Lazar & Vendittelli on Joe Rogan: How Element 115 fuels S-4

1. SPSpeaker0:02

   Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out.

2. SPSpeaker0:04

   The Joe Rogan Experience.

3. SPSpeaker0:06

   Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night. All day. [upbeat rock music]

4. JRJoe Rogan0:12

   We're up, gentlemen.

5. BLBob Lazar0:13

   Hey, Joe.

6. JRJoe Rogan0:14

   Great to see you again, Bob.

7. BLBob Lazar0:15

   Same here. Long time.

8. JRJoe Rogan0:16

   Luigi.

9. LVLuigi Vendittelli0:17

   Joe.

10. JRJoe Rogan0:17

    Um, you are still, to this date, the most watched ever podcast we have ever done that's on YouTube.

11. BLBob Lazar0:25

    That's, uh, that's just unreal.

12. LVLuigi Vendittelli0:27

    [laughs]

13. BLBob Lazar0:27

    It's unreal.

14. JRJoe Rogan0:28

    It is unreal, 'cause it, it shows you how many people are just absolutely fascinated by the story. And what you guys have done in this new film is essentially recreate S-4, and using AI, recreate you as a young man in these experiences that you had, and it was really excellent. And Luigi, uh, you're the one who put the film together. You figured it all out. And first of all, what was the technology that you guys used to recreate everything that you did?

15. LVLuigi Vendittelli1:01

    Yeah. I d- I just wanna say there's, there's about 10% AI in the film, but there's 90% blender, and that's actually handmade CGI. So everything you see is all handmade, and even the de-aging of Bob Lazar, we scanned Bob. We went over to his house, scanned his face, took a process of de-aging him through that, then creating a digital model of Bob in different ages, and then placing him in the environment. And then in some instances, at the very end, we perfected or kind of put a bow on it with a little touch of AI, but the whole thing is handmade. So the craft, the environment, the Papoose Lake, the, the, the facility, the equipment, and the people were all made. And some of the people are actually real actors that we put in there. So it's not... It's, it's, there, there's one of the guys that is Barry in the film is a guy called Luis Martinez that's been working with me for the past 10 years, and he laughs at it 'cause he goes, "I can't believe I'm Barry," [laughs] you know? So...

16. JRJoe Rogan2:09

    Does he look anything like Barry?

17. BLBob Lazar2:10

    Actually, he does. He does.

18. LVLuigi Vendittelli2:12

    That's why we chose him. [laughs]

19. BLBob Lazar2:13

    Yeah, yeah.

20. JRJoe Rogan2:14

    Where is Bar- the actual Barry now?

21. BLBob Lazar2:17

    I don't know. You know, I kinda thought at one point, after all this happened, we would at least hear from one of those guys. But, uh, I never heard from anybody after, you know, after the, the initial release of all the information, yeah.

22. JRJoe Rogan2:34

    It seems like, wow, I don't know. Uh, if people are able to keep secrets for this long, it's gotta be very difficult to just blurt it out. Like, a v- you know, you're holding onto a secret for 20, 30, 40 years. You're... It's like-

23. BLBob Lazar2:50

    I guess. These guys were lifers, though.

24. JRJoe Rogan2:52

    Yeah.

25. BLBob Lazar2:52

    I mean, they spent most of their time there. They spent at least two weeks at a time and had one week off, so they stayed at the base. I mean, these guys were hardcore. I had just come in on the project, you know? So, um, I don't know. I don't know what happened to him. I'd love to know. I suspect that Dennis Mariani, my supervisor, died. I've seen people track him down, you know, all the way to point, uh, speaking to his family, and they said, "Yeah, he had some classified job out in the desert or something," and they showed me his gravestone and stuff. So, uh, you know, at least they were able to track him down, but I've never heard of any leads on Barry or Rene or anybody like that.

26. JRJoe Rogan3:31

    What is it like seeing the recreation of it in a film? 'Cause, I mean, essentially, it was your d- um, direction, for lack of a better word, your description of it, you, you telling them exactly how ev- everything was laid out. And then once they recreated it, what is that feeling like when you watch it?

27. BLBob Lazar3:56

    Well, the final product is absolutely mind-blowing because, as I've said to Luigi, "It looks like you guys downloaded that out of my brain." I mean, you know, you can describe something 100 times, and until you actually make a, a picture, it doesn't become clear. But, uh, you know, this took years. I think it was, like, five and a half years from when I first met Luigi, and he said, "Yeah, I can do this." And, um, the quality kept improving to where he started showing me pictures, and I went, "Jesus, that's, that's really it. It's not really it. It's really it." And, uh, I mean, it, it blew me away. Later on, he showed me a 3D environment where I could put goggles on and move around inside. I mean, that made the hair stand up on my arms. It was, it was unbelievable. So, um, I don't know if I could really describe how that made me feel, but it felt like I was teleported back there, and that's, you know, that's when really I developed an admiration for Luigi's talent.

28. JRJoe Rogan5:03

    [laughs]

29. BLBob Lazar5:03

    I said, "I, you know, I'm buying this," and, uh, flew out to Canada a couple times. I didn't have much to do with the film other than, I guess, a couple times going out there and going, "No, that's right. That's the wrong color. Move this here. Do that." And, uh, but those guys spent over three years working on it, and, um, you know, what they... And they never showed me anything.

30. JRJoe Rogan5:25

    [laughs]

Episode duration: 2:59:38