The Oscar Project Podcast

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In this author interview, I speak with Suzanne Ferriss whose first book about Sofia Coppola The Cinema of Sofia Coppola: Fashion, Culture, Celebrity was published in February 2021 and she edited The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sofia Coppola, which was published in early 2023. She joins me today to talk about her latest book, Lost in Translation from BFI Film Classics about Coppola’s film that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Listen to hear about Suzanne’s approach to writing about Coppola’s work, the wealth of films she recommends, and thoughts on who might be a good fit to cast in Lost in Translation if it were made today.
 
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
• The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sofia Coppola edited by Suzanne Ferriss
• Sofia Coppola: The Politics of Visual Pleasure by Anna Backman Rogers
• Sofia Coppola: A Cinema of Girlhood by Fiona Handyside
• The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
• Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleshman

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• Virgin Suicides directed by Sofia Coppola
• An Affair to Remember directed by Leo McCarey
• Manny & Lo directed by Lisa Krueger
• Girl with a Pearl Earring directed by Peter Webber
• Asteroid City directed by Wes Anderson
• Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis
• Rushmore directed by Wes Anderson
• On the Rocks directed by Sofia Coppola
• Past Lives directed by Celine Song
• Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho
• Somewhere directed by Sofia Coppola
• The Thin Man directed by W. S. Van Dyke
• Party Girl directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer
• Silver Linings Playbook directed by David O. Russell
• Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Grand Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Anderson
• The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick

John Kacere on Wikipedia, inspiration for the opening shot of Lost in Translation.

Video for Shawn Mendes's sons "Lost in Japan", inspired by Lost in Translation.

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In my second author interview, I speak with guests Charlotte Booth and Brian Billington. Charlotte Booth is a professional writer of history books (including The History of the Undead, and How to Survive in Ancient Egypt), and was also an extra in a Bollywood movie. Brian Billington is an IT professional, amateur photographer, and a lover of movies who enjoys working out where those movies were filmed.

Over the years they’ve created personal movie location tours including Wells, Turin and London, and decided it was time to share this with others. They join me today to talk about their collaboration, The Movie Lover’s Guide to London.
 
Listen to hear about how Charlotte and Brian came up with the idea for the book, some diverging thoughts on James Bond, and the oddest dinner party guest list in film.
 
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Hollywood Wants to Kill You: The Peculiar Science of Death in the Movies by Michael Brooks and Rick Edwards
• The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London by Sarah Wise

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• Hot Fuzz directed by Edgar Wright
• Mission: Impossible - Fallout directed by Christopher McQuarrie
• Cockneys vs Zombies directed by Matthias Hoene
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels directed by Guy Ritchie
• Paddington directed by Paul King
• Bridget Jones's Diary directed by Sharon Maguire
• Snatch directed by Guy Ritcie
• James Bond Franchise

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It's a first for The Oscar Project, an interview with an author who writes about movies. Today's guest is Mia Mask, a professor at Vassar College where she teaches African American cinema, Documentary History, and seminars on topics including horror film and auteurs like Spike Lee, Charles Burnett and Ava DuVernay. She also teaches feminist film theory, African national cinemas, and other genre courses. Her commentary can be heard on NPR and her first book Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film was published in 2009. Today she joins me to talk about her new book Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western.

Listen to hear about Mia's work with Criterion, including getting to speak with actor Sidney Poitier, what three of her favorite westerns are, and much more.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Western in the Global South by MaryEllen Higgins, Rita Keresztesi, and Dayna Oscherwitz
• Undead in the West: Vampires, Zombies, Mummies, and Ghosts in the Cinematic Frontier by Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper
• Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present by Robin R. Means Coleman
• Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• The Learning Tree directed by Gordon Parks
• Buck and the Preacher directed by Sidney Poitier
• Thomasine and Bushrod directed by Gordon Parks Jr.
• Queen & Slim directed by Melina Matsoukas
• Bonnie & Clyde directed by Arthur Penn
• Django Unchained directed by Quentin Tarantino
• The Harder They Come directed by Perry Henzell
• Five Fingers for Marseilles directed by Michael Matthews
• The Homesteader directed by Oscar Micheaux and Jerry Mills
• Swingtime directed by George Stevens
• A Raisin in the Sun directed by Daniel Petrie
• Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror directed by Robin Givens, Kimani Ray Smith, Rob J. Greenlea, Director X., Zandashé Brown, and Joe West

Check out Wikipedia for more information about the Lobo Comics mentioned in the interview.

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My analysis of the 1927 film The Patent Leather Kid, starring Richard Barthelmess  and Molly O’Day.

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My analysis of the 1927 film Speedy, starring Harold Lloyd.

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My analysis of this film is pieced together from various sources. A Ship Comes In tells the story of an immigrant family trying to fit into American society in the run up to WWI.

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An in depth look at the first feature length film featuring synchronized speech and sound. It was seen as groundbreaking at the time, has been studied for nearly the last century, and maintains a firm place in film history.

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A brief overview of the 53 films nominated for Academy Awards in 2020.

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Our second deep dive of the season covers discussion about Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness. This psuedo-documentary from 1927 was directed by Meriam C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, who would go on to collaborate on the 1933 film King Kong.

A film that was made in the jungles of Siam, Chang shows us the brutal nature of life in the jungle, from leopard and tiger attacks to deadly traps set by the native villagers.

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In this first film specific episode, I take a deep dive into the 1928 Charlie Chaplin film The Circus. I begin with a short history of Chaplin's life, move into an overview of the film, with contemporary reviews and critique from the intervening years. I also bring in a special guest on the show today.

Thanks for listening and I hope to see you at the movies soon!

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