As of this writing, I have not been able to track down the full interview in which this quote was said, but the video excerpt above was published in 2021, and seems to have served as a source for a few different articles published afterward, including Far Out Magazine’s “Why Does William Friedkin Hate Al Pacino?” from May 2023 and Cracked’s “6 Brutal Insults Unleashed About Actors” from September 2023.
Before we go any further, we must acknowledge that “I don’t give a flying f*** into a rolling donut” is simply an incredible exclamation. It conjures vivid imagery and manages to be dripping with disdain at the same time. RIP, William Friedkin. What a legend.
Anyway, once we know that Richie is quoting random interviews with Friedkin from YouTube (or maybe he stumbled upon the aforementioned articles while doing research about the man), it shows us how much of Richie’s mind Friedkin occupies. Richie doesn’t have all that much to do in season 3 of “The Bear,” but I appreciated these flashes of insight into his personality and interests, and hope he’s being set up for a big arc in season 4.
“The Bear” season 3 is streaming in full on Disney+ and Hulu, and you can hear us have a spoiler-filled discussion of it on today’s episode of the /Film Daily podcast below:
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