Frank Film Club with Maisie Williams

We're in the thick of awards season and as always, we're far more interested in seeing the industry newcomers getting their flowers. In this episode, which is turning into a bit of an annual tradition for us, we meet the five brilliant nominees of the Best British Short Film category at the 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards. We chat to Theo Panagopoulous director of "The Flowers Stand Silen...

It’s Winona season and we’re BACK with a special episode recorded in the company of a delightful audience in London. Yes it’s time we released to the world… our thoughts on the monumental and enduringly relevant film that cemented Winona Ryder as a star. HEATHERS! Released in 1989 and considered a flop, it’s become what we see as the original mean girl movie. In this episode we explore serious the...

Ending the season on a magical high chosen by the listeners. The more we get into this episode the more magic we realise The Parent Trap (1998) is. After we’ve addressed the ridiculous trauma of it all (erm…the terrible parenting decisions!), we get to the good stuff; the nostalgic joy of this film, its legacy and the fact it introduced to the world, Lindsay Lohan and director and co-writer Nancy...

For film club this week we’re watching Polite Society, last year’s British  martial arts action comedy  film from debut feature filmmaker  Nida Manzoor .  The setup sees Ria, a London-based Pakistani Muslim girl who dreams of becoming one of Britain’s top stuntwomen. But it;s about so much more than that. It’s genre hopping, it’s a rewarding British comedy, it’s giving Kick Ass...

Mean Girls meets Scream? This week we passionately and lovingly rant about the cult classic, Jennifers Body (2009). Turns out back in 2009, the film industry execs, aka the boys, ruined Diablo Cody’s masterpiece. Fresh off the heels of her hit Juno, screenplay writer Cody was given free rein to create her dream horror comedy starring Megan Fox, the actress born to play the title role. The film flo...

We lure the amazing Mia McKenna-Bruce to our studio to discuss our fave film of last year: How To Have Sex. She stars as the central character of Tara in this stunning film exploring sexual consent, female friendship, toxic friendship, and self discovery. Mia gives us the scoop on filming those party scenes, drunk acting tips and regressing 10 years for this role. We reflect on the weighty themes...

Wear an extra pair of socks because this film will knock them right off. This week we discuss Femme, the Neo-noir thriller and debut feature from directing duo Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping.  In Femme, we see Jules targeted in a horrific homophobic attack, destroying his life and career. Some time after that, he encounters one of his attackers in a gay sauna and wants revenge. We discuss t...

This week we watch Maestro, a film where Bradley Cooper convincingly ages before your eyes across four decades. We address his biographical film about American conductor Leonard Bernstein. In this episode, we learn a lot about Cooper’s career and directing techniques. We finally learn what a conductor actually does. We discuss whether the apparent 6 years of prep goes unnoticed as far as the perfo...

This week we watch The Holdovers to finally see what all the awards fuss was all about. A film that has so much heart, it follows Paul Giamatti as an unlikeable teacher at a boarding school who is forced to chaperone a handful of students with nowhere to go over Christmas. Convincingly set in the 70s, the film was committed right down to the old school trailer. None of us expected to connect with...

Talking about Jonathan Glazer’s Auschwitz-set film The Zone of Interest this week was both really hard and in many ways very easy. Easy because it’s a masterclass in sound design and unusual cinematography choices. Obviously film students should be studying this for years to come. But this is no easy watch - it's a film that leaves you questioning humanity and resonates harder now than ever. We di...

For two of us, this film was deeply inspiring. For one of us, this film was simply not it. Nyad is a 2023 American biographical sports drama about swimmer Diana Nyad’s attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida, starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster. In this episode we address the controversy of the athlete’s cheating and conclude that people need to GET A LIFE. We give serious props to the filmmake...

We visited you lovely lot in Everyman Bristol to watch the sweatiest film of recent years- Challengers (2024)- and record a live podcast with you all. We discuss love triangles, obsession, competition, painfully obvious branding in films, CGI tennis balls in your face, the power of Zendaya’s onscreen presence and the thrilling score. We have a group discussion with our gorgeous audience on who is...

Never have we done such a 180 whilst recording an episode. Directed by Todd Haynes, we agreed May December is a gripping and technically brilliant film. By the end of the episode, we question whether we should like it so much. The film is inspired by real scandalous events and based off of real victimized people, so does Hollywood really have the right to tell this story? We discuss the DRAMA Todd...

We buckled ourselves down for a film about shattered masculinity (one of Han's favourite genres) and came away wholly impressed, but conflicted. Why didn't it make most of us cry? What was missing? How can one family have so much tragedy? How did we find ourselves scrutinising male actors' bodies? The double standards! Plus, we discuss the lack of awards recognition and whether actually, that kind...

On Wednesdays, we wear pink  drop episodes. This week we delve into the MGU (the Mean Girls Universe), and discuss the recent Mean Girls musical adaptation alongside the original. Who else knew Tina Fey’s screenplay is based off a single chapter in a self-help book? We discuss the phenomenal impact of the original film and our first-time viewing experiences. For us, we agree it was the first...

This week on film club we're discussing this beautiful, perfectly executed and unexpected ghost story from Andrew Haigh. Lead actor Andrew Scott is perfection, Paul Mescal is sublime. Yes, the internet frenzy is deserved. From depicting grief and loneliness, to homophobia in the 80s, we pull out the scenes that impacted us most. We analyse what made the screenplay so unpredictable and origina...

For this week's episode we're not going to beat around the bush; we really loved Sofia Coppola's Priscilla (2023) and if you listen you’ll find out why. The film follows the perspective of Elvis’s teen wife, a rare autobiographical film that actually gives the time of day to a woman of that generation. Not only is this film completely non-judgemental, but Coppola somehow has a way of making us rel...

This week our film was chosen by YOU lovely listeners. We asked for an iconic 90s or 00s film and you really delivered. The cult classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film that genuinely keeps on giving, from the gut-wrenching emotional turmoil, to the visual language that was truly ahead of its time. We discuss the sour backstory of the making of this film; whether pushing actors too...

An episode Maisie was dreading… until she actually watched the film. And, well, we couldn't dislike it if we tried. Turns out acting royalty and Harry Potter's production team will always work wonders. This week we discuss everything about the undeniably fun, not too sickly, if a little unmemorable, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory unofficial prequel. We try to imagine other actors in the r...

Will they/won't they?? Should they/shouldn't they?? This week we discuss Celine Song's phenomenal debut, Past Lives. In a world of explosive franchises comes a quiet original film that entranced us all. We discuss the prep that went into the authentic performances and casting. Plus, Celine Song's lived experiences that led her to write this, and, Maisie receives love life advice from none other th...

It's Saltburn week, time to discuss that film that you regret watching with your parents. We are so here for the vulgarity, the Barry, the girlies, the soundtrack and the eyebrow piercings. At times we're a little salty.. is it too predictable? Did the internet ruin it? Listen to find out 💖 Saltburn (2023) is written and directed by Emerald Fennell starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund P...

This week we go on the wild ride that is Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos. It’s a real head-scratcher as we try get to the bottom of what it’s all supposed to MEAN?! In the latest from one of our favourite directors, it’s the costume dept that are our true heroes of this film. We discuss the visual effects and production behind this eccentric spectacle, and, the erm, unique accent work. Plus, our f...

It's BAFTA week baby so for this special episode we are honoured to have our first guests of the season be the future of film, aka the five nominees of the Best British Short Film category. Some of our favourite films from last year started out as a short. Over half of the film industry are thought to enter via shorts, yet some – without established industry connections – can find the routes chall...

It’s been 15 years and the Twi-hards amongst us have been lying low. But now, we emerge. The Twi-naissance is here. To celebrate the anniversary year of Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight, we force Hannah to watch it for the first time. We discuss the chokehold this series had Lowri and Maisie in as teenagers and the reasons we keep returning to it time and time again. We discuss actor chemistry, east...

This episode is brought to you by PROPER snacks, proud makers of PROPERCORN & PROPERCHIPS. The dust had barely settled on Barbie Land. After multiple watches and months of reflection, we look back at the phenomenon of Greta Gerwig’s 2023 hit Barbie and ask the big questions: Why make Ken the best character? With 45 Mattel films in the works, what does the future of film look like? What will th...