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Author Jacob Bacharach returns to the pod to discuss Hal Ashby’s evergreen social satire Being There (1979), adapted from the novel by Jerzy Kosinski. featuring Peter Sellers in his greatest performance as Chance, a simple-minded gardener raised by television who becomes a respected political thinker in Washington through sheer circumstance, luck and misunderstanding.

Along the way we discuss the amazing run of great films Hal Ashby made through the 1970s, Being There’s (mostly) successful themes of racial unfairness, media saturation and sexual dysfunction in Washington, and how this film was used as a somewhat tired metaphor during the Trump era to “explain” his Presidency.

Plus we discuss the flawed 2004 HBO movie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers starring Geoffrey Rush, which includes a depiction of the making of Being There and in so doing reveals the perils of a great actor attempting to play a great actor... with a sidebar about our mutual enjoyment of Predator 2 (by the same director!)

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Karen Geier, Will Sloan, Sooz Kempner and Zach Vasquez. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter