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 Mike Leigh, one of our greatest living filmmakers. Born in England in 1943, Leigh remains an artist for the everyday person more than most. And this descriptor is quite reductive, as the writer/director’s aesthetic is deceivingly simple and incredibly effective. Our B-Sides are Life is Sweet, Career Girls, All or Nothing, and Peterloo. Our guest is Alex Heeney, Editor-in-Chief of The Seventh Row, co-author of Peterloo in Process, and host of the Seventh Row Podcast. They’ve covered several of Leigh’s films on the podcast, including Naked and Hard Truths.
Heeney also put together a short guide just for our listeners! It features a standout 2024 release that’s flown under the radar — with characters as rich and layered as Leigh’s best. It includes a spoiler-free intro, where to watch, and a few thoughtful prompts to deepen the experience. We talk with Heeney about Leigh’s unique, collaborative development for each new film, his early work with the BBC and Channel 4 (Bleak Moments, Meantime, High Hopes among others) before Life is Sweet’s modest breakout success.
There’s also discussion about Secrets & Lies and the immediate follow-up Career Girls, which feels in many ways like a companion to Naked. We also debate whether or not the flashbacks in Career Girls are the product of memory or a more traditional narrative construction. We celebrate the breadth of Timothy Spall’s range in Leigh’s films (including his powerful turn in All or Nothing), Dan praises Leigh’s incredible short film A Sense of History.
We chat over our favorite Mike Leigh films and some of his films that haven’t worked as well for us. And above all else, we marvel at his ability to find the truth in his characters, big and small.
You can subscribe here. Be sure to give us a follow on Bluesky at @tfsbside.bsky.social. Enjoy!
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1:40:06
Ep. 163 – Ryan Gosling Part II (feat. Cory Everett
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 return to one of our earlier subjects: Ryan Gosling! Our B-Sides are The Ides of March, Gangster Squad, Only God Forgives, and First Man. Our guest is our dear friend Cory Everett, creator of Cinephile: A Card Game!
We talk about Gosling’s television career as a young man, his quick rise to stardom, and surprise nomination for Half Nelson fairly early on in his run. He’s been searching for his lifelong directorial muse. There’s been Derek Cianfrance, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Damien Chazelle. Will he ever find the one?
There’s that iconic Rachel McAdams kiss at the MTV Movie Awards, the acceleration of his “coolness” after the success of The Notebook all the way through the release of Drive, and that iconic, ever-changing voice of his. There’s also those beautiful, weird Gosling eyes.
There’s also discussion about George Clooney as a filmmaker, his first film and Charlie Kaufman dislike of it, and his progression (regression?) as a director. The merits of Winding Refn are also debated. We all remember when William Friedkin ridiculed Nicolas Winding Refn for calling Only God Forgives a masterpiece. And if you have not as of yet, you should watch the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.
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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2:04:36
Ep. 162 – Clint Eastwood (feat. Mitchell Beaupre)
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 Clint Eastwood, the director and the movie star. Our B-Sides are Breezy, White Hunter Black Heart, Blood Work, Flags of Our Fathers, and The Mule. Our guest is the impeccable Mitchell Beaupre, Managing Editor at Letterboxd.
We talk about Clint’s Casper cameo and how that was probably the first thing all three of us saw him in a movie, John Wayne’s disdain for Eastwood’s on-screen persona, his uncanny direction of actors as well as his smart casting (ahem, The 15:17 to Paris notwithstanding) of actors. Often, if Clint is in one of his own movies, he will surround himself with talent as good (if not better) than himself.
There’s significant appreciation for his underseen Honkytonk Man, there’s honest discussion of his ambitious performance in White Hunter Black Heart (playing a version of filmmaker John Huston), and we three reappraise his Flags of Our Fathers nearly twenty years after its underwhelming release. It’s way better than you remember!
Additional topics include Spielberg’s protégés (from Phil Joanou to Kevin Reynolds to Brad Silberling), Breezy’s beautiful rendering of the post-60s counterculture depression, and Blood Work’s silly (and wonderful) twist ending.
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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2:36:52
Ep. 161 – Maggie Cheung (feat. Nick Newman)
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.
It’s a day to celebrate! We discuss the legend Maggie Cheung! Our B-Sides include Lost Romance (a.k.a. Story of Rose), Full Moon in New York, Green Snake, and Sausalito. Our esteemed guest for this episode is Nick Newman, host of the Emulsion podcast for The Film Stage.
We talk about the Hong Kong New Wave, Maggie’s aborted performance in Inglourious Basterds, the true B-Sidey-Ness of Sausalito, and Maggie Cheung’s brief, lovely, recent Sight and Sound interview.
There’s also Nick’s Sight and Sound List, that GQ piece, Julia Ormond’s tackling a famous Audrey Hepburn role, and Nick’s great interview with filmmaker Olivier Assayas back in 2022.
By 2004, at the young age of forty, Cheung retired from acting. Her legacy has only cemented further in the decades since her final films, something we discuss in this episode as well.
Be sure to subscribe at thefilmstage.com/pod and give us a follow on Bluesky at @tfsbside.bsky.social. Enjoy!
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2:01:43
Ep. 160 – Debra Winger (feat. Murtada Elfadl)
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 the great Debra Winger! Our B-Sides include Legal Eagles, Betrayed, The Sheltering Sky, and Forget Paris. Our guest is the inestimable Murtada Elfadl, Culture Writer, Critic, and Film Curator.
We discuss Winger’s stratospheric rise to stardom, her indescribable performance in Terms of Endearment, and her (unfair?) reputation for being “difficult.” There’s also plenty of discussion about Rosanna Arquette’s documentary Searching for Debra Winger, a film in which Arquette speaks with many famous actresses about aging in Hollywood. The motivation of the piece was partly motivated by Winger’s exodus from the business for over half a decade in the mid-1990s.
There’s also conversation about Shirley MacLaine's 1984 Oscars speech, Tom Berenger being deeply proud of Betrayed and his performance in the film, and all those NBA players that appear in Forget Paris. Janet Maslin and Roger Ebert’s superb reviews of Betrayed are mentioned, as is Debra’s perfect laugh.
Finally, we touch on when Raquel Welch sued MGM and won for being fired from Cannery Row (Winger replaced her in the role), Winger’s dropping out of A League of Their Own after Madonna was cast, Melanie Griffith and William Hurt being director Bernardo Bertolucci’s first choices for the leads in The Sheltering Sky, and Debra Winger’s infamous Watch What Happens Live episode.
Be sure to give us a follow on Bluesky at @tfsbside.bsky.social. Enjoy!
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.
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