Framed & Bound

For the 27th episode of Framed + Bound, we're joined by author Paula Bomer (The Stalker, Nine Months) to discuss the 2006 ensemble drama Even Money, in which Kim Basinger plays a novelist whose writers block turns into a dangerous gambling addiction. Discussed: the career of Mark Rydell, the influence of Robert Altman, the excellence of Forest Whittaker, the excellence of The Long Goodbye, Anthony...

Our latest episode is something of a milestone for this podcast: it's our first returning guest! Arriana Reiche is here to discuss the 1987 film 84 Charing Cross Road, based on Helene Hanff's nonfiction book of the same name. Discussed: the greatness of Anne Bancroft, the pleasures of seeing Tony Todd turn up in something you're watching, the shifting fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur, monarchies and...

Framed and Bound is back, and this time we're talking about the 2013 film Saving Mr. Banks. Joining host Tobias Carroll for this episode is Amy Wren , who you may know from her newsletter Amy Wren Says What or her YouTube channel The Reluctant Disney Adult .  Discussed in this episode: the absurdly good cast assembled for this film; what it means for Disney to delve into its own history for a film...

And we're back! This time, writer Scott Adlerberg and host Tobias Carroll discuss Tune in Tomorrow, an adaptation of Mario Vargas Llosa's novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter . Adlerberg's most recent novel is The Screaming Child , which is excellent. Discussed: the time in the 1990s when Tobias put Peter Falk on hold; the role of Method acting in a writer's life; this film's weird shifts into sl...

This time out, we're discussing The Front , written by Walter Bernstein and directed by Martin Ritt, about an unambitious man asked to work as a "front" for several blacklisted writers in the 1950s. The film stars Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, Michael Murphy, Herschel Bernardi, and Andrea Marcovicci. Our guest this episode is Melanie Anagnos , author of the crime novel Nightswimming , set in 1979 Pate...

On the latest episode of  Framed and Bound , host Tobias Carroll and guest Kerri Sullivan revisit the 1996 film  Harriet the Spy .  Subjects discussed in this episode: how to tell when a movie set in NYC was not shot in NYC; a Kids in the Hall connection; the number of Tony Award winners involved with this film; Diane Duane's novels about wizards; the comic book Friday ; childhood journals; the mo...

After an unexpected break,  Framed and Bound returns with a new episode focusing on writer-director Robert Towne's 2006 adaptation of John Fante's novel  Ask the Dust !  Joining host Tobias Carroll for this episode is Constance Squires , author of  Low April Sun , available wherever books are sold. Discussed this episode: the ideal director to adapt John Fante; when you cast the right actor at the...

In this episode of Framed & Bound, host Tobias Carroll and guest Lee Matthew Goldberg discuss the 1990 film Misery , an adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. It's also the third King adaptation to be covered on this podcast. One of these days, we'll get to Secret Window . Discussed in this episode: the greatness of Kathy Bates, Rob Reiner's suspense chops, the challenges of adapting...

The first Framed & Bound episode of 2025 is, appropriately enough, about one of the wintriest movies ever made. This time out, Tobias Carroll and guest Jesi Bender discussed the 1980 film The Shining, an adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. It may be the sole cinematic podcast in which you'll hear both The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Top Gun: Maverick invoked. Also discussed this...

After a brief delay due to, well, current events, there's a new episode of Framed & Bound. This time out, Drew Buxton joins Tobias Carroll to get very metafictional as they discuss 2022's Adaptation , featuring two of Nicolas Cage's best performances. Discussed: writing about wrestling, Brian Cox's agelessness, Charlie Kaufman's work as a director, the challenges of adapting unadaptable books, and...

Framed & Bound is back with a look at the 1987 film Barfly, directed by Barbet Schroeder and written by Charles Bukowski. Host Tobias Carroll and guest William Lessard discuss the pros and cons of Bukowski adaptations, Mickey Rourke's career, and the Stallone family. You can find out more about William Lessard on his  website . Our new logo is by Mack V .

On the sixteenth episode of Framed and Bound, David James Keaton joined host Tobias Carroll to discuss the 1987 film Best Seller, starring Brian Dennehy and James Woods. Turns out we were not the only ones to find the end credits song to be a little bit stylistically jarring, as this review makes clear. You can find Keaton at his website ; his latest book is the novel Shallow Ends . And if you enj...

On this week's episode of Framed and Bound, South Brooklyn Exterminating author Ian S. Maloney joins host Tobias Carroll to unravel the twisty conspiracies of David Fincher's 1997 film The Game — and explain what it has to do with the publishing industry. The Criterion Collection's page for the film has some terrific analysis of the film's themes and images. (Apparently it's a favorite of both Ty...

In the latest episode of Framed & Bound, guest Caroline Hagood and host Tobias Carroll discussed The Forty-Year-Old Version, writer/director/star Radha Blank's engaging look at a playwright reckoning with art, ethics, and definitions of success. There's been a lot of excellent writing on the film, including  Neal Minow at RogerEbert.com , Alison Willmore at Vulture , and Richard Brody at The New Y...

On episode 13 of Framed & Bound, host Tobias Carroll and guest Dmitry Samarov discussed the 2018 film Can You Ever Forgive Me? In 2008, Julie Bosman at The New York Times wrote about the publication of the memoir that inspired the film — and what some of the real-life buyers of author Lee Israel's forged letters felt about her years after the fact. Dmitry Samarov's latest book is  Making Pictures...

On the 12th episode of Framed & Bound, host Tobias Carroll and Christian Niedan of Screen Sounds discuss the 1956 film Storm Center, about book banning in a small town. There's also a fascinating trailer for the film that can be found on YouTube — which literally shows the final scene of the movie. Niedan interviewed Walter Bernstein about his experience as a blacklisted writer; he also maintains...

For episode 11 of Framed & Bound, Mairead Case ( Tiny , See You in the Morning ) joins host Tobias Carroll to discuss Irish Wish, a movie in which an editor played by Lindsay Lohan creates a parallel universe where she's engaged to the rakish author whose book she made a bestseller. The essay Mairead mentioned at episode's end can be found here . Discussed in this episode: Irish saints, parallel u...

For the tenth episode of Framed & Bound, host Tobias Carroll teams up with Kurt Baumeister — author of Pax Americana and Twilight of the Gods — to discuss the 1999 film The Ninth Gate . This was co-written and directed by Roman Polanski, and adapts Arturo Pérez-Reverte's novel The Club Dumas .  In The Ninth Gate , an expert in rare books is sent in search of a centuries-old book that may contain i...

On this episode, Tobias Carroll and Arianna Reiche discuss the 2002 film adaptation of A.S. Byatt's Possession . Arianna Reiche is the author of the acclaimed novel At the End of Every Day , available wherever books are sold. You can read her short story "Potassium" here , too! Possession is about a pair of academics researching the possible connection between two poets who lived decades earlier —...

In this episode, writer Michele Filgate — editor of the anthology What My Mother and I Don't Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence — visits Framed & Bound to discuss Nicole Holofcener's acclaimed 2023 film You Hurt My Feelings . Discussed in this episode: whether writing is like therapy, authors behaving badly in bookstores, writing workshops on screen and in reality, only children, the gr...

Welcome to the seventh episode of Framed & Bound! This week, my guest is Matthew Specktor , author of Always Crashing in the Same Car and American Dream Machine . We discussed the 1994 film Wolf,  directed by Mike Nichols and written by Jim Harrison and Wesley Strick. It's available to rent or purchase digitally, and there are several Blu-Ray editions out there as well. Discussed in this episode:...

For this episode, I'm joined by Jonathan Russell Clark — author of, most recently, the book Skateboard — to discuss the 2000 film Wonder Boys , about the personal and professional crises that come to a head in one writer's life.  Discussed in this episode: what was and was not changed in adapting Michael Chabon's novel; great titles of fictional books; the nature of the nonfiction novel; whether M...

In this episode, writer and editor Katharine Coldiron visits Framed & Bound to discuss the 2011 adaptation of Stephen King's novel Bag of Bones, about a writer dealing with grief, writer's block, and ghosts. She's the author of the books Ceremonials and Junk Film: Why Bad Movies Matter — as well as the forthcoming collection Wire Mothers: Stories. Discussed in this episode: Canadian locations, the...

In this episode, writer Colin Dodds joins host Tobias Carroll to discuss director Lasse Hallström's 2006 film The Hoax, inspired by the real-life case of author Clifford Irving and his entirely fictional autobiography of Howard Hughes. Discussed in this episode: fabulism on film, the absurdly good cast of this film, the way certain members of this film's absurdly good cast are underused, the long...

Bell, Book and Candle has it all: a high-powered book publisher! New York's magical underground! Jack Lemmon playing the bongos! And it's (kind of) a Christmas movie! Publicist Lauren Cerand joins host Tobias Carroll for this episode of  Framed & Bound . Bell, Book and Candle is available to watch on the Criterion Channel and Tubi. It stars Kim Novak, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Herm...