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The B-Side Ep. 168 – Philip Seymour Hoffman
Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we talk about maybe the greatest actor who ever lived: Philip Seymour Hoffman. But seriously, did Hoffman ever give a bad performance? We talk about it! Conor and I are back and our Philip Seymour Hoffman B-Sides are Leap of Faith, Owning Mahowny, Pirate Radio, and Jack Goes Boating. We go through his whole filmography, spot-checking the crucial moments throughout his career. We briefly discuss his Oscar-winning performance in Capote, his iconic supporting turn in Along Came Polly, and his Oscar-nominated role in Charlie Wilson’s War. There’s also an admiration at the power he wielded with silence, and an examination into why The Master is his acting masterpiece. Additionally, we remain astonished by the career of John Patrick Shanley (writer/director of Doubt), we celebrate the upcoming Greenland 2: Migration, and the ability of Richard Curtis to squeeze earnest sentimentality out of garish manipulation. There’s also chat about Seth Rogen, who lost out to Hoffman for the role of The Count in Pirate Radio and was approached by Hoffman to star in Jack Goes Boating, until Hoffman played the role himself. Rogen discussed these things himself on a recent Blank Check podcast episode.
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Emulsion Ep. 16 - Will Sloan on Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA
Ed Wood died the better part of a half-century ago, and to this day his reputation as the world's worst filmmaker persists. Even in this era when seemingly everything can be reclaimed, few have made the effort for Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda, or Night of the Ghouls, making all the more compelling a new book that does so without necessarily making the case for Wood as a strictly speaking good filmmaker. The author is Will Sloan and the book Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA, which studies Wood's filmography as a genuinely dream-like and ideologically... if not driven, then at least somewhat occupied with major questions of identity. The work shows in Sloan's book, which contains key biographical information, rundowns of Wood's novelistic career, and a larger consideration of what constitutes a bad movie. I was extremely pleased to speak with him about these and sundry other subjects.
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Emulsion Ep. 15 – Dennis Lim on the 63rd New York Film Festival
If you live in New York and care about movies, the beginning of the New York Film Festival—this year, specifically, on Friday, September 26—is perhaps the most exciting moment of any year. Though he served on the committee for a number of years, since 2020, Dennis Lim has shepherded the festival, his dispensation as a journalist and critic carrying naturally to his inclinations as a programmer. On the eve of the New York Film Festival’s kick-off, I spoke to Dennis about his role as a programmer, how seemingly disparate films make nice pairings, what it feels like watching eight-to-ten-hours of films a day, and the role of a festival in a consensus-heavy moment.
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Remembering Robert Redford (with Blake Howard)
In remembrance of the legendary Robert Redford, we're resharing this conversation from 2024 on his extraordinary career and most overlooked performances. Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we talk about the movie star. The person who if you looked up “movie star” in the dictionary there would be a picture of him. Robert Redford! Today we talk the esteemed career of the quintessential movie star. Our B-Sides include: The Hot Rock, The Great Waldo Pepper, Havana, and The Last Castle. Our guest today is Blake Howard, podcast producer, host, and really good guy. Check out One Heat Minute Productions for everything new and relevant in Blake’s world. We discuss a million things, from why The Hot Rock is so hard to find, to the airplane stunts in The Great Waldo Pepper, to why Havana doesn’t work. There’s an investigation into the politics of The Last Castle, a brief celebration of Lena Olin, and a quick rave for Jordan Harper’s searing short story “My Savage Year.” Additional topics include that upcoming City of Hope release, why Peter Yates is “slow vibes central,” why great screenwriter William Goldman knew why The Great Waldo Pepper underwhelmed at the box office (from his book Adventures in the Screen Trade), and how exactly the A-Side The Natural literally looks like nostalgia. Finally, we mention why Raul Julia didn’t take a credit on Havana, we reference that superb Scott Frank New Yorker profile, proclaim ourselves defenders of Hollywood Homicide, and discuss the end of Redford’s career.
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Emulsion Ep. 14 - Filipe Furtado on Brazilian Cinema
With exposure to Brazilian cinema being so pitiful, I thought it would be past due to host both an episode and screening that put a bit of spotlight on their rich cinematic history. One of my favorite films I’ve seen in recent years is Carlos Reichenbach’s Movie Dementia, which is both the cinema-induced madness its title suggests and a gritty view of national disaffection circa the 1980s––think Godard’s Pierrot Le Fou peppered with more gritty realism and a greater dose fantasy. I’ll be showing it at the Brooklyn Center for Theater Research on Wednesday, August 27th, for which tickets are now on-sale: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/amnesiascope-filme-demencia-tickets-1579316059849?aff=oddtdtcreator There is quite literally nobody I’d rather discuss that film, Reichenbach’s corpus, and Brazilian cinema than Filipe Furtado, whose work as a critic has been a north star for myself and countless cinephiles. I was glad to have this discussion with Filipe, who called in from São Paulo. I hope you enjoy it and can make the screening on the 27th.
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