The guest
Roger Avary: Oscar-winning screenwriter who co-wrote Pulp Fiction with Quentin Tarantino, and wrote/directed films like Silent Hill and the 2007 Beowulf. Now building an AI-filmmaking company.
What this episode covers
The conversation opens as a genuine cinephile masterclass, with Avary dissecting the craft of filmmaking, film versus digital, classic directors (Welles, Herzog, Ridley Scott) and a long run of movie and TV recommendations. It then veers hard into conspiratorial territory: the Epstein files, ritual abuse, 9/11 Building 7, predictive programming in movies, and a 'missing thousand years' revisionist-history theory. The back half features an extended flat-earth debate where Avary plays provocateur and Joe pushes back. They close on encoded meaning in films (The Exorcist, Kubrick), faith-based and independent TV breaking through, and Avary's pivot to AI-made movies.
Recommended on this episode
MediaRecommended
Touch of Evil
Orson Welles
“My favorite film of his”
“My favorite film of his is Touch of Evil and there's this amazing shot”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Pan's Labyrinth
Guillermo del Toro
“I love Pan's Labyrinth”
“I love Pan's Labyrinth. I love a lot of his films but I didn't like Frankenstein”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Blade II
Guillermo del Toro
“probably my favorite film of his”
“Blade 2 is probably my favorite film of his because it's like the most accessible for me”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Blade
Stephen Norrington
“Blade one was awesome... that's my favorite”
“Blade one was awesome though... that's my favorite of all the comic book vampire movies”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
The Witch
Robert Eggers
“I love that film. I think that's a great movie”
“I love that film. I think that's a great movie”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Werner Herzog
“I adore Verer Herzog and I love his noseratu”
“I am a Verer Herzog nut and so I like I adore Verer Herzog and I love his noseratu”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Nosferatu (2024)
Robert Eggers
“I loved it... it's my favorite vampire movie ever”
“I loved it. I'm no film expert, but it's my favorite vampire movie ever”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
30 Days of Night
David Slade
“a fun vampire movie is 30 Days of Night... is great”
“My a fun vampire movie is 30 Days of Night. Yeah, 30 Days of Night is great”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
I Am Legend
Francis Lawrence
“I think I Am Legend is actually a pretty good vampire movie”
“I think I Am Legend is actually a pretty good uh vampire movie. the one with Will Smith”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
What We Do in the Shadows
Taika Waititi
“That is an incredible vampire movie... It's fantastic”
“That is an incredible vampire movie... it takes all of the vampire mythology and it makes it really really fun”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Let the Right One In
Tomas Alfredson
“It's an outstanding outstanding film”
“It's an outstanding outstanding film. And the book is fabulous as well”— Roger Avary
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Let the Right One In
John Ajvide Lindqvist
“the book is fabulous as well. It's an amazing novel”
“the book is fabulous as well. It's a an amazing novel”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Game of Thrones
HBO
“Game of Thrones did a fantastic job... It's great”
“Game of Thrones did a fantastic job... I'm rewatching it right now... It's [ __ ] great”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
The Pendragon Cycle
Jeremy Boreing / Daily Wire
“I am completely blown away by it”
“this is better than... I am completely blown away by it... reinvents the mythology”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Excalibur
John Boorman
“to me Excalibur is the high watermark”
“to me Excalibur is the high watermark and this really went there”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Paramount
“one of the most amazing captains there is... really elaborate television”
“I think Captain Cisco is one of the most amazing captains there is... It's like really elaborate television”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Paramount
“somehow integrated into good storytelling... I think it's a fantastic show”
“they're exploring all sorts of things in Star Trek: The Next Generation... somehow integrated into good storytelling”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
The Orville
Seth MacFarlane
“that is the proper successor”
“that is the proper successor... it actually feels a little bit more like a continuation”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Galaxy Quest
Dean Parisot
“Galaxy Quest is hilarious... Galaxy Quest is amazing”
“Galaxy Quest is hilarious. If you love the original series of Star Trek, Galaxy Quest is amazing”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Alien
Ridley Scott
“It's one of the best movies ever made”
“It's one of the best movies ever made. And it's a 1979 movie”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
The Last Duel
Ridley Scott
“one of the best films of the century in my opinion”
“lo and behold, one of the best films of the century in my opinion. Absolutely”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Gladiator
Ridley Scott
“Gladiator 1 is magnificent”
“I also very much like Gladiator... Gladiator 1 is magnificent. It had some kind of secret sauce”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Black Hawk Down
Ridley Scott
“the rest of the movie is just insanely beautiful”
“Quinton had been talking about Blackhawk Down and how much he loved it... the rest of the movie is just insanely beautiful”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
The Counselor
Ridley Scott
“such a spectacular movie. I loved it”
“I think that's such a spectacular movie. I loved it. I loved it”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Children of Men
Alfonso Cuaron
“Coron is a genius for making that film... Fantastic movie”
“Coron is a genius for making that film... Children of Men. Fantastic movie”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Philip Kaufman
“the Southerntherland one was amazing”
“I'm a fan of the Donald Southerntherland one... the Southerntherland one was amazing”— Joe Rogan
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Asimov on Numbers
Isaac Asimov
“which is fantastic”
“Isaac Azimoff wrote a book called Is Azimoff on numbers which is fantastic which talks about this”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
Pi
Darren Aronofsky
“that was a great movie”
“That's what that movie pi is all about... that was a great movie”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
The Carpenter's Son
Lotfy Nathan
“Incredible... Cage is so good in this movie”
“Have you seen the Carpenter Son? The Nicholas Cage movie? Incredible... Cage is so good in this movie”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Rome
HBO
“I really like that show Rome... I loved Rome”
“there's this show that I really like that show Rome... I loved Rome”— Roger Avary
MediaRecommended
The Chosen
Dallas Jenkins
“this show is fantastic... absolutely my favorite modern filmmaker right now”
“this show is fantastic and it breaks all the rules... Dallas Jenkins, who's absolutely my favorite modern filmmaker”— Roger Avary
The guest's own work
MediaBy the guest
Silent Hill
Roger Avary
“When we did Silent Hill, we made the choice of whenever we're in the dark, we're shooting on digital”— Roger Avary
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
MediaReferenced
Citizen Kane
Orson Welles
“when he made Citizen Canain, which was about William Randph Hurst... this guy was a dynamo”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
Nosferatu (1922)
F.W. Murnau
“the Mnau movie which is the original Noseratu the the very first one with Max Shrek... I saw at the library when I was 10”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
My Best Fiend
Werner Herzog
“there's a documentary called My Best Fiend, which is about the relationship between Herzog and Kinsky”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
Midnight Express
Alan Parker
“that movie was nothing like the book at all... a complete alternate experience”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
Rashomon
Akira Kurosawa
“Akira Kurasawa's Rashimon which was three stories that are all sort of the same event told from different perspectives”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
The Road
John Hillcoat
“I would rather not be in the movie The Road, but I feel like we're turn... in the movie Children of Men”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
Fight Club
David Fincher
“a movie came out which was effectively a manifesto and that movie was called Fight Club... excellently beautifully made film”— Roger Avary
BookReferenced
The New Chronology
Anatoly Fomenko
“this guy Anatoli Fenco who's a Russian mathematician... wrote a book called The New Chronology... I've read them all”— Roger Avary
BookReferenced
The Book of Enoch
unknown
“Anna Paulina Luna... told me about the book of Enoch... So I read it. Holy”— Joe Rogan
BookReferenced
100 Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe
Eric Dubay
“he's written a book called Aundred Proofs... has explanations for many of the things you're talking about”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
The Exorcist
William Friedkin
“You know who the devil was in The Exorcist?... there's a pretty dark implication behind the whole film”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
Cape Fear
J. Lee Thompson
“he directed the original Cape Fear which has a kind of strange pedophilic thing going on in it”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
The Passion of the Christ
Mel Gibson
“I've seen The Passion of the Christ. I've seen all of them”— Roger Avary
MediaReferenced
Last Temptation of Christ
Martin Scorsese
“I've seen Last Temptation of Christ... I've seen everything”— Roger Avary
Big reveals from this episode
- Avary reveals he owns a Mitchell BNCR film camera and a sound blimp in his home, plus other vintage cameras.
- Avary states flatly he believes elites are eating babies and that ~8,500 people secretly control the world.
- Avary warns the audience that after the episode airs people will try to discredit him by saying 'Avery went to jail' and is 'a killer.'
- On 9/11 Building 7, Joe argues it fell like a controlled demolition and calls anyone who denies it weird.
- Avary argues astrophysics rests on a false premise and that 'experientially' the Earth is flat, while claiming he's mainly provoking.
- Avary frames Fauci, AZT and COVID gain-of-function research as literally 'demonic' acts.
- Avary lays out his theory that The Exorcist secretly encodes a real-life abuse story involving Shirley MacLaine's circle.
- Avary reveals that simply attaching 'AI' got him funding for three feature films after struggling for years with traditional financing.
Worth remembering
- Orson Welles dug a hole in the studio concrete floor with a pickaxe to get a camera angle low enough for Citizen Kane.
- Avary's Mitchell BNCR camera was reportedly used to shoot The Godfather.
- Avary explains lens flare is now deliberately added because flat digital images need the faked 'depth' film naturally had.
- Avary watches two to three episodes of Star Trek every single day with his Trekkie wife, cycling through the series chronologically.
- Avary notes Fight Club producer Arnon Milchan publicly admitted to being a Mossad agent and made earlier films featuring planes hitting buildings.
- Avary says he once worked for the DoD via John Milius, brainstorming fictional scenarios for attacking Los Angeles.
- Avary cites the claim that the Hebrew words for 'God' and 'love' share the numerical value 26 via gematria.
- The Chosen films on standing biblical sets the Mormons built in Utah, described as 'Cinecitta in Utah.'
- Avary claims VFX that used to cost a million dollars a minute can now be done for about $5,000 a minute with AI.
- Avary recounts a Canadian Winnipeg lab researcher (Dr. Qiu) allegedly shipping patented pathogens to Wuhan via Air Canada freight.
More from Joe Rogan
All 6342 recommended