Director's Club

As you'll hear during the introduction, David Lynch is an important filmmaker to me for a variety of reasons. Mary Sweeney collaborated with him for about 15 years as an editor, producer and writer. Talking with her was an absolute joy.

Mary is truly an accomplished, multi-talented human being in so many ways. I was honored to spend 30 minutes with her over the phone to talk about her experiences working with Lynch and also to promote the upcoming 4K Restoration of LOST HIGHWAY, which is showing at The Music Box Theatre on August 6th featuring a Q&A after the film with Mary Sweeney in-person. Do give our short-but-sweet conversation a listen especially if you love David Lynch as much as I do. Thank you to Steve Prokopy & The Music Box Theatre for making this happen.

Come To The Music Box To See LOST HIGHWAY:

https://musicboxtheatre.com/films/lost-highway

Come To The Music Box The Very Next Day Please:

https://musicboxtheatre.com/films/roys-world-barry-giffords-chicago (I will be hosting a Q&A right after the film)

00:00 - 07:03 - Introduction

07:04 - 35:11 - Mary Sweeney Interview

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

One of my favorite cinephiles on the planet joins me today to talk about a director they were thrilled to discuss. Film writer and podcaster extraordinare Mitchell Beaupre is a regular at Filmspotting Trivia which is where our paths first crossed and I have been following their work ever since.

We get to know a little more about Mitchell during the intro but mainly sing the praises of most (if not all) of the work of James Gray starting with his debut leading all the way up to AD ASTRA. For the what we watched recently segment, Mitchell brings up Coppola's THE OUTSIDERS and then I review ANONYMOUS CLUB and linked below is my interview with the director of that film Danny Cohen.

So grateful to Mitchell for coming on the show and already looking forward to a return appearance in the future. Please be sure to follow their work the way I do too! Stay tuned for two new episodes coming within the next month or so from guest contributor Bill Ackerman!

Mitchell On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/itismitchell

Mitchell On Letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/mitchell

James Gray Ranked On Letterboxd (Mitchell):

https://letterboxd.com/mitchell/list/ranked-james-gray

James Gray Ranked On Letterboxd (Jim):

https://letterboxd.com/jimlaczkowski/list/episode-202-james-gray

Mitchell's Piece On 4:44 Last Day On Earth:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/444-last-day-on-earth-mortality

Jim's Interview With Director Danny Cohen:

https://www.directorsclubpodcast.com/reviews/anonymousclub

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

Michael Glover Smith loves movies so much, it was inevitable that he would go on to make some of his own. Not only that, he writes about movies, teaches film classes, and has even written a book on Chicago film history. I had the immense pleasure of finally catching up with MERCURY IN RETROGRADE and shared my reaction to a casting choice during our interview here, but the bulk of the conversation surrounds his latest film, the empathic family dramedy RELATIVE.

A great ensemble of talent carries this sweet story of a Chicago-based family getting together for their son’s college graduation. A lot of tension emerges but so does a lot of compassion and concern for one another. Wait til you hear about some of the cast, especially the accomplished actors that play the parents. Michael shared a lot of interesting and unexpected connections regarding everyone and even though we talked for close to an hour, there were other questions I could’ve asked since he’s articulate/passionate about his work.

Definitely check out the RELATIVE website below and if you get this in time, there’s a special screening event taking place in the neighborhood where he resides and where some of the film was shot. If you miss that screening at The New 400 coming up, there will be plenty of opportunities so stay tuned. Grateful to Michael for taking some time out and looking forward to talking with him again. Stay tuned for more content this month coming from Bill Ackerman and my first director-centric episode in quite awhile comes out in a couple weeks!

See RELATIVE At The New 400 In Rogers Park:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/relative-movie-comes-home-to-rogers-park-at-the-new-400-tickets-377356261737

Official Site For RELATIVE:

https://www.chicagofilmproject.com/relative

Check Out The Trailer for RELATIVE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou5te4HCkOA

Check Out Michael's Blog, White City Cinema:

https://whitecitycinema.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

So you might remember him as Arnie from CHRISTINE and that's where I first became aware of the terrific talent of one writer/director/actor extraordinaire Keith Gordon. He's been on Director's Club a half dozen times which is truly an honor and a pleasure. We continue a yearly tradition where we check in and take the opportunity to nerd out about the cinema of years past.

We go back to talk about a particular decade in film citing some under-seen titles that may have been underappreciated at the time. Several of these you may have heard of, but the reason I enjoy doing this is to hear Keith’s thoughts on titles such as SECONDS, POINT BLANK, THE INNOCENTS and many more! There are honorable mentions & this time, we briefly talk about what it was like working with Sheryl Lee on his great Vonnegut adaptation, MOTHER NIGHT.

This is a wonderful discussion as always so if you've been a fan of our other talks, I have no doubt you'll enjoy the latest one as well. Check out the previous KG episodes / lists below!

Keith Gordon Episode Archives:

https://www.directorsclubpodcast.com/archives/keithgordonarchives

Underrated Films Of The 1990s:

https://letterboxd.com/jimlaczkowski/list/underrated-films-from-the-1990s

Underrated Films Of The 1980s:

https://letterboxd.com/jimlaczkowski/list/underrated-films-from-the-1980s

Underrated Films Of The 1970s:

https://letterboxd.com/jimlaczkowski/list/underrated-films-from-the-1970s

Underrated Films Of The 1960s:

https://letterboxd.com/jimlaczkowski/list/underrated-films-from-the-1960s

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

Bonus episodes will be ending soon! We'll be back to our regularly scheduled program in a matter of days for sure. Instead of making this a Patreon exclusive, I decided to share this with everyone since it is a special one. Once again, I’m joined by Chicago film critic Erik Childress of the Movie Madness podcast as well as co-host of The Friendship Dilemma to record a full-length feature commentary track of yet another film from 1984. The first one we did together was for another film my dad and I bonded over, THE LAST STARFIGHTER. This time, thanks to a glorious 4K release from Vinegar Syndrome, we decided to finally follow-up with another commentary for CLOAK & DAGGER. It’s a movie that means a lot to me.

Join us on Davy’s journey through espionage and intrigue - a nostalgia-fueled trip through our childhoods covering everything from Atari games to our appreciation for both Dabney Coleman and Henry Thomas as a great father/son pairing that surprisingly gets very moving thanks to Tom Holland’s ingenious script and Richard Franklin’s assured, subtle direction. Huge thanks to my dad for making sure I saw this at a young age as well as my Aunt Jean who somehow got a VHS bootleg copy that I wore out when I was a kid.

Buy CLOAK & DAGGER: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Cloak-and-Dagger-4K-Blu-ray/56565

Listen To Our Commentary for THE LAST STARFIGHTER: https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-commentary-53660303

Follow Erik Childress on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/EriktheMovieman

Check Out Movie Madness:

http://www.nowplayingnetwork.net/moviemadness

Check Out The Friendship Dilemma: http://www.nowplayingnetwork.net/the-friendship-dilemma

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

Tis the season for more bonus content but soon enough Bill Ackerman will be bringing us an official director-centric episode soon. For this excursion into something besides movies, I once hosted called Voices & Visions and I would recruit friend and Austin-based journalist Dan Solomon to go back 20 years to talk about a year in music - an art form that I love every bit much as film. For this retrospective, my guests and I curate a new list of ten favorite records from that year, playing snippets of certain songs and discussing our feelings about music in general. As of 2021, I decided to include my dear friend Jason Simpson, also a writer, to join us in this endeavor.

As listeners know, I've been going back 30 years to talk about the year in film with Collin Souter and Erik Childress, so I asked Jason and Dan to do the same from now on with records. 1992 was the year I officially became a musician so it's a special discussion for me, in terms of records that had a bigger impact than most even if my taste has changed over the years. Hopefully everyone enjoys this discussion about our favorite records from that particular year, even if there are very few references to films and directors for this bonus episode. It was such a blast sharing memories with dear friends from high school as well as getting to hear a lot of incredible music from the early 90s.

If you want to hear the older episodes of the music retrospective, they are now archived below as well. Thank you so much for listening and much gratitude to Dan & Jay for their insights, opinions and a 30-year friendship.

Other episodes recorded over the years:

https://www.directorsclubpodcast.com/archives/yearlymusicretrospectives

Follow Dan On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/dansolomon

Follow Jason On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/for3stpunk

This bonus episode is inspired by this excellent music podcast if you want more nostalgia:

http://digmeoutpodcast.com/episode/575-albums-of-1992-roundtable

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

For those who don't know, my favorite way to exercise has always been swimming. I'm slowly getting back into it as a regular part of my daily routine. Not only that, Frank Perry's THE SWIMMER is becoming an all-time favorite of mine with every viewing and I wanted to talk to a true film historian about it. Sergio Mims returns to the show for another bonus discussion on this fascinating Burt Lancaster picture from 1968 that audiences were probably not ready for at the time.

As always, I learned a lot from Sergio but we talked a lot about its themes surrounding toxic masculinity, suburban angst and so much more. Grateful to Sergio for talking with me for an hour. This serves as a nice prelude to the upcoming Keith Gordon episode recording in a couple weeks about underrated films of the 1960s. Towards the end, we start talking about the state of cinema in general and even preview a couple of upcoming episodes later in the year!

The next official director episode comes courtesy of new bi-monthly co-host Bill Ackerman of Supporting Characters so stay tuned for that soon! Not to mention the fact that Bill will also be covering the work of Frank Perry later in the year as well so you'll hear even more about his other films on this show in the future.

Follow Sergio Mims On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/sepia_cinema

Check Out His Appearances On Movie Madness:

http://www.nowplayingnetwork.net/moviemadness

Opening Song: Tinseltown Swimming In Blood - Destroyer

Closing Song: The Swimming Song - Loudon Wainwright III

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

Jay Cheel is a writer/director/editor as well as a co-host of the podcast responsible for turning me into a podcaster, Film Junk. I thought why not talk with him right after dropping Episode 200 about his excellent Shudder series, Cursed Films which recently put out its second season that I highly encourage you to see. Always great to talk with such a talented, articulate filmmaker like Jay.

His series, Cursed Films II covers new titles. The show explores the myths and legends behind some of Hollywood's notoriously cursed horror film productions and even tackles how the filmmakers and actors have been affected by being a part of films such as Stalker, The Wizard Of Oz, Rosemary's Baby, The Serpent & The Rainbow and ending this season with Cannibal Holocaust.

Thank you so much Jay for this delightful, insightful conversation and stay tuned for more bonus content as well as Bill Ackerman's first episode as official co-host coming early next month! Also if you're in Chicago this coming weekend (May 13-19) be sure to come to the Chicago Critics Film Festival which I highlighted during the last review episode I posted.

Catch Cursed Films on Shudder

Follow Jay on Twitter

Check Out Film Junk

The Chicago Critics Film Festival

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 200 is here (technically this is the 300th episode if you include bonus episodes). Of course, I had to invite my original co-host and dear friend Patrick Ripoll back to the show since it all began with him and I talking about Cameron Crowe in front of microphones back in January 2011. This serves as not only a celebration of the podcast but as an early birthday treat.

So why not talk about two of my favorite directors over the course of two entire films they’ve made. I was never the biggest fan of David Cronenberg’s CRASH but I’m slowly coming around. Patrick was never the biggest fan of Paul Thomas Anderson’s PHANTOM THREAD either. Now he’s also warming up to it a little more. We hash it out together, ask questions, talk about specific scenes that we adore and so much more throughout this eventful 4 hour conversation.

You have the option of syncing up the two movies (we instruct how along the way) or simply listen to the two of us talking about both films and the directors that made them. This was pure joy and a great way to celebrate a podcast anniversary that I’m sure you’ll enjoy especially if you’ve been with us since the very beginning.

00:00 - 11:11 - Introduction

11:12 - 01:53:49 - Crash Commentary

01:53:50 - 04:00:12 - Phantom Thread Commentary

04:00:13 - 04:10:14 - Outro

Check out Patrick's podcast:

https://nowplayingnetwork.net/tracksofthedamned

Support The Show:

https://www.patreon.com/directorsclub

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

One of my very favorite people on the planet joins me to talk about a director that was covered a decade ago but deserves revisiting especially in light of his more recent work. The wonderful Sharon Gissy, creator of the Mental Filmness Film Festival returns to the show to talk all about groundbreaking director Todd Haynes. I know many years ago on the show I brought attention to his masterpiece SAFE but wanted to revisit it now given the times we live in and to hear Sharon’s thoughts especially on that one and several others from his filmography.

We don’t dive too deep into his films that deconstruct the music biopic but we cover ones that we feel the most passionate about for sure. Though as a side note, I do also recommend his MILDRED PIERCE miniseries remake and the recent VELVET UNDERGROUND documentary though we didn’t cover those here. I also ask Sharon about her favorite portrayals of mental health in cinema and talk about a recent rewatch of GIRL, INTERRUPTED.

00:00 - 07:17 - Introduction

07:18 - 28:58 - What We Watched Recently

28:59 - 02:14:05 - Todd Haynes!

02:14:06 - 02:21:23 - Top 3 Todd Haynes Films / Outro

Follow Sharon (Mental Filmness):

https://twitter.com/MentalFilmness

https://www.facebook.com/mentalfilmness

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe