With Francine Stock James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli explains why she's just produced a film called Radiator, about a middle-aged man caring for his two elderly parents that was made for less than one percent of the budget of Spectre, and why not all films should be made for teenage boys. Bridge Of Spies scribe Matt Charman reveals why he took off his clothes to pitch his Cold War spy thriller to Steven Spielberg on the phone. A rare showing of a 13 hour French movie that was totally improvi...
Nov 19, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin discusses his biopic about Apple founder Steve Jobs and why the relationship between the character and the real person is the difference between a building and a drawing of that building. Director Sean Baker reveals how he made a feature film, Tangerine, with two smart phones, and why he'd still prefer people to watch it on a big screen. Documentary-maker Saeed Taji Farouky talks about his experiences of being embedded with the Afghan Nation...
Nov 12, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock Bradley Cooper reveals his plans to write, direct and star in a personal project and why he'd rather be bad in a great movie rather than great in a bad movie. Nick Hornby discusses his adaptation of Colm Toibin's novel Brooklyn and why he wanted to turn it into an old fashioned weepie that would break people's hearts. As the world's largest youth film festival, Into Film, begins, we hear from a 14 year old debutant who's just made a short movie in 5 days....
Nov 05, 2015•29 min
To mark the 70th anniversary of Brief Encounter, Francine Stock asks why it still makes grown men and women weep despite the restrained passions, clipped accents and various parodies. She enlists the help of fans Moira Buffini, Matthew Sweet, Thomas Dixon, Neil Brand and Antonia Quirke.
Oct 29, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. Director George Miller reveals the influence of Buster Keaton on his post-apocalyptic epic Mad Max:Fury Road. The maker of Cartel Land, an eye-opening documentary about the Mexican drug wars, Matthew Heineman, tells Francine what it was like to visit a secret meth lab and to be caught in the middle of a shoot-out. Composer Neil Brand dissects the opening of Jaws, and explains why a few notes can instil fear in us all. Debbie McWilliams is one of the women who gives James Bon...
Oct 22, 2015•29 min
With Francine Stock We can see Tom Hiddleston in three movies over the next few months; he explains why his films are like London buses. Actor Ben Foster mounts a defence of Lance Armstrong, the disgraced cyclist he plays in Stephen Frears' new drama The Program. Yorgos Lanthimos discusses the reasons that his characters are transformed into animals if they don't find a a mate in his satire The Lobster. Chris Milk reveals the future of virtual reality and why it will supersede the medium of cine...
Oct 15, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. The director of The Walk and Back To The Future, Robert Zemeckis explains the rules of employing 3D in film, and why it shouldn't just be used for effect. Foley artist Barnaby Smyth demonstrates how he followed in the footsteps of Emmeline Pankhurst and co for the sound effects to Suffragette, which required him to wear specially adapted high heels. Joe Wright, the director of Pan explains why Nirvana's Smell Like Teen Spirit makes an unlikely appearance in his new adaptatio...
Oct 08, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. Director Justin Kurzel tells Francine why he believes that Macbeth is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Greensman is not the latest super-hero but the name of the person who dresses a set with trees and shrubbery to make the indoors look like the outdoors. Richard Payne of Living Props reveals a few trade secrets. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan explains why the selfie is making better actors of us all. Matthew Sweet and Bryony Dixon of the BFI take us behind the sc...
Oct 01, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock The director of Hairspray and Pink Flamingos, John Waters, discusses whether shock value still has any currency. Sound editor Walter Murch reveals how he created the sounds of the future in 1971's THX1138 Michelangelo Antonioni's romantic drama L'Eclisse has one of the most iconoclastic endings in world cinema, critic Pasquale Iannone explains why.
Sep 24, 2015•29 min
With Francine Stock. A new drama Everest depicts what happened to a group of mountaineers on Everest when a storm struck in 1996. Film-maker and climber David Breashears was on the mountain at the time and discusses the practicalities and the problems of recreating the fatal expedition with director Baltasar Kormakur. Alfred Hitchcock loved the Albert Hall so much that he filmed there three times, including a boxing movie The Ring, inspired by his frequent visits to see fights in the auditorium....
Sep 17, 2015•30 min
With Francine Stock. Controversial director Abel Ferrara takes on the life and death of controversial director Pier Paolo Pasolini, who was murdered 40 years ago, sparking rumours of political assassination. Jerry Rothwell discusses his documentary about the early years of Greenpeace featuring never before seen footage of early confrontations with whaling boats. Neil Brand explains how film music for robots has evolved from avant-garde electronica to show tunes from Hello Dolly. Set decorator Li...
Sep 10, 2015•31 min
With Francine Stock. Liv Ullmann discusses Miss Julie, Ingmar Bergman and Sex And The City, and why she turned down the opportunity to play George Clooney's love interest. Brian Helgeland reveals why he decided to cast Tom Hardy to play both Kray twins, Ronnie and Reggie, in his new bio-pic Legend. Model maker Jose Granell on what it's like to see your best work blown to smithereens and how he built his own miniature submarine from a manual.
Sep 03, 2015•29 min
With Antonia Quirke Four members of the Angulo family, the subject of award-winning documentary The Wolfpack, reveal what it was like to be locked up in an apartment by their father and why they turned to movies as a form of escape. As the Directed By Women global festival begins, Catherine Bray and Angie Errigo consider whether it really matters if there are so few female film-makers. David McLeod fills in some of the details of Buster Keaton's long forgotten tour of British theatres in 1951 Th...
Aug 27, 2015•28 min
Antonia Quirke hears from listeners who found 15 seconds of fame in the movies, like John Chapman whose hair can be seen in two scenes in Star Wars. Hanja Kochansky rubbed shoulders with Richard Burton in Cleopatra, while Diane Poole was picked from her school playground to take the plum part of Hayley Mills' sister in Whistle Down The Wind. Antonia visits Downham village to meet Diane and her best friend Pam Dyson, who played Pam in the movie. There's the tale of the badly behaved extra and the...
Aug 20, 2015•28 min
With Antonia Quirke Greta Gerwig, writer and star of Mistress America, talks about what it's like to write with her romantic partner Noah Baumbach and her life as a teenage fencer and dancer. Judd Apatow discusses his bad taste comedy Trainwreck and why Hollywood has a problem with potty-mouthed, sexually unfettered women As someone whose ideal cinematic experience is watching a movie in an empty auditorium on a Tuesday afternoon, Antonia has never understood the appeal of the outdoor screening....
Aug 13, 2015•28 min
With Antonia Quirke Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood discusses his score for There Will Be Blood, which he will be performing live in August. He also tells Antonia why he wouldn't like to score a Bond movie or any other blockbuster. Antonia starts the search for people who saw Buster Keaton's tour of British theatres and music halls in 1951, and consults historian Kevin Brownlow. Writer Nat Segnit discusses the changing voice of Al Pacino. Hoo ha ! Prop makers FBFX reveals the tricks of their trade, ...
Aug 06, 2015•30 min
With Francine Stock. Fifty years after winning his first award for his film work, Sir Tom Courtenay talks about his latest role, in 45 Years, for which he won the Silver Bear at this year's Berlin Film Festival. The actor talks about his relationship and rivalry with Albert Finney and how he persuaded Omar Sharif to become a life-long fan of Hull City FC.
Jul 30, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock The Full Monty and Trainspotting star Robert Carlyle discusses the challenges of directing himself in The Legend Of Barney Thomson and reveals which part of the job made him want to stick a fork in his eye. Up director and producer Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera delve into the mind of a 11 year old for their latest animation, Inside Out, and discuss the research they conducted into human emotions, and the surprising conclusions they came to. Joseph Losey, the director of The Se...
Jul 23, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock Michael Douglas discusses his first super-hero movie, Ant-Man, and explains why he's become the go-to guy for lengthy monologues Director Morgan Matthews explains why he turned his documentary about a maths Olympiad, Beautiful Young Minds, into a feature film, X + Y. Martin Asbury lets light in on the magic of the storyboard artist.
Jul 16, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. Director Justin Simien discusses his controversial comedy Dear White People and Priscilla Igwe of the New Black Film Collective discusses the difficulties of releasing the film in this country. The Film Programme visits Amazing Animals, who train animals and insects, from wolves to flies, for the movies. Listener Jan Johnson reveals how she was promoted from cabbage seller to Julie Christie's double on the set of Far From The Madding Crowd, and why it changed her life. Corri...
Jul 09, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. Back To The Future composer Alan Silvestri reveals why he's added 15 minutes of music to the original score for a new screening of Back To The Future. The producer and editor of Amy, James Gay-Rees and Chris King, discuss the skill and ethics of editing a documentary about the life of singer Amy Winehouse, and respond to criticism about the film from her father Mitch. Antonia Quirke visits the National Portrait Gallery's exhibition about Audrey Hepburn to see if it has chang...
Jul 02, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. Lisa Simone discusses a new and intimate documentary about her mother Nina Simone Peter Bogdanovich talks about his old friend Orson Welles and reveals why he is finishing a film that Welles began four decades ago. Director Alex Gibney discusses his controversial documentary about Scientology, Going Clear Critic Scott Jordan Harris picks his DVDs of the month.
Jun 25, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. Live Live Cinema perform The Little Shop Of Horrors in studio. The four band members play various instruments and all the characters as well as performing the sound effects and lip-synching to the dialogue on screen. They show Francine how it's done. Virtual Reality could well be the future of documentaries, according to film-makers Richard Nockles and Gabo Arora. Francine dons a headset and takes a virtual tour of London by crane. The road to the Oscars for Slumdog Milliona...
Jun 18, 2015•28 min
Director of the National Theatre Rufus Norris talks about the film adaptation of 'London Road' Francine Stock visits the Sheffield Documentary Festival to talk to Oscar nominated film maker Joshua Oppenheimer about his latest work 'The Look of Silence'. Fellow documentary maker John Akomfrah discusses the psyche of non fiction film making. Director John Boorman on 'Queen and Country' and how movie making has changed. Presenter Francine Stock. Producer Ruth Sanderson.
Jun 11, 2015•28 min
With Antonia Quirke. The Film Programme gathers listeners' memories of the day that a film crew rolled into town or took over their street. Antonia Quirke hears from Mr Turner production designer Suzie Davies who transformed a land-locked house in Hertfordshire into the painter's Thames-side residence, by the simple expedient of digging up the garden and filling it with enough water to make it look like a river. And talks to the home's owner, Gloria Thompson, about what it was like to see your m...
May 28, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. Director Brad Bird discusses Tomorrowland, in which George Clooney searches for a mythical city of the future created by the finest minds of their generation. Director Ana Lily Amirpour discusses her Iranian vampire spaghetti western, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. Abderrahmane Sissako talks about the political context of his drama Timbuktu, in which an African town is taken over by a jihadist group. Tim Robey and Clare Binns report from the Cannes Film Festival....
May 21, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. As Mad Max hits the road again, Kim Newman trawls through his favourite post-apocalyptic cliches. Director Olivier Assayas discusses his drama Clouds Of Sils Maria, which he wrote for his friend Juliette Binoche, and reveals why he also cast Twilight star Kristen Stewart. Critic Tim Robey and film buyer Clare Binns look forward to this year's Cannes festival. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh makes her pick of this month's DVDs.
May 14, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock Peter Firth talks about bringing Spooks to the big screen and a film career that's included Equus and Roman Polanski's Tess and tells Francine why his mother was proud of his nude scenes in the stage production of Equus. Neil Brand explains why a famous Italian opera provided the unlikely soundtrack for the boxing movie Raging Bull Director Celine Sciamma explains why she auditioned over 300 non-professional actresses to play the lead in her hard-hitting Parisian tale of gang...
May 07, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock Festen director Thomas Vinterberg discusses his latest adaptation of Far From The Madding Crowd and why he hasn't seen all of John Schlesinger's 1967 version with Terence Stamp and Julie Christie. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle reveals some tricks of his trade and tells Francine what's the colour of love. Director Krzysztof Zanussi talks about what it was like working under state censorship in communist-era Poland. Critic Sophie Monks-Kaufman makes her pick of the best DVD...
Apr 30, 2015•28 min
With Francine Stock. Avengers' director Joss Whedon discusses the challenges of writing a film with not one, not two, but eight super-heroes. Swedish auteur Roy Andersson on A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence and why the Swedes are really glum. As part of the BBC's Get Creative campaign, Francine tries her hand at making sound effects with household objects, ably assisted by Foley artist Barnaby Smyth. In the week that The Falling is released, Kier-La Janisse and Sandra Hebron cons...
Apr 23, 2015•28 min
