRJoe Rogan
  (coughs)
28. JPJon Peters
  ... and I said, "Remember me? We almost fought the thing together," and da, da, da, da.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  When I think about a guy like Vitor, who was really, like, at his best at, like, between 185 and 205 pounds-
30. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
15:07 – 16:54
Aging, diet, and discipline: losing weight, jiu-jitsu limits, and delegating a business empire
1. JRJoe Rogan
  What are you doing to lose it?
2. JPJon Peters
  Um, h- uh, no food, uh, raw fish and vegetables, and that's it.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  Raw fish, huh?
4. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. I love it, man.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah?
6. JPJon Peters
  And I, yeah, my, I have a chef, and she's the greatest chef in the world, and she cooks for me wherever I go. And, and I, yeah, I gotta lose another... I wanna get... I'm 260, I wanna get down to... I'd really like to get down to 200. I'd like to be-
7. JRJoe Rogan
  Do you have a trainer?
8. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. Oh, yeah.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  That's important.
10. JPJon Peters
  Brazilian great guy.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  That's awesome.
12. JPJon Peters
  Amazing black belt trainer guy, champion from Brazil. I brought him over. He's fantastic, you know.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  So, you're doing jujitsu with him?
14. JPJon Peters
  As much as I can because I'm all broke up.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
16. JPJon Peters
  My knees-
17. JRJoe Rogan
  So, he's got you doing other stuff, too?
18. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, yeah.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. That's great.
20. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  Having someone like that, especially for a guy like you that's very busy-
22. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  ... having someone like, "This is my job."
24. JPJon Peters
  I trained for my life, man. From the more nighttime, I train. I live in my spa. I live in... I've never gone to an office. Everybody resolves around my s- my schnoodle.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
26. JPJon Peters
  I have great, talented people. When you were talking to Elon Musk about, "How does he do it all?" Delegation.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
28. JPJon Peters
  Finding smart people. You put them, then you don't have to do nothing. You just tell them what you wanna do and they figure out how to do it, and you adjust it. I do that. I run, like, 30 companies.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, that's genius. That's probably fun, too.
30. JPJon Peters
  I'm excited, that's why I'm breathing heavy-
16:54 – 21:54
Spirituality, intimacy, and regret: Dispenza, trauma, and losing Peter Guber
1. JPJon Peters
  You know, I, when I did Star is Born and we came back from the... e- everybody put me down. I was, like, a joke. I was a pimp. I was this, that, how dare me produce the biggest movie with the biggest star, and I must have a 12-foot dick. Although-
2. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
3. JPJon Peters
  ... I did learn in life (sighs) that I'm actually a lesbian. So, I really learned how to make love with women once I saw my friend, this model and this little lesbian lady, and I said, "What do you do? How did you get her?" 'Cause I would always come too fast. I could never make it work right, you know what I mean?
4. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
5. JPJon Peters
  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. And, uh, I learn now that, with my wife, my lady, we make love for three hours. I, I, I, it becomes an orchestra with my love for her and my gratitude that she saved my life by bringing spirituality into me. 'Cause I was, like, getting tired of living.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  So, when you say spirituality, like in what form?
7. JPJon Peters
  Studying, uh, Joe Dispenza. Genius. You should look him up. He's a fucking... 100,000 people's... shells out $100,000. He's a beast. He, he's like you, but he's amazing. Studying people every night for six, seven hours, learning.... was therapy, working on what it was like to be in jail as a kid, see my father die in front of me, my bu- best friend shot as he was going over the fence in juvie, lot of stuff that happened to me as a kid.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  You just glossed over some pretty crazy stories.
9. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  You say your father died in front of you?
11. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. Shit, piss and (snaps fingers) goat. (breathes deeply) It took a long time to get over it, but I never got over it. But women saved my life, because every time I got somebody good, she was smart, she was talented, and she filled in that thing. Barbara gave me a career, and my wife gave me love.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  That's beautiful.
13. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. And Peter Guber, I love him, we broke up, not in a good way. One of the smartest, most wonderful men I ever met in my life. I wish I had not lost him as my friend after a partnership of 15 years.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  What happened? What, how'd it go south?
15. JPJon Peters
  I got a, I almost fucked his wife.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Oops.
17. JPJon Peters
  We got so close that she started feeling for me, and because I'm a talker and Peter isn't, uh, she started getting very connected to me. Not in my intention, not in my want, I didn't thing, uh, I didn't, uh, you know, but I did feel romantic, because she was, she was different than Barbara too. She was very loving but I never touched her, and I think that was a breach that my karma, it kicked my ass for 10 years. I couldn't... I was so fucked up by losing him, it took me a while to get myself back and to take responsibility for what I did. I never touched her, but she would come sit in the jacuzzi with me and 10 other girls and smoke dope, and it just got too close.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Hmm. Is that the har- one of the hardest things about putting together all these films, is the relationships-
19. JPJon Peters
  Yes.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  ... between all the people that are involved?
21. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, you have to be a master manipulator.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  And you gotta be with each other all the time.
23. JPJon Peters
  All the time.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  'Cause you're working 16-hour days.
25. JPJon Peters
  Sixteen-hour days, and you have to get 'em to do things they don't wanna do. That's why I didn't do the thing with Dana.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  And you have to maintain a vision.
27. JPJon Peters
  I didn't wanna be in Vegas with fighters. I wanted to be with girls with titties and everything else. (laughs)
28. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs) I like it. I, when you go titties, there's a-
29. JPJon Peters
  I love titties.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  ... show me.
21:54 – 25:23
Childhood brush with Hollywood and the dream of a true UFC origin movie
1. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. And as a little boy, my dad was an American Indian, Cherokee. My mom's Italian. So I was riding horses early, and they came to cast the Ten Commandments. And I got picked out of, like, a thousand people to be in that and meet John Derek, Cecil B. DeMille.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Whoa.
3. JPJon Peters
  And I was an extra riding on a big bison with a, with a, uh, little goat and the, the guy said, "I- if any of these animals go to the bathroom, call pickup," 'cause when they go to the bathroom it's that big, 'cause they're like 15- 1,500 pounds.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
5. JPJon Peters
  So we're going down the thing and my little goat starts to shit, and I went, "Oh, pickup!" (laughs) And they cut and Joe Miller came out and said, "Who said that?" I said, "I did." He said, "The fucking big ones, man, not the little ones. Now shut the fuck up," or something like that, you know?
6. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs) Oh, he, he should've been more specific.
7. JPJon Peters
  Well you're sp- it, it, they're just little teeny things.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, little pellets.
9. JPJon Peters
  But yeah, so, uh, from that time on, I got hooked in the movie business. There's something about, look, the UFC is a movie. I went to Dana years ago and said, "Let's... I wanna do your movie."
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, but can you encapsulate something like the UFC in a two-hour movie?
11. JPJon Peters
  No.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  No?
13. JPJon Peters
  No.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  But you can do your best?
15. JPJon Peters
  You'd have to tell the story from the Gracie's angle.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Hmm. Yeah.
17. JPJon Peters
  And the street fights and the 14-hour fights.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  UFC1, yeah, UFC1 is the story.
19. JPJon Peters
  Through the, yeah, oh, yeah man.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  That's the real story, is what- the Royce Gracie story, that's the real story.
21. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, that's me, that's how I got in.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, how come not?
23. JPJon Peters
  Hoyce, Hixon, all those guys, they were my guys.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  No one's really done a movie on that.
25. JPJon Peters
  No, but I, that's the thing I want to do. And then I can imp- involve Dana and you and all this stuff.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm.
27. JPJon Peters
  But I wanna tell it from Brazil.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  That's a great idea.
29. JPJon Peters
  And then bring it back.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  That's a great idea.
25:23 – 30:07
Vision Quest, fandom, and mental health: brutality, happiness, and training as therapy
1. JPJon Peters
  Yes. That, that's it. That's what I... I was ready to wrestle and that's why I did that show. And that's... And I found Madonna.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  You know, it was one of my favorite scenes-
3. JPJon Peters
  Madonna was in Vision Quest.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  ... in that movie, uh, and in any movie, is the scene where the, the guy who works at the place with him is telling him about the soccer player.
5. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  And about how he is watching it at home and just for that one moment, everyone gets elevated.
7. JPJon Peters
  Yes, it's true. It's true.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Yes. It's a great speech though.
9. JPJon Peters
  The fight the other night when that... I had the first time in my life, and I've seen a thousand fights and I've been to, in 200 of them to the death almost, in the street. When that guy was getting beat up by that Black guy and he was punching him like a bag, I looked away. I couldn't watch it.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah?
11. JPJon Peters
  It was the first time. It was so brutal. And, and it looked great. On the other hand, what's he gonna do when he comes across someone that can punch and really bob and weave and everything?
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Which guys are you talking about?
13. JPJon Peters
  The Black guy and the Samoan guy.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, Ciryl Gane and Ty Tuivasa.
15. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. I'm bad with names, I'm sorry.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, no worries. No worries.
17. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, Ciryl Gane, man. Goddamn, that was good.
19. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  He's insane.
21. JPJon Peters
  Yeah.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  He, he's, he's such a smooth striker.
23. JPJon Peters
  But it was a perfect storm.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
25. JPJon Peters
  He didn't have anybody coming at him. This guy was big punches. He had... He was always open in the center-
26. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, Ciryl Gane is just very agile.
27. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, he was great.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  He's very... He's usually agile for a big guy.
29. JPJon Peters
  That's right. Listen, when we started, there were no Black ath- fighters.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
30:07 – 37:54
Top Gun: Maverick praise, Batman breakthroughs, and casting by instinct
1. JPJon Peters
  There was a, uh, a time when Jerry Bruckheimer was partners with a guy named Don Simpson.Don Simpson was a genius and so is Jerry. Top Gun is one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life, but-
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Great fucking movie.
3. JPJon Peters
  ... I, I've seen it 10 times.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Great fucking movie.
5. JPJon Peters
  I just watch it over and over and over and over. It's so damn fucking brilliantly done. It's like, I did Star is Born two years ago. We had the soundtrack, we had the thing, they had everything.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  And at the time, Top Gun was just w- w- blew the roof off the world.
7. JPJon Peters
  It did, but this is better. This one, this one that they did now-
8. JRJoe Rogan
  The new one you think is better?
9. JPJon Peters
  ... is, and, and, I, I do-
10. JRJoe Rogan
  I need to watch it.
11. JPJon Peters
  The, oh, make-
12. JRJoe Rogan
  I haven't watched it yet.
13. JPJon Peters
  The cameras are in the cockpit, man. And they go like this, and you're in the cockpit. And you got the music and you got the score. Talk about a musical, it's a musical.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow.
15. JPJon Peters
  And he's phenomenal. You're gonna go, "How's he doing that? How's he doing that? How's he doing that?"
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Do they play Highway to the Danger Zone?
17. JPJon Peters
  Yes.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
19. JPJon Peters
  The hair stands from the back of your neck, man. Yeah.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Of course they do, of course they do. (laughs)
21. JPJon Peters
  It's crazy.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  That's amazing.
23. JPJon Peters
  A brilliant movie. I called Bruckheimer, I say, "Look, you're the camp man. I love you." This is a brilliant movie. But see, just like I am with them, the way fighters are with each other, you know-
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
25. JPJon Peters
  ... if somebody's good, they're damn good.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  Right. Right. Yeah, there's some, look, that's a classic movie. That's a goddamn class. But do you have a favorite out of all the movies you've done?
27. JPJon Peters
  Well, I like Batman because it was one that was, it broke, nobody had any done anything like that before.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
29. JPJon Peters
  And I had a big affair with Kim Basinger over there.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, shit.
37:54 – 1:06:04
Fresh grief and lifelong trauma: sister’s death, psychedelics fears, violence, and survival stories
1. JPJon Peters
  My sister died yesterday.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  What?
3. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. And I found out at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and it we-... really shook me up because she has five kids. She was 58. She had had... been having a hard time, but she just had a fall and thing and a blood clot and this, that and the rest.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh.
5. JPJon Peters
  So, you know, I didn't wanna cancel this, 'cause it's more important to me. I'll be there tomorrow. I'll take... help take care of the business, the k-... she has a husband, she has a husband, but these things happen. And I told you, when that happened with my dad, it, it hardened me. It hardened me. And not until I met Julia did sh- did she really open my heart, and then came craziness, drugs, 'cause my heart was open. I was feeling good and bad things. Once you open that door, man, a lot of shit comes out. And that door can be opened by your children, by your wife, or whoever.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
7. JPJon Peters
  But it... not everything comes out good.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  So you realized before that, that you were kinda protecting who you were?
9. JPJon Peters
  Totally. I was numb. I was dating 20 women at a time. My plane would pick them up in Paris and bring them here and do and jacuzzi and this and covers of magazines. I was like a mag-
10. JRJoe Rogan
  So you were distracting yourself with all this stuff.
11. JPJon Peters
  Totally, totally.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
13. JPJon Peters
  Till I met this woman therapist, uh, Dr. Vita, and I just sat on her couch and we both cried. She held me for an hour and we... I began to unravel the mys- the mystery.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Have you done much psychedelic drugs?
15. JPJon Peters
  Uh, c- early on.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Early on?
17. JPJon Peters
  Yeah. Psilocybin.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  How long early on?
19. JPJon Peters
  Not like today, probably 30 years ago.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  How come you haven't done it more recently?
21. JPJon Peters
  Because anxiety scares me, and I'm afraid if I lose control, I... what's gonna happen?
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh. You know, the way to get over that is to do it slowly, like a microdose.
23. JPJon Peters
  That's what my girl wants to do.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
25. JPJon Peters
  She thinks microdose.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  I think it would be good for everybody. It's... you know what? It's really good for soldiers, for soldiers who come back with PTSD.
27. JPJon Peters
  Yeah, that's me.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
29. JPJon Peters
  I'm a soldier that came back from... with PT-... did.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, so-

Episode duration: 1:13:14

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Cold open and the “Are you a hustler?” Barbara Walters moment

From hairdresser to power player: proving legitimacy in Hollywood

‘A Star Is Born’ origins, meeting Elvis, and the movie that got away

Michael Jackson, Prince, and the ‘Thriller’ connection to practical effects

Caddyshack sequel pitch, why making movies is ‘impossible,’ and the long Africa project

UFC as a passion: Rockhold’s blood moment, fighter psychology, and charisma

Training with legends: Vitor Belfort, Carlson Gracie, and early MMA culture

Aging, diet, and discipline: losing weight, jiu-jitsu limits, and delegating a business empire

Spirituality, intimacy, and regret: Dispenza, trauma, and losing Peter Guber

Childhood brush with Hollywood and the dream of a true UFC origin movie

Vision Quest, fandom, and mental health: brutality, happiness, and training as therapy

Top Gun: Maverick praise, Batman breakthroughs, and casting by instinct

Fresh grief and lifelong trauma: sister’s death, psychedelics fears, violence, and survival stories

Get more out of YouTube videos.