😠 Exclusive: Conan O'Brien Plays Curmudgeon in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

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Our readers would likely never have predicted that we’d be pitting famed talk show host Conan O’Brien against former pro wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in today’s newsletter. Sure, both celebrities top out at an imposing 6-foot-4, but Johnson would break the frail comedian like a twig even if he wasn’t nearly a decade younger than O’Brien.

But this match-up isn’t in the ring; it’s on the screen. Both O’Brien and Johnson can be seen playing unexpectedly serious roles in films this fall, but only one of them is able to pull it off. While Johnson’s more dramatic turn as Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine ends up being tinged with perhaps too much of the actor’s signature action-hero charm, O’Brien is delightfully, paradoxically dark and subdued as a curmudgeonly therapist in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Who’d have thought it possible?

So the award for most against-type casting has gotta go to Conan for this one. Victory by decision!

— Michael Ahr, Newsletter Editor

IN THIS ISSUE

• Our exclusive interview with the writer-director of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You 🦵

• Commentary from James Gunn about a Peacemaker controversy 💬

• A critique of Dwayne Johnson’s dramatic turn in The Smashing Machine 🥊

• …and more!