The Treatment is a compelling listen to the vital conversations about the catalysts of creative inspiration. Following some of the most interesting, influential, and crossover creators in the world of entertainment, fashion, sports, and the arts, we hear from tastemakers who are the very fabric that forms popular culture.
In the 1930's and 40's, comic books were as popular as movies -- and more influential. So much so that serious steps were taken to stop them. Writer David Hajdu ( Lush Life, A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, Positively 4th Street ) examines this controversy in his new book, The Ten-Cent Plague , and illustrates it.
Some Like It Hot, The Magnificent Seven, In the Heat of the Night , the original Pink Panther . If you're lucky, you've seen these films. Walter Mirisch produced them. I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History is his new book.
For writer-director Michael Patrick King ( Will and Grace, Murphy Brown ) every season of Sex in the City was about changing expectations, which means he had his work cut out for him with the Sex in the City movie. See if the shoe fits.
What's crazier than Austin Powers or Meet the Fockers ? The 2000 presidential vote count, perhaps. It's the subject of Jay Roach 's new film, Recount . Count yourself in when Elvis Mitchell speaks with Roach.
As a writer, Henry Bean is responsible for films about self-destructive protagonists who skirt justice in Deep Cover Internal Affairs . With his directorial debut, The Believer , he took that character one step further. Now with his newest film, Noise , he moves into the realm of fable. We discuss his holy war: the brain versus the heart.
Documentary filmmaker Doug Pray manages to nose his way into outcast societies -- de facto families -- with his films. Hype , on the 90's Seattle music world, and Scratch on the DJ culture. His latest, Surfwise , is about the most exclusive family, father Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, who turns his nine kids into champion surfers. It's all about tribal rights.
Jon Favreau understands power. As an actor, he broke through by writing a roll for himself in Swingers . Then he made the move behind the camera as the director of Zathura and Elf and, now, the box-office smash Iron Man .
If you were creating an indie comedy about two London boys coming into their own in the 80's, the last title you'd use is Son of Rambow – unless you're writer-director Garth Jennings ( The Hitchkikers Guide to the Galaxy ).
There are few figures in American culture as with as potent a step as David Mamet ( American Buffalo, House of Games, Heist ), first as a playwright, then as a filmmaker. With his new movie, Redbelt , he takes on a new frontier, the action film. We hear how he came to climb that mountain.
It's not often that filmmakers turn to literary devices rather than film conventions for their work. It happens to be the case for director Vadim Perelman for both House of Sand and Fog and his newest, The Life Before Her Eyes .
The late writer-director Anthony Minghella ( Michael Clayton, Cold Mountain, The English Patient, Truly, Madly, Deeply ) focused on characters trying to come to terms with themselves and found drama in the misperceptions in films both epic and intimate. We use this sad occasion to revisit his thoughtful interview on his last film, Breaking and Entering . (This show originally aired February 7, 2007.)
He's one of America’s premier filmmakers and has devoted his career to bringing a nuanced portrayal of the African American experience to the screen. Writer-director Charles Burnett ( Killer of Sheep, My Brother's Wedding, American Family ) describes what got him into the movies and how stereotypes is still a battle worth fighting.
What a difference a decade makes. In the 1990's, director Kimberly Peirce brought Boys Don’t Cry to the big screen. Almost a decade later, she returns with Stop-Loss .
What do Dr. Doolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Bonnie and Clyde and In the Heat of the Night all have in common? All play a prominent role in movie history, as Mark Harris ( Entertainment Weekly ) notes in his new book, Pictures at a Revolution . It's history with a surprise ending.
The book Inside Inside not only takes a behind-the-scenes look at the television show Inside the Actors' Studio , but at its creator and host, James Lipton . This time, it's questions for the interrogator!
As a filmmaker, director Brett Morgen ( The Kid Stays in The Picture ) is attracted to real-life subjects about bigger-than-life figures. Chicago 10 is his biggest yet.
You may know the name Jon Poll from his work as editor on Meet the Parents and two of the Austin Powers films. He's just directed his first film, Charlie Bartlett , starring Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey, Jr. and Hope Davis. He discusses being the guy that makes the cut and the guy who says, "Cut."
You might think it difficult to make fear, weakness bulling a career. Writer-director Neil LaBute ( In the Company of Men, Nurse Betty ) disagrees with you. He's proved it works in film, on stage and with the West Coast premiere of his new play, Some Girls .
Yes, Lars and the Real Girl is about a man who falls for a sex doll. It's also about the women who help pull him out of his shell – and a lot more. Screenwriter Nancy Oliver ( Six Feet Under ) talks about the work behind building the real girl.
In just two films, writer-director Jason Reitman ( In God We Trust ) has found comedy in the realm of personal responsibility. First, Thank You for Smoking and, now, Juno . For this Oscar nominee, the first and second times are the charm.
Not only has screenwriter Tony Gilroy ( The Devil's Advocate, Dolores Claiborne ) had quite a career, but quite a year as well. He adapted the Bourne books, including Ultimatum . Now he makes his directorial debut with Michael Clayton . NOTE: This encore presentation of The Treatment will not be heard live on KCRW as it will be pre-empted by special post-primary election coverage.
Elvis Mitchell hosts director-writer-producer Paul Thomas Anderson ( Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love ) whose latest film is There Will Be Blood . This critically acclaimed, epic film has just received eight Academy Award nominations, including two for Anderson in the categories of Directing and Adapted Screenplay.
Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film, 1900-1934 is not only a mouthful as a title, but this DVD set deals with plain-spoken and direct controversy on the big screen in the silent era. You can hear all about it from its curator, Scott Simmon .
After Malcolm X and The Hurricane , you'd think Denzel Washington had enough of real life. But The Great Debaters , his second film as director, shows why fact drew him back. It's life as drama.
It's an unusual grouping of films for Marc Forster : Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball, Stranger than Fiction and his newest, The Kite Runner . And many of them deal with storytellers. It's narratives and narrators.
With Basquiat, Before Night Falls and his newest, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly , artist and director Julian Schnabel turns film biography into art. He discusses separating fiction from fact.
Elvis Mitchell hosts writer-director Tamara Jenkins ( Slums of Beverly Hills ) whose latest film is The Savages , starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Since 1984, writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen ( Blood Simple, Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou? ) have taken the chase and made some of best films of the past decade about it. Their newest, an adaptation of Colmac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men , is a high-octane version of that. Start your engines!
Family, the ties that bind and, sometimes, strangle. Writer-director Andrew Wagner 's made this the subject of two movies, including his newest, Starting Out in the Evening .
In writing and directing his first feature film, Great Wall of Sound , Craig Zobel drew from his real life and focuses the film on the south that few see. It's a low-budget comedy about predators who are also prey. Note: This show will not be broadcast on 89.9 FM due to special holiday programming but it will be available online.
