Special Report: Bliss (2024)

Mike ventures deep beneath the surface with director Rob Petit to discuss Underland (2025), a haunting, meditative documentary that charts an extraordinary subterranean journey into the hidden worlds beneath our feet. Narrated by author and co-writer Robert Macfarlane, the film adapts his bestselling book Underland: A Deep Time Journey, bringing to life an awe-inspiring descent into caves, catacombs, glacial crevasses, and underground rivers spanning continents. More than just a travelogue, Underland explores humanity’s relationship with deep time—how we bury our dead, our nuclear waste, and our myths far below the surface.Mike and Petit explore the technical and philosophical challenges of filming underground, the role of sound and narration in shaping the film’s atmosphere, and how Underland uses darkness and silence to confront ecological crisis, mortality, and deep history. A lyrical, unsettling, and urgent cinematic experience, Underland burrows into the mind as much as the earth.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

19 Kesä 24min

What happens when a lavish dinner party refuses to end? Mike is joined by filmmaker Miguel Llansó and critic Rob St. Mary to unpack the surreal social satire of Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1962). In this sharp and strange masterwork, a group of upper-crust guests find themselves mysteriously unable to leave a post-opera gathering—days pass, civility erodes, and Buñuel’s absurdist lens skewers class, ritual, and the thin veneer of order.From sheep in the parlor to the creeping dread of inaction, we discuss the film’s dream logic, religious and political interpretations, and its place in Buñuel’s legendary career. Whether you’re trapped by tradition, status, or just polite company, The Exterminating Angel remains one of cinema’s most biting allegories—and we’re not letting you leave until we’ve talked it through.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

18 Kesä 1h 27min

Mike chats with co-directors Travis Wood and Alex Mallis about their debut feature The Travel Companion (2025), a painfully funny look at friendship, ambition, and emotional unraveling among aspiring filmmakers. The story centers on Simon (Tristan Turner), a struggling documentarian who clings to the one major perk in his life: the free airline travel he enjoys as the designated companion of his best friend and roommate Bruce (Anthony Oberbeck), a flight attendant. When Bruce starts dating the effortlessly cool and talented Beatrice (Naomi Asa), Simon spirals into insecurity and paranoia, terrified of losing his ticket—literally and figuratively.Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, The Travel Companion marks a sharp, darkly comedic debut for Wood and Mallis, blending deadpan wit with painfully relatable emotional stakes. Mike talks with the directors about their collaborative process, casting from the comedy and indie film worlds, and crafting a story that pokes at the messy, ego-driven realities of creative life.  Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

17 Kesä 22min

We wrap up Maudit May with a look at Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers (1972), a once-lost independent musical that’s recently been restored and released on Blu-ray by the American Genre Film Archive. Directed by Robert J. Kaplan and written by Sandra Scoppettone, the film stars Holly Woodlawn as Eve Harrington, a young woman from Kansas who moves to New York City in search of something more—only to find herself in a strange world of characters who, like her, share names with familiar figures from classic Hollywood.Joining Mike to explore the film’s unconventional structure, layered references, and cultural significance are co-hosts Elizabeth Purchell and Rahne Alexander. The episode also features interviews with screenwriter Sandra Scoppettone and Jeff Copeland, author of Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn, who help contextualize the film’s production and its star’s place in the broader history of queer and underground cinema.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

11 Kesä 1h 35min

The day we released The Brave episode, producer Charles Evans Jr. texted me to say that he was sorry he hadn't gotten back to me but wanted to share some memories of making the film. We discussed how the project came to be and his experience making it.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

9 Kesä 24min

The Projection Booth continues its spotlight on rare and elusive cinema with The Brave (1997), Johnny Depp’s directorial debut and a film shrouded in mystery since its limited release. Adapted by screenwriter Paul McCudden from a novel by Fletch author Gregory McDonald, The Brave tells the harrowing story of Rafael, a Native American man who agrees to sacrifice himself in a snuff film to provide for his impoverished family.Joining Mike to dissect this bleak, emotionally charged drama are returning co-hosts Spencer Parsons and Jedidiah Ayres, along with special guest Paul McCudden himself, who discusses the film’s challenging adaptation process, its Cannes debut, and the complicated legacy that followed.  We dive deep into The Brave's haunting themes, controversial reception, and the curious absence of The Brave from Depp’s public filmography.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

4 Kesä 2h 5min

Mike is joined by podcaster Aaron Peterson (The Hollywood Outsider) and filmmaker Miguel Llansó (Crumbs, Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway, Infinite Summer) for a conversation about Rafael Corkidi’s elusive 1971 or 1972 feature debut Ángeles y querubines (Angels and Cherubs). Once presumed lost, this visually ravishing curio from Mexico’s surrealist wave plunges into Edenic allegory, spiritual symbolism, and vampiric resurrection. The trio explores how Corkidi’s background as cinematographer on El Topo and The Holy Mountain shaped his arresting compositions—and why his directorial efforts remain both transfixing and narratively confounding.From telepathic puppets to exploding fruit and bite-marked lovers, Ángeles y querubines drifts between religious critique and mystical dream logic. Expect reflections on Corkidi’s artistic lineage, the politics of Mexican Catholicism, and the fine line between visual poetry and ponderous indulgence. This is Maudit May at its most daring—cinema that challenges, alienates, and haunts.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

30 Touko 1h 7min

Mike White is joined by Mike Sullivan and Emily Intravia to take a long-overdue look at Move (1970), the surreal, seldom-seen New York comedy directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Fresh off his success in MASH Elliott Gould stars as Hiram Jaffe, a would-be playwright stuck writing porn and walking dogs while waiting for the movers who never arrive. As his mundane reality refuses to budge, Hiram plunges into a chaotic interior world filled with absurd fantasies, sexual misadventures, and psychological spirals.Adapted from Joel Lieber’s novel (and screenplay), Move attempts to blend urban anxiety, dream logic, and dark comedy—resulting in a disjointed but oddly fascinating time capsule of early ’70s male neurosis. Paula Prentiss co-stars as Hiram’s patient wife, while Geneviève Waïte plays a mysterious blonde who may or may not exist. The film mixes scenes of everyday tedium with dreamlike sequences involving rogue movers, hallucinated frogs, and even a fantasy duel, never quite committing to whether it's satirizing New York life or the fragile male ego.Our hosts dive into the film’s tonal shifts, its place in Gould’s post-MASH career arc, and why it remains overlooked despite its stacked cast and studio pedigree. The episode also features brand-new interviews with stars Elliott Gould and Paula Prentiss, who reflect on the film’s production, reception, and what it means to them in hindsight.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

26 Touko 1h 46min