Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (WD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Presentation] Good afternoon. I'm Susan Weber. And on today's Walker Webcast, we are sharing a conversation that took place at the Walker & Dunlop Summer Conference held 2 weeks ago. Willy sat down with his longtime friend, Jamie Lee Curtis. During this conversation, no stone was left unturned. They discussed Jamie's incredibly successful career beginning at age 19, for famous parents and living up to their legacy, the inside scoop about the leading men she's worked with and what she values most in life. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did. Thank you for joining us.

It is an incredible pleasure for me to have Jamie come on the stage. I'm trying to stall here because I don't really know where this conversation is going to go. And I control the dialogue now, and in about 30 seconds, you're going to see I lose complete control of it. But Jamie, please come join me.

Hi, everyone. Good morning. This isn't intimidating at all, at all. Wow. You go big, Willy, except can we just discuss how -- what's your like market capping? What's your -- like it's a big number, right? Give it -- throw it out.

I don't honestly know what it is.

Yours. Just some big numbers.

No, I don't know where it is today, but it's somewhere...

Give me a ballpark.

It's somewhere between $3 billion and $5 billion.

$3.2 billion.

$3.2 billion, and this is what they give you. Now let me just say, if you guys come to my house for anything, I'm going to feed you and give you something more than a peppermint. Sorry.

So now you all see why I was trying to buy time before she came on to the stage. So Jamie, as an aside, back up to 2010, and I'm on my IPO road show, and you say, "Are you going to Kansas City?" And I say, "I am going to Kansas City." And you say, "Would you go meet with my money manager and pitch Walker & Dunlop to him? He runs a very successful mutual fund called Buffalo Funds." I go in. I don't impress him. He decides he doesn't want to invest in Walker & Dunlop, to which you say, "I'm going to invest $1 million in Walker & Dunlop's IPO." How did that turn out for you?

Pretty darn well. Pretty darn well. Just so you know, I'm an actress. I'm not a businesswoman, although I was raised by a businessman, a Marine, ex-Marine named Bob Brandt, who brought me and my mother to Sun Valley, Idaho. When I was a kid, I was telling some of your...

They're guests.

They're guests.

And clients and friends.

Friends. Was telling some of your friends about how moving it was for me to walk around here earlier, because I was a little early, and Sun Valley was invented for families. You didn't need to rent a car. You would come here. And I'm telling you, from the age of 7 on, I was alone from 7:30 in the morning until 7 at night. We would go by ourselves to Dollar Mountain on a ski bus. We would come back, change our clothes, go to the pool, go to the bowling alley, charge dinner, and then we had to be back in our room by 7:30. This is an idyllic place for you to bring people. I'm sure you guys are getting that feeling. Come back here with your families. It's really special, and I spent my life growing up here. Anyway, I was raised by a businessman, but I'm not a businesswoman. The only thing I've ever learned is save every penny you've ever made, and I've done so. Other than that, my stepfather, Bob Brandt, was ex-Marine and a self-made man. He started a business in the fourth market with a business friend of his, where literally, they had 2 card tables, rotary phones and telephone books for every major city. And they started a company now, and this is way pre-Internet, where they would call First Bank of Boston and go, "Hi. This is Robert Brandt. First -- Brandt Zwick & Co. We are dealing in institutional trading, big block trading. Do you -- are you looking to buy or sell any big blocks?" I think it was 50,000 shares or more. And they go, "Yes, we're looking for IBM." And then they go, "Okay, great." They'd go on to a board and write First Bank of Boston wants to buy 50,000 shares of IBM. And then as you can guess, later, somebody is saying they're selling 50,000 shares by IBM. And they would call them, make a match, take a percentage, and that's how he made his money. Two card tables, rotary phones, telephone books, made a lot of money.

But you've told me before that you used to see Bob when you would go to conferences and he would go through -- yes, go.

But no, no. You're right. I'll let you talk. It's okay. No, no, no. Because you remind me of him.

You haven't said that before.

You remind me of him. Why do you think I like you so much?

Yes. All right. But go to your thing about Bob.

So Bob Brandt was married to Janet Leigh, my mother. My mother was a very famous woman. Gorgeous. I am sure some of you know. You know what, weirdly enough, many of you, younger people probably don't know her. She was the woman who starred in the movie Psycho. She was this gorgeous, gorgeous woman and a beautiful person. And she married a businessman, and they would go to these business conferences where Brandt Zwick & Co. would go to Boston and have a dinner. And my mother and father would travel with flashcards, and they would memorize every member of the family of the person. So if it was the Walkers and he was going to run into Willy Walker, they would write Willy Walker. Parents: Mallory Walker, Diana Walker. Children: Charlie, Jack and Wyatt Walker. And then when Willy Walker would walk into the conference room, Janet Leigh would see his name on a shirt and go, "Willy. How is Diana? Tell me where are Wyatt, Jack and Charlie in school." And all of these business people would be so shocked that Janet Leigh, this famous movie star, knew their wives' names, their parents' names, their children's names, what school they went to, [ Gonzaga ]. And I learned that from him. I am that person in my life. I immediately go and meet someone. I met a woman here today. Where are you? Are you here? I know you were with someone -- no, someone's -- Ole Miss. Whose child goes to Ole Miss?

They laughed.

Wow. I guess I didn't make much of an impression.

The parents would say.

But that's who I am.

There is someone here who has a child...

I immediately want to know who you are, where you're from. I met a Marine. Where is my Marine? Right in the back. Because he heard me talking about being raised by a Marine. That's who I am. Like all of the fluffy parts of me, and I have fluffy parts. The thing that you need to know is I was raised by a Marine, and he taught me that your handshake is your signature, that you look someone in the eye and that you keep your word.

But on that, Jamie, I mean you've got 4.5 million Instagram followers. And don't go -- I want to get down to why it is and how it is that you live the life that you live. Because it's always inbound at you. There's always people who want to come talk to you. They want to meet with you. They want to take a selfie, what have you. And you are one of the most generous people I know as it relates to understanding other people and what's important in their lives. And obviously, there's a limit to the ecosystem of friends that you are capable of doing that on, but all of us have limits on the ecosystem. But you have that incredible sense of giving. Did that come from Janet? Did that come from Bob? Or somewhere else?

I think it came -- I think that's a great point. I think it came from both of them. I think it was that interesting combo platter of Janet Leigh, who came from nothing. Nothing. Merced, California. Poor, young people. My mother was discovered by Norma Shearer, the movie star, the silent film star. Was staying at a -- she was married to a skier, a man named Marti Arrouge, and they were staying at a motel in Big Bear, California. And my grandfather was the night manager, and he had a picture of my mother on his desk. And when Norma Shearer was checking out, she said, "Who's that?" And he said, "My daughter." And she said, "Oh, she's lovely. May I have that photograph?" And she took it to Hollywood and they called Janet Leigh, and Janet Leigh was brought to Hollywood and screen tested for who, today, would be Tom Cruise. It was Van Johnson back in the day, big movie star. And she got the lead in a movie opposite Tom Cruise and changed her name and became Janet Leigh. So my mother came from nothing. And I think the combination of that, marrying a businessman, who is you. He's -- was an athlete, family man, dedicated to his family, brilliant in business. And I think the combination of that.

You can keep going. You can keep going.

Oh, I don't need -- you know. You know. And my point is I think the combo platter of them. And my mother was charitable. My mother worked very hard for charities, and I -- all I want is for people to relate, Willy. The truth of the matter is, you talk about social media, which is a poison for young people, by the way. It's a poison. Deadly for young people. For me, I use it to sell things. But ultimately, no -- hey, what else are we doing on the Internet? What else is it for? To tell you who I am, my feelings, whatever? No. I want you to relate to me as a person. That's my goal in my life. I don't care if you like a movie I'm in, don't like a movie I'm in. If -- I have to believe that you see me and what I stand for, you relate to. And I hope you relate to it in a positive way. And if you relate to it in a negative way, that's okay. This is America. That's the goal of America. You're allowed to have your opinion of me, but I stand for something. And I think the social media has to be about standing for something, whether or not people -- like people -- how have people called me? I don't know. It doesn't matter. There were some hearings yesterday. They were interesting. People were very forthcoming. There were some amazing photographs. Your great mother...

You're about to call her my great grandmother, but that's okay.

No. Thank you, Willy. She's one of my best. I've said your great mother is a great photo journalist, and there are great photo journalists working today. And yesterday were some great images. Frank Thorp. And I posted them. I will have friends call me, and they'll go, "Oh, hi." I'll say, "Hi." "How are you doing?" "What do you mean? I'm great." "Oh, you didn't look." "I didn't look where?" "Oh, you didn't read the comments." "Comments? What are you talking about?" And of course, I'm getting trolled by people who disagree with me, which is the American way. You can disagree with me. I don't care. Here's my goal for social media: don't read the comments. Period. Say what you mean. Mean what you say. Don't say it mean and then get the f*** out, and let them all freak out.

So you're talking about your mom.

My great mom.

And you and your mom did one movie together, The Fog.

Oh, Willy.

Right?

Oh, yes.

And how was it acting with your mom?

Honestly, it was sweet. People loved having her there. It's not different than when people talk to you about your dad and the company he built.

Right. Right.

That's how it feels to be the daughter of someone. You are the son. There they are. They're watching. Your dad gave you your opening. Like, you know how it feels. You have great pride. You feel daunted by the legacy, and then you need to get stuff done. And in a modern way, and that's what you're doing, and that's what I'm doing. And I honor my parents, but I honor them by trying to be the best -- that's all we're here for, to try to be the best people we are.

But there are plenty of people who grew up in obscurity and became famous, and then there are people who were born into stardom and became obscure. You were somebody who was born into stardom and have maintained it throughout your career.

I'm very lucky.

That's unique.

Yes. Very unique. Here's what I will tell you. My -- I was raised by 2 very, very popular movie stars. Not raised, by the way. I wasn't raised by my father, but he was a very, very popular movie star. Fame, it's not unlike sports. Who here has seen that championship season? Who here was a great high school or college sports star?

A lot. A lot.

And you spend the rest of your life remembering what it was like to be a great high school or college sports start. When you're famous and you become famous in the movies for whatever reason, we have no idea why people become famous. People like something. There's a chemistry, a moment in time where something catches. And then all of a sudden, you're the thing. And you're like, "Whoo." The saddest thing is when you don't get to do it anymore. Fame doesn't disappear. Fame stays with you. But what made you famous goes away, and I watched my parents both lose the very thing that made them famous. The art. They didn't get to be in the movies anymore. They didn't get to do that job. You're going to get to do this job. Your dad retired at some point way late in his life. You're going to have the same thing. You're not going to get kicked out, we hope.

We hope.

But my point is, in show business, you don't determine it. They just don't call you anymore, and it's heartbreaking. And so I have always been with one foot out of what I call show-off business. I've had one foot out because I don't want to be asked to leave. I'm going to -- if I'm going to leave, I'm going to leave before you ask me. That's who I am. And so I've dealt with that on both sides. And yet at the same time, this is my Beatles birthday year. I'm going to be 64 years old this year. And I am busier, more successful, more relevant, more in my own mind and in my own spirit and in my own knowing what in fact I need to do in this world before I die than I have ever been. And I am 64 years old, and I started when I was 19 years old. Who knows how that happened? But I mean it is a miracle and it is rare. It is very rare, and it was very sad for me to watch. You know the Paul Simon song, You Can Call Me Al, and there's that line, I don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard. I don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard. I want to die alive. My new book, my self-help book that I'm writing and announcing here at the Walker Dunlop conference.

I told you you're going to break news.

Has no words to the book. It just has a great title. You haven't heard the title yet. Live Like You're Dead and Die Alive. I mean live like your dead, meaning be generous like you're going to be when you're dead. We all have our estate planning, all of us. Even if you're just starting out in life, you're already starting to think about estate planning. I have wealth. I've built wealth. I've saved every penny I've ever made. I'm the idiot savant of real estate. You think I'm lying. My husband and I bought 5 acres of land north of Ketchum, Idaho for $180,000 in 1984 on our honeymoon. We used every penny that we had saved and built a log cabin for nothing, and we ended up buying the land to our left and right. And now people look at us like we are -- like I have, excuse my French, TV money. TV money is that kind of money that you hear people make. I don't make TV money. I make movie money. I work hard for it. TV money is that crazy money. People think we have TV money because of where we live. Anyway, here is the book title. Oh, I told you the book title, so we're done. But my point is give your money away when you're alive. Don't wait until you're dead. Enjoy that and die alive. Die alive. Do not die dead. Dying dead is that you've lost life before you've lost life. And how many of us know people who've lost that spark of living? And I don't want to die dead. I want to die fully alive, fully in my mind, fully in my body, fully in my need to try to make this world, my part in it, manifest my destiny so that I can leave a little bit of goodness in the world before I go. And so that's -- so all of the rest of it, the show-off business part of it, which is interesting to some people, and I'm happy to answer anything. But the truth of the matter is that's not why I'm here. And it's not why you're here, Willy. It's not why you decided to take over your dad's business and change it and shape it and lead it into a new time.

So...

Right?

Correct. I told you this was going to go the other way.

Well, no. But I mean, I'm telling you this.

No, no. no. So here we go.

Let's be alive here today.

I want to stay on these real issues, but I do also want to touch a little bit on the career because there are certain thesis to it.

That's fine. That's fine. All fine.

I know, I know. So all of your movies, if you add the box office up, is over $2.3 billion of box office sales.

Not too bad.

Not too bad.

And I only know this number because I went with Jason Blum, who runs Blumhouse, who should be one of your speakers 1 year. Because of -- I sent you his Vassar commencement address. He's a really interesting young entrepreneur who started the company, Blumhouse. They did Get Out, and they've -- he's a fantastic guy. But he and I spoke at the Milken -- Global Milken Conference, the 25th anniversary of the Global Milken Conference a month ago. And the moderator opened her thing, saying how much money the movies that I've been -- it's not like I walk around with a T-shirt on, going like 3, whatever, billion dollars. That's just not -- but I just found -- it was interesting, and I knew it was a business conference. You guys are businesspeople. You're in the business. The business.

The business. All right. So when you started out, all right, your mom was in Psycho, and then your big first role was in Halloween.

Yes.

And it was only because you got fired from Operation Petticoat that you were able to actually do Halloween.

Yes. So for anybody here who has ever been fired and thought it was the end of your life, it isn't. I was fired from a show, boring, but along with other people. And had I not been fired from a show that then got canceled a month later, I would never have been able to audition for a movie that turned out to change my life. Just so you know, Halloween, I was paid $8,000, $2,000 a week for 4 weeks. And the movie was made in 17 days, and it was made for $300,000 total. And it ended up becoming successful, very successful independent film. And then over the years, I've now made a bunch of those movies ending with a big finale this October called Halloween Ends, which is the end of this current trilogy of films, which are wildly successful. And I am what they call a final girl. I was the OG final girl, Laurie Strode, and this last movie is a movie about Laurie Strode finally taking on her nemesis, Michael Myers, in a sort of battle to the death, and it's intense and spectacular.

Is there anything fundamentally different between making a horror film and making a non-horror film like Trading Places or True Lives or other action films that you've been in?

None. Zero. It's stickier. Blood is sticky. Fake blood is really sticky. The truth of the matter is it's just a dark emotional place that you have to live in for a long time, and I'm sort of done. As you can tell, if you've spent now 15 minutes with me, I'm not a dark person. I wake up like this. You can only imagine my poor husband. You can only imagine, and my husband is the smartest dude, wickedly talented, a great outdoor, wonderful guy and silent. So you can only imagine what it's like to wake up with me.

So talk -- for 2 seconds, talk about Chris. And to those of you who don't know, Jamie's husband is Christopher Guest, former Saturday Night Live star, the maker of Best in Show and This is Spinal Tap, came out in the 1980s, 1987.

No. No.

All right. Tell me how far off from 1987 I am.

Three years. Three years.

1985?

1984. 7. By the way, this is a business conference. I got the f****** math right. Come on. Jesus, Willy. Wow, and I've never see him blush, I dare say.

My CFO -- my CFO, my old CFO, Steve Theobald as well as my new CFO, Greg Florkowski, are both in the room and they said that's exactly right, right there, that 7 minus 3 is perfect.

My husband -- my now husband, my first husband was, in 1984, was in a movie called Spinal Tap, which I'm sure some of you have seen. If not, it's a classic. It's called This is Spinal Tap. It's about a fake rock-and-roll band, English rock-and-roll, heavy metal band doing a tour. But I was single, and I was sitting in my house in April 1984. And I was looking through Rolling Stone magazine, and I was flipping the pages. And I flipped a page, and I swear he was wearing your shirt. There is a picture of these 3 guys who are the stars of the movie Spinal Tap, but not as the characters, as themselves, and they were all wearing shirt sleeves rolled up a couple of times, checkered shirt, and then their arms around each other the way you guys do that. And I said, well -- and I said to my girlfriend, Debra Hill, who was sitting next to me, I said, "I'm going to marry that guy right there." She said, "Which one?" I said, "The one right there on the outside. Him." She said, "He's an actor. I tried to put him in a movie once. His name is Chris Guest." I was like, "I'm going to marry him." She said, "Oh, he's with your agents." I was like, "Interesting." And then I turned the page and then it was a picture of them in their Spinal Tap outfits. True story. The next day -- I love you, Willy. The next day, I called his agent. And the guy picked up the phone, he said, "Hi, Jamie. I know all about it. Chris Guest." And I was like, "What? No." Debra Hill had called him and said that Jamie thought he was cute. And I said, "Look, I'm not a stalker. I'm single. I think the guy's cute. Here's my number." And hung up. He never called. And there was a guy who was a painter, wanted to date me. I started to date him, he was older. Lovely guy. I wasn't that into it, but I was into it, you know what I mean. And he was way into it, and he wanted me to go to Hawaii, where he painted. And I said, "No." A couple of months, I was like, "No. You go to Hawaii. I'm going to get ready and do that movie, Perfect. I played an aerobics instructor."

That's with John Travolta.

With John Travolta in August. This was June. I said, "No, I have to get -- I have to look good in a leotard. I have to do a lot of..." And I took him to the airport. And I dropped to at the curb, kissed him at the curb, said goodbye. He left. I went and picked up Melanie Griffith and her then-husband, Steven Bauer, in West Hollywood. We went to a restaurant called Hugo's right down the street from where we both used to -- I lived in West Hollywood. And I sat down, and 2 tables facing me, as far away as you are, was Chris sitting at a table. And he looked at me and he went like this. And I, sitting there looking at him, went like this. And then I did this, "Oh, my God. There's this guy, I called him and I left my number. And my -- I'm so embarrassed. Oh my god." And he got up to leave 5 minutes later. He stood at the table and he went like this. Didn't come over, and I sat at the table. And I went -- and he left, but he called me the next day. That was June 28. We went out July 2 on a date. We went to Chianti restaurant in Hollywood, and I had a Caesar salad because that's all I was eating because I had to be in a leotard for 3 months. And he was leaving to go do Saturday Night Live for a year. August 8 is when he was leaving. This was July 2. We fell in love. He left to go to New York. He -- we've been back and forth every weekend. I think September 13 through something we got engaged with this very ring. He came back, he gave me a ring. I was like, "What's that?" He was -- he couldn't speak. He was sweet. He's not that guy. And he finally said, "I was hoping maybe we could get married." I was like, "Okay." Anyway, we got engaged September 13, and we got married December 18 that year, 38 years ago this year. So I'm telling you go after what you want, people. Life is short. And if you see something that you want, say it. Say what you mean. Say it. Like if I hadn't said that, my life would never be the life I have today.

That's exactly what I wanted you to say. That's a great story. That's a great story. So other than Chris, who is the leading man in your life, you've also had lots of other leading men in roles and films you've done. So John Travolta, Mel Gibson.

Look at you. John Travolta, who, by the way, if you saw the Oscars this last year, I was there as a presenter. I presented the Betty White tribute, beautiful Betty White. But I brought out a little rescue dog. I don't know if anybody's watch -- you guys are businesspeople. Why would you watch the Oscars? But I brought out -- because Betty White was a rescue advocate, and I brought out a little rescue puppy, that I brought out to say, "This little rescue puppy needs a home," to the world, to the 1 billion of people watching. I was like, "I hope someone will rescue this little dog in honor of Betty White." John Travolta backstage, who I hadn't seen in 25 years, we reconnected. John Travolta adopted that dog with his son, Ben. They lost Kelly Preston, his wife, 2 years ago yesterday. And he flew home. He himself flew the jet home to Florida with that little rescue puppy. It was so sweet to run into him again. Such a beautiful man.

That's fun. That's fun. So John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Keep them coming.

John Cleese, Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd.

Yes. Dan Aykroyd.

Who is the most fun...

Dan Aykroyd. Dan Aykroyd. Dan Aykroyd. I've got to tell you something. Dan Aykroyd. In the movies, you have to kiss people. It's a horrible job. It's a horrible job when you have to kiss people you don't want to kiss. It's a horrible job when you have to get people that you really, really don't want to have to kiss. It's a really good job when you kiss people who you have absolutely all thrill in the world to kiss them because it's legal. We call -- in recovery, we would call that a freelapse. In marriage, I think it's called...

Your job.

Well, it's my job. But isn't there like a -- that thing where it's like...

Like a hall pass.

Hall pass. So I got a lot of hall passes with Dan Aykroyd. Talk about just a sweet -- and a great businessman. Great businessman. He picked me up when we were shooting Trading Places in New York. He picked me up, and we drove down into -- and he and John Belushi owned something called The Blues Bar. Thank you. They had a bar that they bought because they couldn't go to bars. How could they go to a bar? Because they would just get inundated by people. So they started buying real estate. When he was driving me down, he kept going, I own that, I own that, I own that, John and I bought that, that whole corner we bought. I mean he was a businessman. I loved it.

And then from there, it was to John Cleese and A Fish Called Wanda. And that was -- he wrote that film thinking you were going to be in it, did he not?

He wrote that film for me to be in it with -- which was weird because I, of course, thought that John Cleese and Michael Palin wanted Chris Guest. Like when I got a call that John Cleese wanted to talk to me. I was like, I'm assuming so that I'll introduce him to Chris because Spinal Tap had come out. Anyway, yes, I don't know. He liked me. He wrote me this part. It was a great experience. And he was 6 months old, went to London.

So then you did a TV show called Anything But Love. But you loved doing that. Why was that? Yes, talk about that.

I am -- that is the job I am looking for. Right now, I have a big hit movie out that Mallory Walker and Diana Walker said was the worst movie they have ever seen.

Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Some of you may -- some artists here just clapped from behind the camera, I got to this. There is a movie out right now. You can stream it. It's called Everything Everywhere All At Once. It's a multi-verse comedy. Interesting, crazy, beautiful movie about love, starring Michelle Yeoh, the action star. I have a supporting part of an IRS auditor named Deirdre Beaubeirdre, who starts out her nemesis and becomes her lover. It's super interesting and fun and is a massive hit around the world, much to the chagrin and dismay of Mallory Walker and my attorney who hated that movie.

Go back to Anything But Love and why you loved doing Anything But Love.

So I'm going to tell you. So I have a hit movie there, Halloween is going to be a monster.

No, no, go back to -- and you won a Golden Globe for Anything But Love.

I've won a Golden Globe for things. My point is with all of the jobs that I did, the best job I ever had was a sitcom. I loved it. Like you can tell. I loved it. You have an audience. You get to do funny stuff. You get to work on it and hone it and then do it each week. I loved it, and I've never done another sitcom. I did it once. It was successful. I loved it. And so the only job I've told my agents that I want to do is a sitcom in Los Angeles, where I don't have to leave my husband, where I don't have to leave my children and my pets. And that's all I do. I travel all over the world. I just came from Savannah, Georgia, where we shot the last Halloween movie, and I'm done. I don't want to travel anymore. I want to do a sitcom. Willy, make it happen. Come on, Willy.

So you then went to True Lies, which that James Cameron did. I forgot the James Cameron did it.

James Cameron also wrote that movie for me.

Yes, for you.

Yes.

And was it always that Arnold was going to costar in it with you?

Yes. Yes, yes. I got a call from James Cameron, because who gets a call from James Cameron? I'm not that person. I don't get a call from James Cameron. The phone rang. Hello. Hi, Jamie. It's James Cameron. Hi, James. What's up? I've written a movie for you and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I would like you to read it, but I can't send you the script because it's embargoed, it's precious. So I'm going to have somebody come to your house, they'll sit in the driveway while you read it, and then you'll give them back to script, which I did. We ended up making True Lies. It was fantastic. It was a great, great, great, great experience for me. It's when I met your mom.

Why is James Cameron so good at what he does? I mean he is a unique talent. And you just said when James Cameron calls and says, hey, it's Jim Cameron. And you're like, yes, right? Why is he so good?

That's a good question. That's the alchemy of things. He is -- by the way, Jim Cameron can do every single job on a movie except acting, which is why actors love working for Jim Cameron and crew people don't. Because Jim can do every job that a crew person can do. Jim is an artist. He can do the art direction. He invents cameras. He invented the handheld device that allows you to see what a movie camera sees but you can walk around with it on your iPhone. Jim invented that. Jim is a technical wizard. He can do every single job in the movies except acting, which is why he loves actors. So for an actor to work with Jim, it's like saying it's the one thing he can't do, and he gives you full freedom. I don't know if you've seen True Lies lately. It is fabulous, and it was an incredible opportunity for me because I just was as loose as a goose. I just had the most fun because Jim just let me go.

And you've known Arnold quite well prior to that. Is there something about how -- no, you hadn't?

I know Arnold from here. Here's what was hard. You see Arnold didn't want me. And now we're friends. And Arnold didn't want me because Arnold Schwarzenegger only knew me from up here. Maria Shriver, the Kennedys, these were all people I grew up with. And Arnold and Maria lived up here. We lived up here. He would see me in restaurants. He knew me as Tony and Janet's daughter. Because what you don't know is that Arnold Schwarzenegger directed a movie one time. Who starred in Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie? His idol, Tony Curtis. So the one movie that Arnold Schwarzenegger directed was a TV movie called Christmas in Connecticut or something, and Tony Curtis and Dyan Cannon starred in it. So I knew Arnold that way. I never knew him as a colleague, and I'm younger. And I'm sure he just thought I was sort of Tony and Janet's snappy, little loudmouth daughter and didn't look at me as a leading lady. And Jim Cameron was the one who said, "No, no, no. She's the one who's going to be in this movie with you," and it turned out to be the best pairing that Arnold Schwarzenegger ever had and the best pairing that I've ever had. It's a fantastic movie. It's a domestic epic. If you haven't seen it recently, it's maybe a good thing to watch on the plane home. No, it's a great movie, and I danced around in my underwear, and it's really cute. I will tell you this. I will tell you this. I was up here in Sun Valley, Idaho in August when I got the call that I was going to for sure do the movie. And the first call I made was to the production manager, the person like your team who put all things together. And I said to him, "Hi, it's Jamie Curtis. Apparently, I'm going to play Helen Tasker. When is the hotel scene in the schedule?" Because it was like a 4- or 5-month schedule. And he said the second week of September. And this was like August 10. So I called him then I called the production designer. Remember how I walked in here and said I would get no light here, right? Well, I'm a woman. We need light. We need light. Luckily, I'm getting a nice, little bounce from the sun bouncing on the edge of the tent, which is helping, which will make the video not something that I have to burn. But I called the production designer. And I said, "There's a scene where she gets interrogated, and it's written that it's like a jail cell with a light above her head, and it's 8 to 10 pages of dialogue." And I said, "That's never going to fly. I need some light on my face. So I need you to build in some light in the room somewhere." And if you watched -- so when you watch True Lies again and Helen is in the interrogation room, you will notice that there is a big, square light around the glass window that Arnold and Tom Arnold are sitting behind. And the reason that big lightbox is there is because I called the production designer and said, "I needed light on my face if it's going to shoot 8." But anyway, it was -- I'm telling you they said it was the second week of the schedule. Can you imagine? So I didn't eat for -- it was like this many people and you're dancing around.

Does that impact you?

Yes.

It does?

No, it was intense. I mean it was fun.

When you go on set and you got to do a scene like that?

I mean it was fun. I will tell you there was no rehearsal. There's no choreographer. Jim said, "What music do you want?" I said, "I like John Hiatt." Said, "Okay, there's a song Alone in the Dark." He said, "Great. I like that song." And he said, "So what are you going to do?" I said, "Well, I don't know. I don't really know, but I'll get into it a little bit." And then the only thing I knew I needed to do was get to the bedpost and go backwards so that the microphone would fall out. So then she had to get the microphone and put it back. That was the only thing that they knew. And it was just dollies and cameras, the first shot with big wide shot. This many people, probably, in the crew there that day. I think there were a lot of guys who had jobs that weren't really supposed to be there, but they were walking around with like a screwdriver in their hand going like -- and then I literally closed my eyes there. And here's -- no, I'll tell you this. because we have to wrap this up. We really do. We really do.

I'm looking at the faces in front of me, and I don't have to wrap this up.

But I have a therapy call in like an 0.5 hour.

This isn't as good as the therapy call. I love this.

No. Sorry, I like you all. You're lovely people. Here's what happened. So we did that big, wide shot with me doing my thing. And I remember like we finished it, which went over the edge, the thing, the thing. And then there was like that moment. And then it was like cut, and then it was sort of dead silent, and I could see a lot of guys wouldn't look me in the eye. A lot of people were like looking down. And Jim came in was like, "Oh, my goodness me," because they have never seen if I could dance. They didn't know anything. Jim didn't know what I was going to look like in my underwear. He didn't know I could dance. He didn't know anything. He just knew I was supposed to dance. So we did it again. We did it again. We did it again. We did it now with Arnold sitting in the chair with the camera over to me, blah, blah, blah. And we keep doing it over and over. And finally, Jim Cameron walked up to me very privately. In front of all the people, he walked up. He said, "If I ask you to let go of the bedpost, are you okay to hit a crash pad on the ground?" I was like, "Yes." So they brought in a crash pad under the camera level. And I don't know if you remember the movie, but there's a moment where Helen's dancing and she's on the bedpost, and then she lets go and falls, and Arnold Schwarzenegger has this amazing reaction to it. I am going to tell all of you all that in all of the movies I have made, it is the single greatest laugh I will ever get anywhere in any movie. It was such an uproarious laugh in that moment, and here's what I learned. Jim Cameron understood that it was too sexy, that it was getting uncomfortably sexy. Because you have to remember, that was his wife, that he was making his wife do that. Arnold, that was his wife doing it, and he understood that it was almost a little icky because I could dance, and he didn't know I could dance. And so he understood that you needed to laugh again. And that's why if you see it, we did it 1, maybe 2 takes. When you see that movie again, it is a humongous laugh that Helen lets go of the bedpost. And it goes down, and really, really made me understand how much Jim understood what was going on. And I don't think -- I think another director would have just let it be really sexy and then deal with the fact that it was a little icky later. And by adding that laugh in there, oh, my goodness, me, I was in a movie theater, packed movie theater for the premier of that movie. Oh, my God, these people lost their minds. They laughed so hard.

So talking about you scantily clad and an icky scene, when my boys were 13, 11 and 9, I dialed up Trading Places. And I'm sitting there watching Trading Places with my boys. And as many of you may recall, Dan Aykroyd is in off the street to Ophelia, who is a prostitute in the movie. And Ophelia comes home, gives him the bed, gives him shelter, gives him warmth. And as she's getting undressed, she takes off her bra. And Louis -- what is that?

Her dress.

Her dress. And Louis...

She didn't wear a bra.

Sits there. Sees her in the mirror naked.

I don't think prostitutes wear bras.

She puts her hand on her breast and says, "No, Louis, you're not getting any of that." So here are my 13, 9 and 11 year-old boys, who, if it was anybody else on the face of the planet, it would have been riveted to the television screen. And all of a sudden, they see Jamie's breasts in front of them. And all 3 of them without missing, go, "Oh, dad. God, Jesus. Please, no. Turn that off. It's Jamie. Oh, that's just awful." And it was so good.

Yes. How long ago was that?

It was 6 years ago.

They're fine with it today.

They are fine with it today. They're like, dial it up, dad.

I have 2 last things say before I leave, because I really do need to go. I want to tell you one thing, that -- you're blushing again. Wow. You're really blushing, Willy Walker.

It's good.

You may have exposed your children to seeing breasts for the first time, and they were mine. Isn't it amazing? What an amazing idea. So I will tell you that I do remember a friend of mine's -- a friend of mine, the father died. And I was friends with his wife and their teenagers, and I tried to be supportive and find kind of show up for baseball games and stuff. And I went to this kid's baseball game, a big baseball player. And there was like some big game, and I think they won, and I showed up and blah, blah, blah. And as we were leaving the game, 2 guys walked by me. I was talking to Robert, and 2 guys walked by and went, "Hey, freeze frame." And I was like, "What?" And Robert was like, "I'm sorry." And then another guy walked by it was like, "Freeze frame." And I was like, "What's happening, Robert?" And apparently, this was before phones and digital and all the rest of it, that boys used to put the movie on and then freeze frame that moment in the movie when Ophelia is naked, and basically then have a party with me on their screen, which -- so here's what I want to leave you all with. I need to leave. I need to leave, but here's what I want to leave you all with. And we joke about this, and it's going to bring it back to Willy Walker and his great work, and Mallory Walker and his great work. So I'm me. You guys now know me. You know me, right? I'm going to leave here, you're going to be like, I know her. No pretense, you know me. You may hate me. That's okay. America. But you know me. So I used to do a lot of public speaking. I also sold yogurt that makes you s*** for 7 years, but that's a whole 'nother conversation. But while I was trying to raise my children and not be going off to Budapest for 4 months on a movie, I did commercials. I did commercials with O.J. Simpson and Arnold Palmer for Hertz rent a car. I was the girl that they hired when the women started becoming businesswomen. When you, wonderful few women in here, businesswomen -- sorry, when that movie with Diane Keaton, where she was an executive and had a baby -- Baby Boom. When that movie came out, they realized that women were in the marketplace now as businesswomen and they needed to hire a woman to run through airports and jump over suitcases. Who did they hire? Oh, that would be me. And I did commercials with O.J. Simpson and Arnold Palmer. You can find them on Google, where Arnold and O.J. were the sort of rube, boob guys who were like not very smart, and I was the business executive who was very smart and knew everything. And I did 2 years of commercial. So I've done a lot of commercials. People have hired me to sell things for a long time. I'm a good saleswoman. No, I am. I'm what I like to refer to as a weapon of mass promotion on Instagram. I'm just -- I'm -- you need something sold, I will sell it to you. Anyway, I also used to do public speaking, where I would go and do sort of my world according to Jamie, and it's good. It get deep. It makes -- it's good and funny and good. Anyway, and I was invited to the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year Award keynote Sunday morning speaker. I didn't know s*** about Ernst & Young or what they did. I knew nothing. It was they paid a certain amount of money to come and do my 60 minutes of spiel. And I'm in a car driving to Palm Springs as in Palm Springs, and apparently, our friend here won that award. What year?

2011.

2011, I think this was before then. And I remember going there, and I remember going backstage during the morning presentation. I was sitting behind a lot of lights, all this business. And the guy before me was some businessman talking about business. And I'm sitting in the back going like "What the -- am I doing here? Oh my, God." All the guys looked like you, young man in the front in the pink. They all -- all of them. I don't think there was a woman. I don't think there was a woman in the room, and I was the speaker before the golf. So everybody is thinking about the fricking golf, and they're all in their golf clothes and they have to sit here through this keynote. And the minute it finishes, they all get to go play golf. So I'm sitting there at this thing, and I go out there, introduce me. And I walk out to a big room of people, mostly men in golf clothes, and I didn't know what I was supposed to do. And I said, "Everybody, I have no idea why I'm here. I don't even know if it's better to be in the red or the black." And from the back of the room, a guy shouted, "If you're red, you're bleeding." And I was like, "Oh, thanks. Okay. So that's not good." They all looked at me stunned like what was -- what were they going to have to listen to, and here's what I will tell you. By the end of it, they were crying. And what I said to them is nobody gives a f*** how much money you have. Nobody cares about how you've invested and how big your company got. All they care about when you're dead is who you were, what kind of father you were, what kind of husband you were, what kind of ex-husband you were, what kind of son or daughter, what kind of human being you were. And the thing I know about you, Willy, and I know your parents and I know who they are and I know the struggles of their lives, and I know the struggles of your lives and you know the struggles of mine, and I know the struggles of all of yours, because nobody gets out alive. Nobody gets through this life without struggle. But I will promise you that the most important thing is who we are as human beings with other human beings, your employees. It's what you talked about, about your speaker. Talking about -- it's not about him, it's about his team. It's about the people that put on this conference. It's about all the people that are back in your offices who are working on your behalf. That's what we're here for. The more we support them, that make the world better for them, that's what's going to be remembered. They're going to remember who you are by what you do by your esteemable actions and beauty. And with all the money in the world that is available and the strategizing about what's going to happen with the markets, and I understand it's a scary time for all of us. The thing to remember and the only thing I hope I leave here is that I'm a human being talking to another human being who I respect, who was raised by human beings I respect, and that we're all just trying to do something together here at the Walker & Dunlop conference here in this moment in this time in our lives. And I'm grateful to have been asked to come here today. I had no idea what I would say. But ultimately, I know that, and that's what I said to those people at the Entrepreneur of the Year awards. And you know what, they didn't just jump up and run out and play golf. They stuck around. We talked. It was beautiful. So God bless you all. Thank you for having me at the Walker & Dunlop conference. Bye, Willy. Appreciate it. Bye. [indiscernible]. I do want a mint. Thank you.

Everybody, thank you, Jamie.