Behind The Lens

It's a real "show of shows" this week on BEHIND THE LENS as we welcome back the fabulous DEON TAYLOR for the entire hour! Take a listen as we go in-depth talking about Deon's latest film – THE INTRUDER plus Deon's journey as a filmmaker to arrive at today with a wide release feature film that debuted as the #1 new release at the box office and only second to "Avengers: Endgame". A man who has always kept his eye on the ball, his story is an inspiration to every filmmaker or wannabe filmmaker. And he is as affable, energetic and entertaining as can be while staying grounded, grateful, and humble. Dennis Quaid affectionately refers to him as "Mr. Excitement." One of the hallmarks of his filmmaking finds Deon with an uncanny knack for lulling one into a false sense of security when it comes to both his characters and his audience. He shows us ordinary people who become victims to terrifying circumstances, but who somehow find the inner mettle to survive. He also excels at showcasing the power of family, love, and that inherent will to survive, relying on the first two to propel the third. We saw it in "Supremacy". We saw it in "Traffik". We even saw it in the dark comedy "Meet the Blacks." His films boast dark forces and faces that we often don't see or knowingly look away from. And now Deon Taylor gives us THE INTRUDER. He once again brings terror to our home and our hearts and lays it on our doorstep, literally and figuratively, immersing us in true moments of jump out of your skin, heart pounding fright. You think you were afraid of monsters in the closet and under the bed before? Thanks to Deon and his vision, in true Hitchcockian style, the monsters in THE INTRUDER are more frightening than ever thanks to an award-worthy, insanely brilliant performance from Dennis Quaid. Knowing Dennis and knowing Deon, I only wish I had been a fly on the wall during the filming of THE INTRUDER. Coming from the world of professional basketball, Deon finds many aspects of sports analogous to filmmaking and talks about this during the hour. He also speaks from the heart about his journey as a self-taught filmmaker complete with the pitfalls and triumphs. And Deon is not shy about crediting the artisans who he works with, collaborates with, and learns from at every turn. We go into a detailed discussion about cinematography and use of color, and his work with cinematographer Daniel Pearl on THE INTRUDER, as well as Dante Spinotti's work on "Traffik". Plus, we talk about Deon's BE WOKE web campaign to engage the youth and African-American community to get out and vote, and get involved in their communities at the grassroots level and beyond. Good messages in this video series for everyone! And BE WOKE was recently nominated for a Webby Award! Sit back and take a listen now and let DEON TAYLOR "intrude" on you for the next hour with the filmmaking lessons he's learned in traversing the industry, sticking to his guns, following his instincts, and of course, THE INTRUDER.

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How about taking a trip into the past and the early days of jazz with BOLDEN? One of my picks of the year, take a listen to our exclusive prerecorded interview with writer/director DAN PRITZKER as we go in-depth into the history of jazz and Buddy Bolden.

At the midpoint of the show, writer/director/producer/cinematographer VILAN TRUB joins us live talking about his neo-noir crime thriller, THE DIRTY KIND, the story of a politician, a hooker, a couple of gangsters and a private eye and how everything goes wrong for everyone. Calling on his own love of 30's and 40's Sam Spade films and works by Dashiell Hammett, as well as more recent crime thrillers, listen as Vilan talks about crafting the story and the characters and layering plotlines on character traits, wearing a multiplicity of hats, shooting a film in nine days, the importance of location on a low budget production, rehearsal, editing, 20/20 hindsight, and his best advice to other filmmakers – don't wait for someone to wave a bag of money at you to make a film; just go make one.

It was a bombastic weekend at the box office as AVENGERS: ENDGAME broke virtually every recorded box office record thanks to a global opening weekend box office of $1.2 BILLION. The world showed that it's all in for the ENDGAME! But beyond being the film to wrap up this MCU phase after 10 years and 22 films, what is it that makes AVENGERS: ENDGAME a true cinematic experience? How about superb production values that really get to shine thanks to more emotional, interpersonal story development versus gigantic action set pieces (don't worry, there are enough of those, too)?

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Female filmmakers are front and center this week on BEHIND THE LENS thanks to writer/director ROXANNE BENJAMIN and director ROXANN DAWSON.

First up is our exclusive pre-recorded interview with director ROXANN DAWSON who makes her feature directorial debut with BREAKTHROUGH. Based on the true story of 14-year old John Smith who, on January 19, 2015, fell through the ice of Lake St. Louis, and was clinically dead for almost an hour. With no CPR for 27 minutes and no pulse for 45 minutes, the emergency medical team delivered the worst possible news to John's mother, Joyce. But as any mother knows, you don't give up on your child. Calling on her immense faith, Joyce prayed for John to "come back to life" and be healed. Miraculously, he started breathing. Adapted for the screen by screenwriter Grant Nieporte from the bestselling book "The Impossible" by Joyce Smith, take a listen as Roxann talks about what compelled her to tell this story and why she chose it as her directorial feature debut, working with producer Devon Franklin ("Miracles from Heaven", "Heaven Is For Real"), the challenges and concerns of making a faith-based film (how about counting the number of times "God" is said or deciding how many crosses to show), working with the natural elements of ice and snow and how it affects the shooting schedule, developing a visual tonal bandwidth and her work with cinematographer Zoran Popovic, underwater filming, perfect casting, scoring, and more!

Then writer/director ROXANNE BENJAMIN joins us live talking about her sophomore feature, BODY AT BRIGHTON ROCK. A thriller with a spiritual or supernatural touch to it, Roxanne takes on a journey into the mountains through the eyes of inexperienced older teenage trail guide Wendy who gets lost in the night. . .along with a dead body. Calling on her own life and love of nature and hiking, take a listen as Roxanne talks about developing the story concept and translating that into a workable film construction, location scouting, character development and the importance of isolation to the story, the challenges of shooting in the mountains of Idyllwild and during a bout of severe California wildfires in 2017, working with a live bear versus CGI, sound design, and more. Also notable is our discussion on Roxanne's choices for a strong female-led crew with cinematographer Hannah Getz (who delivers some outstanding work here with night shoots), production designers Courtney Andujar and Hillary Andujar, and editor Courtney Marcilliat.

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Fresh off the 10th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival and a look back at the gems of the Golden Age of Hollywood and beyond, this week on BEHIND THE LENS, we continue to take a look at history through the eyes of cinema thanks to our two special guests, writer/director TIM DISNEY and producer KEN PETRIE. Take a listen as writer/director TIM DISNEY talks about his new narrative feature WILLIAM, premised on a longstanding scientific debate about Neanderthals v. Homo Sapiens. "What if" the Neanderthals were actually the more advanced of the two species? And "what if" a Neanderthal child was born in today's world. Would he be stronger, smarter? Given the rapid-fire scientific advancements of cloning and the unearthing of very well preserved human and animal remains from the Neanderthal era and older, reality provides a fascinating basis for Tim's telling of this story. Known for his documentary work, Tim talks about making the leap into this narrative feature, the research that went into scientific accuracy while constructing the film so as to tap into the emotional heartbeat of newcomer WILL BRITTAIN who stars as "William", a Neanderthal teen in a 21st century world, the philosophical aspects and ethics the film presents, and more.

And then we visit 1941 and the bombing of Pearl Harbor thanks to producer KEN PETRIE. Making a return appearance on #BTLRADIOSHOW, this time Ken talks about his narrative feature, ENEMY WITHIN. Based on the true story of the Ni'ihau incident and what transpired on this tiny Hawaiian island after Japanese pilot Shigenori Nishikaichi crash-landed, only to then reveal he had been part of the bombing raid, seeing this true story play out makes history come alive and gives us context for events that subsequently occurred because of it. Take a listen as Ken talks about how this relatively untold and unknown story made its way to him and his creative partner, writer/director Gabriel Robertson who makes his feature directorial debut with ENEMY WITHIN, and the lengths they went to in order to achieve authenticity, casting of Islanders, lensing, juxtaposition of visuals and story, and more.

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It's that time again! Time for the 10th ANNUAL TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL!!! And for the 5th consecutive year, BEHIND THE LENS celebrates TCM and the festival with a preview look thanks to our very special classic film Movie Mavens, KELLEE PRATT, AURORA DESMOND, KRISTEN LOPEZ, and PAULA GUTHAT! This year, all four of the ladies are TCM AMBASSADORS, so festival attendees, be on the lookout for them! These gals will be everywhere seeing as many movies as they can, answering questions for you, and keeping you updated on social media. You can hop onto Twitter and keep up with each of us throughout the festival and all year long at: @irishjayhawk66, @citizenscreen, @journeys_film, @paula_guthat, and @moviesharkd. Take a listen as we go through the festival line-up and special events and debate the merits of each film from the perspective of "conflict" situations. And trust me on this - every time block presents conflict situations as to which movie to see or event to attend; a true testament to longtime TCM programming guru CHARLIE TABESH and his team. Of course, when push comes to shove, we each have our #1 pick if we were forced to make a selection of only one film to see. Covering everything from the TCM app to keeping up energy with more than popcorn and soda (helpful hint: Legendary Margaret O'Brien loves the hot dogs at the upstairs TCL theatre complex next to the TCL Chinese Theatre. If they're good enough for Margaret, they're good enough for me!), we've got some eatery tips for you, navigation hints, recommendations on speakers you may want to hear (it's unanimous that we all want to hear Jennifer Grant talk about her dad; I'm also very partial to sound guru and Oscar winner Ben Burtt and our newest Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth Carter), some history on nitrate films (glorious!!) and Kristen speaks to some of the issues facing the disabled or wheelchair bound attendees. And through it all, we've got laughs and love aplenty for classic film! The 10th Annual TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL kicks off Thursday, April 11th and runs through Sunday, April 14th in Hollywood! While home base for the fest is the Roosevelt Hotel and the TCL Chinese Theatre and theatre complex, screenings and events are also being held at the legendary Egyptian Theatre, Cinerama Dome, and the newly restored Legion Theater at Post 43! Take a listen now! And, HAPPY FESTING!!

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It's a jam-packed show this week as we take flight with DUMBO and hear what TIM BURTON, RICK HEINRICHS, and COLLEEN ATWOOD have to say about the "making of" this delightful tale, followed by filmmaker SHAWN AUSTIN talking about his latest feature PRINCESS OF THE ROW, and then rounding things out with co-directors PAT McGEE and ADAM LINKENHELT as they talk about their powerful documentary AMERICAN RELAPSE.

But first up it's all about that precious pachyderm DUMBO! Take a listen and hear what TIM BURTON had to say to me during our recent press conference about creating the specific sound for our little elephant as well as "Dumbovision", while production designer RICK HEINRICHS talks specifically about designing the Medici Circus and its sideshows, and costume designer COLLEEN ATWOOD talks about her design work on a Busby Berkeley inspired number which incorporated choreography, cinematography and Berkeley's legendary geometric stylings into her costume design.

Then co-writer and producer SHAWN AUSTIN joins us live to talk about his latest film PRINCESS OF THE ROW. Directed by MAX CARLSON (who couldn't join us due to illness), PRINCESS OF THE ROW is a father-daughter story which takes place on Los Angeles's Skid Row. Incorporating the issues of homelessness, veterans, PTSD, poverty, foster care and more, Shawn talks in-depth with me about developing the story and incorporating these rich human elements into the plot. But once you have the words on the page, how do you bring it to life, and with PRINCESS OF THE ROW, that not only fell to cinematographer Maz Makhani, but to casting. If you see this film for no other reason, see it for the breakout performance of TAYLOR BUCK who is pure magic as she brings the character of Alicia to life. There is something almost indescribable about Taylor, especially when you put her together with EDI GATHEGI who plays Alicia's father Bo. Fans of actor Gathegi will be awed by his internalized performance and what he brings through nuanced performance to the often incommunicative war veteran. An outstanding film. An outstanding conversation with SHAWN AUSTIN you don't want to miss.

Rounding out the show are co-directors PAT McGEE and ADAM LINKENHELT who talk about their latest documentary AMERICAN RELAPSE. Profiling 72 hours in Del Ray Beach, Florida, the opiate relapse capital of the United States, we are drawn into the world of two former addicts who devote their lives to trying to save others. As we meet Allie and Frankie, we learn about the ins and outs of the rehab industry, the scams and cons that are played with insurance making it a lucrative business to keep addicts in a cycle of repetitive relapse, and we meet some of the addicts who may or may not want to break their addictions. Not just a powerful throughline, but a very beautifully lensed and polished documentary which helps draw you into the story with beauty while letting us learn about the dark problem at hand. Adam, who also served as one of the editors, talks about his work in post-production which both gentlemen go in-depth about shooting on the fly, the need for a 6-month epilogue, challenges and dangers of the shoot, and yes, music and scoring.

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It's a week of all pre-recorded exclusive interviews on this episode of BEHIND THE LENS thanks to being felled by the flu and laryngitis, but each interview is as insightful and enlightening as the next thanks to TY ROBERTS, LANE GARRISON, NED VAN ZANDT, KENT JONES, and MATTHIAS SCHOENARTS. Kicking off the show take a listen to a wonderful filmmaking triumvirate – writer/director TY ROBERTS, actor LANE GARRISON, and actor NED VAN ZANDT – talking about THE IRON ORCHARD. Adapted by Roberts and co-writer Gerry DeLeon, THE IRON ORCHARD is based on the novel by Tom Pendleton aka Edmund Pendleton Van Zandt (and the father of Ned Van Zandt) and takes a look at the wildcatting days of west Texas through the eyes of Jim McNeely (played by Lane Garrison). A love letter to the West, THE IRON ORCHARD is also a love story; a love story about Jim and oil, Jim and wife Lee.

Then we go from West Texas to New England and our exclusive interview with writer/director KENT JONES as he talks about DIANE. With a tour de force performance by Mary Kay Place and doing what "The Hero" did for Sam Elliott, DIANE is an intimate character study of a woman who cares for everyone but herself, puts everyone else first, seeing that as a means to atone for her self-perceived failure as a mother. Finding poetry in the motions of life, Kent delivers ruminations, often tacit, on death, grief, guilt, but always fills the story and the visual elements of the film with life.

Rounding out the show we hear from actor MATTHIAS SCHOENAERTS as he talks about THE MUSTANG. Set in the desert of Nevada, THE MUSTANG is written and directed by Laura de Clermont Tonnerre, and is based upon the true story of the Wild Horse Inmate program in the United States while tapping into the myth of the Old West and humanizing or rehumanizing individuals through animals. As convicted felon and inmate Roman, Schoenaerts delves into a situational character different from anything we've seen from him in the past, delivering in spades with a very internalized performance which draws the audience deeper into the character and the story. Listen as he talks about working with horses (he had three that served as one), establishing a relationship with the horse, his research and preparation touring prisons and speaking with inmates, shooting within the Nevada State Prison and how its "ghosts" helped inform his character. Some interesting insight into performance.

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It's all about journeys to self-discovery and explorations of self-identify on this episode of BEHIND THE LENS. First up, we take a look at CAPTAIN MARVEL and hear from directors ANNA BODEN and RYAN FLECK as they talk about working with VFX for the first time as they make the leap from the quiet little character-driven indie world to the explosive and electrifying MCU, while MCU leader KEVIN FEIGE chimes in with his thoughts.

Then we hear from co-writers/directors ANDRE PHILLIPS and CHARLES VUOLO who are live talking about their feature debut film, LUPE. Beautifully lensed and boasting some excellent performances, their journey to make LUPE is as interesting as the characters they bring to life on screen.

Writer/director CAMBRIA MATLOW rounds out the show talking about her latest documentary WOODSRIDER. An almost experimental format with no voiceover and no narration, we are dropped into the world of snowboarder Sadie Ford and go along for the ride as we explore her off-the-beaten path lifestyle living for white winters and snow-covered wonderlands. Listen as Cambria talks about the development of this documentary and how her own filmmaking style is almost analogous to Sadie's world.

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We've got some tasty treats for you in this episode of BEHIND THE LENS! Take a listen to our pre-recorded exclusive interview with director MAYA GALLUS as she talks about her latest documentary THE HEAT: A KITCHEN (R)EVOLUTION. A fascinating conversation as Maya talks with us about the making of THE HEAT, selecting the female chefs profiled, developing a through-line, shooting food, and more! And then at the midpoint of the show is writer/director STEPHEN PORTLAND talking about his debut feature, the psychological horror film SOMETHING, a nice twist on the genre, filmmakers will appreciate hearing Stephen's journey in the making of SOMETHING and the learning curve of "details".

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It&s all about DRIVER X on BEHIND THE LENS with special guests actor PATRICK FABIAN and writer/director HENRY BARRIAL. And how about those Oscars and Spirit Awards?

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