The Oscar Project Podcast

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In today's episode, I interview Philip Clyde-Smith and Eliza Power, director and writer of the short film "A Hand to Hold." The film is a darkly funny body horror look at love and dealing with loss.

Listen to hear about the single day writing process, the tricky balancing act between comedy and grotesque horror, and some advice to directors when casting a film.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• A Beginner's Guide to Dying by Simon Boas
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
• Lily

Films and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:

• "A Hand to Hold" directed by Philip Clyde-Smith
• The Young Offenders (series)
• Possession directed by Andrzej Żuławski
• Kinski: My Best Fiend directed by Werner Herzog
• Fright Night directed by Tom Holland
• The Exorcist directed by William Friedkin
• The Goonies directed by Richard Donner
• Ghostbusters directed by Ivan Reitman
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly directed by Clint Eastwood
• The Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson
• Mary Poppins directed by Robert Stevenson
• American Psycho directed by Mary Harron
• The Big Lebowski directed by Joel Coen
• Donny Darko directed by Richard Kelly

Follow the film on Instagram @ahandtoholdfilm, Philip @philipclydesmith, and Eliza @mselizapower.

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Today's episode is a special between Oscars conversation about the 1933 film King Kong. Podcast regular Kevin Pettit from the See You At The Movies newsletter recommended this film and even though it's out of order, the film was never nominated for an Oscar which made it a perfect candidate to fill in some of these in between weeks.

Kevin had a chance to watch King Kong on the big screen recently, but you can check out some lesser quality prints online or buy a copy for your collection, and be sure to check out Kevin's newsletter.

Other films mentioned in this episode include:

• King Kong directed by Peter Jackson
• Kong: Skull Island directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts
• Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg
• Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper
• Forrest Gump directed by Robert Zemeckis
• The Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson
• Star Wars directed by George Lucas
• Godzilla (film series)
• The Hobbit directed by Peter Jackson
• Room directed by Leonard Abrahamson
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial directed by Steven Spielberg
• Inglourious Basterds directed by Quentin Tarantino
• Jaws directed by Steven Spielberg

Other referenced topics:

• The Soundtrack Show Podcast Interview with David Farmer (Part 1, Part 2)
• The Lost World (novel) by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Motion Picture Herald review
• Chicago Tribune review
• Film Daily review
• Roger Ebert review

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In today's episode, I interview Blake Sherwyn, director of the short film "Chet Bond: License to Chill," a hilarious mockumentary about James Bond's nepobaby son.

Listen to hear about he identified a gap in the market for action comedy mockumentaries, the difficulty of finding the right actors to play the supporting roles in the film, and an on set incident that could have been much worse.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You'll Ever Need by Jessica Brody

Films and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:

• "Chet Bond: License to Chill" directed by Blake Sherwyn
• "Lil Brick Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions" directed by Blake Sherwyn
• James Bond franchise
• The Social Network directed by David Fincher
• The Hangover directed by Todd Phillips
• Everybody Wants Some directed by Richard Linklater
• Marty Supreme directed by Josh Safdie
• Billy Madison directed by Tamra Davis

Follow Blake on Instagram @blakesherwynofficial.

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The 98th Academy Awards are over and today I'm joined by Beth Lisogorsky from the You Need To Watch This! newsletter to recap everything that happened at last night's ceremony.

Listen to hear us talk about the biggest winners and losers of the evening, some of the beautiful style we got to see, and anything that caught us by surprise.

Other topics:

• Whatever Nevermind newsletter

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Today is the final episode in my preview of the 98th Academy Awards where I will have broken down every category over the course of this week. Today I am joined by Enrico Banson from the Director's Notes newsletter, Janelle Lathrop from the Right Now, You Like Me newsletter, and Kevin Pettit from the See You At the Movies newsletter to break down all ten films nominated for Best Picture. I've listed the nominees below along with a few other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the preview episodes this week, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Picture:

• Bugonia
• F1
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• The Secret Agent
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners
• Train Dreams

Other media mentioned in this episode include:

• Killing of the Sacred Deer directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• Kinds of Kindness directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• Poor Things directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• The Favourite directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• Eddington directed by Ari Aster
• Weapons directed by Zach Cregger
• Top Gun: Maverick directed by Joseph Kosinski
• Avatar: Fire and Ash directed by James Cameron
• Crimson Peak directed by Guillermo del Toro
• Hellboy directed by Guillermo del Toro
• Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• Balls of Fury directed by Robert Ben Garant
• Good Time directed by Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
• Uncut Gems directed by Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
• There Will Be Blood directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
• The Battle of Algiers directed by Gillo Potecorvo
• Hard Eight directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
• Magnolia directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
• Boogie Nights directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
• I'm Still Here directed by Walter Salles
• The Conversation directed by Francis Ford Coppola
• The Worst Person in the World directed by Joachim Trier
• The Wizard of Oz directed by Victor Fleming
• The Thin Red Line directed by Terrence Malick
• The Tree of Life directed by Terrence Malick
• Magellan directed by Lav Diaz
• No Other Choice directed by Park Chan-wook
• Sirât directed by Oliver Laxe
• Caught By the Tides directed by Jia Zhangke
• On Becoming a Guinea Fowl directed by Rungano Nyoni
• Sorry, Baby directed by Eva Victor
• Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery directed by Rian Johnson

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Today is the third of a five episode preview of the 98th Academy Awards where I have been breaking down every category throughout the week. Today I am joined by Swabreen Bakr from the Anti-Brain Rot newsletter and Maria Banson from the Brunello Bombshell newsletter to break down all four acting categories, both screenplay categories, Best Director and the new Best Casting category. I've listed the nominees below along with a few other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the preview episodes this week, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Original Screenplay:

• Blue Moon
• It Was Just an Accident
• Marty Supreme
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• One Battle After Another
• Train Dreams

Best Casting:

• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• The Secret Agent
• Sinners

Best Supporting Actor:

• Benicio Del Toro – One Battle After Another as Sergio St. Carlos
• Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein as The Creature
• Delroy Lindo – Sinners as Delta Slim
• Sean Penn – One Battle After Another as Steven J. Lockjaw
• Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value as Gustav Borg

Best Supporting Actress:

• Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value as Rachel Kemp
• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value as Agnes Borg
• Amy Madigan – Weapons as Gladys
• Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners as Annie
• Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another as Perfidia Beverly Hills

Best Actress:

• Jessie Buckley – Hamnet as Agnes Shakespeare
• Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You as Linda
• Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue as Claire Cartwright
• Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value as Nora Borg
• Emma Stone – Bugonia as Michelle Fuller

Best Actor:

• Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme as Marty Mauser
• Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another as Bob Ferguson
• Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon as Lorenz Hart
• Michael B. Jordan – Sinners as Smoke and Stack
• Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent as Marcelo Alves

Best Director:

• Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
• Ryan Coogler – Sinners
• Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
• Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
• Cloé Zhao – Hamnet

Other media mentioned in this episode include:

• Casablanca directed by Michael Curtiz
• Jay Kelly directed by Noah Baumbach
• Silence of the Lambs directed by Jonathan Demme
• Get Out directed by Jordan Peele
• Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho
• Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery directed by Rian Johnson

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Today is the third of a five episode preview of the 98th Academy Awards where I will be breaking down each and every category throughout the week. Today I am joined by Shawna Carroll from the Notes From Post newsletter to break down Best Animated Short Film, Best Live Action Short Film, and Best Documentary Short Film. I've listed the nominees below along with a few other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the preview episodes this week, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Animated Short Film:

• “Butterfly”
• “Forevergreen”
• “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” (podcast interview)
• “Retirement Plan” (podcast interview)
• “The Three Sisters”

Best Live Action Short Film:

• “Butcher’s Stain”
• “A Friend of Dorothy”
• “Jane Austen’s Period Drama” (podcast interview)
• “The Singers” (podcast interview)
• “Two People Exchanging Saliva”

Best Documentary Short Film:

• “All the Empty Rooms”
• “Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud”
• “Children No More: “Were and Are Gone””
• “The Devil Is Busy”
• “Perfectly a Strangeness”

Other films mentioned in this episode include:

• Harry Potter (film series)
• "The Only Girl in the Orchestra" directed by Molly O'Brien
• "Instruments of a Beating Heart" directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki
• "Death by Numbers" directed by Kim A. Snyder
• "I Am Ready, Warden" directed by Smriti Mundhra
• "Incident" directed by Bill Morrison
• EO directed by Jerzy Skolimowski

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Today is the second of five episode previewing the 98th Academy Awards where I will be breaking down each and every category throughout the week. Today I am joined by Dan Pal from the PalCinema, Television, and Music newsletter to break down Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song. I've listed the nominees below along with other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the preview episodes this week, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Animated Feature:

• Arco
• Elio
• KPop Demon Hunters
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
• Zootopia 2

Best International Feature:

• The Secret Agent (Brazil)
• It Was Just an Accident (France)
• Sentimental Value (Norway)
• Sirât (Spain)
• The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia)

Best Documentary Feature:

• The Alabama Solution
• Come See Me in the Good Light
• Cutting through Rocks
• Mr. Nobody against Putin
• The Perfect Neighbor

Best Original Score:

• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• One Battle after Another
• Sinners

Best Original Song:

• “Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless
• “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters
• “I Lied To You” from Sinners
• “Sweet Dreams Of Joy” from Viva Verdi!
• “Train Dreams” from Train Dreams

Other films mentioned in this episode include:

• Flow directed by Gints Zilbalodis
• Zootopia directed by Rich Moore and Byron Howard
• Toy Story 3 directed by Lee Unkrich
• Rango directed by Gore Verbinski
• Brave directed by Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews
• Frozen directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck
• Big Hero 6 directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams
• Inside Out directed by Pete Docter
• Coco directed by Adrian Molina and Lee Unkrich
• Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse directed by Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman
• Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson
• The Boy and the Heron directed by Hayao Miyazaki
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie: Infinity Castle directed by Haruo Sotozaki
• Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara
• Little Miss Sunshine directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
• I'm Still Here directed by Walter Salles
• Parasite directed by Bong Joon Ho
• Navalny directed by Daniel Roher
• 20 Days in Mariupol directed by Mstyslav Chernov
• American Symphony directed by Matthew Heineman
• Star Wars directed by George Lucas
• Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg
• Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan
• The King's Speech directed by Tom Hooper

Other media mentioned in this episode include:

• "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Diane Warren, performed by Aerosmith
• "How Do I Live Without You" by Diane Warren, performed by Leann Rimes or Tricia Yearwood

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Today's is the first of a five episode preview of the 98th Academy Awards where I will be breaking down each and every category throughout the week. Helping me through that process is Murray Mintz from the CineVibez Fanzine newsletter and Rob Thomas from the Not That Rob Thomas newsletter and we break down all of the technical categories. I've listed the nominees below along with a few other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the preview episodes this week, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Sound:

• F1
• Frankenstein
• One Battle after Another
• Sinners
• Sirât

Best Production Design:

• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle after Another
• Sinners

Best Cinematography:

• Frankenstein
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle after Another
• Sinners
• Train Dreams

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

• Frankenstein
• Kokuho
• Sinners
• The Smashing Machine
• The Ugly Stepsister

Best Costume Design:

• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• Sinners

Best Film Editing:

• F1
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners

Best Visual Effects:

• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• F1
• Jurassic World Rebirth
• The Lost Bus
• Sinners

Other topics mentioned in this episode include:

• Formula 1: Drive to Survive (series)
• Without Limits directed by Robert Towne
• Sinners exhibit at Warner Bros. Studio Tour
• Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg
• Jurassic World directed by Colin Trevorrow
• Avatar directed by James Cameron
• Avatar: The Way of Water directed by James Cameron
• Titanic directed by James Cameron
• Terminator 2: Judgement Day directed by James Cameron

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Today's episode is my recap of everything from the third Academy Awards back in late 1930. I recap all 25 films I watched for this season, talk about the winners of each category and more. If you missed any of the episodes discussing specific films, you can go back in this feed or just tap on the links below.

• 3.72-Kicking Off the 3rd Oscars with Beth Lisogorsky
• 3.74-Bulldog Drummond with Gareth Bradwick
• 3.76-Hallelujah with Jonathan Hammond
• 3.78-Disraeli with Jeff Kramer
• 3.80-The Trespasser with Kevin Pettit
• 3.82-Condemned with Luis Mendez
• 3.84-The Love Parade with Enrico Banson
• 3.86-Sally with Dan Pal
• 3.88-Their Own Desire with Maria Banson
• 3.90-The Rogue Song with Helen Cox
• 3.92-Street of Chance with Amanda Kusek
• 3.94-The Green Goddess with Murray Mintz
• 3.96-The Vagabond King with Rebecca Deniston
• 3.98-Anna Christie with Swabreen Bakr
• 3.100-Sarah and Son with Matthew Carlson
• 3.102-King of Jazz with Matthew Brady
• 3.104-The Divorcee with Beth Lisogorsky
• 4.2-All Quiet on the Western Front with Kyle Wilson
• 4.4-The Big Pond with James Kreul
• 4.6-The Devil's Holiday with John DiLeo
• 4.9-Song of the Flame with Taylor Lewis
• 4.11-Hell's Angels with Vicki Lesley
• 4.13-With Byrd at the South Pole with Kevin Pettit
• 4.15-The Big House with Lewis Beer
• 4.17-Raffles with Madison Hatfield
• 4.19-Romance with Janelle Lathrop

Next week will feature five episodes previewing the 98th Academy Awards before a couple of special episodes later in March. Then I'll kick off the films of the 4th Academy Awards in early April. And if you want to be a guest for an upcoming episode of the podcast and help me discuss a future Oscar nominated film, send me a message replying to this episode. I would love to add your voice to my list of guests for the show.

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