Under The Lens with Byron Lafayette

I was thrilled to have as my guest today Emmanuel Noisette; he is a film critic and creator of E-Man's Movie Reviews, and is also a member of the Critics Choice Association. He is also the founder and creator of the #RecastTChalla movement that has been featured on all the major news channels and has been exploding into the public zeitgeist. Emmanuel Noisette makes a case that by not recasting, it could stifle the opportunity for one of the most popular, leading Black superheroes to add on to their legacy. The #1 way to kill a legend, is to stop telling their story.

I hope you enjoy this conversation!

Sign the #RecastTChalla petition here 

Follow E-Man here: https://twitter.com/EmansReviews 

Follow E-Man on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/EmansReviews

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with the authors of UNIKORN, a recently released graphic novel that is soon to be a major motion picture.

Don Handfield is the co-creator of History Channel's drama series Knightfall and produced The Founder, starring Michael Keaton, and Kill The Messenger, starring two-time Academy-Award nominated actor Jeremy Renner. Don also wrote and directed the Saturn Award-winning film Touchback starring Kurt Russell and Christine Lahti. His first comic series The Rift was produced by Steven Spielberg/Amblin Entertainment as an episode for the upcoming Apple reboot of Amazing Stories. His second series, The Mall, was optioned by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) for development into a TV show. Don was named one of the top new faces of independent film by Filmmaker Magazine and has written screenplays or produced films for all the major studios.

Joshua Malkin has written feature projects for Sony, Warner Brothers, Cross Creek Entertainment, Universal Pictures as well as for more than a dozen production companies, both big and small. These include: an adaptation of the 80's cult franchise Beastmaster, a supernatural thriller for Australian company See Films, and a “re-boot” of the franchise Buck Rogers In the 25th Century. He also wrote and produced three documentaries: two about the art of puppetry, and the other about underground comics. In 2008, his screenplay Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever completed production for Lionsgate. He is currently developing an animated family film for Intrigue Entertainment, a horror movie for Traveling Picture Show, and a TV series for showrunner Jonathan Glassner (Outer Limits, Stargate SG-1.) Joshua is a professor of screenwriting at the University of California Riverside, a story architect for the video game industry, and the proud father of twins.

Rafael Loureiro is a Brazilian comic book artist based in São Paulo. He started his professional life as an architect but changed lanes several times into fields like advertising and graphic design, until he finally landed on his true passion: drawing comic books for a living. Rafael is the artist of Scout Comics' best-selling series The Mall.

It was my pleasure to sit down with stage and film actor Yurel Echezarreta. Yurel is a Broadway veteran having spent 12 years in NYC making his Broadway debut when he was cast in the 2008 revival of WEST SIDE STORY as Tio and went on to appear in, La Cage Aux Folles, Matilda!, Disney's Aladdin, Head Over Heels, and most recently Tony-Winning Moulin Rouge!.

Yurel and I spoke about his experience working with legendary director Steven Speilberg, what made him want to become an actor, and his work in the Pasadena Playhouse's reimagining of HEAD OVER HEELS.

I hope you enjoy this interview!

I sit down with author Daryn Kirscht to talk about his latest book "The Snyderverse Saga: The Culture-Shattering Phenomena Behind Zack Snyder's DC Film Universe" where he details the entire history of the so-called "Snyderverse" that is the DC films that Zack Snyder directed or was influential in helping craft. In this sprawling interview, we discuss Zack Snyder's Justice League, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the incredible fan campaign that brought the Snydercut to life; we even manage to talk about Star Wars and The Rise of Skywalker. 

I hope you enjoy this interview

About the author 

Daryn Kirscht is the author of The Snyderverse Saga: The Culture-Shattering Phenomena Behind Zack Snyder's DC Film Universe. Host of Round II: The Film Sequel podcast. Appear on the Always Hold On To Smallville podcast. Journalist. Member of Ravenclaw house. Clue fan. Sports history nut. SKOL. Learn more about him on his website https://darynkirscht.com/ 

Follow Daryn on Twitter 

@Daryn_Kirscht

@SnyderverseSaga

@RoundIIPodcast

@alwaysmallville

Get a copy of The Snyderverse Saga here

About Byron Lafayette 

Byron Lafayette is a Los Angeles-based Journalist and film critic; he has written for many print and online publications, including FanSided, MoviePilot, FanSided, 25 Years Later, and WhatCulture. He also founded the entertainment news site Viralhare where he serves as Editor-in-Chief and resident film critic. His film review column “Under The Lens” is designed for the busy working professional and seeks to give the reader a greater insight into filmmaking while going about their day. Byron is also a published poet and author of “Age of Isolation” and “Abandon: The Darkness”

Follow Byron on Twitter 

@ByronLafayette

Learn More about Byron's work here 

SLOW CITY BLUES is an ongoing series following Detective John Loris, who gets trapped inside his imagination after a horrible accident causes him to try and take his own life. John instead ends up in Slow City, a construct of his mind’s eye, a place where anything is possible – except a way out. There, he must battle his deeply-rooted inner demons and examine who he truly was before entering this purgatory.

I had the privilege to sit down with Samuel Haine And John Livesay to talk about this new series and how it came about!

Samuel Haine came up with the premise for Slow City Blues after being turned down for a staff writing position at a video game company in 2013. Soon after, he saved up enough money waiting tables to commission the first set of sample pages while living off food stamps. From those first pages, he was introduced to John Livesay, who liked the story, but knew the art needed direction and Sam needed guidance. John connected Sam with Legendary Marvel Editor-in-Chief  Jim Shooter, who taught Sam the ins and outs of writing for comics – what Sam  calls the “Shooter School of Storytelling.” John, acting as Coordinator, put together the art team, as well as landed a host of A-list cover artists. Sam found that the world of Slow City helped him reflect and better understand what was happening in the world and his part in it. He hopes the story connects in an authentic manner and inspires tough conversations and loving introspection.

This amazingly fun series also sports some world-class artwork on the variant covers, including David Finch, Paul Pope, Derrick Chew, Doug Mahnke, Brett Booth, Julian Totino Tedesco, Francesco Mattina, Yasmine Putri, Howard Porter, Phillip Tan, Cary  Nord, Pat Olliffe, and Randy Green.

To purchase this series click here, anyone who purchases the early bird special in the first 48 hours will be entered to win a piece of original artwork!

I hope you enjoy the interview below!

Thanks for joining us today 

I had the pleasure of sitting down with film star Tyrese Gibson. Tyrese is best known for his work in the Fast and Furious and Transformers franchise, as well as films like Flight of the Phoenix, Death Race, and my personal favorite of his Four Brothers.

If you have not seen that one, check it out!

In my conversation today, we chatted about his new picture, 'Dangerous' what people like to see in movie villains and how the pandemic affected making the film. 

So sit back, relax and enjoy this Dangerous Discussion With Tyrese Gibson. 

I had the pleasure recently of speaking with the wonderful David Hackl, film director of such pictures as, Saw V, Daughter of the Wolf, Life on the Line, and the upcoming action thriller Dangerous. David Hackl is an industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in filmmaking.

I was very happy to sit down with him and talk about his newest project Dangerous, which stars Scott Eastwood, Famke Janssen, Kevin Durand, Mel Gibson, and Tyrese Gibson. The story follows a reformed sociopath (Scott Eastwood) who journeys to a remote island to investigate the mystery behind his brother's demise but soon ends up facing off with more than he bargained for.

In this interview David and I chat about many things, the challenges and unexpected opportunities of filming during COVID, showcasing mental illness on screen, and how he brought to life the pictures larger action scenes. It was a lot of fun and a very illuminating view of this Director's view of filmmaking. So sit back and relax and enjoy my 'Dangerous' Interview With Saw V Director David Hackl.

I was very privileged to sit down with celebrated author and writer Mark Seal, to chat about his latest book Leave The Gun, Take The Cannoli, which is all about the incredible story behind the making of the picture, The Godfather. Featuring in-depth interviews with the director, producer, cast, and crew, Leave The Gun, Take The Cannoli offers some truly unbelievably true stories into how the film was made. Including how author Mario Puzo got into a public brawl with a Frank Sinatra, and how producer Al Ruddy’s car was found riddled with bullets!

I had the privilege of speaking to author and paranormal researcher Jason Offutt. Jason is the author of Chasing American Monsters, a book that details over 250 Creatures, Cryptids & Hairy Beasts. Among them The Black Dog of Hanging Hills, the Tommyknockers of Pennsylvania, the Banshee of the Badlands, and hundreds of others.

Jason Offutt is also the author of What Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard, which talks about his researching experiences in his own backyard, and Darkness Walks: The Shadow People Among Us, which outlines the more recent phenomenon of shadow people among us.

When he is not out researching the paranormal or writing a new book, Jason Offutt teaches journalism at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, including the ever-popular class “Paranormal journalism”. If you would like to know more about Jason, his books, and appearances visit his website.

Awesome powers? Adventures all over the world?! Andy Xenon was the boy hero every kid wished they could be! But then he turned 18 and those powers suddenly vanished. No more adventures. What happened? This is the premise behind writer Tom Pinchuk’s exciting new one-shot comic Remember Andy Xenon, releasing on the new publishing platform ZOOP!

Tom has written about the adventures of world-famous kid heroes like Cartoon Network’s Ben 10 and Mattel’s Max Steel while also crafting mature audience comics for Heavy Metal Magazine, among others. Tom has also written for television, comics, and everything in-between.

I was very fortunate to sit down with Tom and discuss his newest project, in this sprawling interview we talk about what influenced him to write Remember Andy Xenon, his work on Ben 10 and why deconstructing our heroes is such an interesting idea! I hope you enjoy our discussion as much as I did.

You can follow Tom on Twitter, Facebook and read his newsletter The Chuk Chronicles