The B-Side Ep. 160 - Debra Winger (with Murtada Elfadl)
Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.
Today we talk about the great Debra Winger! Our B-Sides include Legal Eagles, Betrayed, The Sheltering Sky, and Forget Paris. Our guest is the inestimable Murtada Elfadl, Culture Writer, Critic, and Film Curator.
We discuss Winger’s stratospheric rise to stardom, her indescribable performance in Terms of Endearment, and her (unfair?) reputation for being “difficult.” There’s also plenty of discussion about Rosanna Arquette’s documentary Searching for Debra Winger, a film in which Arquette speaks with many famous actresses about aging in Hollywood. The motivation of the piece was partly motivated by Winger’s exodus from the business for over half a decade in the mid-1990s.
There’s also conversation about Shirley MacLaine's 1984 Oscars speech, Tom Berenger being deeply proud of Betrayed and his performance in the film, and all those NBA players that appear in Forget Paris. Janet Maslin and Roger Ebert’s superb reviews of Betrayed are mentioned, as is Debra’s perfect laugh.
Finally, we touch on when Raquel Welch sued MGM and won for being fired from Cannery Row (Winger replaced her in the role), Winger’s dropping out of A League of Their Own after Madonna was cast (bonus Patti LuPone on Evita clip here!), Melanie Griffith and William Hurt being director Bernardo Bertolucci’s first choices for the leads in The Sheltering Sky, and Debra Winger’s infamous Watch What Happens Live episode.
Amalia Ulman has followed El Planeta, one of this decade's most auspicious debuts, with the equal-parts caustic and sincere Magic Farm. With its limited release beginning today, Nick Newman had the fortune of speaking with her and Chloë Sevigny in an interview that highlights the particular relationship between a writer-director-actor and her co-star.
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The B-Side Ep. 45 – Ben Affleck (with Marie Bardi)
Hello everybody and welcome to The B-Side podcast for The Film Stage, here we talk about movie stars; not the films that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones they made in between!
And today, with The Accountant 2 out in theaters, we thought we’d revisit our episode on the B-Sides of Ben Affleck! Originally recorded in March 2020, at the time of the release of The Way Back, our friend Marie Bardi joins us to talk about our love for a sad Ben Affleck performance, and his ups and downs in B-Sides like Forces of Nature, Bounce, Changing Lanes, and Hollywoodland.
We reflect on how his work seems to constantly mirror his life offscreen, and what makes him such an appealing movie star to root for. We get into a lot, so please enjoy this look back at the B-Sides of Ben Affleck.
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The B-Side Ep. 159 - The Coen Brothers (with Stephen Sajdak)
Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.
Today we talk about two American icons: Joel and Ethan Coen. Our guest is an icon all his own: Stephen Sajdak from the We Hate Movies podcast!
We discuss the B-Sides The Hudsucker Proxy, The Man Who Wasn't There, Intolerable Cruelty, and Burn After Reading. There’s also time given to their remake The Ladykillers.
We make many references to Adam Nayman’s well-researched and well-considered book The Coen Brothers This Book Really Ties the Films Together, explore the critical success the filmmakers had with Fargo, and how they filmed The Man Who Wasn't There in color and then printed it to black-and-white film.
Other topics include the Coen Brothers’ film Hail Caesar! and their childhood fascination with biblical epics like Quo Vadis, their amazing commentary on The Man Who Wasn’t There disc, Spielberg’s advice to George Clooney on how to become a movie star, or that time Clooney recalled being bewildered that Quentin Tarantino thought the two of them looked alike while they were promoting From Dusk Till Dawn.
Finally, Tracy Zooms In comes up (obviously), the new Barry Levinson gangster picture The Alto Knights, and the James Gandolfini holiday picture Surviving Christmas.
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Emulsion Ep. 4 - Zach Lewis on Henry Fonda for President
Alexander Horwath's Henry Fonda for President stands among the most notable releases of a still-young year, is certainly the most lauded essay film in recent memory, and was assuredly of personal interest when my friend Zach Lewis offered his approval. As adventurous and open-minded a cinephile as any I know, Zach has equal-parts interest in both the films of Henry Fonda and essayistic, landscape-centered cinema––some Thom Anderson or Harun Farocki come to mind with the former, James Benning the latter––in which Horwath is trading here. I couldn't have been happier to connect with him to discuss the film, and hope our chat is fruitful for you in turn.
Sverige