Half the Picture’s guest this episode is the legendary Walter Murch — Academy Award-winning editor and sound designer behind such cinematic milestones as The Godfather Trilogy, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now!

Walter joined us for a wide-ranging conversation that delved deep into his groundbreaking work with directors including Francis Ford Coppola, his pioneering approach to film editing and sound, and his thoughts on the evolving nature of cutting in the modern age. He also spoke candidly about his directorial debut ‘Return to Oz’, his new projects ‘Suddenly Something Clicked’ and ‘Her Name was Moviola’ as well as offered sage advice for aspiring editors. For all this and more, listen on! #WalterMurch #ApocalypseNow #TheGodfather #HalfthePicture

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Note: This interview was recorded on October 30th 2024.

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Timecodes

0:00 - Intro

01:10 - Mixing The Godfather

05:34 - Editing The Conversation

10:04 - Gene Hackman

17:05 - Apocalypse Now

23:04 - Robert Duvall & Blinking

26:22 - Return to Oz

34:56 - Pitching Return to Oz to Disney

37:24 - The Wizard of Oz & Thomas Edison

41:02 - Male & Female Editors

46:55 - 21st Century Editing

50:42 - Fred Zinnemann & Cutting Julia

56:19 - Suddenly Something Clicked

01:00:13 - Her Name Was Moviola

01:06:03 - Advice to Aspiring Editors

01:11:06 - Editing and AI

01:15:34 - Outro

'Walter Murch in Conversation – The Godfather, Apocalypse Now & Suddenly Something Clicked' is a non-profit project intended for educational purposes only. No copyright laws were intended to be broken. All rights to any material used remain courtesy of their respective owners.

Half the Picture's guest this episode is the brilliant director Paul McGuigan, whose mercurial and vibrant talents have been gracing our screens, both big and small for over 25 years!

Paul joined us primarily to discuss the making of his cult classic British crime gem, 'Gangster No.1' featuring barnstorming turns from Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis and a star-making performance by a then unknown Paul Bettany! He also delved into his approach to directing 'Sherlock', his pioneering use of onscreen text amongst other stylistic flourishes and his films 'The Acid House' and 'Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.' For all this and more, listen on!

#PaulMcGuigan #Gangsterno1 #Sherlock #HalfthePicture

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*Note: This interview was recorded on July 27th 2022.

Full Episodes: / @halfthepicturepodcast

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Ahmed on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrahmedoali?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Timecodes

0:00 - Intro

00:45 - Gangster No.1's inception

05:47 - Casting Gangster No.1

15:11 - Working with Malcolm McDowell

17:08 - Paul Bettany's Performance

22:32 - Homosexual subtext in Gangster No.1

29:15 - Deconstructing gangsterism

31:53 - Francis Bacon's influence on Gangster No.1

33:17 - Cinema's influence on gangster culture

35:28 - Bettany & Marsan's Kitchen Scene

44:10 - Lenny Taylor's POV Murder Scene

51:28 - Working with Peter Sova A.S.C.

52:24 - Visual filmmaking

55:13 - Directing Sherlock & Text Onscreen

58:00 - Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

01:00:32 - Sherlock & Transitions

01:02:10 - Critical Response to Gangster No.1

01:05:56 - Working with Steven Spielberg

01:06:47 - Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century

01:10:25 - Fun and games on the Gangster No.1 set

01:12:40 - Outro

Half the Picture's guests this episode are Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks, pop stars extraordinaire and writers/composers of the award-winning musical 'Annette' directed by Leos Carax and starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard!

Ron and Russell joined us to break down the making of 'Annette' and their close working relationship with Leos Carax as well as their most recent world tour for their latest album 'The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte' which saw them play the biggest venues of their career. They also talked telling stories through music, shared advice for young artists looking to break into film/music and even touched a little on 'X-Crucior', their upcoming movie musical collab' with John Woo!

For all this and more, listen on! #Sparks #Annette #HalfThePicture

This October also saw Ron and Russell release the original 2013 recording of the 'Annette' soundtrack, as a limited edition 3LP boxset on the band’s own label Lil’ Beethoven Records.

Writing in the sleevenotes of this boxset release Ron and Russell said “Annette was a divisive film, but we feel a great film, and directed with enormous artistic skill by Leos, with a magnificent cast. Still, we feel that this earlier version of Annette should be listened to not as the preparatory or demo step toward a filmed version, but rather as a complete and alternative version in itself. We are very proud of it.”

Annette - An Opera By Sparks (The Original 2013 Recordings) is available exclusively through Sparks’ store at www.store.allsparks.com, limited to 1,000 copies.

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*Note: This interview was recorded on March 22nd 2024.

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Sparks on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sparks_official?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Timecodes

0:00 - Intro

00:14 - Passion for Cinema

02:00 - Working with Leos Carax

07:27 - The Cast of 'Annette'

13:26 - Storytelling through Music

16:55 - Reactions to 'Annette'

22:56 - The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte Tour

26:00 - Advice for Young Artists

29:12 - 'X-Crucior'

30:38 - The lights cut out!

31:07 - Lyrically Speaking with Ron Mael return?

33:16 - Outro

Half the Picture's third guest is Jason Reitman, director of such modern classics as Juno, Up in the Air and his latest, Saturday Night: a visceral portrait of the 90 minutes leading up to the birth of the classic late-night comedy show!

Jason joined us to chat the length and breadth of his career, ranging from his exuberant debut ‘Thank You for Smoking’, to the life-changing impact of making ‘Juno’, up through the deeply personal journey he undertook making ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ with his father Ivan to working with the iconic J.K. Simmons and exec-producing Damien Chazelle's ‘Whiplash!'

For all this and more, listen on! #jasonreitman #saturdaynightmovie #ghostbusters

Make sure you SUBSCRIBE to the podcast so as not to miss any of Billy & Ahmed's interviews! *Note: This interview was recorded on July 27th 2024.

Full Episodes: / @halfthepicturepodcast

Listen to the podcast online...

APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/7btEvvp...

Follow us online!

Half the Picture Instagram: / halfthepicpod

Billy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/billybarnel...

Billy on Twitter: https://x.com/billybarnell?s=21&t=3QY...

Ahmed on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrahmedoali?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Jason on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonreitman?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Timecodes:

0:00 - Intro

00:44 - Thank You for Smoking

04:57 - Directing is reacting

06:07 - Improvisation on set

10:30 - Young Adult

12:31 - Diablo Cody

13:37 - Up in the Air

16:08 - Flawed Protagonists

17:24 - Juno

25:01 - Tully

27:05 - Favourite Scenes

29:44 - Adapating novels to screen

31:53 - Discovering young stars

34:52 - Adam Sandler

38:45 - Maker's Mark in Diablo Cody scripts

40:09 - Eric Steelberg D.O.P.

43:59 - The Front Runner & confident directing

46:36 - Ghostbusters: Afterlife

48:51 - Growing as a filmmaker

51:32 - Jason's favourite directors

55:18 - Exciting upcoming movies

57:10 - Invisible directing

01:00:31 - Letterboxd

01:02:20 - Saturday Night

01:05:08 - J.K. Simmons & producing Whiplash

01:06:56 - Outro

Half the Picture's second guest is Tristan Oliver BSC, cinematographer extraordinaire! Tristan joined us to chat about his experiences as a stop-motion animation DOP working with Wes Anderson on Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs, making his start as an actor before switching to cinematography, shooting the iconic train chase in The Wrong Trousers and having lunch with the legendary Jack Cardiff, as well as to share advice for aspiring animator/cinematographers!

Half the Picture's first guest is Brendan McCarthy, Mad Max: Fury Road's co-writer and designer! Brendan joined us to discuss his experiences working with George Miller on one of the greatest action films of all time and broke down Fury Road's original ending, Splendid's original (and much more hardcore) death scene that was cut from the film and even teased the upcoming and eagerly anticipated 'Furiosa!'

*Note: This episode was recorded before Furiosa's release.