The Film Stage Presents

Last month brought suitable mourning for Robert Duvall and Frederick Wiseman, whose legacies are so enshrined that the lengthy obituaries published by major outlets could have—likely were—written years ago. But immediately after came a quieter announcement that hit me hardest: Tom Noonan, the actor best-known for his collaborations with Michael Mann and Charlie Kaufman, and a filmmaker who made fo...

Welcome back. After a brief hiatus, I am so happy to bring you episode 19 of this podcast project. Few subjects make a better benchmark than Werner Herzog, who quite literally needs no introduction and to whom I will accordingly not grant such. He is presenting his new film, Ghost Elephants, a documentary concerning South African naturalist Steve Boyse and his quest for a near-mythical species of...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.  Today we celebrate one of our great Welshmen: Anthony Hopkins! Our B-Sides include When Eight Bells Toll, Juggernaut, Spotswood, and Instinct. Our guest is the great Brian Raftery, whose new book Hannibal Lecter: A Life “traces the many lives and...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. And sometimes we’re lucky enough to talk to the movie stars about their B-Sides. The great Sam Rockwell joins us today to chat about his new film, Gore Verbinski's Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, as well as B-Sides like Lawn Dogs, Safe Men, Snow A...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.  Today we celebrate Canadian greatness. We celebrate Rachel McAdams! Our B-Sides include The Lucky Ones, The Time Traveller's Wife, Passion, and Every Thing Will Be Fine. We also spend some time on The Hot Chick, and do a couple of Rachel McAdams-...

On a special 2025 wrap-up podcast, The Film Stage co-founder and editor-in-chief Jordan Raup is joined by managing editor and Emulsion host Nick Newman and The B-Side co-host Conor O'Donnell to discuss our favorite films of the year. We also discuss our favorite first-viewings of the year, favorite documentaries, the most overrated and most overlooked films of 2025. Before signing off, we provide...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we discuss America’s everyman and one of its most indelible movie stars: James Stewart! Our returning guest is our dear friend Mitchell Beaupre, Head of Editorial at Letterboxd and our B-Sides today include Vivacious Lady, You Gotta Stay Hap...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we celebrate filmmaker James L. Brooks! His new movie Ella McKay is in theaters now! Our returning guest is very good friend Adam Drosin, and together we are The Brooks Brothers. Our B-Sides today are I’ll Do Anything (musical cut includ...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we talk about someone who played Bond, James Bond, and Blanc, Benoit Blanc. It’s Daniel Craig! Our returning guest is the great Gavin Mevius, co-host of both The Mixed Reviews Podcast and The Q Division on Glitterjaw. Our B-Sides today inclu...

One of the many special things in Train Dreams, directed by Clint Bentley, is the production design. Nearly every element of each setting feels like it was just sitting there, waiting to be captured. Of course, this is not the case. It was meticulously, carefully planned and built. The Film Stage's Dan Mecca was lucky and honored to speak with Alexandra Schaller, the film’s production designer, ab...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we discuss Richard Linklater! He’s an American indie legend who we recently just spoke to! With two new films out here at the end of 2025 (Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague), we discuss his B-Sides: SubUrbia, The Newton Boys, Me and Orson Wel...

A world-cinema fixture who's earned the support of Martin Scorsese, M. Night Shyamalan, Olivier Assayas, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Béla Tarr, Claire Denis, Christian Petzold, Tilda Swinton, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi––among many others––Carlo Chatrian reshaped the festival landscape with his work as artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival and Berlinale, his influence such that an abdication of...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.  Today we discuss David Cronenberg, one of the truly great Canadian geniuses and the filmmaker credited with the advent of “body horror” (a distinction he bristles against, for what it’s worth). Our B-Sides today include Fast Company, The Broo...

Given her work in and around cinema, it’s no surprise that Stephanie LaCava would write a novel that is, no small feat, cinematic. Said novel is Nymph, a slim and elliptical and fully satisfying character piece about a young woman, Bathory––called “Bat” for short––whose parents’ strange lifestyle, either involving spy craft or assassinations or just being out-and-out weirdos, brings her down dark...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we talk about a performer that we lost far too soon: Bill Paxton. Our B-Sides today include Brain Dead, Indian Summer, Traveller, and Frailty. Our guest is Billy Ray Brewton, and we cover a lot of ground. We dive into Paxton’s Roger Corman o...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.  Today we talk about maybe the greatest actor who ever lived: Philip Seymour Hoffman. But seriously, did Hoffman ever give a bad performance? We talk about it! Conor and I are back and our Philip Seymour Hoffman B-Sides are Leap of Faith, Owning M...

Ed Wood died the better part of a half-century ago, and to this day his reputation as the world's worst filmmaker persists. Even in this era when seemingly everything can be reclaimed, few have made the effort for Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda, or Night of the Ghouls, making all the more compelling a new book that does so without necessarily making the case for Wood as a strictly speakin...

If you live in New York and care about movies, the beginning of the New York Film Festival—this year, specifically, on Friday, September 26—is perhaps the most exciting moment of any year. Though he served on the committee for a number of years, since 2020, Dennis Lim has shepherded the festival, his dispensation as a journalist and critic carrying naturally to his inclinations as a programmer. On...

In remembrance of the legendary Robert Redford, we're resharing this conversation from 2024 on his extraordinary career and most overlooked performances. Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we talk about the movie star. The person who if you looked up “mov...

With exposure to Brazilian cinema being so pitiful, I thought it would be past due to host both an episode and screening that put a bit of spotlight on their rich cinematic history. One of my favorite films I’ve seen in recent years is Carlos Reichenbach’s Movie Dementia, which is both the cinema-induced madness its title suggests and a gritty view of national disaffection circa the 1980s––think G...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we discuss John Frankenheimer, a true expert of the craft and a man who could make any kind of film. Our B-Sides today include Prophecy, 52 Pick-Up, Dead Bang, and the HBO Film Against the Wall (for which Frankenheimer won an Emmy!) Our...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars, movie directors, and sometimes––sometimes––movie writers! Today, we speak with author and screenwriter Jordan Harper, whose novel She Rides Shotgun got made into a movie of the same name, directed by Nick Rowland and starring Taron Egerton and Ana Sophia Heger. The film is in theaters this Friday, August 1, 2025. We spoke with Harper about ada...

Few people have contributed more to cinema and cinephilia in the last 50 years than Dave Kehr. He’d have some claim to this title solely as a major critical voice, his work remaining currency decades hence––just look at the popular Not Dave Kehr Letterboxd account for a symbol of his enduring prominence. As a film curator at the Museum of Modern Art, however, Kehr has emboldened one of the world’s...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars, movie directors, and sometimes - sometimes - the companies that made the movies those stars and directors made! We were lucky to speak with Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler of Killer Films in honor of Metrograph’s 30th Anniversary program, with screenings starting on August 2, 2025. Vachon and Koffler speak on curating the celebratory progr...

You'd have to be very bad at interviews, or really just conversations, to not get something from Abel Ferrara, who's the perfect combination of endearing and pugnacious, amenable to ideas while unable to entertain even a hint of bullshit. He's especially verbose discussing Turn in the Wound, his most recent documentary, which premiered at last year’s Berlinale and is now streaming on the Criterion...