Interviews

The Gronvall Files:Going the Distance from Fact to Fiction with Director Nanette Burstein

Change is good, although it’s not always easy to reinvent oneself. But New York filmmaker Nanette Burstein, a Best Documentary Feature Oscar nominee for On the Ropes (which she co-directed with Brett Morgen), doesn’t miss a step in her transition from nonfiction film to narrative features.

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The Gronvall Files, An Interview with Lisa Cholodenko, Director of The Kids Are All Right

Family Matters : An Interview with Lisa Cholodenko, Director of The Kids Are All Right We may only be halfway through the year, but one thing you can bet on: come the end of December, Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right will score among many 2010 Top Ten lists. The director made a huge…

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Mark Hopkins Director of Living in Emergency

In this podcast, Noah interviews Mark Hopkins, director of the documentary Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors without Borders. They talk about real-life heroes, The Hurt Locker, Apocalypse Now, and the shocking reality of many non-Westerners’ lives. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Mark Hopkins

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Interview with Juan Jose Campanella: The Eyes Have It

This year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film went to an Argentine romantic crime thriller that few people beyond Academy voters and film festival goers were lucky enough to have seen: The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de sus ojos), directed by Juan Jose Campanella, a filmmaker who calls both New York and Argentina home….

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James Gray Director of Two Lovers

Noah has a far-ranging conversation with Two Lovers director James Gray about Francis Ford Coppola, Italian neo-realism vs French New Wave, The 400 Blows, and his potential next film: The Lost City of Z starring Brad Pitt. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with James Gray

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Scott Z. Burns Screenwriter of The Informant

In this podcast, Noah talks to Scott Z. Burns, the screenwriter of The Informant! about working with Sodebergh and Damon, unreliable narrators, and Dog Day Afternoon. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Scott Z. Burns

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Lukas Moodysson Director of Mammoth

This week Noah talks to one of his favorite filmmakers, Lukas Moodysson, about his new film Mammoth, working with Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams, globalization, and Margot at the Wedding. Listent to Noah Forest Podcast with Lukas Moodysson

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Michael Sucsy Director of Grey Gardens

This week Noah talks with Grey Gardens director Michael Sucsy about the Maysles Brothers original film, how silly it is to doubt Drew Barrymore and his next project, The Goree Girls. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Michael Sucsy

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John Malkovich Star of Disgrace

This week Noah chats with the legendary John Malkovich about his new film Disgrace, working with the Coen Brothers and his affection for Napoleon Dynamite. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with John Malkovich

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Judi Krant Director of Made in China

This week Noah talks with Judi Krant, director of the film Made in China which won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW. They talk about the difficulty of shooting in Shanghai, the relationship between art and commerce, the greatness of Sidney Lumet and the whimsy of Michel Gondry. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Director…

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Elisabeth Shue and Thomas Haden Church

This week Noah talks to Elisabeth Shue and Thomas Haden Church about their new film Don McKay, working together and working apart, the wonder of Meryl Streep and Shue’s great work in Cocktail! Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Elisabeth Shue and Thomas Haden Church

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Wiley Wiggins Star of Sorry, Thanks

This week Noah talks to Wiley Wiggins about his new film, Sorry, Thanks, being in the cast of Dazed and Confused, mumblecore films, and great sci-fi films. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Wiley Wiggins

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Mark Webber Director of Explicit Ills

This week Noah talks to actor turned writer/director Mark Webber about his new film Explicit Ills, working with Jim Jarmusch and Ethan Hawke, and starring in Nickelodeon’s Snow Day. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Director Mark Webber

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Andy Fickman Director of Race to Witch Mountain

This week Noah talks to Race to Witch Mountain director Andy Fickman about action movies, the making of Anaconda and beating up The Rock. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Director Andy Fickman

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Peter Buchman Screenwriter of Che

This week Noah chats with Che screenwriter Peter Buchman about working with Soderbergh, researching Che Guevara, and his stalled Alexander the Great project. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Peter Buchman

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Matteo Garrone Director of Gomorrah

This week Noah talks Matteo Garrone, director of Gomorrah, about Italian mafia, Italian cinema and the conventions of the American gangster movie. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Matteo Garrone

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John Patrick Shanley

This week Noah chats with writer/director John Patrick Shanley about his new film Doubt, his last film Joe Versus the Volcano, working with Meryl Streep, and the wonder of Sabu. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with John Patrick Shanley

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J. Michael Straczynski Screenwriter of Changeling

This week Noah talks with Changeling screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski about screenwriting, Clint Eastwood, television vs. film and the genius of Rod Serling. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with J. Michael Straczynski

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David Wain Director of Role Models

This week Noah chats with David Wain, director of the new film Role Models. They talk about Lost in Translation, Paul Rudd’s career, Robert Altman, the demise of Stella, and the rise of Wainy Days. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with David Wain

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Kurt Kuenne Director of Dear Zachary

“I wish that I had never had the opportunity to make this film. I wish that my friend Dr. Andrew Bagby was alive and well and that I was blissfully ignorant of the lessons I’ve learned along this journey. .” – Kurt Kuenne Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with Kurt Kuenne

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Interviews

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“I’m in Locarno, my movie is premiering for 1,000 people, which is nuts. A huge-ass screening, second day of the festival, 7:30pm in the sidebar competition. It’s comparable to Un Certain Regard or Director’s Fortnight. Every movie I saw in that section was fun, brilliant movies from around the world. The main competition was like Aza Jacobs and Mia Hansen-Løve, people who have been around. And I was like, “This is crazy. What am I doing inside the bloodstream of this establishment? I’m 27. I don’t belong here.” Every person I talked to there couldn’t believe what the movie cost, and then couldn’t believe when I told them what other American movies cost. We were the cheapest movie there by 65%. The next cheapest movie cost I think three times as much as we did. And they were just like, “You can’t make movies for what you’re telling us your movie cost.” And I told them, “Well, I can, I’m here, I’m in the same section as you are, so you are wrong. People think I’m lying when I tell them my budget. And also everyone likes it. I’m having a great time and people are being very responsive. Maurice Pialat’s widow was like, “I heard your movie’s good, I want a copy of it.” I’m like, “Well this is f**kin’ crazy.” Pedro Costa saw it there and really liked it and I’m like, What am I doing? I had gone in two months from screening at BAM for a lot of friends to Pedro Costa? This is the exact sentence: “Pedro Costa saw your movie. He’s a huge Jerry Lewis fan. He wants to talk to you about your movie and also Jerry Lewis.” And I thought, “I’m out of my element. I cannot have that conversation because that’s ridiculous.” Because his retrospective was happening at Anthology when I worked at Kim’s, and his Criterion box set came out when I was working at Kim’s. He can’t want to talk to me. That’s not possible. That’s not allowed. There is no world where that makes any sense!”  Or like when you wrote me to say that David Gordon Green wrote you to say, “I’m watching The Color Wheel and then I’m going to see Tree of Life.” There is no world where this is allowed! Again, somebody whose DVDs I was putting on the shelf, as, like, a hero. And it’s just like, “Oh, I’ll watch this movie.” There’s just a very fuzzy area in the middle there and it happened very quickly and I don’t understand why.  I still have a voice-mail from Sean [Price Williams, cinematographer]. I wish he was here to talk about it, but the voice-mail is a long pause and he’s just like, “I don’t want to tell you this, because it’s gonna make you so insufferable. I hate having to tell you this, but Leos Carax watched your movie and he really loves it, and he wants to meet you when he comes to New York.” I can’t live in a world where Leos Carax knows who I am, watches my movie, likes it, and thinks, “I wanna meet that guy.”
~ It’s Alex Ross Perry’s World

“I don’t know. It’s been a lot harder than I thought it was going to be to make the films I really dream of making. I was in Italy a few years ago scouting for this very beautiful film I wanted to make with Richard Linklater. We worked really hard on the script for a couple of years and couldn’t get the money together. It was an expensive idea. It’s heartbreaking when that happens over and over again and then the movies that do get made are ones that have lots of women being beaten up or zombies being killed. It’s all fine, it’s all okay, but it’s hard. I remember when River Phoenix died, he was ahead of me on this curve. He kind of realized how hard it was to make serious movies. People like Sidney Lumet figured out how to walk that line, but it’s hard. And it requires patience. It’s a life’s work and I wonder if I’m up to the task.”
~ Weary, Wary Ethan Hawke

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