Midmost Coast

In June, the On Set Cinema series brought a screening of Empire Records to the real life building that served as its filming location in Wilmington, North Carolina. We took this opportunity examine the makings of this 90s era cult classic.

In this episode we also talk to On Set Cinema organizer Kenny Caperton, who also happens to live in a replica of the Meyers house from the horror classic Halloween. You can find out about future On Set Cinema screenings at myershousenc.com.

We wheel the HistoryCast 5000 machine back out to analyze a classic masterpiece of cinema for historical accuracy. Lawrence of Arabia is widely loved by critics, but how true is it to history? We make a quantifiable determination in this episode.

In 1976 a team of specialists finished a two year project to build a giant bus. Then they stayed up all night writing the script for a movie based around it.

Though definitively a Hollywood production, The Big Bus has lost its rightful place in movie history as an obvious precursor to future parody films such as the 1980 film Airplane!

It's The Big Bus!

Episode 034

In our latest installment of Script Bandits, we turn to Russia at the turn of the twentieth century to get some real life inspiration for a good old fashioned naval comedy.

In 1904 Tsar Nicolas II sends one of the most unprepared fleets on a trip around the world to engage the Japanese. The comedy of errors that follows strains belief. The story includes a very troublesome repair vessel, and a brief period of time where the fleet becomes a floating zoo of exotic animals.

Can this scrappy band of Russian sailors with hearts of gold make it through this fantastic voyage in one piece? Spoilers ahead.

Episode 033

To select the subject of this Very Local History show, we threw a dart at a map and it landed in the mystical city of Charleville in Queensland, Australia.

The life of eccentric meteorologist Clement Lindley Wragge leads him around the world. But it's in Australia where he attempts an experimental method to make it rain during a severe drought where he gains his fame.

Episode 032

The film career of David Lynch had an unlikely savior after the poorly received 1984 adaptation of Dune. Dino De Laurentiis gave Lynch license to make a personal film with unheard of final cut rights: Blue Velvet.

In this episode we return to the scene of the filmmaking miracle, Wilmington, North Carolina, considered by some to be the loose basis for the town of Twin Peaks.

On this episode we are joined by Heather Divoky, a local artist in the Sarus Festival, opening March 22, 2018.

Episode 031

In this mega-episode we take Oliver Stone's 1991 film JFK and run it through our HistoryCast 5000 machine for an in-depth analysis of its historical accuracy. We chose this film based on its notorious reputation for historical inaccuracy. Will it break the HistoryCast 5000? Listen and find out.

We have a bonus half hour of content at the end where we attempt to demystify the assassination of John F. Kennedy with a breakdown of the life and times of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Episode 030

In our first installment of Script Bandits we examine the life of a female sword fighter turned opera singer who lived in France during the 1600s. She became famous, wooed men and women alike, and was briefly sentenced to death for infiltrating a convent and sneaking out her girlfriend using a dead nun and arson as a distraction.

But that was just in her early days. In this podcast episode we overview the plot points of her life and discuss the possibilities of adapting her life for the big screen. Or maybe a six season Netflix series.

Episode 029

The movie Weekend at Bernie's kicks off with two lowly employees discovering an accounting irregularity which they unknowingly bring to the perpetrator. After he is killed by the mob they keep up the ruse he is still alive to protect themselves.

This silly movie has a slightly less silly real life parallel with the life and times of David Begelman, head of Gladden Entertainment which produced the film, and the eye of the hurricane for a real life Hollywood embezzlement scandal.

Episode 028

In this Very Local History episode we tackle the concept of "urban renewal," using Wilmington, North Carolina as a case study.

In the 1970's the Downtown Area Revitalization Effort was formed to spearhead the transformation of the languishing central business district back into a center of commerce. But the story begins long before this, spanning decades of history that paralleled momentous national trends that were affecting the very heart of American cities.