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Ive always been a storyteller.
Ive always been attracted to film and theater.
And then I moved to Los Angeles and lived there for almost a decade, from 2009 to 2017.
I cant go through all the stories, but I worked as a freelance editor and director.
Then over the past two years, I moved to New York.
I worked atthe Dodofor a couple of years.
I dont know if you know what the Dodo is.
I dont, really.
Is it about endangered animals?Not necessarily endangered animals.
Its actually more peoples pets and uplifting stories about rescue animals.
What is that concoction?Well, there are all kinds of analytics and techniques that go into it.
But some of it is sort of antithetical to what I learned as a storyteller and a filmmaker.
You kind of always have to grab them right at the beginning.
You have to have something right at the top thats just,Okay, Im in.
You have to have a hook.
Whats keeping me here?I had a lot of viral videos working [at the Dodo].
Its an imperfect science.
I dont think its a good business model to try and chase viral videos.
I dont know that theres an exact science to it.
I think timing is very important.
So I was up all night.
I was getting delirious and just said,Stop.
Lets get this thing out.
Ill confess that I initially thought the video was a cynical joke, a parody of political memes.
It looked like Pennsylvania was gonna flip, but there would be a bunch of lawsuits there.
But once it looked like Georgia was gonna flip, I was like,This is it.
I mean, Stacey Abrams really delivered this state.
And the idea was earnest.
Because it was happiness.
It was just a raw happiness.
But the main thing I was feeling was unity.
Unity, unity, unity.
So I think it was a mixture of both.
But it was definitely earnest.
You say we, but its clear that the we here is people who voted for Biden.
The forces of Trump are portrayed as the forces of evil.
Do you think Republicans are evil?I dont see them as forces of evil.
Trump, I think, unwittingly, is maybe a force for evil.
But if Im being honest, I think probably the biggest misrepresentation in the video is Trump being Thanos.
But I think thats where the comparison ends.
I think Thanos is a much more enlightened, thoughtful individual than Trump.
I dont necessarily even think Thanos was coming from a place of evil.
He didnt think he was.
I think its the same thing with Trump: Its misguided narcissism and a thirst for power.
And no, I dont think of the other side as evil.
I spent a lot of time in Texas.
Im friends with people who voted for Trump.
What did your Trump-voting friends think of the video?[Laughs.]
Umm … yknow, I havent gotten into those conversations yet.
This HAD to be made!
Americans Assemble
Have you always been very politics-conscious?My family is very political.
But she always runs.
Id been up in New Hampshire just being a nurse, and I just happened to bring my laptop.
Its an old 2014 laptop that had enough juice to crank out that video.
You did it on a laptop?
They dont have the computing power for a video this complicated.I know.
I couldve pulled in After Effects, but that wouldve been another daylong affair.
What was the hardest component to pull off?Its probably not what you think.
The thing that really slowed me down was trying to find the right audio clips, especially … And I wanted to put it together so Kamala Harris is saying the word left.
And, for the life of me, I couldnt find her saying that word.
I spent hours looking at interviews of her.
And I found it in a Wolf Blitzer interview.
That was the single hardest part of the whole video.
What he did hasnt left much to the imagination something like that.
And I pulled the word left out of that.
And Id left that to last.
I did all the animation and thought Id do that later.
So by that time, I had to figure out who the hell Rocket Raccoon was gonna be.
And I was delirious.
But I am a big Sean Connery fan.
Im a big Bond fan.
And I thought,Okay, he just passed away.
So it kinda clicked: Its gotta be Sean Connery, Im sorry.
Is that something you worried about while you were making it?Umm … Yeah.
I mean, like I said before, I knew there was a cheekiness to it.
I didnt wanna overthink it, you know what I mean?
Wong is awesome, and Yang is awesome.
I think Yang is 20 years ahead of his time.
Whats Obama doing in the Georgia portion?
Like, they delivered the state.
And Obama did go there one time.
I believe he gave a speech in Atlanta.
So he was kinda like that final, lets-get-us-over-the-hump guiding force.
And who else could Obama be but Black Panther?
And, obviously, RIP Chadwick Boseman.
That was a horrible tragedy.
And so I thought it was a fitting tribute for Chadwick.
Hes the first one after the Wakandans that you see.
But, I mean, hes been such a powerhouse on the left.
Medicare for All!Yknow?
So its Doctor Medicare for All.
And you have Pete Buttigieg as Spider-Man.
Was that the most obvious pick?Yeah.
That took no time at all.
Hes the baby, so yeah.
Did you feel weird about having the dead people, like RBG, pop in at the end?
Tell me about that.That part comes up a lot.
The cigarette that picture was what the right was using to peddle that laptop-controversy story.
So that Thor character, inEndgame, hes at a point where hes suffering from addiction.
Hes at his low point, yknow?
And hes struggling with his worthiness to be able to wield his weapons.
And I think Hunter Biden hes been beaten up this whole campaign.
The text was me saying, This is a meme.
Why did you feel the need to label the Supreme Court?
I feel like people would know who those new justices are by now.I dont know.
I felt like I had to.
I was thinking,Id better label this or it might look weird.
Because theyre a three-headed monster and theyre on frame for just a couple of seconds.
Well done, John.
And that brought me to tears because hes Luke Skywalker.
Will you make more video remixes like this?Yeah.
But I do feel like theres something brewing.
Ive got a part two in mind that Im kind of letting develop.
But in the immediate future, I have some scripts that Im developing.
I have a documentary Im working on.
People have reached out to me for interesting editing work for nonprofit organizations and things I care about.
There might be an America: Endgame Part II coming.
People wanna see Trump snap.
We gotta dust him.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
