Rewatchables Reference

• The Mr. X / Donald Sutherland scene – 16-minute monologue, Bill's pick and consensus strongest candidate.
• John Candy's big scene as Dean Andrews – 'you a mouse fighting a gorilla,' 'Kennedy's as dead as that crab meat' (Koppelman's pick).
• Kevin Bacon's prison scene – 'You don't know shit cause you never been fucked in the ass,' 'Fascism is coming'.
• Pesci's last big scene – 'It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. The fucking shooters don't even know'.
• 'Back and to the left' – the Zapruder film courtroom scene leading to Costner's big monologue.
• The magic bullet theory explanation (spoofed by Seinfeld).
• Jack Lemmon at the horse track.

• Gary Oldman as Oswald – 'so fucking good,' looks like Oswald, incredibly creepy.
• The Seinfeld 1992 spoof 'The Boyfriend' (also features Wayne Knight).
• The wig battle between Pesci and Tommy Lee Jones – Tommy Lee wins, '10/8 round'.
• Kevin Bacon's career – he said this movie was a turning point, led to 'A Few Good Men'.
• John Williams' score – 'incredible,' 'amazing'.
• Robert Richardson's cinematography.
• Stone getting the highest-level character actors to do less than one scene.
• Tommy Lee in gold paint getting slapped by Pesci in a Dangerous Liaisons costume.

• The movie's attitude about homosexuality – 'not acceptable on any level,' the conspiracy is conflated with homosexuality in a problematic way.
• All the Sissy Spacek / Liz Garrison domestic scenes – she doesn't have a single good scene, no nuance.
• The movie is too long (3 hours 8 minutes).
• Costner's accent goes in and out; Pesci's accent is worse.
• Worst line: Costner saying 'I should have loved you more' when about to have sex with his wife.
• The magic bullet theory has been pretty much debunked (Connally was sitting differently than presented).

• Stone sent the script to Costner, Mel Gibson, and Harrison Ford for Garrison.
• Jeff Bridges would have been amazing as Garrison.
• Don Johnson tried hard to get the Garrison part – doesn't read smart enough.
• James Woods wanted to play Garrison – Stone said no; Woods wanted it to be about the Garrison family.
• Frank Whaley was going to be Oswald, recast as the silent assassin when they went with Oldman.
• Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich both turned down David Ferrie (Malkovich 'would have been amazing').
• Stone considered Marlon Brando for Mr. X.
• The Howard Hughes movie was Stone's first pitch to Warner Brothers; Beatty owned the rights so Stone pivoted to 'JFK'.

• Joe Pesci – 'no doubt about it, not even in a good way'.
• Michael Rooker and Ed Asner – 'very aggro,' 'ridiculous'.

• John Candy – 'nothing you'd ever seen John Candy do before prepared you for just getting blown away'; he never did anything like this before or after.
• Kevin Bacon and Donald Sutherland also nominated but Candy won because his performance is unique.
• Jo Anderson (one of Costner's cohorts who quits and shows up in the courtroom) mentioned as the 'Joey Pants award' version.

• Oliver Stone – 'one of the all-time movie heat checks anyone's ever had'.
• Also discussed Costner's heat: Untouchables, 'No Way Out', Bull Durham, 'Field of Dreams', Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood, 'JFK', Bodyguard – 'the biggest star in the world'.

• Recast Sissy Spacek – too good for a crummy part; suggested replacements: Sally Field, Rene Russo, Madeleine Stowe.
• Denzel Washington as David Ferrie or as Mr. X – 'insanely great'.
• Gary Sinise would have killed as David Ferrie.

• Stone hired Jane Rusconi to lead researchers; she read 'between 100 and 200 books' on the assassination.
• Mr. X was based on Colonel Leroy Fletcher Prouty, who worked in the Pentagon – 'a lot of holes in Prouty's stories'.
• Tommy Lee Jones decided he wanted to paint himself gold.
• Sutherland and Costner both memorized their monologues.
• Stone spent $4 million to restore Dealey Plaza to 1963 conditions.

• Oliver Stone – 'It might be this'; convinced a studio to fund his conspiracy theory movie, made 'The Doors' and 'JFK' in the same year.
• 'JFK' assassination conspiracies – 'Was this the apex? Early 90s? Yeah'.
• Wayne Knight – 'No question' – Newman/Seinfeld + 'JFK' + 'Jurassic Park' all around same era.
• The Zapruder film – this movie is its Apex Mountain.
• Robert Richardson (cinematographer) – strong candidate with filmography including 'Casino', Kill Bill, 'Inglourious Basterds', Django.
• Kevin Costner – still Dances with Wolves.
• Michael Rooker – Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer + 'JFK' around the same time.

• 'It's the entire movie' – the whole film is nitpickable given Stone's liberal treatment of facts.
• Kevin Bacon's Willie O'Keefe doesn't exist / is a composite character.
• David Ferrie died of natural causes but the movie implies murder.
• Mr. X is completely made up – the three fabricated/composite characters are the ones who swing the plot.

• 'Fuck yeah' – enthusiastic yes from everyone; could be 5 seasons, 10 episodes per season.
• Suggestion: do it like The Crown – different seasons covering different conspiracy theories (mafia plot, CIA plot, etc.)

• Did Oliver Stone invent QAnon / conspiracy culture? Consensus: 9/11 was more significant, but Stone picked up on existing contrails.
• Who killed 'JFK'? Sean: 'I don't fucking know'; Chris/Koppelman: the mob and CIA working together (American Tabloid has it right); Bill: leans intelligence community, thinks LBJ was involved.
• Does anyone think Oswald was completely innocent? No – 'If you are truly innocent, you don't immediately know you're the patsy'.

• David Ferrie's wig.
• John Candy's sunglasses.
• The entire Dealey Plaza model from the courtroom scene – Bill would put it in his living room.
• Donald Sutherland's fedora – introduce 'Going Mr. X' as a segment (16 uninterrupted minutes).

Oliver Stone – unanimous; the other argument considered was Lee Harvey Oswald (because Stone does everything he can to take blame away from Oswald).