The Next Reel Film Podcast

"I never even heard of a tranny church lady."Felicity Huffman received many accolades for her incredible performance in  TransAmerica , but an Oscar was not one of them. Looking back at the various nominees, it’s clear that Huffman should have won. But that’s how these things go, right? Reese Witherspoon was great in  Walk the Line and was the popular favorite, and that’s probably because Johnny C...

"I can spot the fluttering of a beaded lash from three hundred paces." Terence Stamp had played some pretty tough characters in his career – Billy Budd, General Zod – so it was a big surprise to many to see him play a transgender character in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Stamp had his own misgivings about playing the role as it was so different from anything he’d done before....

"When you think of garbage, think of Akeem!" Eddie Murphy was riding high through the 80s. John Landis, on the other hand, had had a string of flops, not to mention a very difficult Twilight Zone trial. Considering their success together with Trading Places, Murphy thought Landis could use a boost and brought him on to direct his fairy tale film Coming to America. It was the hit Landis needed, and...

"You couldn’t plan a day like this."The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, writer, producer, director and former agent Jim Jermanok joins us to talk about one of his favorite movies, Harold Ramis’ 1993 film Groundhog Day. We talk about how this film w...

"You’re not gonna fall for the banana in the tail pipe?" Eddie Murphy proved his big screen comedy prowess with Dan Aykroyd in Trading Places but the studio was still concerned about him helming a movie by himself. Luckily, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer believed in him and ended up convincing Paramount that he could do it, bringing him on board Beverly Hills Cop after Sylvester Stallone steppe...

"When I was growing up, if we wanted a jacuzzi, we had to fart in the tub." Eddie Murphy may have been a name on “Saturday Night Live” but he wasn’t a film star. Luckily, when John Landis wanted to cast him as Billy Ray Valentine in Trading Places, Murphy had just appeared in 48 Hrs., proving he had the charisma for the big screen. Without that success, Paramount Pictures was unconvinced. But it w...

"Agnes, it’s me – Billy!" Bob Clark may be best known for directing his Christmas classic, 1983’s A Christmas Story, but many people don’t know that he got his start in horror like so many other filmmakers, and that one of his first horror films was another Christmas story – Black Christmas. What’s so refreshing about watching this 1974 film is that it’s a slasher film that doesn’t feel as base as...

"Now that you’re so respectable, I think you’re more dangerous than you ever were." It was billed the most anticipated film of the decade, yet Francis Ford Coppola had spent that entire decade turning down requests to make it. It was only his failing finances that finally drove Coppola to accept the job of writing and directing The Godfather, Part III, and for a lot of people, they probably wish h...

"Such perfectly beautiful coats!"The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is our ongoing series in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, we’re honored to have two guests join us to discuss one of their favorite films – it’s the Bancroft Brothers! That’s right, twin brothers Tom and Tony Bancroft, both of whom are animator...

"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer." While The Godfather, Part II didn’t perform nearly as well as its predecessor at the box office, Francis Ford Coppola’s sequel certainly made its money back and, more importantly, has gone on to become a film that’s often cited as one of the greatest films ever made. It even has its contingency of fans who feel it’s the stronger film of the pair....

"Blood’s a big expense." It was never a movie that was meant to be as big as it became. Robert Evans, Paramount head at the time, thought it would be a fun mobster movie designed to make a quick buck, capitalizing on the recent novel “The Godfather” by Mario Puzo. But Francis Ford Coppola saw something in Puzo’s novel; he saw a family chronicle that was a metaphor for capitalism in America. He saw...

"I didn’t forget your breakfast. I didn’t bring you breakfast because you didn’t eat your din-din!" The animosity between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford almost seems the stuff of legend. Looking back from today, it’s hard to say how much there really was or if it was all conjured up by the studios and the press. But after hearing stories of the two and how things went after they collaborated on Wha...

"Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night." Bette Davis was on a streak of flops and just lost her contract with Warner Bros. when Joseph L. Mankiewicz offered her the role of Margo Channing in his new film All About Eve. She immediately saw it for what it was: an incredible role for a woman of her age in an incredible script. She leapt at the chance. It’s safe to say that by doing so...

"Don’t let’s ask for the moon, we have the stars!" Irving Rapper’s 1942 film Now, Voyager may have met with mixed reviews but it certainly found its audience, showing that people were thrilled with the on-screen pairing of Bette Davis and Paul Henreid in a story about a woman learning to come out of her shell. It helped that Davis connected so much with this role. She fought for the part and got i...

"You must hate me very much." Bette Davis was never one to shy away from roles, except perhaps from those that weren’t meaty enough. And she found a lot to work with in Lillian Hellman’s play “The Little Foxes” when William Wyler brought it to the big screen. And even though it meant endless fights on set with her director, Davis received her fifth Oscar nomination for her performance. It’s a dark...

"The prettiest sight in this fine, pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges."The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, director Steve Miner joins us to talk about one of his favorites, George Cukor’s 1940 film The Philadelphia Story....

"Be Afraid. Be very afraid." There are certain people that are drawn to a movie because of reports about early screenings where audience members had to leave the theatre because the gore made them physically sick. Whether it’s an attraction to the gruesome horror films, a chance for some good jumps and frights or simply a curiosity to see what the filmmakers could have done to actually make people...

"You don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause he’s banged up a little." When Seabiscuit raced in the 30s, he drew more news than Roosevelt or Hitler. His match race against War Admiral was heard by 40 million people, statistically about as many Americans who tune in to watch the Superbowl every year. But he wasn’t just winning races – he was a hero for the little guy who lost everything in the Gr...

"They won’t understand why we do it. They won’t understand it’s about the men next to you. That’s all it is." There is a political side to military operations, and there is a military side. Regardless of the politics of the 1993 situation in Somalia, the battle of Mogadishu was a terrible one, leaving 19 US soldiers, a Pakistani soldier and a Malaysian soldier dead, not to mention the countless So...

"The whole town is over the moon." Every story has many facets, but often the big story hides some of the smaller facets. The Australian film The Dish is a perfect example of this. The big story? Apollo 11’s successful mission to the moon. The small story? The Australians working at Parkes Observatory – a radio telescope in the middle of a sheep paddock – that was critical to the success of the mi...

"You’re an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill."The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, cinematographer Paul Cameron joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, Apocalypse Now. We talk about why this film is such a key film for us...

"I’ll say a prayer for you. A little prayer." Antoine Fuqua has talked about how much a fan he is of both westerns and of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven Samurai. Knowing that, it’s frustrating to see that his retelling of Kurosawa’s film transplanted to the old west doesn’t stand as strong as Kurosawa’s film or even as strong as John Sturges’ own 1960 version, the original The Magnificent Seven....

"From way up here, you all look like little ants!" Time heals all wounds, but the rift between Jeffrey Katzenberg and Disney may not apply. When Katzenberg, former chairman of Disney’s film division, left Disney after a bitter feud with CEO Michael Eisner, he formed DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen and soon began plotting his battle in animation with his former employer. So while...

"They called us scum-sucking pigs! Us!" It was the movie that had ‘hit’ written all over it. Three of the funniest actors starred together for the first time: Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. One of the top comedy directors – John Landis – was at the helm. But for whatever reason, ¡Three Amigos! did not find its audience. Critics were harsh on it and, while it may have made its money ba...

"All I am is what I’m going after."The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, cinematographer Jayson Crothers joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, Michael Mann’s epic 1995 crime drama Heat. We talk about the world-building that Mann does here...