Director Jason Woliner (“Paul T. Goldman,” Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, “The Last Man on Earth”) sat down with The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk in the latest episode of “Hollywood at Home,” a podcast featuring unplugged and uncensored conversations with entertainment industry’s who’s who. In this episode, Woliner talks about the crazy true story behind his new Peacock docuseries, “Paul T. Goldman,” the ultimate undercover filming of Rudy Giuliani during Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, crashing the CPAC Trump Rally, his career origins on “Human Giant” with Aziz Ansari, and much more. Highlights below.
“Hollywood at Home” is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and more.
Listen now at:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/paul-t-goldman-a-complicated-story-with-guest-jason-woliner/id1521900273?i=1000596268638
For planned coverage, please link to:
http://thecreativecoalition.org/podcast
Highlights from “Hollywood at Home” featuring Jason Woliner:
Behind the new docuseries “Paul T. Goldman” on Peacock: “It was complicated to try and pitch it and to sell it. Paul wrote every word of dialogue and everyone, except Paul, is a professional actor in those dramatised scenes. By the time I met him, he’d already made shirts that said “What a Schmuck” that he was thinking he would wear during his speaking engagements to promote himself.
On crashing Mike Pence’s appearance at CPAC in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: “That whole scene was shot on iPhones and tiny little cameras because we didn’t have press passes. I had to sit there for five hours of Conservative speeches – my heart pounding. [Sacha Baron Cohen] had to sneak in– He came in with those Trump prosthetics on and with another disguise on top of that – the metal detectors beeped and he convinced them that his microphone was his pacemaker. Then he sat in the men’s room in the stall for another hour or two until I texted him ‘OK, Pence is about to come on.’ We came in, we switched him in the seat with someone else, and I’m queuing the whole thing via text.”
On Rudy Guiliani’s scene in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: “Rudy thought this was an opportunity to kiss up to Trump, so we got him to do this interview. We set up a whole control room behind an enjoining wall of the suite where I was watching. We knew we had to hide Sascha in the room too. I go down, I meet Rudy, I walk him up in the elevator, and say ‘this is the young journalist who’s going to be interviewing you.’ He doesn’t know there’s 20 cameras hidden all over the room. And, then we just do it. I go around the corner and watch it and pray that it works. And, he lies on the bed. It was one of the craziest moments I’ve ever witnessed. We didn’t put any words in his mouth.”
On his career beginnings and MTV’s “Human Giant”: “I started making shorts, so that’s kind of when I met Aziz [Ansari]. I met these two other writer/performer/comedian improvisers, Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel and we were making videos… It was right before YouTube kind of happened and it was like 2005 [or] 2006, and MTV was like ‘you guys wanna do a pilot’ and so suddenly, we had a sketch comedy show.”
More about “Hollywood at Home”
Hosted by The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk, “Hollywood at Home” brings listeners intimate portraits, key moments of discovery, and “art and soul” conversations with iconic entertainment industry personalities from the big screen to the boardroom, from L.A. to D.C. Listen now at http://thecreativecoalition.org/podcast.
Previous guests include Jason Alexander (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Shiri Appleby (“UnREAL”), Iain Armitage (“Young Sheldon”), Justin Bartha (“The Hangover,” “National Treasure”), David Alan Basche (“The Exes”), Asante Blackk (“This Is Us”), Carly Chaikin (“Mr. Robot”), Aaron Cooley (“The First Lady”), Wilson Cruz (“Star Trek: Discovery”), Alan Cumming (“Schmigadoon!, “The Good Wife”), Ethan Cutkosky (“Shameless”), The Creative Coalition President and actor Tim Daly (“Madam Secretary”), Lea DeLaria (“Orange Is the New Black”), Colman Domingo (“Euphoria”), Griffin Dunne (“This Is Us”), Kerry Ehrin (“The Morning Show”), Wayne Federman (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Frances Fisher (“Titanic,” “Unforgiven”), Michael Fishman (“Roseanne,” “The Conners”), Jim Gaffigan (“The Jim Gaffigan Show”), LaMonica Garrett (“1883,” “Sons of Anarchy”) Willie Garson (“And Just Like That…”), Judy Gold (“The Other F Word”), Nicholas Gonzalez (“The Good Doctor”), Clark Gregg (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”), Tony Hale (“Veep,” “Arrested Development”), Evan Handler (“And Just Like That…,” “Californication”), Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The Middle”), Jon Huertas (“This Is Us”), Jason Isaacs (“Star Trek: Discovery,” “Harry Potter”), Susan Isaacs (“Compromising Positions”), Richard Kind (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Nathan Kress (“iCarly”), Jaren Lewison (“Never Have I Ever”), Chad Lowe (“Supergirl”), Aasif Mandvi (“The Daily Show”), Rachel Mason (“Circus of Books”), Marlee Matlin (“CODA”), AnnaLynne McCord (“Let’s Get Physical”), Eric McCormack (“Will and Grace”), Wendi McLendon-Covey (“The Goldbergs”), Katherine McNamara (“Shadowhunters”), Melissa Manchester (“Don’t Cry Out Loud”), Molly Smith Metzler (“Maid,” “Shameless”), Marta Milans (“Shazam!”), Rob Morrow (“Billions”), Kathy Najimy (“Younger”), Ken Olin (“This is Us,” “Thirtysomething”), Haley Joel Osment (“Future Man,” “Entourage”), Joey and Daniella Pantoliano (“The Matrix,” “Memento”), Ross Patterson (“Range 15”), Bill Prady (“The Big Bang Theory”), Kyla Pratt (“The Proud Family”), Jessica Queller (“Supergirl”), Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”), Anthony Rapp (“Star Trek: Discovery”), Yolonda Ross (“The Chi”), Reid Scott (“Veep”), Paul Scheer (“The League,” “Veep”), Mona Scott-Young (“Love & Hip Hop”), Alena Smith (“Dickinson”), Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”), Lea Thompson (“Back to the Future”), Tramell Tillman (“Severance”), Krista Vernoff (“Grey’s Anatomy”), KT Tunstall (“Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” “Suddenly I See”), Matt Walsh (“Veep”), Alfre Woodard (“Clemency,” “Luke Cage”), Constance Zimmer (“Good Trouble”), and David Zucker (“Airplane!,” “Scary Movie”).
More about The Creative Coalition
The Creative Coalition is the premier nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) social and public advocacy organization of the arts and entertainment community. Founded in 1989 by prominent members of the creative community, The Creative Coalition is dedicated to educating its members on issues of public importance. The Creative Coalition also creates award-winning public service campaigns including #RightToBearArts to promote the efficacy of the arts. Actor Tim Daly serves as the organization’s President. For more information, visit https://thecreativecoalition.org.
For press inquiries:
Jess Hoy, The Circle Collective
jessica@circlecollective.com
C: 646-842-0438
###