The Projection Booth Podcast

• Special Report: The Traveling Companion (2025)

  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.

  --------  

  22:12
• Episode 747: Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumber (1972)

  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.

  --------  

  1:35:32
• Bonus Interview: Charles Evans Jr.

  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.

  --------  

  24:34
• Episode 746: The Brave (1997)

  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.

  --------  

  2:05:28
• Episode 745: Ángeles y querubines (1971)

  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.

  --------  

  1:07:59

Weitere TV und Film Podcasts

Trending TV und Film Podcasts

Über The Projection Booth Podcast

The Projection Booth Podcast: Zugehörige Podcasts