Film Trace

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We trace the Life of a Film from conception to production all the way to its release and reception. You know when you dive into a film's wikipedia and imdb after watching it? Then the director's page, then the actor's page. Our show does that for you. We use our nerd superpowers to obsessively tell the story of a movie: how it came to be, how it played out, and what it means today. It is a crash course on a single film filled with primary documents, lovely asides, and frequent guest voices. It is an investigation and celebration of films both great and small.

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Film Trace

Episodes

Pineapple Express (2008) 28.07.2020 38:41

A dream team creates a stoner comedy to cap off the golden age of improv. Odd man out David Gordan Greene helms the ship as Seth Rogen, James Franco, and a motley ensemble of character actors "yes and" their way through suburban EL Lay. It is the definitive weed movie of the 2000s. We trace the life of Pineapple Express from conception (Apatow's "weed action movie"), production (Greene refused to...

First Cow (2020) 21.07.2020 40:09

Kelly Reichardt's subversive western about two men and a prized cow. A novel is deftly cut down here to a seemingly small film with a massive message: capitalism, masculinity, and manifest destiny. We trace the life of this newly released film from conception (why a cow?), production (an indie period piece), release (skipping Venice after being explicitly invited), reception (critical rapture, but...

The Weather Man (2005) 13.07.2020 33:47

A lost film from the dynamic duo of crazy man Nic Cage and blockbuster director Gore Verbinski. A rich man's failed attempt at remaking Sideways. In place of a wine metaphor for aging gracefully, we have Cage getting faced by a Big Gulp as a "life crisis." It's literally in your face. We trace the life of this bizarre mid-Aughts artifact from conception (a 6 digit bidding war for the script) to pr...

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) 29.06.2020 29:58

We are back with a new episode on Eurovision blah blah blah. The title is dumb, but is the movie? Yes, of course, but is it an enjoyable lark? We trace the life of this absurd film from conception (Will Ferrell said it took 20 years to make) to production to release and reception.  We chat a lot about Netflix's house style for their original content and how comedy has quickly fallen out of gr...

The Darkness (2016) 22.06.2020 31:19

Film Trace is a new podcast where we trace the life of a film from conception to production all the way to release and reception. This week's episode is The Darkness, newly released on Netflix. We cover how horror film upstarts George McLean and Jason Blum joined forces to bring us one of the most mediocre horror films of the last decade. The micro-budget film starring Kevin Bacon and Radha Mitche...

Da 5 Bloods (2020) 15.06.2020 35:21

Film Trace is a new podcast where we trace the life of film from conception to production all the way to release and reception.  This week's episode is Da 5 Bloods , Spike Lee's new film for Netflix. We cover how the film was conceived from a script scribed by no other than the writers of The Rocketeer. Oliver Stone was originally attached but dropped out. Step in Spike Lee who brings along a...