Behind The Lens

It's a rad #BTLRadioShow this week as we take a step back in time to the "awesome" 80s - those days of big and bigger hair, ruched puffy satin, high waisted jeans, Tom Cruise in his underwear, and Top 40 needledrop heavy John Hughes movies filling the movie screens - with LATER DAYS thanks to our special guests, co-writers/co-directors BRAD RIDDELL and SANFORD STERNSHEIN as well as actor MAJANDRA DELFINO.

A coming-of-age tale of a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad who wants to throw a 40th birthday surprise party for his workaholic attorney wife and decides to toss an 80's themed prom bash, inviting everyone they knew - and didn't know - in high school. The problem is that his wife didn't want any kind of party and the glory days of high school were his, not hers. Adding insult to injury, he produces an old ruched satin dress of hers that he had altered to now fit her that she must wear. Ouch. Take a listen to all the fun and laughter about bringing the 80s to life, from Brad and Sandy's own less than successful party hostings as inspiration for the story to crafting characters to casting to capturing the spirit (and embarrassment) of high school days gone by through costume and production design to cinematography to editing and finding comedic and emotional tone to score and one of the greatest gifts of the film - a killer soundtrack featuring 19 Top 40 hits of the 80s with everyone from Bowie to Tears for Fears to OMD to John Lennon and more.

So important to any film, but particularly indie projects, the gentlemen have much to say about their music supervisor and licensing the songs for the film. LATER DAYS is also a love letter to the Chicago suburbs and the wealth of comedic talent in the area, something key to the heart of the film and to Brad and Sandy, with location and weather challenges alco becoming a part of the production process. Midway into our conversation, actor MAJANDRA DELFINO joins the mix talking about her experience as an actor, the appeal of this script, working with her husband David Walton who also plays her husband in the film, finding her own 80s mojo (she was only 8 or 9 at the time), comfortable costuming, being a part of onscreen hijinks - especially toilet papering a front lawn, and more.

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It's a fun show this week as we get in the Halloween spirit with JOCELYN RISH as we look at GRAVE INTENTIONS, then examine the "horror" and biting edge of filmmaking and film festivals with MARSHALL COOK and his rapier-witted comedy FILM FEST, and you'll hear about a new non-fiction book on the way from Jocelyn called BATTLE OF THE BUTTS (Seriously! Kids are gonna love it.).

First up today, take a listen to our prerecorded exclusive interview with writer/director and book author JOCELYN RISH talking about the horror anthology GRAVE INTENTIONS as well as her upcoming new book BATTLE OF THE BUTTS. It takes a talented and creative person to put together an anthology like GRAVE INTENTIONS AND research and write a book about animal butts, but Jocelyn does just that. Lighthearted and passionate, both shine through in this candid and fun-filled interview as we go from BUTTS to Madame Josephine who introduces the 5 horror shorts in GRAVE INTENTIONS. A global group of shorts, there is a sentimental standout with GRAVE INTENTIONS as one of the shorts is Robert Forster's final onscreen appearance, something not lost on Jocelyn. Jocelyn works her own magic as she talks about the genesis of each project, research into each, the selection process of films for the anthology, constructing the anthology with a reasoning to the placement of each short in the piece, developing "Madame Josephine" as our guide into GRAVE INTENTIONS, production design of the anthology wraparound, and more.

And then writer/director MARSHALL COOK joins us live talking about his film, FILM FEST. You may recall that Marshall was set to join us back in July but due to his shooting schedule on another project, had to reschedule. He's here now and the timing is perfect as FILM FEST is available to all on Amazon Prime, Tubi, and Vudu. A comedic (and more than somewhat truthful) look at a filmmaker and the film festival experience, there is something for everyone here as Marshall incorporates all types of filmmaking and festival experiences within his characters, providing tacit commentary that those of us on the inside know all too well. Laughs start from the getgo as we discuss the whole "filmmaker/film festival" experience and how that spawned this story, casting, the benefit of casting actors with a stand-up comedy and comedic background, location, cinematography and the unfettered clean approach, crafting montages, music, and more.

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Diving into some darker elements this week on #BTLRadioShow as we take a look at riveting and thought-provoking film THE SUBJECT with our special guest director LANIE ZIPOY, and the coming-of-age thriller WHAT BREAKS THE ICE with writer/director REBECCA ESKREIS.

First up, take a listen to our prerecorded exclusive interview with writer/director REBECCA ESKREIS who talks about new film WHAT BREAKS THE ICE. A coming of age thriller where two girls enjoying a carefree summer vacation in an idyllic small town, suddenly have their best-laid plans go awry with fatal results. Rebecca goes in-depth about the story and its genesis, her cinematographic design and tone, sound design and the importance of ambient sound in this story, scoring, montage, and more!

Then director LANIE ZIPOY joins us talking about her riveting directorial feature debut – THE SUBJECT. Timely, topical. A thought-provoking nail-biter with a myriad of themes to unpack, each as powerful as the next. A white documentary filmmaker gains acclaim for his documentary about the life of a young black teen. But what happens when that boy is beaten to death and the filmmaker keeps rolling and doesn't stop the murder. With an onslaught of press seeking answers, that isn't the least of his problems when a stalker makes him the subject of their obsession. Who is it and why? An interesting discussion on perspectives and how that is aided in the telling of this story thanks to shooting with four different camera types and using six cameras; the film's themes so applicable in today's world in addition to the decades-old question on the responsibility of journalists and documentarians and the "line in the sand" – should you step into the story you are observing/telling and if so, is there a right time to do so; use of color, casting, and more.

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On this week's episode of BEHIND THE LENS we take a look at two films – one steeped in the past and the other, set in present-day but affected by a past centuries old. Take a listen as POTSY PONCIROLI talks OLD HENRY and MILES DOLEAC talks DEMIGOD.

First up, my prerecorded exclusive interview with writer/director POTSY PONCIROLI talking about his new film, OLD HENRY. Set in 1906, this is the story of an old farmer who has seen better days, days long buried. But what happens when Henry gives aid to an injured man and a gun-toting posse shows up at his door? Patient and pot-boiling, this is a film you should see and interview you should hear! Listen as Potsy talks about the story, casting, the importance of location and how it influenced the script and story, production design including build-out to the 100-year old house used as Henry's farm and accompanying period set-dress, cinematography and working with John Matysiak, Jamie Kirkpatrick's editing and finding the right build of tension, working with pigs and horses and altering the script to accommodate the equine moods, Jordan Lehning's score, and more.

Then listen to MILES DOLEAC who joins us live talking about his latest film, DEMIGOD! Melding his passions for history and mythological lore into visual tapestries that are often blood-soaked and visceral, DEMIGOD takes us into the Black Forest of Germany and the legend of the god Cernunnos. Diving into the legend of Cernunnos as a starting point for this story, Miles talks about "tweaks" to Cernunnos for storytelling purposes, developing the story structure and build of witches and characters alike, casting, cinematography and using anamorphic lenses to capture specific lens flares, shooting during pandemic lockdown in the wilderness area of Little Black Creek in Mississippi and how the isolation of the cast and crew worked to the film's advantage, Lindsay Anne Williams costuming, developing visual tonal bandwidth and rooting the visuals in nature, sound design and mix with attention to ambient sound, musical influences from chorale to Brian May that were melded together by composer Clifton Hyde to create a haunting, "earthy" score, and more.

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We're digging into the darkness with this episode of #BTLRadioShow as we take a look at two riveting thrillers - THROUGH THE GLASS DARKLY and IMPLANTED - thanks to our two live guests, LAUREN FASH and FABIEN DUFILS.

First up we welcome LAUREN FASH, who makes her feature directorial debut with THROUGH THE GLASS DARKLY, a pot-boiling thriller that delves into the darkness of the mind and the heart with the drama, prejudice, and corruption within a small Georgia town when two young girls go missing. Take a listen as Lauren goes in-depth on the story, themes, casting, powerhouse performances from Robyn Lively and Shanola Hampton, location, cinematography, and all things "the making of".

Then writer/director FABIEN DUFILS is onboard to talk about his fascinating sci-fi psychological thriller IMPLANTED, the story of a woman who has a nanochip with artificial intelligence implanted in her body designed to aid in the body's well being and prevention of illness and disease. But what happens when the AI takes over control of the body and sends her host on a murderous spree? Listen as Fabien goes in-depth about the genesis of the story and the actual science behind it, using visuals and sound to take us "inside" Sarah's head, casting and working with Michelle Girolami who plays Sarah, cinematography and the conscious design of ECUs, shooting in New York and Paris, color, using the cinematographic tools to show state of mind and emotional contrast, and more.

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We've got some drama, some action, and some laughs for you in this episode of BEHIND THE LENS thanks to our special guests SIMON PHILLIPS talking SURVIVE THE GAME (and more!) and first-time feature director RYAN LACEN talking ALL THE WORLD IS SLEEPING.

Kicking off the show is none other than SIMON PHILLIPS! Regular listeners already heard me rave about Simon earlier this year when director Paul Tanter was on the show and we dove into their dark comedy STEALING CHAPLIN. Well, now we've got Simon joining us live talking about his latest film, the action-thriller SURVIVE THE GAME in which he costars with Bruce Willis, Chad Michael Murray, and longtime "General Hospital" favorite Sean Kanan! Ssssh! Don’t tell anyone, but Simon and Sean are THE reasons to see SURVIVE THE GAME. And talk about fun-filled and insightful!! Listen as Simon and I talk about SURVIVE THE GAME, shooting in Puerto Rico in February 2021 (and the film is releasing less than 8 months later!) and the safety protocols in place, working with Bruce Willis and Sean Kanan, and how his character of "English" came to be thanks to director James Cullen Bressack. And we bounce into STEALING CHAPLIN, as well as some tidbits on Simon's upcoming work – FORTRESS (another Willis film), the three-volume horror anthology THE UNITED STATES OF HORROR, Season Two of AGE OF THE LIVING DEAD. Plus, Simon talks about dark comedy, character-driven performances, the benefits of theater as a training ground for comedy, and so much more.

Then writer/director RYAN LACEN joins us fresh off the world premiere at the New York Latino Film Festival to talk about his debut directorial feature ALL THE WORLD IS SLEEPING. The story of a young Chicana mother in New Mexico battling drug addiction in an effort to keep her daughter, the film has a unique generational mother-daughter perspective and Ryan balances the gravitas and horror of the subject matter with interesting and beautiful imagery showcasing a first-rate cast that includes Melissa Barrera, Jackie Cruz, and Jorge Garcia. Listen as Ryan talks about the genesis of the story, maintaining the female POV, working with his cinematographer Michael Garcia in developing visuals to evoke the internalized thoughts of Chama – the main character of the story, casting, shooting in New Mexico, working with some 35 eight and ten-year-olds, locations and company moves, score, and more. ALL THE WORLD IS SLEEPING is currently on the festival circuit.

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This episode of #BTLRadioShow goes "ape" with musicals, mayhem, and monkeyshines as we talk about EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE in our exclusive interview with MAX HARWOOD and LAUREN PATEL, along with welcoming acclaimed documentarian ALEX M. AZMI and GABI SKOLLAR, Director of The Gibbon Center, to talk about their film THE CENTER: GIBBONS AND GUARDIANS.

First up you'll hear our exclusive interview with two of the brightest new stars on the horizon, MAX HARWOOD and LAUREN PATEL, as they talk about their fabulous new musical EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE. Fun-filled and fantastic, Max and Lauren are like a breath of fresh air on the cinematic canvas – as is their film. Candid and enthusiastic, you'll fall in love with these young talents who make their feature film debuts with ETAJ! EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE is streaming on Amazon Prime!

But then a real treat as we welcome ALEX M. AZMI live to talk about his latest documentary THE CENTER: GIBBONS AND GUARDIANS. And a surprise for us is having GABI SKOLLAR, director of The Gibbon Center in Santa Clarita, California, joins us as well. Beyond going behind-the-scenes and learning about the making of THE CENTER including securing interviews with the renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, we also hear from Gabi as she goes in-depth about The Center itself and talks about the care and feeding of the gibbons, fun facts to know and tell about gibbons, her own work capturing these wonderful creatures on film for the documentary, and all the monkeyshines that go on at The Center, especially from one of the cutest Gibbons on the planet – Violet, who, by the way, steals the show. THE CENTER: GIBBONS AND GUARDIANS is now available across the North American continent on VOD/Digital platforms & Blu-Ray/DVD.

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This week on BEHIND THE LENS, a reflection on 9/11 and the Victim's Compensation Fund and Special Master Ken Feinberg with our prerecorded exclusive interview with director SARA COLANGELO talking about WORTH, and then a shift to something lighter as writer/director JON SHERMAN is live talking about his new film THEY/THEM/US.

First up this week is a surprise non-scheduled prerecorded exclusive interview with director SARA COLANGELO talking in-depth about one of the complex issues surrounding the attacks of 9/11, the Victim Compensation Fund, now brought to the big screen with the narrative film WORTH. Written by Max Borenstein and adapted from Special Master attorney Ken Feinberg's memoirs, WORTH is a film that's more than worth your time and your compassion. Already known for her exemplary storytelling with the acclaimed Little Accidents and The Kindergarten Teacher, with WORTH, Colangelo ups the ante to deliver a powerful and compelling cinematic telling of this chapter in the history of 9/11. With a cast led by Michael Keaton in an award-worthy turn as Ken Feinberg, WORTH also stars Stanley Tucci, Amy Ryan, Tate Donovan, Laura Benanti, Shunari Ramanathan, and Talia Balsam, each brings a humanized emotional resonance to each character and the film as a whole. Watching Keaton is a master class in acting.

Then a big post-world premiere welcome to writer/director JON SHERMAN who joins us live talking about his latest comedy, THEY/THEM/US! Take a listen as Jon goes into the laughs, foibles, fun, and frenzy that the blending of families brings to the story, the genesis of the film, structuring story, crafting the comedic elements while never forgetting the drama of family, the considerations of visual design and working with his cinematographer, score and needledrops, editing comedy, casting, shooting as one of the first films approved to film during pandemic lockdown with industry protocols in place, the challenges of shooting on a 20-day schedule but with the bonus of having a first-rate union crew who would normally be tied up with larger projects were it not for the pandemic, budgeting struggles with finding an additional $75-100K beyond the budgeted film exclusively for covid protocols with safety and testing, incorporating local Ohio community into the film, and more.

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This is a very special edition of BEHIND THE LENS as we not only welcome back director/editor NICK FITURI SCOWN to the show, but we reflect on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 as seen through the eyes of comedy and laughter with TOO SOON: COMEDY AFTER 9/11, Nick's debut documentary feature which he co-directed with comedy journalist Julie Seabaugh. Nick also served as the film's editor.

An in-depth interesting conversation. For those of us alive in September 2001, we remember the event and the aftermath; the shock, the horror, the confusion, the pain, the sorrow. In the blink of an eye, our world changed. Life seemingly came to a stop. And so did the laughter. We were frozen, wondering when life would resume as it was. As we now know, life never went back to what it was, but what did finally return was the communal experience of laughter. Comedy is cathartic. For so many of us, through laughter, and specifically comedy and comedians and late-night talk show hosts, we almost got "permission" that it was okay to laugh and smile again, to tell jokes and look for some reasoning behind the heinous acts of 9/11. When David Letterman returned to late-night television with Dan Rather as his first guest, that was a sign that just maybe we'd be okay and that we could share a laugh and a smile and grieve and mourn all at the same time. But while Letterman was a face seen by all thanks to television, what about the stand-up club comics, the parody newspapers like The Onion, or the beloved institution of Saturday Night Live? Would the same "okay" apply to them? TOO SOON: COMEDY AFTER 9/11 examines and reflects on the idea of "what is too soon" through the eyes of the comics, hosts, writers, directors, club owners, and Broadway performers, who helped us find our footing and funny bone while searching for their own. It was not an easy process and fraught with uncertainty and in the case of many comics of Middle Eastern or Arab descent – dangerous. To this day, 20 years later, there are still some aspects of the event that are comedy taboo to many both on stage and in the audience, but what each of the 50+ contributors to this documentary have shown us is that, even in the darkest of days, laughter may really be the best medicine.

Take a listen as Nick talks about the inspiration for this documentary and the journey which started in 2016, the development and follow-through in speaking with comedians and performers, finding a throughline, sifting through archival materials of news reports, still photographs, and comedy performances, and then the editing process. One of the most challenging aspects of the documentary was finding the balance of recollection and reflection with potentially reopening wounds of trauma. Another involved extensive deliberation on "the historical record" when it came to including individuals like Louis C.K. and even archival materials of Rudy Guliani, who has long since fallen from grace and his days of being known as "America’s Mayor" after 9/11. And Nick gets personal talking about the impact of 9/11 on himself and his family and the importance of this documentary given his own Middle Eastern background. His father is from Libya and is Muslim. You don’t want to miss this interview with NICK FITURI SCOWN or the documentary TOO SOON: COMEDY AFTER 9/11.

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This week on BEHIND THE LENS we take a look at two films, both of which speak to the heart of Americana and humanity – THE COLONY and SAVING PARADISE thanks to SEBASTIAN ROCHE and JAY SILVERMAN, respectively.

Kicking off this episode is our prerecorded exclusive interview with SEBASTIAN ROCHE talking about his new film, THE COLONY. Probably best known for his role as the villainous Jerry Jacks on "General Hospital" or his decades of recurring characters on the big and small screens, including Reichminister Hausmann in "The Man in the High Castle", Balthazar in "Supernatural", Mikael in "Vampire Diaries" or most recently as Sheriff Wagy in the acclaimed "Big Sky", with THE COLONY, get ready to see Sebastian in a new light. Set in the distant future, female astronaut Blake is shipwrecked on the long-decimated Earth, and along with a small colony of survivors, is forced to determine the fate of the planet and humanity. Sebastian plays Blake's father, a tie between the past and the present with Blake being the future. A powerful film that explores the human condition, morals and ethics, Darwinism, and that elusive and important human connection, take a listen as Sebastian and I dig into THE COLONY talking about the script, the film's themes, working with writer/director Tim Fehlbaum as well as his primary costars, Nora Arnezeder and Cloe Heinrich as the adult and younger Blake, respectively; plus, his thoughts on acting, performance, and of course, the question on the minds of his legions of loyal "General Hospital" fans – will the villainous Jerry Jacks make a return to the GH canvas.

Then, it's a joy to welcome director JAY SILVERMAN back to #BTLRadioShow, this time talking about his new film, SAVING PARADISE. A film that speaks to the heart of Americana with a tale of hope and promise, Jay also gives us a little Christmas in September. And given the story revolves around a small town, a pencil factory, and the townspeople who work there, what better time for the film's release than Labor Day weekend! A real little indie gem, take a listen as Jay talks about his cast from William Moseley, Johanna Braddy, and George Steeves to a who's who of veteran character actors who bring depth and texture to the story in supporting roles, the film's themes, cinematographer Bruce Alan Greene, his reteaming with composer Dave Holden, the logistics of shooting in the working Musgrave Pencil Company in Tennessee and then on a stage in Los Angeles and marrying the imagery through Morgan Halsey's keen editing, and so much more.

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