Brie Larson Talks her biggest roles at Spacecon 2025!
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0:00
Captain Marvel herself. Get on your feet. Make some noise for Brian.
0:16
Hello everyone. How's it going?
0:24
All right. Oh, please. [Applause]
0:29
Let's have a chat. No, it's just be 30 minutes of them screaming their heads off for Oh, really? That's an interesting way to
0:36
spend your time. We could do that. I think it would be valuable to them as well as myself. How are you?
0:41
I'm doing well. It's been great to meet. I'm sure a lot of you out here I've met over the last day and a half and that's
0:48
part of why I love coming to these things. You know, something like Captain Marvel goes out in the world and you
0:53
might think that I understand what it means to you, but I don't because I'm not there in your chat with your
0:59
friends. I'm not there with you after the movie, after you walk out of the movie. So, this is my time where I get
1:04
to learn about how you've taken these stories and made them your own. And I really appreciate this time together.
1:16
Well, um, snowball question first. Um, this may or may not be your first time
1:21
in San Antonio. How's it going for you so far? I've eaten queso three to four times a day.
1:29
Queso for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
1:34
Um, last night I went to I believe it was called Otto's Ice House.
1:40
Um, not just great queso, but also a great hot dog and a soft pretzel, which
1:46
are all my favorite foods. glad that you're uh being able to get
1:52
out cuz I know y'all's schedules are sometimes so jam-packed and we're really so proud of our city and you've come on
1:59
arguably the best weekend in town because we have a lot of celebrations going on around the city. So, right now,
2:06
passions are high. Uh the city is lovely and we're just celebrating really our
2:11
culture and the culture of Hispanic individuals all over. So, it's wonderful. I've noticed that it's really
2:17
beautiful and the evenings are so nice and warm. You see everybody hanging out. It's wonderful. You literally came on the best weekend
2:23
because it was not like this temperature wise. That's what I like. Well, maybe we have you to thank for bringing the California weather, I think.
2:30
Oh my gosh, you guys have it so good. Um, you might or consider or maybe not
2:35
consider having ties to San Antonio. I once heard a story that your mom tuned in to see the Selena movie starring
2:41
Jennifer Lopez. Any fans of Jennifer or the Selena movie?
2:47
Now, that was mostly filmed here in San Antonio, so I'm not sure. You're probably aware of that.
2:53
I knew that. And I heard that experience had a huge impact on you. Uh, how much of that do you attribute to your acting
2:59
aspirations? And let's be honest, you probably haven't remained a big Selena fan since then.
3:05
Oh, yeah. I just watched Selena like 4 days ago. I love Selena and I love JLo. Um, that movie was a turning point for
3:12
me. My mom took me to see it in the theater and it was when I identified what I wanted
3:19
to do clearly and I just remember going home and crying a lot and saying to my mom that's what I wanted to do when I
3:24
grew up. But I don't think be Selena. How many of us female or males also had
3:33
those same dreams? I want to be like Selena. Raise your hand. Make some noise.
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San Antonio was her second home and uh my parents because I was really too
3:46
young to understand when she was around performing um kind of how much she meant to not only the city but the music
3:53
itself and so they kind of tell me you know what she meant and how her shows
3:58
were. I've been a work musician for a long time and so I kind of watch her
4:04
live shows and take separate things from it. everything that they did, not only
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her but the band itself, they were so good and so tight as a group and just
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watching her, you can just learn so much from not only singing vocally, but also
4:21
the things that um she would do to keep the crowd hype and energized and stuff.
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So, literally when I'm yelling at you guys, some of that is because [Applause]
4:33
new tricks on how to keep people engaged. So you don't understand sometimes the impacts that some people
4:39
have on uh your life, but she's one of those where like she's continuing to
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inspire people to this day. So I'm so I was so happy to find out that you're
4:50
still a huge fan. Favorite song?
4:56
[Applause] Let's all break down the song right now.
5:02
Uh you recently embarked on a book tour. A lot of you in the house tonight have your own copy.
5:09
Party people in the house. Party people tag team uh is described as
5:14
an entertaining cookbook with over 100 recipes for any occasion. First, what inspired you to write a cookbook with
5:20
your friend Mcroom? And secondly, what in the multiverse is a hot dog
5:26
appreciation festival? Um, this book is kind of a long time
5:32
coming. Uh I had so I grew up cooking. I come from a family that we cook all the
5:38
time. Dinner together was always very important. My mom's also an event planner. So I grew up having really
5:45
elaborate parties like twoday scavenger hunt Indiana Jones birthday party. Um
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and so I had been thinking the reason why I love making movies is I love
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bringing people together. I love having something for people to connect over. And as I was working on chemistry with
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my best friend Courtney McBroom, she Thank you. She is a fellow Texan from
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Witchah Falls. And um so we do have her queso recipe in the book, which is how we met 10 years ago was over her queso.
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Um but anyway, we started working together on the show. She did all food styling for lessons in chemistry. And we
6:27
realized that what the show was saying was so in line with how we live our life. And we had been throwing so many
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parties over the 10 years of knowing each other that we kind of wanted to stand on a bit of a soap box and say
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like parties deserve some mad respect. And for the people that um aren't used
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to hosting or maybe are nervous about hosting, we wanted to create something that was a guide book so that you could
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welcome people into your home. um and break bread. Like we're it's it's a
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wonderful thing to be alive and to be together and I'm sure you're feeling it. Like an event like this is all about the
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people. Like this doesn't exist without all of you. And that's what a dinner party is too. So um that's our book and
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um oh and the hot dog festival appreciation festival. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I almost forgot.
7:16
Um Courtney is actually the president and founder of the hot dog appreciation club. That's a thing. It's a thing. I
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mean, honestly, anything can be a thing. She made it a thing. And um she started a hot dog appreciation festival. Um this
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last summer was our fourth year. And uh it's exactly what you think. People wear
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hot dog paraphernalia. We grill up a lot of dogs. We do hot dog trivia. Um and we
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vote. We do a vote on if a hot dog is a sandwich. And so far, democracy is alive
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and well and it is not a sandwich. It's its own thing. Thank you. You guys agree to that?
7:59
We can say that because Courtney is not here to defend herself. Okay. So, you are against it being a
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sandwich and Courtney is for Yes. And it's confusing cuz she's the president.
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Is there like a veto process? Like what is the process to like get somebody out of that position? Well, basically we do
8:17
the vote every year and the idea is that like listen, we got a year until the
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next festival. We just had it a couple weeks ago. So folks who are out there sitting there stewing cuz they're like it is a dagel sandwich. Now's your time.
8:30
Start campaigning. Convince me otherwise. You got a year. See if the next vote. This is democracy.
8:36
There's a great place in San Diego. So you can toss it to Courtney. Um Bio Dog.
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Anybody ever been to Bio Dog? No. Just me. Okay.
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They they had a Texas location for quite some time. Uh but things happen in the economy. Um but they have infused
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different genres of cuisine, uh Mexican, Chinese, all these different things into
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their hot dogs. And so if you're ever in San Diego, find Bio Dog, order one of
9:08
like three or four and don't look at it. Just eat it. And I promise you
9:14
it'll be it'll change your life. First time ever had a scrambled egg recommendation. Kind of hard. Don't look
9:21
at it. Just eat it. Trust me. Just it'll be fantastic. Can we talk about the bear?
9:26
Yeah. I don't know if you heard him. Can we talk about the bear?
9:35
My goodness. Uh the cameos for this show are filled with star power. They're so iconic and from an outsers's
9:41
perspective, I imagine feels kind of like a badge of honor to be involved in the series. From an actor's perspective,
9:48
what is it about the series that attracts so many individuals like yourself and what was it like going
9:53
head-to-head with Natalie Pado? Uh, I think you know they just the show
10:00
is so iconic. The characters are so iconic and everything is so complex and
10:05
nuanced and deep and real and it's everything that you want out of a show and everything you want out of a working
10:11
experience. And getting to spend a week with all of them was an absolute dream. I I have to say for a show that's so
10:18
about such a dysfunctional family, it is the most loving and functional set I have ever been on in my life. Um, they
10:25
eat great food. They're kind to each other. Um, everybody shows up completely prepared and it's a lot of
10:31
improvisation. I mean, most of the stuff I'd say that is in my episode is just stuff that we improvise. Chris would
10:36
just come up to us to me and Abby and early on I was like, "Am I supposed to know exactly what our fight is about?"
10:43
He goes, "Oh, no, no, no. This is about everything." And that's why if you really like watch some of our fights,
10:49
even I am like, "What am I talking about? What was I doing? I was talking about something about whipped cream. We didn't have cell phones then. I don't
10:55
know. I was making stuff up, but it's funny. Um, and so the idea was that Abby
11:00
and I didn't talk ahead of time about, but we kind of created our own madeup list of things that we were mad at each
11:06
other over so that when the day came, we could, you know, just try and make each other laugh really.
11:12
Uh, yeah, I'm sure because I'm laughing as therapy. Also, when your face came onto the screen, I screamed loud. And I
11:19
had just done that because Josh Hardy was on it. So, I screamed for him cuz I'm a huge I screamed for him, too. That's for a
11:26
year. That's tough. And I actually forgot I I put on my bear season 3 socks that they gave you.
11:32
Sorry, I don't want my foot in your face. Um, the scariest pair of socks I've ever
11:37
owned. I was like kept putting them on and then would leave the house before the show came out. I was like, "Oh, wait, no. What if somebody sees that
11:43
little that little bit of my ankle? You guys are fantastic. And uh I imagine
11:50
because the two of you are hilarious and you're just barking at each other like Al um Chip and Dale that it must took
11:57
took you guys forever to get through some of those scenes. No, they move really fast. Super super fast. Usually just like two takes of
12:03
everything. And that's part of it kind of is the feeling of being in restaurant kitchen is like when you're on that set.
12:09
It's about like every second counts. Be prepared. Rapid fire. Um yeah, you have
12:15
to be ready. You mentioned Dysfunctional Family. Uh you're not um they're not unfamiliar
12:21
with that. You were on my wife's one of my wife's favorite shows, United States Atari. Anybody else?
12:30
My goodness. Uh, you played Kate Gregson on the United States of Terra series. Is
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watching the the incomparable Tony Colette go to work and bouncing between these drastic personalities
12:42
firsthand better than any drama school ever. Yeah. I mean, well, I'm biased cuz
12:48
it was my drama school. Low key barely have a high school education. So, dream big, folks. Um, but I was 18. I just
12:56
turned 18 when I got that job. I was a homeschool kid and all I did was watch
13:01
movies as I did my school work and she was my dream. She was my icon. She was,
13:08
you know, the you can't be what you can't see. She was that for me. Like I was like, "Oh, I can be an interesting
13:13
character actor." Like I don't think I'm like a movie star, but I can do interesting characters forever. And so
13:19
to get that opportunity to play her daughter um and then to do my first
13:24
scene with her and for her to be like, "You did good. Um it just was amazing.
13:30
So I basically got 3 years of watching, you know, the best character actor of
13:36
her generation in my opinion. Um just flip between characters. And the thing
13:41
that she taught me from such a young age that just stayed with me was that she
13:47
doesn't like stew in the character. She's in the character. She's out. She's doing the scene and then she's dropping it. She's talking to you about what
13:53
you're going to do for dinner. And that really inspired me. I realized how cool it is to not get stuck in a character. I
13:59
always thought that the actors that were like the method actors that are like please, you know, call me call me Mr.
14:05
Lincoln or whatever. Like that that was the pinnacle. But I realized for me I actually I think it's really nice to be
14:11
able to be so confident in what you're doing that you can go in and out and it's just fluid, you know, no problem.
14:17
Would you ever because I imagine there's there's definitely not a lot of roles where Tony is having to bounce from
14:25
personality to personality, change your motivations or emotions or thought process on a dime. Would you ever do
14:32
something like that? Does that like really challenging you or something you aspire to do maybe?
14:37
Yeah, I mean I'm always looking for a challenge. So um and I don't know what that next challenge will be until it
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comes. So, of course, anything that feels anything that gives me the feeling of like, oo, that seems really
14:48
vulnerable. That seems really scary. That could go sideways. I'm like, that's probably what I should do. Stick with that. So, you like doing
14:56
things are out of your comfort zone that might be scary. For anybody who might be
15:01
on the fence about something in their own life that is either scary, challenging, they're unsure of
15:06
themselves, they might or may not lack the self-confidence. What would you kind of give them advice about that maybe
15:13
you've experienced about? Well, for me it's understanding why I'm
15:18
resisting something or why I'm afraid of it or why it makes me nervous. There's a lot of reasons, you know. Um, I was
15:25
offered the role of Captain Marvel and I was really nervous about saying yes to it and um I had to sit down with I
15:32
literally sat down with a piece of paper and wrote down why it made me so scared to say yes. And what I realized in doing
15:39
that was it had nothing to do with Carol, had nothing to do with the film or the opportunity itself. I was really
15:47
an an introvert and I was very worried about all the things that would come
15:52
after. I was worried about lack of privacy. I was worried that I would be able to have a voice or be I'd have
15:59
stage fright doing something like this. And I felt like I'd let people down um and I wouldn't be a person anymore if I
16:06
did it. And once I broke it down, I was able to go, "Okay, looks like I need a
16:11
therapist." And and I was able to say, "Okay, well, I
16:16
know when this movie is coming out. I got a couple years." So that gives me 3 years of a runway to figure out what
16:22
matters to me in my life, what I'm going to protect, what's going to be private for me, and to also make sure that I
16:27
always have the right to go to the grocery store. I have the right to go to the art museum because I want to keep playing real human beings that you
16:33
relate to for the rest of my life. And for me, the only way I feel like I can do that is if there are parts of my life
16:39
where I just get to be, you know, the person that's like annoying you in line.
16:44
Like I want the right to be that, you know? So once I was able to figure that out, it like I was able to do the thing
16:52
that I love and like take the big bite that I was afraid to take. So, I'm going to use this my specific example,
16:58
whatever that is for you, but I'd say if you can break down what it is that makes you scared, you can understand, okay, what are the parts of this that I can
17:04
actually work with and what are the parts that are just like, okay, actually this is a no. It really helps me make
17:09
decisions. [Applause]
17:19
Welcome to the church of bridge. Can we talk about the room?
17:26
[Applause] Boss.
17:32
Um, I remember watching the room, not the room, but the room movie for the
17:38
first time. I watched it with my spouse and I went through a feeling that I
17:44
rarely feel. I've watched millions of movies as many of you have, but there's certain movies that come along usually
17:50
indie projects that really surprise me and not only surpass my expectations,
17:56
but like move me um either mentally, spiritually, how what you will. Um,
18:03
Momento was the first indie film that did that for me. Any Momento fans in here?
18:10
I watched that and I thought what an achievement and so watching the watching room I also had that very same
18:18
experience. I was just blown away not only by your performance but the concept
18:23
and the the kind of the the tricks for the filming style just
18:29
everything worked seamlessly. And so with that experience
18:35
um it for you it demanded such an intense emotional vulnerability like what was your process stepping into the
18:41
role of joy especially portraying trauma and resilience and how did that experience shape your approach for
18:48
future roles? I never talked for a project the same
18:53
way after room because I don't actually think I was very kind to myself in that
18:59
preparation. So, I'm hesitant to even get to into it. Um, but the main the
19:04
good thing that I did was I worked with a trauma specialist. So, every week I sit down with this this incredible man
19:10
named Dr. Brier. And um he explained to me about how
19:16
trauma is placed in the brain, how it shows up in our lives. And the biggest gift he gave me from those conversations
19:22
was understanding that if you are in a stressful situation, you can't process the stress stressful situation until
19:29
you're out of it. So for those of you, if you've ever like gone through something and it's not until maybe weeks
19:34
later that you're like, "Oh my god, you're having a panic attack." That's normal. That's your brain being like, "I'm safe now and I can now process
19:41
this." Um, so in doing that, it really helped us be able to track the story. We
19:46
filmed the movie in order. was the only time I've ever done that. We normally film things completely out of order. Um,
19:53
and so with that, we were able to kind of track it and and create the shift that I think neither one of us could
20:00
have expected until having that conversation with Dr. Brier that you would originally I would have thought
20:06
that Joy was having a hard time in the room, but really she was too much in it.
20:11
She had to be strong for her son, strong for herself. She almost had to numb herself to what that feeling was until
20:17
she was back home in a safe place. You think the safe place is where you would finally feel good, but that's when you
20:22
actually have to deal with what's happened. Profound, right?
20:32
Um, got to get to this one. Any fans of Scott Pil versus the world?
20:41
Is Scott Pilgrim like on a new streamer or something? Cuz I'm just wondering because there was just a lot more Scott
20:47
Pilgrim fans this time around. Does anybody know why? Is it just with more time? Like Envy Adams was alive and well
20:54
at Space Con. That's all I have to say. If you're looking for another reason
21:00
other than it's just an iconic film, I don't know if you're going to find one, but it's just it holds up. It's it's
21:08
still relevant. It's still iconic to I think folks and uh Edgar is one of my
21:13
favorite directors because of it because when you watch an Edgar movie, you know it's Edgar behind the camera. You know,
21:19
it's fantastic. Uh your role as Envy Adams and Scott Pilgrim Versus the World is iconic. I've already said it. The
21:25
film itself involves so many young talented individuals who have gone to win multiple awards and have lasting
21:30
careers. What was it like stepping into that musical exaggerated world? And what are some of your fondest memories
21:36
working on what I would consider the Days of Confused movie of our generation? And I'll explain in a
21:42
second. Um, oh, I just have really good memories of it. I think I was only like 19 when
21:49
we did that movie, which is very odd to me. Um, yeah, I must have been 19, 20,
21:55
19, 18, something like that. Um, obviously we didn't know what we were doing at the time where you're just kind
22:02
of on the ride of Edgar's ride and Edgar's vision. It was the biggest film had ever been on, the biggest sets I'd
22:09
ever been been on. They built everyone was like, "Oh my gosh, he built a pyramid. This is crazy." Um, there was a
22:16
lot of people that I really looked up to on that set and there were a lot of people that were like new just like me.
22:23
Um, I remember auditioning for it and saying to Edgar. It was like basically
22:29
the night before that I figured out what I wanted to do and how I wanted to make this voice and this character, but I was
22:35
too embarrassed to even run lines with my boyfriend in that voice. I was like, "This is probably going to crash and
22:41
burn." Um, and so I said to Edgar before I even started, I was like, "Well, if
22:48
if I'm going to hear you laugh, you're either laughing at me or with me." But um and so but it worked out great and um
22:56
still friends with everybody was sort of on an email thread, you know, good times,
23:01
fans, right?
23:06
I'll go into my notes from you. Um I I interviewed I'll make this quick. I interviewed a bunch of the uh cast of
23:12
Dais for their 30th anniversary, which is I think last year. And Mia Join said,
23:18
"Every generation has a Days of Confused where they bring together a group of
23:23
young actors, many of which are acting for their first time. Like if you go ask or if you find out the Days of Confu
23:29
conf days and confused cast, say that four times fast. A lot of them were just
23:35
picked off the street of Austin, Texas. No acting experience. Just somebody walking down Austin saying, "We want to
23:41
be in a movie." And so some of those individuals have gone on to be massive stars. And I think Scott Pilgrim is my
23:50
generation's gaze of youth. You guys are all so talented. You had longl lasting
23:56
careers, award winners, Oscar winners, and winners. And so yeah, I just
24:01
consider it like our generation stays confused. Thank you.
24:10
I didn't write this down, but please let us know like what is something you remember from working on your scenes you
24:17
had to perform. Everybody loves your song. What's some of their fondest
24:23
memories of actually performing on on the set of stops world?
24:31
I think the thing I remember the most is that those boots were like custom sewn.
24:37
So they had to be like sewn on to my legs. So you know once they got put on they had to cut them off. Um so I had to
24:45
wear those all day. Um I think I blacked out while I was performing as Envy.
24:50
Honestly I don't think I knew what the heck I was doing. Just just you know feigning confidence with with a prayer.
24:57
All right. because I'm old and because uh I've been getting things easily. Uh who is on bass? I can see his face
25:05
in your band. You're off. Yes. Is this a trivia night?
25:12
Trivia night. Uh Tennessee Thomas was the drums. No, no, no. Um
25:17
[Applause] say again.
25:22
No, Ralph. Brandon Ralph. Brandon Ralph. My vegan boyfriend.
25:28
Yes. Is Brandon. This is a very serious question, folks. Is he the sweetest guy on the planet?
25:34
Yes. I just wanted to confirm that. Confirm.
25:39
Absolutely. Uh let's talk about Captain Marvel. Is that okay?
25:47
Uh most recently, The Marvel. working on the Marvel involved a major shift to being a solo lead and Captain Marvel's
25:54
collaborating closely with two newer characters. How did that dynamic challenge you as an actor? And please
26:00
tell us one of your most favorite moments working on the set with Iman Milani and Tiana Paris.
26:09
What was the first part of the question? The challenge or memory? Just remember challenges of changing and shifting from
26:15
your own solo to being a part of an on something. Honestly, it was something that Kevin and I had talked about from
26:20
the beginning, which was my very first conversation about Captain Marvel. I was like, "Well, we have to bring in Miss
26:26
Marvel like ASAP." Like, she's such a great character and um such an important
26:32
part of the legacy and story of Captain Marvel. Um, but the other thing that we
26:38
talked about a lot after the first film was I was like, it's great that Captain
26:46
Marvel is so efficient and also I think it's an important message for people to
26:51
realize that even the best of us have limitations and not one person can do everything. And I was like, I as a human
26:57
being don't want to feel like I'm the difference between the world like collapsing and and being alive again,
27:04
you know, like we need everybody. Like it takes all of us and all of our superpowers to make this planet what it
27:10
is. And so that felt like a great way to kind of you don't want like a character
27:15
that has no flaw and and can do like it got to the point was like well if Captain Marvel's in a fight, she's going
27:22
to win every single time every time. Every time. And so it felt like her biggest challenge then would be learning
27:28
how to lean on other people. And I think that's real. I think if you're a real can do person, it can be really hard to
27:33
like trust someone else. And in this case, you're trusting two women that you
27:39
have like your heart is connected to. It's like they're her sisters and so it
27:44
feels really vulnerable and you want to step in, but every time she tries to step in, they literally switch places and the other person has to handle it.
27:50
So, I thought that the whole metaphor of it was really just really special and incredible and I just I really liked
27:57
being sharing that type of responsibility with them. And we love them too, right guys?
28:07
Uh mom was here uh it was either last year, she was here last year and we
28:13
quickly found out she's one of us. One of us. One of us. Oh honey, she is so you.
28:21
Please share with us why you agree. Why I agree? Where do I begin? How do I count the ways? Every girl knows
28:26
everything. Um, she was like the one that was
28:32
constantly like giving script notes being like, "Yeah, sorry, but according to comic blah blah blah, this wouldn't
28:38
work." And we're like, "Okay, I don't I don't read every single one, but thank you." Like she cuz it's not just that
28:45
she knows Miss Marvel, it's that she knows like everything. And so she really
28:50
is that character in that way. And to have that type of like she's so good.
28:55
She's such a talented actress, but she's such a wonderful person and she's so grounded. And I have so many incredible
29:03
memories with her. I mean, you you got to have great memories when you're like literally on wires flying through the
29:09
air with someone. Um just getting wedgies together, just enjoying your life. Um, but she got really into
29:16
crocheting and she crocheted me a bandana and I I really appreciate that. I still wear it.
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We absolutely adore her. Fun fact, after she was done with her autographs last
29:31
year, all she did was walk around the show floor and look at comics.
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I was that money, of course. Absolutely. Well, listen, uh, this has been absolutely spectacular. If you guys
29:42
have any questions for Brie, do not hesitate to go meet her at her booth. Please do that. Cannot wait to see you
29:49
sometime, hopefully very soon, back on the big screen. Uh, wearing your outfits. Also teaming up with Aman
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Milani. Let's do that again, shall we? San Antonio, make some noise. Hello. The
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only Thank you so much. Appreciate you.
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