Joseph McBride is a film historian and a professor in the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University. He is the author of biographies of Frank Capra, John Ford, and Steven Spielberg; three books on Orson Welles; and critical studies of Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, and the Coen Brothers. He acted for Welles in The Other Side of the Wind and has won a Writers Guild of America award. His latest book is called “George Cukor’s People: Acting for a Master Director” (Columbia University Press, 2025).

The director of classic films such as “Sylvia Scarlett”, “The Philadelphia Story”, “Gaslight”, “Adam’s Rib”, “A Star Is Born”, and “My Fair Lady”, George Cukor is widely admired but often misunderstood. Reductively stereotyped in his time as a woman’s director—a thinly veiled, disparaging code for gay—he brilliantly directed a wide range of iconic actors and actresses, including Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, and Maggie Smith. As Katharine Hepburn, the star of ten Cukor films, told the director, “All the people in your pictures are as goddamned good as they can possibly be, and that’s your stamp.”

The great actor of stage and screen, Harris Yulin (“Scarface”, “Ozark”), returns to the podcast. He was in the 1987 film “Candy Mountain” which was recently re-released.

New York City, 1980s. A struggling, deadbeat musician named Julius has fallen on hard times. With no guitar, band or paying gigs, he cooks up a get-rich-quick scheme – to find the legendary, yet elusive guitar-maker Elmore Silk. Considered one of the greatest luthiers in the business, Silk’s disappearance from the scene has only made his work more coveted by musicians and executives looking to make a buck off his name. Julius agrees to track the man down and sets out on the road. Meant to be a simple journey upstate, Julius stumbles down a long, winding road full of dead-ends and wrong turns towards an eventual revelatory conclusion in the Canadian wilderness. One of the great cult classics of the 1980s and starring character actors Kevin J O’Conner and Harris Yulin, the supporting cast features real-life music legends Tom Waits, Leon Redbone, Joe Strummer, Dr. John, David Johansen and more. “A wry, laid-back Heart of Darkness” (Chicago Reader), Candy Mountain combines the keen eye of legendary photographer Robert Frank with novelist/screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer’s mythic American prose to produce the quintessential road movie. “Candy Mountain” is currently available on various streaming platforms.

On the day of his first fight since leaving prison, Mikey (Michael Pitt), once champion boxer, takes a redemptive journey through his past in Jack Huston’s “Day of the Fight”. As Mikey prepares for the most important fight of his life, he reconnects with the people he was closest to and tries to make things right. Mikey’s coach, Stevie Ross, is played by my guest in this segment, the great Ron Perlman (“Hell Boy”, “Sons of Anarchy”). “Day of the Fight” is currently screening in theaters.

Filmwax Radio welcomes —for their first visits— actor Anthony Rapp and filmmaker Vivian Kerr with their film “Scrap“. Beth (Kerr) has recently been laid off and struggles to maintain the appearance of a successful middle-class lifestyle as she bounces around Los Angeles. Hoping to land a new job and change her situation before her estranged older brother Ben (Rapp) finds out, Beth must confront her own pride in order to reconnect with him and provide for her young daughter Birdy. Meanwhile, Ben and his wife Stacy (Lana Parrilla) consider a third round of IVF and Stacy, a successful attorney, must re-evaluate her own conflicted relationship with motherhood. “Scrap” is currently streaming on digital platforms.

Film editor Michael Taylor, A.C.E. returns for his 7th visit to the podcast. Taylor is helping to program a series at the Metrograph Cinema in NYC called Filmcraft: American Cinema Editors. This series showcases the best of editing by pairing a screening with a Q&A with its editors. This Friday, December 6th, there is a sold out screening of Elaine May’s “Mikey & Nicky” with Ms. May in attendance. (This podcast host will be in attendance as well.)

Michael Taylor, ACE, is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is represented by Pete Franciosa at UTA ([email protected]; 310-488-8436). He edited and co-produced the documentary series “My Undesirable Friends”, directed by Julia Loktev, which premiered at the New York Film Festival. He recently completed Noah Pritzker’s “Ex-Husbands”, starring Griffin Dunne, James Norton, and Rosanna Arquette. The film premiered at San Sebastian and will be released theatrically in 2025. He was nominated for an ACE Eddie Award for Best Editing of a Feature, Comedy, for Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell”, starring Awkwafina, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was released by A24. The film won Best Feature at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards. Awkwafina won Best Actress at the Golden Globes and Gotham Awards.

Recent films include Edson Oda’s “Nine Days”, starring Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård and Tony Hale, winner of the Waldo Salt Award for Best Screenwriting at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Matt Sobel’s “Goodnight Mommy”, an Amazon Studios film starring Naomi Watts, Ira Sachs’ “Love is Strange,” starring Alfred Molina, John Lithgow and Marisa Tomei, Elizabeth Wood’s “White Girl”, starring Morgan Saylor, and Guy Nattiv’s Skin, starring Jamie Bell, Vera Famiga and Bill Camp. Other films include Julia Loktev’s “The Loneliest Planet”, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, selected for the New York Film Festival, and “Day Night Day Night”, winner, Prix de La Jeunesse, Cannes Film Festival. Taylor won Best Editing at the Woodstock Film Festival for the documentary “The Babushkas of Chernobyl”, directed by Holly Morris and Anne Bogart. He also edited Margaret Brown’s Peabody Award-winning documentary “The Order of Myths”, and Brown’s documentary “Be Here to Love You: A Film About Townes Van Zandt”, as well as Mitch McCabe’s “Youth Knows No Pain”.

“Beatles ’64” is an all-new documentary from producer Martin Scorsese and director David Tedeschi. The documentary is currently streaming exclusively on Disney+. The film captures the electrifying moment of The Beatles’ first visit to America. Featuring never-before-seen footage of the band and the legions of young fans who helped fuel their ascendance, the film gives a rare glimpse into when The Beatles became the most influential and beloved band of all time. 

For over 20 years, award-winning filmmaker David Tedeschi has worked in creative collaboration with Martin Scorsese. Alongside the legendary filmmaker, Tedeschi’s directing credits include the critically acclaimed feature documentaries “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” (Showtime, 2022) and “The Fifty Year Argument” (HBO, 2014). “Beatles ’64” marks Tedeschi’s solo feature directorial debut, which is produced by Scorsese and executive produced by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Margaret Bodde is a two-time Emmy Award-winning documentary producer whose credits include Ron Howard’s “Jim Henson Idea Man” (Disney+, 2024, “Outstanding Documentary”) and Martin Scorsese’s “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” (HBO, 2011, Outstanding Non Fiction Special). She is also a Grammy and Peabody Award winner for Scorsese’s “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan” (PBS, 2005), and a Grammy nominee for the PBS series “The Blues” (2003). 

Actor Chris Jackson makes his first appearance on the podcast. This Broadway and film actor is currently in the cast of the new indie film “Boundary Waters”. In this lyrical coming-of-age film, 12-year-old Michael Murray relishes the carefree joys of early adolescence – girls and friends – until his mom has a black eye and a busted lip. Michael is desperate to know what happened, but his father Brian avoids him, Granny (Carole Kane) shushes him, and his usually resilient mother can’t get out of bed. While his family weighs the cost of keeping secrets against the price of telling the truth, Michael is determined to fix what happened as he tries to become a man in a world where men cause harm. “Boundary Waters” has its next screening at the Dances with Films festival in New York City on Friday, December 6 at 7:45.

Also, Danish actor turned filmmaker Nicolaj Kopernikus makes his first appearance as well. He has directed, written and stars in a new short film which is currently eligible for an Oscar nomination. It’s called “From Above”. Morten (Kopernikus) looks his daughter in the eyes for the first time in 8 years. He decides to get in touch with her again and uses very unconventional and spectacular methods to get her attention and forgiveness.

The animator, filmmaker, actor and podcaster Jack Dunphy is the guest. Jack has recently launched a very bold new podcast called REVELATIONS WITH JACK DUNPHY where he talks very frankly and as honestly as one can, with his guests. These are sometimes highly intense confessional conversations about addiction, mental illness, sexuality, and more. You can find Jack’s films on various platforms as well as his podcast. This is his first appearance on Filmwax Radio.

Actors Eric Roberts (“The Pope of Greenwich Village”, “Runaway Train”) and Eliza Roberts (“Animal House”) are the guests. They are both involved in a new indie genre film called “Hippo” which hits theaters Friday, November 8th. Directed by Mark H. Rapaport, the film is about a girl who loves classical music and Jesus and who grows up with a video-game addicted stepbrother who embraces the art of war and chaos. Currently screening in select theaters.

Also, on this episode the team behind a new documentary “American Coup, Wilmington 1898”, filmmakers Yoruba Richen and Brad Lichtenstein return to Filmwax Radio. Discover the story of the deadly 1898 race massacre and coup d’état in Wilmington, North Carolina, when white supremacists overthrew the multi-racial government of the state’s largest city through a campaign of violence and intimidation. “American Coup: Wilmington 1898” premieres Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on American Experience on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS app.

The indie filmmaker Alan Rudolph (“Choose Me”, “Trouble in Mind”) makes his first appearance on the podcast. His 1999 film, originally written for his mentor Bob Altman to direct but ended up in his hands some years later. That film is”Breakfast of Champions” and, after 25 years, is returning to theaters. The film was adapted from the unadaptable novel by Kurt Vonnegut, and stars Bruce Willis and Albert Finney. In this special conversation, Rudolph reflects on his year as Altman’s assistant director and his career at large. “Breakfast of Champions” tells the story of a fictional town in the mid west that is home to a group of idiosyncratic and slightly neurotic characters. Dwayne Hoover is a wealthy car dealership owner that’s on the brink of suicide and is losing touch with reality.

Carrie Rickey is a film journalist and author. Her new book is a biography of the French New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda called “A Complicated Passion: The Life and Work of Agnès Varda” (W.W. Norton, 2024).

Over the course of her sixty-five-year career, the longest of any female filmmaker, Agnès Varda (1928–2019) wrote and directed some of the most acclaimed films of her era, from her tour de force “Cléo from 5 to 7” (1962), a classic of modernist cinema, to the beloved documentary “The Gleaners and I” (2000) four decades later. She helped to define the French New Wave, inspired an entire generation of filmmakers, and was recognized with major awards at the Cannes, Berlin, and Venice Film Festivals, as well as an honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards.

In this lively biography, former Philadelphia Inquirer film critic Carrie Rickey explores the complicated passions that informed Varda’s charmed life and indelible work. Rickey traces Varda’s three remarkable careers—as still photographer, as filmmaker, and as installation artist. She explains how Varda was a pioneer in blurring the lines between documentary and fiction, using the latest digital technology and carving a path for women in the movie industry. She demonstrates how Varda was years ahead of her time in addressing sexism, abortion, labor exploitation, immigrant rights, and race relations with candor and incisiveness.

In this special episode, I welcome documentary filmmaker Lee Hirsch (“Bully”) and producer Houston King (“The Hero”, “Computer Chess”) who together founded the political action committee —or PAC— Local Voices. In our conversation we discuss the Local Voices’ vision that goes into their impactful campaigns, produced and aired in battleground states like Pennsylvania. I’m including a couple of their ads here as well, though audio from a number of them are included in this episode.