Full Cast And Crew

Dissecting the latest attempt at reinventing the Oscars and assessing where, if anywhere, the telecast goes from here.

28 Mar 202248min

Thrilled to be joined this week by Kyle Buchanan, a NY Times writer whose new book 'Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild & True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road' is out now from William Morrow. Kyle and I talk about the incredible 30-year-journey of Fury Road; two times called off just prior to shooting, casting issues with Mel Gibson flaming out (and aging out) of the role, a non-traditional storyboard screenplay, a prolonged shoot in the remote Namibian desert, War Boy training of surprising emotional depth, Eve Ensler of 'The Vagina Monologues' contributing essential feminist backstory to the Vulvalini and Brides characters, tension between Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, life-threatening stunts every day, all day, and, at the center, the maverick, iconoclastic, grandfatherly genius George Miller.  A former doctor whose directing credits veer wildly from all the Mad Max films to 'Happy Feet' and 'Babe: Pig In The City', his mercurial presence, unconventional process, and essential Australian-ness are what makes Mad Max movies so unique. Kyle's book is a must-have for any film buff.  His more than 130 interviews above and below the line insure the story is told by the people who were really there.  I'm very thankful for Kyle giving Full Cast and Crew podcast a bit of his time during his busy Oscar season.

24 Mar 202259min

Jason and FCAC returning guest Bruce Edwards, a television and film line producer and production manager as well as a filmmaker, collector, and cinema and comic geek par excellence to dive into the making of Ridley Scott's 1982 cinematic masterpiece 'Blade Runner'. Topics covered include Alternative Casting, the 7 versions of the film, the actor's strike that resulted in 9 additional months of planning for the film's VFX departments, whether Deckard is or is not a replicant, Vangelis' forever score, the fact that Blade Runner was shot on the Warner Bros backlot "NYC Street" set, Ridley's unique directorial aesthetic and style, and more. Watch Ridley's Scott's 'The Final Cut' and the incredible making-of documentary featurettes here.

17 Mar 20221h 33min

Joined again by good friend of the pod and pop cultural maven and scholar Richard Brown, this week we dive into all the 70's goodness of iconic sitcom 'WKRP in Cincinnati'.  We talk the theme song, Tim Reid's impressive career and contributions to the series and to 'Frank's Place', the KRP cast, some iconic KRP episodes, KRP-adjacent content like the feature 'FM' and MORE..so, baby, if you've ever wondered...wondered what ever became of me.....listen to this episode, it'll put a smile on your face!

8 Mar 20221h 35min

Jason is thrilled to be joined by crime writer Joseph Schneider, author of two (and soon to be three) LAPD Detective Tully Jarsdel novels (links below), to discuss the criminally-underrated Peter Bogdanovich thriller 'Targets', Joseph's novels, 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', and much more. 'Targets' was made in 1967 when  Bogdanovich, then working for Roger Corman's B-Picture factory of filmmaking alongside other future legendary directors like Francis Ford Coppola, was given the chance to direct his first feature film provided he used aging horror icon Boris Karloff for two owed days of shooting, used some footage from another Corman/Karloff picture 'The Terror' (starring a young Jack Nicholson in one of his first roles), and kept the budget under $120,000...other than that Corman said, he could make whatever picture he wanted. What Bogdanovich did was make a still-prescient, taut, spare look at a mass shooter in the making.  Interwoven with a b-story involving the Karloff character's quitting of a film industry due to changing times and mores, the two stories collide brilliantly at a drive-in-movie theater. 'Targets' is a stunning indictment of American middle-class detachment, and the debut of one of Hollywood's enduring iconoclast directors.  Bogdanovich (who died this year) lamented in the 50 years subsequent to the film's release that American society's attachment to guns had not progressed at all from the time he made the film.  Threads from this movie connect to other classics like Michael Mann's 'Heat' and Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood', another movie about a film star fearing he is past his prime as society changes around him. And in the pod Schneider connects 'Targets' and Karloff and OUATIH's Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth to different types and times of American horror, fear, and violence.  'Targets' is brilliantly directed with impressive directorial control and restraint and features incredible contributions from Hollywood legends like director Sam Fuller, Oscar winner Verna Fields, and Cinematographer Lazlo Kovacs. Watch 'Targets' at any of these streamers. Buy Joseph Schneider's debut novel 'One Day You'll Burn' and its sequel from Amazon Pre-order Joseph Schneider's forthcoming 3rd Tully Jarsdel novel here

22 Feb 20221h 19min

Late to the party, as ever!  Topics: My weird aversion to watching what's popular. My weird aversion to Adam McKay (con't). A certain HBO series' production staff puts LabelMaker labels on EVERYTHING in our shared office space. The Jeremy Strong New Yorker hit piece and how it enraged me to action-viewing Succession.

15 Feb 202252min

If you know the pod, you know I am of the opinion that Gomorrah and The Bureau are probably the best TV series ever made.  And Gomorrah just concluded a Season 5 run, available in the States on HBO Ma. The final (in question marks?) season of this landmark series attempted to build upon and bring to a close a storyline begun in S1, EP1: that of Gennaro and Ciro and their twisty, entangled frenemyship. I recorded this episode minutes after finishing the final episode of the final season.  In it, I put forth what has always been special to me about 'Gomorrah' and celebrate the fitting conclusion of the series' 5-season run of excellence.

8 Feb 202228min

(NOTE: A previous version of this episode erroneously posted and was cut off at the end. This is the revised posting with the full episode) Joined once again by FCAC special guest Richard Brown, Jason gets into Walter Hill's seminal, cult hit 'The Warriors', which despite (or perhaps because of) deficiencies in funding, production time, cast difficulties (resulting in the firing of the lead actor seven weeks into the shoot), and a violence-in-the-theaters scandal, has endured far beyond its means to become an iconic film of the 1970's. As the boys discuss the making of 'The Warriors', they also delve into another NYC gang film made during the summer of 1978; Phillip Kaufman's ('The Right Stuff') adaptation of Richard Price's autobiographical novel 'The Wanderers', also set in the Bronx. Jason finds the film surprisingly critical of its own main characters and displaying a depth of nuance often missed when the film gets portrayed (or marketed as) being a doo-wop celebration of white Italian-American male culture, or, as Richard says in the episode, an example of "OK Boomerism".   But the two films seen together offer an intriguing sense of the summer of 1978 and of two totally different approaches to filmmaking. And when viewed alongside the documentary 'Flying Cut Sleeves', which features amazing footage of actual gang members from the Bronx in 1978, one begins to put together a more complete picture.

1 Feb 20221h 51min