Hard Out

Hard Out RETURNS, with more sacred cow barbecuing than ever! Join R. Michael Gull and Jay Thornton as they napalm any and everyone (and probably their careers in the process).

Host Jay Thornton—himself a survivor of Stage 3 colon cancer—and multi-hyphenate artist Joe Wilson (who has been battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer for well over a year, and has valiantly outlived his docs' estimates) chop it up over their experiences fighting the good fight both artistically and in the cancer ward, and how vital humor is to both.

Horror film aficionado Al Lucard is a friend of the show, an a fan of our sicko mockumentary CACTUS JACK (can find it on Vudu and Amazon)—he stopped by back in June (I know, I know, been busy as hell lately) to talk horror films, filmmaking, movie nostalgia, the tragic and touching story of why he started his youtube movie review channel, and his all-time favorite flick, the original 1990 TEENAGE...

Title of this one kinda says it all. Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton (no relation—unfortunately, given the power of nepotism in Hollywood)!) broke in with a million dollar spec sale of their epic Santa origin story Winter's Knight to Sony and have since written such high profile projects as TV adapts of Old Man's War and Final Fantasy, but their first produced feature—Hulu/Disney+'s THE PRINCESS—was...

We're baaaaa-aaaack. Well, Jay is (though Chris or even R. Michael Gull may pop in from time to time to co-host), after a six-month hiatus. The title of this one says it all. For hellcat Larissa's previous appearance, check out the animated discussion Jay & Chris had with her and The Mutual Aberration Society's Ryan Jackson on Sam Levinson's MALCOLM & MARIE. Meant to discuss the film more, to incl...

Screenwriter and filmmaker Rob Hagans, aka "The Bespectacled Mofo," drops by to talk making movies on a true nano (or even "pico") budget. We're talkin' $1k films, people!! Give a listen and hell—grab your smartphones and join the movement! Gull and Jay are already noodling ideas in the $1k space. To hear our swapcast where we were guests on his show to discuss making CACTUS JACK go to Apple Podca...

This week Jay and R. Michael Gull sit down to chop it up with writer-director Chris Rucinski and actor Jesse Gavin, the star of Chris' super solid, character-driven directorial debut indie thriller NORTHERN SHADE.

Whew! This one is *WILD*, folks! Full disclosure: we were trying to use R. Michael Gull's relationship with friend Jeanne Marie Spicuzza (writer, star, and co-director of The Scarapist) to help book Tommy Wiseau on the show. That was a no-go, as Tommy understandably doesn't like doing podcasts. So it was then supposed to be his partner-in-crime and co-author of The Disaster Artist Greg Sestero and...

Don't call it a comeback! After two-timing it on another podcast, Jay is back home where he belongs at Hard Out—with none other than his muse R. Michael Gull as co-host moving forward (fans of Chris, don't fret, he'll pop in once in a while). Don't expect book reports on movies, we're here to just engage in the art of conversation on random topics. And we do mean random, as we're incorporating the...

Weeeeee're Baaaaaaaack. No movie reviews this time, just Jay sitting down for a good ole fashioned shit-shooting with Cactus Jack himself, R. Michael Gull. We're coming back hard! Toss us a buck (or more!) on Patreon for all Overtime content and more! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themthorntons Twitter: @themthorntons  

After a long hiatus, we're back with an episode we recorded on July 24, 2021 with none other than Alvaro Rodriguez—screenwriter of MACHETE, FROM DUSK 'TIL DAWN 3: The Hangman's Daughter, Netflix "Mexanime" SEIS MANOS, indie film THE LAST RAMPAGE, El Rey's FROM DUSK TIL DAWN TV adapt, Showtime's upcoming AMERICAN RUST and more! He also talks Sam Fuller's amazing noir classic PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET,...

Our love of Mel Gibson and Braveheart has finally been matched!! Writers of the Superman-starring, Tarsem Singh-directed IMMORTALS, creators of the Netflix/Powerhouse original anime Greek mythology bloodbath BLOOD OF ZEUS, adapters of cherished anime DEATH NOTE.... Vlas and Charley Parlapanides are two of the nicest, hardworking fucking guys you'll ever meet. Seriously. Just watch and see for your...

Dalan Musson! A true mensch of a man, he's a talented-as-hell writer, a former amateur wrestler, a staff writer on showrunner/creator Malcolm Spellman's *incredible* Marvel miniseries THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDER (currently streaming on Disney+, in case you live under a rock), rumored to be Malc's co-writer on CAP 4* and a true superhero in his own right as a compulsive rescuer of dogs in peri...

As they close in on the end of their fully-funded Kickstarter for Karl Slominski's *truly breathtaking" graphic novel EVERMORE FALLS, Karl and his partner-in-crime Jenna Wright stop by to talk Gilliam and Carpenter flicks, all things comics, art vs commerce, and taking control of your own creative destiny. Good shit, killer, uber-talented folks. Check it out! Chip in on the Kickstarter for EVERMOR...

Milwaukee Morning Radio stalwart FM 102.1's Jon Adler stops by to shoot the shit on morning drive radio life, stalker listeners and death threats, interviewing rock stars and famous comedians, music, soundtracks, and his love of revenge films like 1971's Mike Hodges' stone cold classic GET CARTER starring Michael Caine (and we of course dip into the far inferior, superfluous Sly Stallone remake).

VFX badass Clint Jones—if you're one of his over *half a million* YouTube subscribers, you might know him as "PWNISHER"—stops by to not only talk his unabashed love of Stephen Chow's mindbogglingly killer mash-up of everything from Chaplin/Keaton to Classic Kung Fu Theater to Astaire/Rogers dance films to classic Loony Tunes tomfoolery KUNG FU HUSTLE but also lays out the newfangled digital crypto...

You may know him as Animal House's Doug Neidermeyer, Seinfeld's Maestro, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "The Master," authoritarians in iconic Twisted Sister videos, or from one of the hundreds (if not thousands) of other times he's graced not only screens big and small but the stage in countless theater productions—it's our honor to welcome to the show the one and only Mark Metcalf to not only discus...

Calling in from Berlin where he's been busy co-directing THE MATRIX 4 with Lana Wachowski, director James McTeigue (V FOR VENDETTA) joins the show to talk not only Francis Ford Coppola's self-financed, sanity-risking *masterpiece* APOCALYPSE NOW, but directing films like the much-loved dystopian surveillance state action screed V FOR VENDETTA and a gang of dope TV episodes for shows such as Sense8...

Writer-Director-Producer-Fashionista-Martial-Artist-Election-Pundit multi-hyphenate extraordinaire Kevin Arbouet stopped by to talk Bong Joon-ho's 2009 South Korean *masterpiece* MOTHER—and a whole hell of a lot more. Need to have him back on to talk Aronofsky's MOTHER! next!

We tricked our mom Elizabeth Wiley into coming on the podcast to talk about not only Douglas Sirk's seminal 1959 "melodrama" IMITATION OF LIFE, but motherhood, raising us, her own mother's trials and tribulations, and more—on Mother's Day, no less! Also included in this episode is our sister Sarah, and a special Cameo™ appearance by American Idol alum and Tony Nominated Rock of Ages star Constanti...

Digging through our files and realized this gem went unpublished! Recording back in mid-February, it's Danny Devito's tonal misfire DEATH TO SMOOCHY and the heinous found footage cautionary tale MEGAN IS MISSING in yet another Hard Out: Cinephiliacs Double Feature throwdown! Oh, and we discuss body hair and the timely (at the time) cancellation of Gina Carano. 

The second leg of John Carpenter's unofficial "Apocalypse Trilogy" PRINCE OF DARKNESS is Chris' pick for this episode of Hard Out: Cinephiliacs, along with Jay's selection of Antoine Bardou-Jacquet's Ron Perlman and Rupert Grint-starring MOONWALKERS, a fun, subversive, psychedelic conspiracy-fueled absurdist caper flick that seems destined for cult status. If you wanna watch before consuming this,...

Believe it or not, the fantastical BABE: PIG IN THE CITY is the "favorite" movie of screenwriter, director, creative producer and former VP of the sadly now-defunct, sensational viral video factory Super Deluxe Scott Keiner (like many, Scott has a hell of a time choosing a "favorite" flick, but counts this George Miller gem among his favorites). Thanks so much to turning us onto this one, Scott......

Young Leonardo DiCaprio scorched the screen in THE BASKETBALL DIARIES, the harrowing, drug-fueled 1995 biopic of famed New York poet, musician, author, and artist Jim Carroll directed by Scott Kalvert—which just so happens to be the favorite movie of our buddy and fan of the show Alex Sterling, who had a couple cocktails and hit Jay up about doing this episode... which we were stoked to do because...

Featuring a towering performance by icon Marlon Brando, Bernardo Bertolucci's unfortunately rapey masterpiece LAST TANGO IN PARIS (poor Maria Schneider 😢) is up for discussion in this episode of Hard Out: Cinephiliacs, alongside John Boorman's WTF-inducing sci-fi tripfest ZARDOZ (poor Sean Connery's speedo). It's an early-70's extravaganza!