Contending at the Water Cooler

Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night is a love letter to the counterculture minds that formed one of the longest running television series in history, Saturday Night Live. Reitman creates a deliberately, lovingly chaotic atmosphere packed with visual gags, nostalgic references, sounds, and iconic music that all collaborates to orient the audience in a very specific place and time. That’s Saturday, October 11, 1975.

But where exactly does music fit in all of that audio chaos? That’s where music editor Chris Newlin comes in to make sense of it all.

“We obviously have lots of characters talking over each other and chaos on screen, and I think a big part of that was finding ways for all these things to come together and work. That’s a combination of what I prep on the music side, what dialogue preps on their side, and what Lee [Gildmore] and the sound effects team preps on their side,” Newlin shared. “The music, as minimal as it is, is pretty wide and fills the room. So, it feels like a character in the film, but it allows for the dialogue in front of the screen to do its thing.”

Saturday Night explores the roughly 90 minutes leading up to the first episode. In those tumultuous minutes, literally anything and everything does go wrong. Throughout the chaos and mania, we are presented with representations of that first episode’s musical guests: Billy Preston (Jon Batiste, who also provided Newlin a surprise live score recorded on set) and Janis Ian (Naomi McPherson). Those two performances were specifically scripted by Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan, and Batiste’s performance of “Nothing From Nothing” is a recurring highlight of the film.

But as the plot progresses, show producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) finds that the studio audio equipment doesn’t meet his standards. He imagines a scenario where the at-home audience feels as if they’re sitting directly in a Billy Preston concert, but the single microphone won’t deliver that experience.

When the Saturday Night set was originally constructed, Newlin explained that all of the amps and other equipment were fitted with microphones to catch the required modern-sounding soundtrack. But they quickly realized they needed to cool things down a bit sonically. Eventually, though, the montage featuring “Nothing From Nothing” that takes place near the end of the film balances things out, sending the audience home on a very high note.

“By the time you get to this ‘Nothing From Nothing’ montage, you just want to bask in the joy of everything coming together. You’re like, oh, this might actually work,” Newlin laughed. “Then, we have a nice little moment of tension leading up right before, but I think without that montage sequence and the music and the fun of that scene, essentially, you would just feel anxiety the entire time.”

Newlin also worked with Reitman to find international music that boasts the flavor of New York City in the mid-1970s. So, after breaking down all of the music moments within the film, I immediately wanted to rewatch the film (a third time) to see what I missed.

“It’s enjoyable to watch, even though it’s chaotic and stressful at times. It’s a lot happening, but we’re trying to sculpt what is important. You can’t catch everything, but you didn’t necessarily need to catch everything. I think that was some of the intentions sometimes. I think it also lends for a great rewatchability because there are so many people talking back and forth where you can come in and rewatch the film,” Newlin explained. “[There are] fun little Easter egg for SNL fans and things like that. My goal was just to try to support that story-wise and stay out of the way sonically but still feeling like we’re driving things forward.”

Hear more from my full interview with Saturday Night music editor Chris Newlin below!

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Saturday Night is now in theaters and is available to buy or rent online. 

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With film festival season behind us, we wanted to sit back and catch up to some notable titles we’ve loved over the past few weeks. Case in point, Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman Of the Hour, is an astoundingly accomplished breakthrough from the actress. She frames the story of the serial killer who appeared on The Dating Game with empathy and intelligence. To dive into the film, we’ve asked Josh Axelrod to join us. A friend of the podcast, Josh is a former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette features writer and currently serves as the Director of Communications and Media Relations at the Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center in Sewickley, PA. He is also a member of the Pittsburgh Film Critics Association.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

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Megan returns from the SCAD Savannah Film Festival fresh with new takes on film, actors, and everything in between. One of the titles she loved at the festival was Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, so the team discusses that film in a spoiler-free conversation and assess its Oscar chances as well as the Oscar chances of other films at play in the festival.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

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Marching ever forward ‘neath the wooded shrine

Disney+’s Marvel Television series Agatha All Along wrapped this week with a 2-episode series finale that brought the series to an emotionally satisfying climax. While initially uneven tonally, Agatha eventually settled into an entertaining and compelling narrative. The series evolved into something memorable thanks to fantastic performances from its cast, including Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Aubrey Plaza, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, and fan-favorite Patti LuPone.

As the series progressed, however, it quickly became clear, at least to these eyes, that the true star of Agatha All Along was its incredibly inventive production designer, John Collins, and his hard working collaborators. Using WandaVision as a logical launching point, Collins took Agatha beyond the suburban Westview into a magical world of witchcraft, trials, and cinema-inspired sets that somehow manage to seamlessly blend artifice and authenticity.

In his world, nothing is accidental, every creative decision leading the characters and the audience into thematic relevance.

“There’s some common threads that run throughout the road, which is that road itself connects all of these trials. We have a color scheme going on with the leaves that give a hint to what the trial is going to be, whether it’s the blue leaves leading into the water trial or the reddish orange leaves leading into the fire trial,” Collins explained. “To me, it started with developing the look of the road itself and that forest environment. We have a very unique situation where we’re not only seeing it through the lens of Agatha Harkness and her backstory, which we learn more of in later episodes, but it’s also that it has so much to do with Teen’s perception of what the witch community is and his reimagining of what the road is and pulling elements from his past and popular culture that interweave throughout their journey.”

Agatha’s hexagonal basement, carried over from WandaVision, begins the journey down the Witches’ Road, a wild and dark homage to The Wizard of Oz that features several pieces of hand-crafted trees fashioned by Collins’ talented creative team. Along the way, she and her coven encounter trials curated for each witch. One trial recalls a character’s musical legacy. Another trial orients its characters in a Cabin In the Woods-inspired location. Another trial memorably inserts Agatha and Teen in a medieval castle.

But everything begins with a seemingly innocent, Pottery Barn near-certified beach house. The set may not have been Collins’ personal favorite, but his wife would have something to say about that.

“The beach house is fun and beautiful, and my wife wants to live there and not in our house. For me, the castle, the cabin, and the recording studio are my three favorite sets apart from the road. Episode seven is one of my favorites, which features the castle very heavily,” Collins shared. “But I also like it because, with Lilia’s flashbacks, we’re jumping into multiple sets throughout. In that one episode, we’re seeing 70% of the work that we’ve done visually. For me, that episode seven is really magical because of how we’re jumping between those sets.”

As the series wraps, a pivotal moment of action takes place in a steely and barren version of Agatha’s basement. As with all of his set pieces, the set unexpectedly ties into a characters’ thematic journey throughout the series.

“A lot of it has to do with feeling to beat that trial, there has to be something in there to provide growth for life for that seed to take place. We imagined this super sterile environment that’s oppressive, and how can anything possibly grow in this sterile box that we have,” Collins recalled. “So the sterility and that brushed aluminum look that we’re going with down there, it gives us that, but at the same time, it really is Agatha ending up in her basement again.”

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For more with Agatha All Along production design John Collins, click here or below for our podcast interview.

The post ‘Agatha All Along’ Production Designer John Collins Marches Down, Down, Down His Brilliantly Designed Road [Podcast] appeared first on The Contending.

Megan is off to cover the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, leaving Joey and Clarence to share their favorite “get in the spooky spirit” Halloween media. Then, Joey breaks down the X / Twitter meme culture around (largely) gay Halloween costumes — “What Do You Mean You’re…” Finally, Joey makes a special announcement about a December podcast special for Contending at the Water Cooler. Start preparing now!

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

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Mark Johnson returns to wrap our coverage of the Middleburg Film Festival and to talk about changes to our Oscar predictions following festival screenings. Then, Megan previews her coverage of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

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Mark Johnson makes his Contending at the Water Cooler podcast debut in a conversation with Joey and Clarence about the first two days of the Middleburg Film Festival. In conversation are Blitz, The Brutalist, The Piano Lesson, Memoir of a Snail, September 5, and Emilia Pérez. It’s always a great time at Middleburg! Join us next year!

Check back early next week for our festival wrap-up!

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This week, Megan takes a break to prepare for her coverage of the upcoming SCAD Savannah Film Festival, leaving Joey and Clarence to preview their coverage of this weekend’s Middleburg Film Festival. Check back at The Contending over the weekend for the latest in our coverage.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

We’re expanding the reach of our podcast, so we’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Or click here!

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The post Podcast: Previewing This Weekend’s Middleburg Film Festival appeared first on The Contending.

Writer-director Sean Baker broke onto the filmmaking scene in 2000 with his debut feature Four Letter Words, but it was his one-two punch of universally acclaimed films Tangerine and The Florida Project that caused critics and audiences to stand at attention. When Oscar called for Willem Dafoe’s Supporting Actor nomination for The Florida Project, it opened the Academy’s eyes to Baker’s films and their authentic, lived-in worlds.

If The Florida Project opened the door to awards attention, then his latest film, the dark romantic comedy Anora, blows the door completely off its hinges.

Starring Mikey Madison in a brilliant, transformative performance, Anora introduces us to “Ani,” an exotic dancer / sex worker who attracts the lustful gaze of the wealthy, spoiled Vanya (Mark Eidelstein). As is his tradition, Baker peppered the roles with frequent collaborators, but after filming started, he knew this was something special.

“About a week into production, I was so impressed by my cast and what they were giving me for that first five days that I think on the fifth day, I said to Mikey, ‘Mikey, I think we’re making something very special here’,” Baker shared.

Anora is something special indeed. It builds on the Cinderella (or Pretty Woman) story with a mercifully frank and modern take. Madison’s “Ani” grows to be a character impossible not to love. And the collection of Baker’s players takes his fantastic screenplay and runs with the material, each delivering carefully calibrated, hilarious performances that never once feel inauthentic.

Here, in an podcast interview with The Contending, Sean Baker talks about creating Anora and working with Madison to fine tune the character. He talks about exploring the lives of real world sex workers. That research, something Baker considers “absolutely necessary,” reinforced the authenticity Baker typically offers with his projects. He also talks about the question of his story bringing a happy ending to Madison’s “Ani,” and how, despite a hopeful turn of events, things may not work out well for “Ani” in the end.

Anora opens in limited release on Friday, October 18.

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Are you a fan of romantic comedies? Do we need more of them on television? For this week’s episode, Megan and Joey (where’d you go, Clarence?!) sit down at the Water Cooler to gab about the majesty and the delight of Erin Foster’s hit comedy series, Nobody Wants This. Megan swoons over Adam Brody and Joey makes a Mrs. Maisel connection (who is shocked by that?). Before they talk about the Netflix hit, Megan makes the mistake in asking Joey what he thought about Joker: Folie à Deux. They also check in with Ryan Murphy’s controversial limited series entry, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

We close our podcast, as always with the Flash Forward to the media we are most anticipating in the upcoming week.

We’re expanding the reach of our podcast, so we’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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