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One is a meditative journey to the Oregon frontier; the other a zany, time-bending rom-com.
Take me back to 2008.
Sorry, that doesnt translate over Zoom.
Just being as twisted and demented and weird as possible.
John Magaro:Were you doingSopranosby this point?
CM:I was done with that.
Im on that show like, blink and youll miss me.
But that was my first time in front of a camera or anything.
What were you up to, John?JM: God, man.
I dont remember what happened last week.
It was a daze.
I was probably just pounding the pavement, doing downtown theater in weird old churches.
I had worked with that director before onRock Bandcommercialswith Eric Andre in these little vignettes.
He called me in for that Coke commercial.
And everyone at Walmart and Coke was like, Hes too Jewish!
Make him look like a Gentile!
Somehow he convinced them that maybe, in some parts of the Mediterranean, I could celebrate Christmas.
Do you guys have any especially strong memories of the shoot?
I heard that it was summer and it was swelteringly hot.CM:I have two memories.
One is of John.
The other is my brother is in the commercial.
My real blood brother.
Hes in the Christmas hat at the beginning.
He wouldve been 16 or 17.
I dont ever want to do that again.
JM:You know what I remember?
The guy who shot that was Harris Savides, a brilliant cinematographer who has since passed away.
He was the master of those long one-shots.
Like when Gus Van Sant was doing that stuff withElephantandLast Days, he shot all that.
And then he was with us, [shooting a commercial for] Coke and Walmart.
That cant be possible.
But I do think we were in a situation where we never did get residuals.
JM:Because they only played it in movie theaters.
CM:Thats right.
So you were paid for the day.
They were like, Heres your $200 and get out of here.
The commercial ended up playing for years and years.
It was him rowing a boat, joyfully or something.
And we were all like, Oh man, thats so cool.
You do it and they pay you.
Theres much worse things that can happen.
I feel like for both of you, things started to break out around a few years later.
I think it was when you didOnce, right?
CM:I would say so.
That felt like a change: Oh wow, people are seeing this play.
As opposed to the plays I normally did, where it was just my friends and my parents.
JM:And you got, what, a Tony nomination?
CM:I did not win, but I did get a nomination, yeah.
When did you become aware?
I feel like suddenly you were in everything.
I would see something, and itd be like, Theres John.
JM:Its so hard to say.
Its been fits and starts.
CM:But dont you think that thats good luck?
JM:That they pulled it out of theaters?
CM:I mean, that happened to us withPalm Springs.
But so many people got to see it.
By the way, I just watchedFirst Cowthe other night, and youre astonishing in it.
I had not read anything about the movie.
All I knew is that people were saying, Go seeFirst Cow.
Oh my God, it was just so beautiful.
I feel like I could smell that movie.
The dirt,the batter, the oil …
JM:The cow shit.
CM:And the cow shit.
The people not showering.
I would love to work with [Kelly Reichardt].
I know obviously its always different, but it just seemed like everyone was in the same world.
Its also shot so romantically.
JM:We were talking about Harris.
[Chris Blauvelt], the guy who shotFirst Cow, studied under him, and hes absolutely brilliant.
What was it like for you guys?
Were you out in the desert?
It felt like you guys were on campus together.
CM:It was awesome.
We were all out in the middle of the desert.
All the wedding stuff, we shot out in five nights and it was very madcap.
This was a movie that was shot in 21 days, that probably needed …
I dont know, but definitely not 21 days.
Everything was just like, We gotta go!
We were like Muppets running around from shot to shot.
But we got to play around so much because of that.
You had to throw everything at the wall because you didnt get a lot of takes.
These movies are pretty far apart, stylistically.
CM:I think its kindred spirits.
Where youre like, What are the odds that these two people would find each other?
And its an unspoken thing.
Everyones just stoically loving each other.
Also you both had to work with animals.CM:Thats right.
You had to work with a cow.
I had to work with a goat.
JM:Was the goat a pain in the ass?
CM:The goat was lovely.
But I only had one day with the goat.
What about the cow?
She was so calm.
The scenes where its night and Im milking her, they were just the best.
CM:Its really hard to milk cows, though.
JM:I just have the magical touch, then.
The milk was just pouring out.
JM:I say this in every one of these things, but shes retired now.
She has a calf named Cookie.
CM:The goats name inPalm Springswas Fishsticks, which I really liked.
It was nice to have that opportunity.
CM:Its so good, I was just blown away by it.
Is everyone telling you that?
John, youre so good in this.
JM:Well, no.
Its funny, because like I said, it kind of came and went and came and went.
So people are coming around to it now.
I think people in our world are starting to finally get to it.
Whereas my rube family and friends are like, Its slow.
Its not quite their taste.
Cristin, what did your family think ofPalm Springs?CM:They liked it.
And they mean it as a compliment but …
I dont even want to dredge those things up.
JM:Its a little easier with film.
The worst is in theater, right after you get off the stage and theyre like, Woof.
CM:We were having that discussion on set recently.
When you hear it, you know that someone has hated it so much that they cant even find … Ill be like, That actor was incredible, I loved this part.
When people cant even find one scene …
JM:Whats the words you think are
CM:Congratulations.
JM:There it is.
CM:Congratulations is, youre dead in the water.
It means you should be arrested immediately and taken to actor jail.
JM:If I can offer any advice to theatergoers, do not say, Congratulations.
CM:Never say Congratulations.
And also, How did you memorize all those lines?
And I was like, Oh no, this person represents me?
You gotta keep going and building and trying new things.
CM:I do always feel like its just about to go away.
CM:I mean, thats not true.
I feel a bit less than I did at the time, thatOh no.But I do remember being confused.
And I couldnt pay my rent.
I came to New York and Im in plays and Ive done a couple of weird indie films.
And how can I not pay my electricity?
That was devastating and confusing, that I couldnt make it all work.
And obviously quite naive too.
But I remember that very viscerally, thatBut Im acting!
JM:That helps me, to think about where I am now.
Financially, it used to be a test, almost daily.
Things are a little more stable and more comfortable.
We have been lucky enough to have some film and a little TV.
They are out at sea.
Its a huge part of what my friends and I do here.
Not only plays, but concerts, drag shows, cabarets everything.
And it is devastating.
First Cowwas at Telluride in 2019.Palm Springsplayed Sundance last year.
You both had this communal experience of seeing your movie on a big screen with a crowd.
I think our plan originally was we were going to come out this fall.
We wouldve been up againstWonder Womanand the Marvel …the Scarlett Johansson spider one.
No one would have seen us.
I think weirdly we ended up being seen by more people than we would have.
Then we slowly came back, and there was theater and live performance and movies and everything.
JM:I get what youre saying.
A movie likeFirst Cowwouldve gotten blown out of the water byDuneandWonder Womanand all those.
CM: Dunewas going to crush us.Dunewas going to grind our bones to make its bread.
No one was going to see us.
There would be no way.
JM:We wouldnt be talking to you, Nate.
We wouldnt be here.
CM:It is sad, though.
To see the twists that it takes and to see them be like, Oh!
I do believe that well come back.
We love it too much.
And John, you had to learn how to makeoily cakes.
For an actor, which is the greater challenge?JM:God.
I think quantum physics is probably a little more difficult than cooking oily cakes.
And the minute they were like, Moving on, it was like I never knew it.
It immediately left me.
CM:Not on your life.
It took me two weeks to memorize, and I dont usually struggle with that.
They did friend-and-family screenings and no one cared.
We dont need to know why.
JM:Luckily, cooking wasnt that hard.
If anything, it was relaxing.
You know, meditation as youre cooking.
CM:Do you bake ever?
Thats a stupid question.
JM:I love to cook, but I dont really bake because Ive got to keep this figure.
But because I worked with these frontier cookbooks, I started making a lot of stews.
And my wife is like, Stop making stew.
But not really baking.
Im not a dessert guy.
I want to end with a more open-ended question.
Im trying to think of it in two parts.
But Id like to see you in like,Succession, Jeremy Strongs character.
The female version of that.
Thatd be so cool.
CM:Id like to see you as an alien in disguise as a human.
LikeVincent DOnofrio inMen in Black?CM: Yes, thats what I mean.
I think its because you have such expressive eyes.
you’re free to convey so much without words, which is incredible to be able to do.
JM:Sometimes I feel like that in normal life.
CM:And you want to see me rap at my wealthy fathers birthday party.
