The Next Reel Film Podcast

"We let you all down, didn’t we?" 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 Toby Oliver joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, Christopher Nolan’s 2017 film Dunkirk. We talk about Nolan’s decision to shoot on IMAX 65mm largely...

"Simon says." When Jonathan Hensleigh’s spec script ‘Simon Says’ was bought by Twentieth Century Fox to be turned into a Die Hard sequel, he was thrilled. After all, his deal with Warner Bros. to turn it into a Lethal Weapon sequel had collapsed. What it meant, though, is finding a way to rework half of the script to make it fit something that would happen in John McClane’s world. For the most par...

"We are just up to our neck in terrorists again, John!" Joel Silver was never a producer to shy away from giving the audience more of what they wanted. For the sequel to his 1988 action hit Die Hard , he tapped into director Renny Harlin and together, they pushed for more action, more humor, more stunts and… more of everything else the audiences got in the first film. But does that make a good seq...

"Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho." ‘Tis the holiday season, and what better way to kick it off than with everybody’s favorite Christmas action classic, Die Hard . John McTiernan had done Predator beforehand and proved he was the perfect person to helm this action thriller. But would an adaptation from a book about terrorism make for entertaining summer fare? Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelso...

"I’m a survivor, as you should know by now." Stieg Larsson had plans to write an entire series of Millennium novels, but unfortunately died having only written three of them. Because of this, they’re often referred to as the Millennium trilogy. Sure, they have the same characters largely and are centered around the Millennium magazine, but it’s not really a trilogy per se. That being said, when ma...

"Hello, Papa." Stieg Larsson’s second novel in the Millennium trilogy, “The Girl Who Played With Fire,” saw the continuation of the story of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomqvist while they try to stop a sex trafficking ring in Sweden. The whole trilogy of books was a massive success, but the film version was given half the budget of the first film for some reason, while also being paired with a d...

As part of our ongoing series on the people behind the sites and services that serve the film-loving community, today we’re talking to Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for comScore. You may not be familiar with comScore but you’re likely familiar with reports on how well any particular movie did on any given weekend. comScore is the company that gathers all of that information from the...

"Whatever it is that you’ve been through, you don’t have to tell me. I’m just glad you’re here." With the international success of Stieg Larsson’s novel “Men Who Hate Women” and its sequels, it was inevitable that a cinematic version would be made. The three films that make up Larsson’s ‘Millennium Trilogy’ were made back to back and were all released in Sweden in 2009 before making their way arou...

"Turn back, Sarah. Turn back before it’s too late!" After working on The Dark Crystal together, Jim Henson and Brian Froud wanted to do another project together, but they had a few stipulations. One, they didn’t want to tell a story that was so dark. Two, they didn’t want it to be all puppets – they wanted to include people as well. After locking those in, they came up with a concept that included...

What’s this? More Trek? We can’t get enough of it! This week, Ethan Siegel joins Pete to talk about the science of Star Trek , talking through those questions that stumped us during our film series. From space propulsion to transporters, energy fields to sliding doors, Ethan builds a bridge connecting the fantastic technology that provides the foundation for the Trek future, back to the practical...

"I’m submitting a complaint, exercising my rights as a citizen. That makes me a criminal?" Thank you for supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/thenextreel There are many anthology films out in the universe, some better than others. It’s the better ones that have strong connective tissues tying the various short stories together. Sometimes, those ones are directed...

"Memories are all we end up with." Anyone who has seen a Ricardo Darín film knows he has very expressive eyes. The actors in the 2009 film El Secreto de Sus Ojos , or The Secret in Their Eyes , had to have more than just expressive eyes, though. They had to be able to carry heavy amounts of subtext in their eyes. And while director Juan José Campanella’s film is largely a detective story as Darín...

"When nothing can be worse than what happened, you feel powerful." Juan José Campanella had developed a career bouncing back and forth between the US, where he would direct episodes of TV shows, and Argentina, where he was starting his feature film directing career. After his Argentinean feature film debut in 1999, he tapped his leading man – Ricardo Darín – to star in his next feature, El Hijo de...

"Of course I can buy it, but I can also not buy it as everybody else would do if they could." Ricardo Darín was pretty much born into acting. Coming from a pair of actor parents, he started on Argentine television when he was just a boy and grew up in the industry, finding lots of success in TV, film, and theatre. But it was his role as con artist Marcos in Fabián Bielinsky’s film Nueve Reinas – o...

"This is where the frontier pushes back." With JJ Abrams busy working on that other space franchise, the new Trek film needed a new director. And who better to bring on board than Justin Lin, the man who rejuvenated the Fast & Furious franchise. Yes, it meant he was going to bring his big action directing to this franchise. But was that a bad thing? It also meant there would be fewer lens flar...

Thank you for supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/thenextreel "My name is Khan." When Paramount asked JJ Abrams and his team behind the 2009 Star Trek reboot to get started on a sequel, they took a while trying to break the story. From interviews, it sounded like they had well over 50 iterations of the story before they finally came up with the idea they went wi...

Thank you for supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/thenextreel "Your father was the captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother’s and yours. I dare you to do better." With the financial disappointment of Star Trek: Nemesis , Paramount wasn’t so sure they would return to the well again. But in 2005, when Viacom/Paramount spl...

Thank you for supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/thenextreel "I’m afraid you won’t survive to witness the victory of the echo over the voice." Star Trek: Insurrection was a success at the box office, but not so much that the studio felt the need to get another Star Trek film into production right away. In fact, there didn’t seem to be much motivation to make on...

”How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong?" With the success of Star Trek: First Contact , a more action-oriented Star Trek film, the team behind it wanted their next film to be lighter in tone and more character-driven. To a certain extent, that’s exactly what audiences got, and a lot of people were disappointed because they were expecting so much more. Join us — Pete Wright...

Thank you for supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/thenextreel "The line must be drawn here!" The introduction of the Borg as an antagonist on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” gave the crew of the Enterprise – and the teams on subsequent shows – one of their greatest villains. Not only are they a terrifying collective, assimilating everyone they come into contact...

"Who am I to argue with the captain of the Enterprise?" After seven successful seasons of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” it was time for their voyage to the big screen. For the first foray into the cinemas, the TNG team pulled several key crew from the show – notably the writers and director. Unfortunately, it made for a film that felt a bit like an expanded episode of the TV series, albeit mad...

"We will not be the instigators of full scale war on the eve of universal peace!" Even though “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was entering its fifth season and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier had underperformed, Paramount wanted to bring back the original crew of the Enterprise for one last hurrah to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the franchise. To write and helm the film, they turned to the m...

"I don’t want my pain taken away! I need my pain!" Leonard Nimoy had directed two Star Trek films so naturally, William Shatner wanted to give it a go. He even had a great concept for a story – the crew of the Enterprise goes on a quest to find God. Unfortunately, with a writers strike hitting Hollywood at the time, with an effects company that couldn’t deliver, and with a studio demanding as much...

"Who would send a probe hundreds of light years to talk to a whale?" With the success of their pair of Star Trek films under their belt, director Leonard Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett were asked once again to return to the well and bring forth yet another Star Trek story. This time, Nimoy had more free reign to make the film he wanted to make, and he and Bennett thought it would be nice to make...

"My God, Bones, what have I done?" Because of the critical and financial success of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Paramount quickly put plans into action for part three, telling Harve Bennett to get them a script as quickly as he could. And he did. Soon, they had brought Leonard Nimoy on to direct, feeling okay that he could handle it since his part of Spock had such a diminished role in the f...