By Double Elvis Productions, Tiller Russell
The podcast currently has 61 episodes available.
PART TWO! Director R.J. Cutler returns to the show to discuss his two latest biopic documentaries, “Martha” and “Elton John: Never Too Late.” In Part Two, R.J. discusses with Tiller about how Elton John walked into his life (0:35), the theme of mortality in the film (4:30), exploring the most raw emotional moments of Elton’s life (12:00), and how Elton's relationship with John Lennon fundamentally changed his life (18:00).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
PART ONE! Director RJ Cutler returns to the show to discuss his two latest biopic documentaries, “Martha” and “Elton John: Never Too Late.” In Part One, RJ will share with Tiller how he and Martha first connected (3:00), creating a film around a potentially unreliable narrator (9:00), why Martha was the only on-camera interview in the film (12:00), how he prepared Martha to be vulnerable (14:30), why nothing surprises him when making documentaries (18:30), and what it means to be in search of ecstatic truth (26:00).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
Directors Daniel Roher and Edmund Stenson’s latest film “Blink”, the follow-up to their Academy Award winning feature “Navalny”, follows a family taking their three children on an epic journey to see the beauty of the world before they lose their eyesight to an incurable condition. Edmund joins Tiller to discuss the nuances of capturing cinematic moments with verité (3:30), editing scenes in your mind as you film them (9:00), how to decide what to shoot as a team (13:00), how his editing background helped him communicate his cinematic language (19:00), and crying when he captured the final moment of the film (23:00).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
Maciek Hamela’s minimalist debut film, “In the Rearview” is an expansive road trip through the Russian invasion of Ukraine that drove more than 15 million refugees — more than one-third of Ukraine’s population — in out of their homes and country. In this film, Maciek drives a van of Ukrainian refugees as they encounter numerous military checkpoints while trying to make their way to Poland. Maciek shares with Tiller how and why he made this film (2:00), his thought process in framing the film as a “profound act of bearing witness” (22:00), the agonizing process of cutting down the film when everything felt important (32:00), and creating a ravishing score purely from the sounds of car in the film (41:30).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
Director Nenad Cicin-Sain’s latest film “Kiss the Future” covers the incredibly dire yet uplifting stories of underground art and music, which culminated in a live concert by the band U2, during the brutal four-year siege of Sarajevo. Nenad opens up about about his connection to Sarajevo and researching this story (2:30), creating a war film first and a concert film second (12:45), what made Matt Damon such a great producer (18:30), the path to filming interviews in a bombed out former Red Cross building (23:45), the transfer of trauma when making a film about genocide (33:00), and the perfect metaphor for the role of a director (45:00).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
Actor, Producer, and Director Fisher Stevens is the creative force behind Netflix’s Emmy-nominated docuseries “Beckham”, which follows David Beckham's rise from humble working-class beginnings to football stardom, as well as all his personal turbulence along the way. Fisher shares with Tiller why he pivoted from acting to documentaries (2:00), the backstory behind his unlikely partnership with the Beckhams (7:30), building trust with David (12:00), figuring out the story structure in the edit (23:00), filming over 20 hours of interviews with David (30:00), and what it really means to be a director (37:30).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
Director, photographer, interviewer, and yes, amateur skateboarder Sam Jones reflects on the winding journey of directing “Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off”, a definitive, no-holds-barred look at the life and iconic career of skateboarding’s greatest to ever do it. Tiller and Sam discuss why Tiller is envious of Sam’s career (2:45), the backstory behind Sam’s debut documentary from 2002 about the band Wilco (9:50), how Tony Hawk truly lives as hard as he can (21:00), Sam’s decision to make the film independently even though every streamer passed on it (28:30), continuing to find inspiration on the long lonely road of documentary filmmaking (36:00), and how this is ultimately film about people, not for people (44:00).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
Director Jeff Zimbalist returns to the podcast to discuss his second feature film of the year, “Skywalkers: A Love Story”, a thrilling tale about a daring couple that performs acrobatics atop the world’s last super skyscraper. Jeff talks with Tiller about blending the genres of heist and romance (3:30), why this film had to be independently financed (11:00), interweaving the themes of love, risk and trust (17:00), directing Angela and Ivan’s camerawork on top of skyscrapers (27:00), how the presence of a film crew brought a deeper truth out of their relationship (32:00), the difference between “facts” and “ecstatic truth” in nonfiction filmmaking, (36:00), and the humbling truth about love that Jeff learned while making this film (46:00).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
Director Jeff Zimbalist’s latest film, HOW TO COME ALIVE WITH NORMAN MAILER, explores the rollercoaster life of America’s most controversial and bestselling author of the 20th Century, Norman Mailer. Prophet, hedonist, violent criminal, literary outlaw, and social provocateur, Mailer’s ideas about love, anger, fear, and courage cut to the core of human nature, are more relevant than ever today, and point to a prescription for waking ourselves up, shaking free of society’s expectations, and coming alive as a people. Jeff shares with Tiller his familiarity with Norman Mailer prior to embarking on the film (2:50), why he ended the film with Norman “getting right with God” (10:00), what Norman means to be “an intellectual rascal” (17:00), how Jeff brought Mailer to life as the first-person perspective of the film (23:00), pitching the film as commercially viable (32:00), the importance of producers who still take a leap of faith in today’s fraught documentary market (38:00), and how artists can access the depths of their minds (41:00).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
Academy and Emmy Award winning director Alex Gibney, head of the prolific doc studio Jigsaw Productions, has a new film about an old legend, Paul Simon. “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon”, is a look back on Paul Simon's extraordinary six-decade career as well as an intimate glimpse into his creative process as he is in the studio creating his newest album, Seven Psalms. In his discussion with Tiller, Alex reflects on capturing both the practical and mystical method of Paul’s creative process (2:20), starting to put the film together with Paul (8:30), weaving the distant past with the present day (15:30), uncovering the intimacy between Paul and Wynton Marsalis through their disagreements (21:30), and how creating music is unexpectedly evocative of the documentary process itself (28:00).
Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions
The podcast currently has 61 episodes available.