Phi Phenomenon

While most film directors tend to be professionally recruited from writers or directors of photography, an argument can be made that editors understand the rhythms of a working movie better than anyone else. On today’s episode we talk to editor (and now writer/direct) Tomas Vengris about his Lithuanian parents making sure he had an education in the arts while also believing film to be more “entertainment,” how he came into film more via the love of filmmaking and Micro Machines, why his parents became briefly hostile when he went into an arts career, his editing in post-productions for directors like Lena Dunham or Kelly Reichardt or Terrence Malick or Macon Blair, how he became exposed to the perfect model to make a cheap indie-film, and why he’ll still edit films for certain directors no matter what success he has as a director. Vengris’s first feature as writer/director, Motherland, is currently playing the festival circuit. (Interview begins at 7:13.)

On today’s episode, the second part of an interview with Video Watchdog founder and publisher Tim Lucas, we talk about his book Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, a 800,000 word volume beloved by filmmakers from Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro, which Quentin Tarantino called “the best book on films ever written.” Also: the art of crafting “jam-ful, wall-to-wall” film commentaries, how the supplements of physical media Blu-rays are taking the place of film magazines, his screenplay The Man with the Kaleidoscope Eyes about the creation of Roger Corman’s The Trip for Joe Dante to direct, his subsequent adaptation of that screenplay into a novel, and his “disenchantment” with comics after Jack Kirby’s departure from Marvel alongside the current state of comic book films. Though Watchdog ceased physical publication in 2017, Tim still runs the Video Watchblog, alongside occasional posts for the New Beverly Blog, while also recording over 100 DVD and Blu-ray commentaries. (Interview begins at 8:37.)

Tim Lucas had been writing various columns reviewing home video releases — one of the first critics to actually review the presentation elements of the release along with the content — before he started Video Watchdog, a magazine that Quentin Tarantino once called “the only reliable film magazine in the world.” On today’s episode, part one of a longer interview, we talk writing reviews in his high school newspaper of X-rated films, an impactful first viewing of A Clockwork Orange that hit him with both on- and off-screen mortality, his long run writing at Cinefantastique magazine, creating Video Watchdog, and his uncredited drafts that laid foundation for David Cronenberg’s film adaptation of William S. Burrough’s Naked Lunch. Though Watchdog ceased physical publication in 2017, Tim still runs the Video Watchblog, alongside occasional posts for the New Beverly Blog, while also recording over 100 DVD and Blu-ray commentaries. (Interview begins at 8:52.)

Evansville has only had a handful of (feature, narrative) directors comes from the area — and a new one has joined its ranks: Jacob Johnston. On today’s episode, we talk how Jurassic Park inspired him to act out movies on his elementary school playground, his first job out of film school working for Marvel Studios, how that job lasted him from Captain America: The First Avenger all the way to Avengers: Infinity War, the design research he did from Marvel Comics that led to various character designs in the MCU, and the original intentions of the Vulture character in Spider-Man: Homecoming. We also talk of the efforts it takes to not get pigeonholed in Hollywood, leaving a great gig, holding onto goals, his move from development to music videos to writing and directing features, and why it’s important to let people from small towns know that they can make big art anywhere. Johnston’s first feature, Dreamcatcher, which he wrote and directed, will have its Los Angeles premiere later this month.

If — or, more likely, when — one of Mick Stieler’s grandchilden works at a local Showplace Cinema location, it will mark six generations of his family that have worked in an Evansville film theater. From his great-grandfather running a nickelodeon to his father, Paul, investing in multiple locations across Southern Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky, the Stieler family has been synonymous with theater going in Evansville for almost as long as feature movies have existed. On today’s episode, we talk the innovations in theater-going over the years, his almost-forays into screenwriting and producing, the nuts and bolts of various theatrical operations (such as the box office percentage splits between theaters and the studios), the newest rebranding of the south location as Showplace South / Art House, its future, and the future of the theatrical experience in the age of streamers.

From his collaborations with filmmakers like Aaron Katz, Alex Ross Perry, Chad Hartigan, and Brett Haley, music composer Keegan DeWitt has offering some of the most varied, melodic, soulful, simple, bold, yet organic film music — it’s impossible to imagine these movies without him. On this episode we talk how he initially got into film music as a writer/filmmaker/actor helping out friends, the similarities of collaboration strategies for both composers and editors, temp scores, and how his best work comes from producers and directors who realize how “significant” a score can change a film. Keegan’s newest score, All the Bright Places, which he called him and director Haley’s best work together, premieres on Netflix this Friday, February 28.

When movies were the top of cultural conversation, much of that was fostered in college and university campus film programs. If they no longer hold that perch, what is it like teaching movies in academia? On today’s episode is Eric Braysmith, a professor at the University of Southern Indiana for over 25 years — and my former college film teacher. We talk his career in academia, his path from Michigan to Berlin to Los Angeles to Southern Indiana, the film tastes of 19 and 20 year-olds, how movies to them are like reading a book or seeing a play, YouTube, and why teaching students to be “good watchers” might be the most important work of his life. Along with his weekly class DCP screenings, which are open to the public, Braysmith also publicly hosts Friday Nights at the Forum, both at USI’s Forum 1.

Faith-based films (translation: Christian films) are a commodity that Hollywood would love to understand — and exploit. But in many cases, it’s a regional or grass-roots phenomenon, where both the productions and the audiences organically arise. On today’s episode is Matthew Ulm, a filmmaker and producer who’s worked in the faith-based space, at an accelerated production pace. We talk his move from small-town Terre Haute to “big” town Evansville, the fast pace of 20 productions in six years (including the Ed Wood-ian pace of making a Christmas family film within four days), and Evansville’s Victory International Film Festival, which Ulm founded, emerging as one of three (!!!) other local film fests.

With voting for the Academy Awards set to finish next week, so ends another Oscar campaign season. Today’s guest, Tyler Coates, recently finished a stint covering this award season for The Hollywood Reporter. On this episode we talk about this current and recent Oscar campaigns, his career as both a freelancer, editor, and critic, how celebrity profiles come together on the writer’s end, his current favorite profile writers, the simple reason why Jennifer Lopez and Adam Sandler didn’t get acting nominations this year, and what film is likely to clean up at the Oscars. Coates, a former editor at Esquire and Decider, has also written for the Village Voice, Slate, Gothamist, and the Columbia Journalism Review.

How exciting is it to have a movie you worked on play at the Sundance Film Festival? Is a career jump in the offing? Or not? Film editor Robert Grigsby Wilson has been hustling through all kinds of post-productions, from assistant editor, associate editor, additional editor, to — finally — just editor. On today’s episode, Wilson talks about the wide path of his still-young career, bouncing back and forth between indies, TV, the internet, working with David Lowery and Miranda July in both big production offices and dingy bedroom editing setups. Also: Two working editors talk about their careers, professionally and personally, at their varying levels, and how no career ever has a “light-switch” moment. Wilson has two projects he edited at this year’s Sundance: The 40-Year-Old Version, a buzzed-about feature written and directed by Radha Blank, and the short Little Chief, written and directed by Erica Tremblay.

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