We're Now on The Film Stage Presents Podcast Feed!.mp3
Hey everyone! If you hadn’t noticed yet, we’ve relocated to The Film Stage Presents podcast feed – which is the home of all podcast content for The Film Stage!
You can find us by searching The Film Stage Presents in your favorite podcast platform, or heading to thefilmstage.com/pod to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
We’ll be occasionally reposting past episodes over there (we’ve already re-aired our episodes on Gene Hackman, Ben Affleck, Val Kilmer, and Robert Redford) but we WILL preserve this feed as an archive of all past episodes!
If you missed our most recent episodes on Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Paxton or David Cronenberg, head over to the new feed and check them out, along with our newest episode on the B-Sides of Richard Linklater
Be sure to follow us on social @TFSBSide, and enjoy our new episodes along with everything else The Film Stage Presents podcast feed has to offer!
Thanks for listening!
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Ep. 167 – John Frankenheimer (feat. Blake Howard)
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 guest today is the great Blake Howard of One Heat Minute Productions. He’s just wrapping up his podcast series Romin, in which Blake discusses Frankenheimer’s late-period action masterpiece (and certified A-Side) Ronin with incredible film minds (and also two schlubs from The Film Stage). In this episode, Dan tells a fairly interesting first-hand story about original Ronin screenwriter J.D. Zeik!
The superb interview book John Frankenheimer: A Conversation With Charles Champlin is referenced quite a bit throughout, as is this interview with Ben Affleck (which includes a funny memory of the temperamental Frankenheimer on the set of Reindeer Games). Frankenheimer’s BMW Films short with Clive Owen comes up, as does underrated character actor Tim Reid.
We admire the nastiness of 52 Pick-Up, the way that Against the Wall looks, and the ambitions of Prophecy, failed though they may be. Then there’s Dead Bang, a deeply troubled production with a supremely strange William Forsythe performance.
Additionally, Frankenheimer made his bones in live television, specifically being the lead director of Playhouse 90. One episode we talk about a bit is “Forbidden Area.”
Listen and subscribe at thefilmstage.com/pod. Be sure to give us a follow on Bluesky at @tfsbside.bsky.social. Enjoy!
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BONUS Ep. – In Conversation with: Jordan Harper
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 1st, 2025.
We spoke with Harper about adapting his novel for the big screen, his reaction to watching the final cut of the film, and those superb lead performances from Egerton and Heger. There’s mention of his other books The Last King of California and Everybody Knows, as well as B-Sides that reminded us of She Rides Shotgun, which include One False Move, Flesh & Bone, A Perfect World, and Lone Star. Harper mentions Freeway as well, which is a great call.
Harper brings up his new novel due out next year: A Violent Masterpiece. There’s also appreciation for Shogun Assassin (a direct inspiration for She Rides Shotgun) and a discussion of genre and genre tropes and why they are so effective when used well.
Be sure to give us a follow on social at @tfsbside.bsky.social. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor.
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BONUS Ep. – In Conversation with: Christine Vachon & Pamela Koffler of Killer Films
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 2nd, 2025.
Vachon and Koffler speak on curating the celebratory program, which includes Office Killer. We also dish on Dan and Conor’s time as interns at Killer many years ago, some B-Sides (including A Home at the End of the World, The Safety of Objects, Dark Waters, and how Killer has survived this ever-changing industry of independent film.
There’s a wonderful discussion about wigs in film (prompted by Colin Farrell’s bad wig in the first act of A Home at the End of the World), an appreciation of Dark Waters getting made and getting discovered to this day, and line producers “carrying the burden of the budget.”
Vachon mourns The Safety of Objects being swallowed by the tragedy of 9/11 while Koffler suggests why the independent ensemble drama has gone by the wayside. There’s discussion on the dangers of saying “good enough” during pre-production as well as Vachon and Koffler shouting out Killer Films B-Sides they personally love (The World to Come, Vox Lux, Dirty Girl). Dan shouts out She Came to Me, an underrated, recent gem.
Be sure to give us a follow on social at @tfsbside.bsky.social. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor.
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Ep. 166 – In Conversation with: Embeth Davidtz
Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars and movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.
Sometimes we are lucky enough to even speak with them about their work. And sometimes, they are both a movie star and a movie director. Today that’s Embeth Davidtz, director of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, now in theaters and expanding this weekend.
Our B-Sides include Feast of July, The Gingerbread Man, Mansfield Park, and Bicentennial Man. We speak with Davidtz about her directorial debut, her incredibly diverse acting career, and adapting from the memoir by Alexandra Fuller. There’s extended discussion of Robert Altman’s direction of actors, the underrated qualities of Feast of July (a Merchant Ivory production!), and the ambitions of Bicentennial Man. Not to mention the incredible high-wire act by Davidtz’s in her dual performance in that Chris Columbus sci-fi epic.
There are reflections on working with B-Side friend and frequent guest Alessandro Nivola, the legacy of the Miss Honey character from Matilda, and the “trickery” involved in directing a child like Lexi Venter to an incredibly natural performance.
Be sure to give us a follow on social at @tfsbside.bsky.social. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor.
Welcome to The B-Side, a podcast for The Film Stage! Here we talk about movie stars and directors. Not the movies that made them famous, or kept them famous, but the ones they made in between. From box office fiascos, to interesting curios, and hidden gems, we examine the also-rans of Hollywood and beyond.
Listen to The B-Side: A Film Stage Podcast, The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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