I talk to Hanna Flint, critic, broadcaster and author of Strong Female Character , a personal and incisive reflection on how cinema has been the key to understanding herself and the world we live in. A feminist of mixed-race heritage, Hanna has succeeded in an industry not designed for people like her. Interweaving anecdotes from familial and personal experiences – episodes of messy sex, introspection, and that time actor Vincent D’Onofrio tweeted that Hanna Flint sounded ‘like a secret agent’ –...
Oct 05, 2022•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 75
It’s April 2016. Stephen Bradley has just spent a very hectic year and a half promoting his latest film, Noble , as it was released across the world from Los Angeles to Cannes to New Zealand. What he doesn’t know, until now, is that during the same period he was also developing a Stage IV cancer that has now spread to vital organs. Shooting and Cutting: A Survivor's Guide to Filmmaking and Other Diseases alternates between the journey of Stephen’s life-changing treatment, his renewed sense of pu...
Sep 28, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! Michael Mann, four-time-Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Last of the Mohicans , The Insider , Ali , Miami Vice , Collateral , and Heat teams up with Edgar Award–winning author Meg Gardiner to deliver Mann’s first novel, an explosive return to the universe and characters of his classic crime film—with an all-new story unfolding in the years before and after the iconic movie “ Heat 2 is now one of my favorite suspense novels. . . . I’m already quoting li...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Dav Columbo was arguably the most popular and most unique television mystery series ever—even though, within two minutes of the titles, the audience already knew the murderer’s identity. The show captivated tens of millions of viewers for 69 adventures produced over 35 years. Yet if star Peter Falk had gotten his way, it would have run far longer. Columbo was never formally cancelled, just subtly killed off. Twice. Who was to blame? The temperamental lead who would rather work in movies? The bud...
Sep 16, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 72
I speak to Sarajevo Festival director Jovan Marjanovic and Edin Forto, the Prime Minister of the canton of Sarajevo about cinema in a time of war. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 31, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Formed in early 2015 by film scholars Dario Llinares and Neil Fox, The Cinematologists is a podcast and film clu b that aims to bring fans, filmmakers, critics and academics together to watch, discuss and engage with cinema of all forms, genres and eras. The podcast is often based on a live event film screening where contributions from the hosts and audience members are recorded and edited together with related interviews and contextual chat from Neil and Dario, but there are also long form inte...
Aug 24, 2022•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 70
John Bleasdale travels to the 75th Locarno film Festival where he talks to writers Leonardo Goi, Joseph Owens and Nanna Frank Rasmussen as well as first time film director Tom Hardiman about their festival experiences and their favourite film books. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Aug 11, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 69
“Movie Speak won’t guarantee you a job, but having a knowledge of the industry terms will fool everyone into thinking you own the place.” — Steven Spielberg “Finally a book that celebrates the process—the dynamic web of people, technique, and artistry—underneath every foot of celluloid.” —Jodie Foster Uncover the secret language of movie-making in a handbook for film buffs and language-lovers, as well as anyone who aspires to break into the business, with hundreds of essential terms, explained. ...
Aug 10, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Award-winning filmmaker Dan Mirvish directed the critically-acclaimed features Bernard and Huey, Between Us, Open House and Omaha (the movie). He's the author of The Cheerful Subversive's Guide to Independent Filmmaking (Focal Press /Routledge), occasional journalist, frequent film school guest lecturer and cofounder of the Slamdance Film Festival. Dan is a former Washington, DC, speechwriter to US Sen. Tom Harkin, graduate of USC film school, and a member of the DGA. His new film 18 and a Half ...
Aug 03, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 67
In 1888, Frenchman Louis Le Prince shot the world’s first motion picture. In 1890, he boarded a train in his home country and vanished — never to be seen again. Just a few months later, Thomas Edison announced “his” own groundbreaking motion picture device — one Le Prince’s family thought looked unsettlingly familiar… The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures pulls back the curtain on Louis Le Prince’s life and work, dispelling the secrets that shroud each — and sheds light, for the first time, on hi...
Jul 27, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Morris Mike Medavoy is an American film producer and business executive. He is the co-founder of Orion Pictures (1978), former chairman of TriStar Pictures, former head of production for United Artists (1974–1978), and the current chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures. He is also the author two books: You're Only As Good As Your Next One: 100 Great Films, 100 Good Films and 100 For Which I Should Be Shot , co-written by Josh Young, and American Idol After Iraq; Competing for Hearts and Minds in t...
Jul 20, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 65
James Peaty is the writer and director of three short films. He has also written extensively for DC Comics, 2000AD, and Doctor Who. Lo3O82Mhd7jkQWSlVain Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 13, 2022•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Released in 1946, The Best Years of Our Lives became an immediate success. Life magazine called it “the first big, good movie of the post-war era” to tackle the “veterans problem.” Today we call that problem PTSD, but in the initial aftermath of World War II, the modern language of war trauma did not exist. The film earned the producer Samuel Goldwyn his only Best Picture Academy Award. It offered the injured director, William Wyler, a triumphant postwar return to Hollywood. And for Harold Russe...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Guests from Cannes: Luke Hicks, Savina Petkova, Staphanie Zacharek, and Jason Solomons. Listeners and guests: Cai Ross and Ian Killick. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 61
Sean Hogan is a critic, screenwriter and film director, but I'm talking to him mainly about his two books of metafictional nightmares: England's Screaming and Twilight's Last Screaming . Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Buy the book here. In this genre-defying work of cultural history, the chief film critic of Slate places comedy legend and acclaimed filmmaker Buster Keaton’s unique creative genius in the context of his time. Born the same year as the film industry in 1895, Buster Keaton began his career as the child star of a family slapstick act reputed to be the most violent in vaudeville. Beginning in his early twenties, he enjoyed a decade-long stretch as the director, star, stuntman, editor, and all-aroun...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 59
I talk to writer, film producer and academic about screenwriters and screenwriting. Here's some information from Neil's own webpage: My award-winning film work includes the short film It’s Natural To Be Afraid (2011), viewable here , and the feature film ‘Wilderness’ (2017) , currently out for sale following a successful festival run. You can find my filmmaking site here . I am the co-founder and co-host of the renowned film podcast The Cinematologists . I write about music documentaries for The...
Jun 01, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 58
A full-speed-ahead oral history of the nearly two-decade making of the cultural phenomenon Mad Max: Fury Road —with more than 130 new interviews with key members of the cast and crew, including Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, and director George Miller, from the pop culture reporter for The New York Times , Kyle Buchanan. It won six Oscars and has been hailed as the greatest action film ever, but it is a miracle Mad Max: Fury Road ever made it to the screen… or that anybody survived the production. ...
May 25, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 57
The son of a celebrated Hollywood director emerges from his father's shadow to claim his own place as a visionary force in American culture. George Stevens, Jr. tells an intimate and moving tale of his relationship with his Oscar-winning father and his own distinguished career in Hollywood and Washington. Fascinating people, priceless stories and a behind-the-scenes view of some of America's major cultural and political events grace this riveting memoir. George Stevens, Jr. grew up in Hollywood ...
May 18, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 56
Age of Cage might be the closest we will get to understanding the singular beauty of each of Nic Cage’s always electric performances. You are holding the Rosetta Stone for Cage. Enjoy it.” — Paul Scheer, actor, writer and host of the How Did This Get Made? and Unspooled podcasts Icon. Celebrity. Artist. Madman. Genius. Nicolas Cage is many things, but love him, or laugh at him, there's no denying two things: you’ve seen one of his many films, and you certainly know his name. But who is he, reall...
May 11, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Michel Ciment is the legendary editor of Positif and the author of numerous books on cinema, from Billy Wilder to Stanley Kubrick, Jane Campion to Fritz Lang. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 04, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 54
John Bleasdale talks to Matthew Page about his new book 100 Bible Films. From The Passion of the Christ to Life of Brian , and from The Ten Commandments to Last Temptation of Christ , filmmakers have been adapting the stories of the Bible for over 120 years, from first time the Höritz Passion Play was filmed in the Czech Republic back in 1897. Ever since, these stories have inspired musicals, comedies, sci-fi, surrealist visions and the avant garde not to mention spawning their own genre, the bi...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 53
John Bleasdale talks to Leon Hunt, the author of Mario Bava: The Artisan as Italian Horror Auteur. The blurb from Bloomsbury: How do we approach a figure like Mario Bava, a once obscure figure promoted to cult status? This book takes a new look at Italy's 'maestro of horror' but also uses his films to address a broader set of concerns. What issues do his films raise for film authorship, given that several of them were released in different versions and his contributions to others were not always...
Apr 21, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Read the book Cimino here. The first biography of critically acclaimed then critically derided filmmaker Michael Cimino—and a reevaluation of the infamous film that destroyed his career The director Michael Cimino (1939–2016) is famous for two films: the intense, powerful, and enduring Vietnam movie The Deer Hunter , which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1979 and also won Cimino Best Director, and Heaven’s Gate , the most notorious bomb of all time. Originally budgeted at $11 million, ...
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Sydeny Ladensohn Stern talks to john Bleasdale about her new book The Brothers Mankiewicz available here . Between them the Mankiewicz brothers were responsible for films as diverse as Citizen Kane and Monkey Business, Cleopatra and All About Eve. Sydney Ladensohn Stern's dual biography is a treasure trove of fascinating stories and insight as she brings a journalist's eye to bear on two brothers with an enormous impact on Hollywood. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 50
John Bleasdale talks to Kim Newman, journalist, film critic and fiction writer. He is author of numerous books on film including Nightmare Movies as well as novels such as Anno Dracula and his latest Something More than Night. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Mar 30, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Jonathan Rigby is the author of English Gothic (available here ), American Gothic (available here) and Euro Gothic as well as books on Christopher Lee and Roxy Music. He is an English actor and film historian who has written several books. Video Watchdog magazine described him as occupying "a proud place in the advance guard of film researchers, writers and critics." [1] In 2019, he was an inductee into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards ' Monster Kid Hall of Fame Get bonus content on Patreo...
Mar 23, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 48
'Like a pizza delivery driver who travels everywhere by moped, or a volcanologist who keeps turning the central heating up, I'm a film critic who loves going to the cinema.' Peter Bradshaw is the film reviewer for intelligent, curious cinemagoers; he has worked at the Guardian for twenty years. The Films That Made Me collates his finest reviews from the last two decades, which carry with them his deep experience, knowledge and understanding of film. Introducing each section with a brief introduc...
Mar 16, 2022•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Joseph McBride has written a ton of books, as well as writing screenplays and television specials. The subjects of his work include baseball slang, JFK, and biographies of Frank Capra, Billy Wilder and John Ford. His latest is a superb exploration of the work of the Coen Brother s. Here's the blurb: The Coen Bros. have attracted a wide following and have been rewarded with Oscars and other honors. Some of their films such as Fargo , The Big Lebowski , and No Country for Old Men are cult favorite...
Mar 09, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 46
John Bleasdale talks to Isaac Butler the author of The Method How the 20th Century Learned to Act. “Entertaining … a remarkable story.”--The New Yorker “Delicious, humane, probing.”--Vulture, Most Anticipated Books of 2022 "The best and most important book about acting I've ever read."--Nathan Lane From the coauthor of The World Only Spins Forward comes the first cultural history of Method acting--an ebullient account of creative discovery and the birth of classic Hollywood. On stage and screen,...
Mar 02, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 45
