Joe Rogan Experience #2240 - Roger Avary & Quentin Tarantino

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. NANarrator0:00

      (drumming) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. NANarrator0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. NANarrator0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music)

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:12

      All right, here we go. We're rolling. So you were- you were saying that someone was telling you how to kill someone with coffee?

   5. RARoger Avary0:16

      Okay, so I got to know all these, uh, you were talking about, uh, some-

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:20

      His name's John McFee.

   7. RARoger Avary0:20

      ... yeah, some operators.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:22

      Yeah.

   9. RARoger Avary0:22

      And, uh, I got to know through a friend, through a billionaire friend who, uh, loaned his plane to the, to Clinton to fly those people out of, uh, I think North Korea. And so from that point on, he was surrounded by these guys. And, uh, one of 'em, uh, this guy Mikey, uh, which isn't his real name. Um, I think he's actually named, they name 'em all after the archangels. So he was, like, Michael, another guy Gabriel.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:51

       Oh, Jesus.

   11. RARoger Avary0:51

       And like-

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:52

       (laughs)

   13. RARoger Avary0:52

       ... they take on these-

   14. NANarrator0:54

       (laughs)

   15. RARoger Avary0:56

       (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       There's nothing creeper than an assassin with Biblical names.

   17. NANarrator0:59

       Named after an archangel.

   18. RARoger Avary1:00

       Yeah. And well, you know. And so, um, he, uh, um, you know, we got to know each other because of our mutual friend, and, uh, I think what happened was, uh, um, he and a couple of the other guys, you know, they were placed on me as, like, for surveillance purposes, like, you know, find out what this Avery guy is about maybe.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:21

       Right.

   20. RARoger Avary1:21

       Or just keep an eye on him or whatever. And they told me right up front, like, "Be nice to your surveillance." You know, like, "Don't try to lose us or anything like that."

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:28

       Right.

   22. RARoger Avary1:28

       'Cause, uh, you know, I heard stories about how, you know, they're surveilling somebody in wherever, Bolivia, and suddenly some gang attacks their surveillance and they step in, kick the shit out of the gang. And so, um, so I got to know these guys, and naturally, you know, I'm a writer and a filmmaker, and so I of course want to talk to them about stuff, and they immediately started volunteering, "Oh yeah, we've learned all these different ways when I became an operator," blah, blah, blah. "I learned how to kill people without... And I was just making a list now of the 10 ways to kill someone without leaving a trace." And I was like, "Well," just like when I told Quentin about this, he's like, "Well, what are those?"

   23. JRJoe Rogan2:08

       (laughs)

   24. NANarrator2:08

       (laughs)

   25. RARoger Avary2:08

       "I'd like to hear those." Everybody wants to hear those. And so one of the ones that I think is the best one is, uh, you inject someone with coffee, caffeine, like, uh, just inject coffee into their bloodstream, gives them a heart attack, and it's untraceable. Later on, they do an autopsy and they just discover caffeine in your system.

   26. JRJoe Rogan2:26

       That's it?

   27. RARoger Avary2:27

       That's it. It's-

   28. JRJoe Rogan2:28

       Just right into the blood, coffee can kill you?

   29. RARoger Avary2:30

       Sometimes the simple ways are the best.

   30. JRJoe Rogan2:31

       Like, uh, like, uh, yeah, so just right into the jugular in a, with a syringe?
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   (laughs) …

   1. NANarrator15:00

      out of five movies that they would rent, four are pornos. (laughs)

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:04

      (laughs)

   3. RARoger Avary15:06

      Yeah. No, they lived up to their-

   4. NANarrator15:07

      They just literally watched-

   5. RARoger Avary15:07

      ... their, their careers.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:08

      Did you guys work together?

   7. NANarrator15:09

      Yeah.

   8. RARoger Avary15:10

      Yeah, yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:10

      No shit.

   10. RARoger Avary15:11

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:11

       That's how you guys met?

   12. NANarrator15:12

       Yeah, uh-huh.

   13. RARoger Avary15:12

       That's how we met.

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:13

       Wow!

   15. RARoger Avary15:14

       Video Archives in Manhattan Beach, California.

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:16

       How fucking cool is that story?

   17. NANarrator15:17

       Yeah, that's from like, uh, '84, yeah.

   18. RARoger Avary15:19

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan15:19

       Wow!

   20. NANarrator15:19

       '84 for about five years.

   21. RARoger Avary15:20

       Yeah. Maybe even a little bit before '84.

   22. NANarrator15:23

       Well, I started officially in '84 because I'm a member-

   23. RARoger Avary15:25

       But you were a customer before then.

   24. NANarrator15:26

       Well, I was a customer for-

   25. RARoger Avary15:27

       Yeah.

   26. NANarrator15:27

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan15:28

       Wow.

   28. NANarrator15:28

       I was a customer before, yeah.

   29. RARoger Avary15:29

       I, I predated Quinton as, uh, one of the employees, so I was there at-

   30. JRJoe Rogan15:33

       Look at you guys.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   With you? …

   1. RARoger Avary30:00

      uh, you know, he drove me through Paris and next thing I know, he's doing heroin and I'm like... And, and it started-

   2. QTQuentin Tarantino30:06

      With you?

   3. RARoger Avary30:06

      No, not with me. I, I, uh-

   4. NANarrator30:08

      And now we do heroin.

   5. QTQuentin Tarantino30:09

      (laughs)

   6. RARoger Avary30:09

      Yeah, he was like, "Now we do heroin. Hold my arm." I did hold his arm. And like I had never-

   7. QTQuentin Tarantino30:13

      For real?

   8. RARoger Avary30:14

      Yeah, yeah.

   9. QTQuentin Tarantino30:14

      Whoa, whoa, whoa.

   10. NANarrator30:14

       (laughs)

   11. RARoger Avary30:14

       I had never seen anything like that.

   12. QTQuentin Tarantino30:16

       Like, he tied his arm off? He's like, "Hold my arm."

   13. NANarrator30:18

       No, no, no.

   14. RARoger Avary30:18

       "Hold my arm."

   15. QTQuentin Tarantino30:19

       "He hold my-"

   16. NANarrator30:19

       He, he, he was the tying off.

   17. RARoger Avary30:20

       Yeah. "You-"

   18. NANarrator30:21

       Roger was the tying off.

   19. RARoger Avary30:21

       "Roger, hold my arm while I shoot up."

   20. QTQuentin Tarantino30:23

       Geez.

   21. RARoger Avary30:24

       So-

   22. NANarrator30:24

       But like, he doesn't quite know that this is all gonna happen, that, that the, that everything else has been a preamble to this.

   23. QTQuentin Tarantino30:30

       (laughs)

   24. RARoger Avary30:30

       Yeah, suddenly that happens and then it's-

   25. QTQuentin Tarantino30:32

       He just needed a heroin partner.

   26. RARoger Avary30:33

       Yeah, his friends are like, "Oh, doing it in the nose doesn't even affect me anymore." You know, things like... And I'm, and I'm like writing these lines down like, "This is great shit." (laughs)

   27. QTQuentin Tarantino30:42

       (laughs)

   28. RARoger Avary30:43

       And so I get back and I tell Quentin like about this whole story and about these guys and going, you know, driving around the Champs-Élysées and, "Ah, this is where the fags sell themselves." (laughs)

   29. QTQuentin Tarantino30:55

       (laughs)

   30. NANarrator30:55

       (laughs)
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   (laughs) …

   1. NANarrator45:00

      just like you (laughs) and some girls there too, but it was a bunch of guys just like you. And then I stopped working at South Bay Cinema, then I worked at Miller's Outpost and hung out and- with a bunch of guys just like you and we did everything, just like we do. We went to movies together, we went out and we, uh, dated amongst the girls there, everything. Then I worked at Licorice Pizza for far- far- four years with a bunch of guys just like you."

   2. NANarrator45:22

      (laughs)

   3. NANarrator45:24

      "I've wasted my life hanging out with a bunch of guys just like you." (laughs) And they all go away at a certain point. And I realized, this guy is kind of telling the truth. I- this- he's showing me a- a truth about him- he- he's- he- I'm- I'm- uh... This is coming from somewhere. And then all of a sudden, he still hung around us, he still liked us, but then he started making it a point to, uh, touch base with some of his high school friends that were still around.

   4. NANarrator45:53

      Hm.

   5. NANarrator45:53

      So he's not just hanging out with guys four years younger or five years younger than him. Anyway, I'm turning 25 around this time, so I'm having my own little, "Okay, well what have I done with my life so far?" So far fucking nothing. So I'm having my own little anxiety hitting 25, but I'm seeing what it it's like five years from now (laughs) .

   6. NANarrator46:16

      Yeah.

   7. NANarrator46:16

      When you turn 30.

   8. NANarrator46:17

      A window to the future.

   9. NANarrator46:19

      Yeah.

   10. NANarrator46:19

       When you're turning 30 and you're in this situation. And- and there was, like, one night that I had what I used to call, I would do it every once in a while, I haven't done it in a long time thank- thankfully. I would have a Quentin Detest Fest-

   11. NANarrator46:35

       Mm.

   12. NANarrator46:36

       ... where I'd stay up all night long and rather than give myself excuses, I would look at everything that I'm fucking up in my life or everything I'm not doing or whatever and just not give myself any fucking excuses out, just like nail it. And I would spend, like, all night laying out everything I'm doing that's wrong and then I would spend the last two hours figuring out how I can change it. (laughs)

   13. NANarrator47:02

       Mm.

   14. NANarrator47:02

       And as opposed to just doing it and then going to get some sleep an- and then you forget about it and fall back into your, you know, your routine, um, I decided to change my life. And I was like, "Look, the problem is- is that I'm living in the South Bay and even though I drive to Los Angeles, I n- one, I gotta not worry about this job anymore, I gotta just move to Hollywood, I gotta get involved there, I gotta meet other people that are in th- the business. And if I have to work manpower jobs, you know, where you just work, like, four days at this place and four days at that place, well then that's fine. And by the way, I shouldn't be making money until I'm making money doing what I wanna do." (laughs)

   15. NANarrator47:40

       Mm.

   16. NANarrator47:42

       And, not that a- that was ever a danger all right? But, uh, um, uh, but then, you know, the next thing I knew, you know, I was, uh, I had moved out of the South Bay and then I couldn't move into Hollywood, I couldn't afford Hollywood but I could afford Koreatown and that was close enough. And, uh, and literally the minute I kind of moved out there, I met a guy who wrote, uh, uh, low-budget horror movies and then through him I met other guys that wrote low-budget horror movies and this guy who directs a few low-budget horror movies and this guy who produces a couple. And well, but yeah, you meet one person and that introduces you to three other people. Now all of a sudden I actually knew people who were actually making movies and the other thing about it was it was like also, "Well if these guys can do it, I can do it." (laughs)

   17. NANarrator48:29

       Mm.

   18. NANarrator48:29

       Because they weren't too special.

   19. NANarrator48:31

       Right.

   20. NANarrator48:31

       Yeah.

   21. NANarrator48:31

       You know? Um, um, but-

   22. NANarrator48:32

       That's the weird realization that you end up having. (laughs)

   23. NANarrator48:35

       Yeah. Uh, uh, and- and then literally it wasn't like everything changed, but, like, within a year and a half from moving out of the South Bay and moving into the Hollywood area, within a year and a half I was finally able to make a living as a- as a writer. You know, getting like a- a $7,000 for this rewrite on this script over here, $4,000 for this polish over here, another $10,000 for this rewrite over here. Well shit, I mean I would make $10,000 a year-

   24. NANarrator49:04

       Yeah.

   25. NANarrator49:04

       ... uh, uh, through all of my 20s be- before that point so, uh, if I can make, like- if I can make $15,000 from writing, oh my God, that- that was the greatest thing in the world.

   26. NANarrator49:14

       Wow. But it- it just takes being around people that are actually doing it so you realize it's possible.

   27. NANarrator49:20

       Well- well the- what- it's the realizing it's possible but it's also- but it's also a situation where it's, like-... um, as oppo-, you know, as opposed to talking to your buddies about comedy in Minnesota, (laughs) your buddies who like comedy. No, you're at The Comedy Store and you're dealing with comedians-

   28. JRJoe Rogan49:38

       Right.

   29. NANarrator49:38

       ... every fucking night.

   30. JRJoe Rogan49:39

       Yes.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:05:41

   Yeah. …

   1. NANarrator1:00:00

      really famous in the neighborhood. We were the video guys.

   2. RARoger Avary1:00:03

      Yeah.

   3. NANarrator1:00:04

      And you know, our store was a little different than most of the businesses that were in, uh, uh, Manhattan Beach. And so everyone kinda knew us. We were the video guys. So in a strange way, it, it was a, a, um, a precursor to what it would be like to be famous with the whole world kinda knows about you like that.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:26

      Mm-hmm.

   5. NANarrator1:00:27

      In Manhattan Beach, I'm like walking down the street, and people are like, "Hey, Quentin! Hey, hey, Quentin, hey, how you doing? How you doing?" You know, I'm like, uh-

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:34

      Yeah.

   7. NANarrator1:00:34

      ... I'm at the, working at the store, and I'm walking to the Jack in the Box to get a Coke and come back. And then, you know, but, uh, uh, we'd walk into the, the Mann's, uh, uh, movie theater. All right, that was by the theater, you know, and, uh, me and two other guys would walk in to go see a movie. And we, we, we'd walk down the aisle, and we'd hear, "Hey, those are the Video Arc guys, guys. Those are the Video Arc guys, guys."

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:52

      Oh, yeah.

   9. NANarrator1:00:53

      (laughs)

   10. RARoger Avary1:00:53

       I, I, I was in San Francisco once, and, uh, the guys from Red Cross, the punk band-

   11. NANarrator1:00:58

       Yeah, yeah.

   12. RARoger Avary1:00:58

       ... they were customers of ours. I was like, "Oh, they're, uh, doing a signing at this local record store. I'll just go show up. I'll just show up there on Haight-Ashbury." And I walk in, and immediately the McDonald brother guys were like, "Hey, it's the video store guy."

   13. NANarrator1:01:11

       (laughs) Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:12

       (laughs)

   15. RARoger Avary1:01:12

       "Hey man, come back..." And they're, "Come back behind with us."

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:17

       (laughs)

   17. RARoger Avary1:01:17

       I don't think they talked like that.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:19

       (laughs)

   19. NANarrator1:01:20

       They kinda talked like that.

   20. RARoger Avary1:01:20

       (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:01:22

       It's good to get that slow drip, get a little bit of a taste of it before you actually get famous.

   22. NANarrator1:01:27

       (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:01:27

       Just to get a feel of, of what it's like.

   24. RARoger Avary1:01:29

       Uh, uh, uh, uh, it still doesn't give you the full...

   25. NANarrator1:01:32

       Well, oddly enough-

   26. RARoger Avary1:01:32

       It's like, you know, "Oh, I'm just gonna smoke a little weed," compared to, "I'm gonna mainline, uh, you know, heroin."

   27. NANarrator1:01:39

       Well, oddly enough-

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:40

       (laughs)

   29. NANarrator1:01:40

       Oddly enough, the thing that it did was...... it made me feel part of a community, which I had never felt with before. I actually felt part of the Manhattan Beach community-

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:01:49

       Oh, yeah, Manhattan Beach. Yeah.

Episode duration: 3:19:49