The Film Stage Presents

Episodes

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  The B-Side Ep. 192 – James Spader (with Veronica Fitzpatrick) 16.10.2026 1h 45m

  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. Our subject today is the weird, handsome, and weirdly handsome James Spader! The B-Sides are White Palace, 2 Days in the Valley, Critical Care, and Slow Burn. Our guest is Veronica Fitzpatrick, editor of the new book In the Mood? As described on the A24 website: “From flirtation and foreplay to all-out kink, In the Mood? offers a menu of over 100 erotic movie recommendations.” There are THREE Spader films featured in the book, including White Palace! We talk about what a great on-screen listener Spader is, his bravery in going bald in Hollywood, his sexiness through the years, and that White Palace tagline (“The story of a younger man and a bolder woman”). Additional Spader movie recs include Bad Influence and The Music of Chance. The silent film masterpiece Greed comes up (the inspiration for Slow Burn), as does the recent New York Film Festival, and the untapped lunacy of 1990s cinema.
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  Emulsion Ep. 28 - Mark Kermode on Resurrecting The Devils 15.10.2026 48m

  There are holy grails, and then there’s The Devils. While Ken Russell’s 1971 film has been available in some form or another for decades, many (like me) always avoided it—not for its scandalous content, but for the lack of such. In a rare class of studio films that passed through the era of director’s cut DVDs without proper restoration, it’s long seemed destined for cinematic purgatory. That has changed in a manner so drastic it’s like everybody’s making up for lost time. With the creation of their new label, Clockwork, Warner Bros. announced a restoration of the full, uncut iteration for widespread release on 35mm that was preceded by a splashy Cannes world premiere that sold out in seconds. It happened in no small part because of The Devils’ biggest champion, Mark Kermode, who has spent decades on the front line for Russell’s vision. With Kermode in town for a U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival, I had the pleasure of partaking in a long, impassioned conversation with (literally) one of the most famous voices in film. Two notes: 1) Kermode told me after our conversation that his white whale is a complete restoration of the director’s cut of William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist III; 2) at some point I misuse the term “begs the question.” I could feel myself making the mistake in real time, yet it slipped out. We regret the error.
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  Daniel Kraus on Whalefall, Survival at Sea Movies, and Building a Cetacean Story 14.10.2026 47m

  Welcome to The Film Stage Presents! Today we’re speaking with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Daniel Kraus about his novel Whalefall and the new film of the same name (which he co-wrote with director Brian Duffield).  We chat about Whalefall, adapting it from book to screen, his recent Pulitzer win for his novel Angel Down, and other underrated sea survivor movies. Among them are All Is Lost, White Squall, and In the Heart of the Sea.  Additional topics discussed include the differences between books and movies, how the whale in Whalefall is actually a setting and not a villain, and the survival books we read as kids (The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Lord of the Flies by William Golding). There are mentions of the great Walter Hill film Southern Comfort and the great Carroll Ballard film The Black Stallion. Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity also comes up, which Kraus feels is the best comp to Whalefall.
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  The B-Side Ep. 191 – In Conversation with Josh Hartnett 01.10.2026 49m

  Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! And sometimes we get to talk to stars about their own B-Sides! Today is a big one for us. The legend Josh Hartnett is on the podcast to talk about his new film Verity and dish on some of his B-Sides, including Town & Country, August, and Valley of the Gods. We chat with Hartnett about his growth as an actor, his memories on the chaotic set of the Warren Beatty-starrer Town & Country, his love for the underseen August, his joy making Lucky Number Slevin, and the luck and stress of having both his big movie (Verity) open mere days before his big new show (Below). We make mention of this fascinating Vanity Fair piece from 2001, as well as his intentional disappearance from Hollywood in the mid-2000s. There’s also a brief mention of his potential regret in dismissing a chance at playing Batman for Christopher Nolan early on.
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  Emulsion Ep. 27 - Dennis Lim on the 64th New York Film Festival 21.09.2026 29m

  If you live in New York, you know this is the best time of year for filmgoing; if you don’t, you probably realize such and just wish you were here. The 64th New York Film Festival begins this Friday, September 25, and runs a little over two weeks, accounting for encores that are appreciable and often still insufficient for seeing everything on offer at Lincoln Center. I can speak from experience that seeing as much as you want—or, let’s be honest, seeing even more than you wish—is like a full-time job. Imagine the task of being its architect. That man is Dennis Lim, with whom I spoke last year on the eve of the 63rd edition. Dennis has plenty more to say as this year begins, not least on the theme of sorts that has emerged from our dystopian moment. This conversation is not doom and gloom, though—by his read, cinema is in a strong-enough place that there’s reason to be hopeful, even cherish the medium. Plus: there’s always Hong Sangsoo.
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  The B-Side Ep. 190 – James Gandolfini (with Jason Bailey) 18.09.2026 1h 39m

  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 New Jersey legend James Gandolfini! Our B-Sides include: The Mexican, Romance & Cigarettes, Cinema Verite, and The Drop. Our guest literally wrote the book on Gandolfini! Jason Bailey, author of Gandolfini Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend. He also co-hosts the podcast “Guide for the Film Fanatic” on the One Heat Minute Productions network. I was honored to chat about The Adventures of Robin Hood on the pod not too long ago! We discuss Gandolfini’s early years as a character actor, his fun times on the set of the holiday debacle Surviving Christmas, and the chemistry of friendship that Gandolfini and Julia Roberts build in the underrated The Mexican.  Jason dishes on the process of writing his great book, we all lament the next act of great Gandolfini performances we did not get, and I remember some iconic episodes from The Sopranos. We discuss his playful energy and singular legacy, and what could have been. There’s also a chat about Jason’s upcoming book YIPPEE KI-YAY "Die Hard,” Bruce Willis, and the Reinvention of the Action Movie.
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  Coyote, ACME & Product Safety with Joe Galbo 04.09.2026 1h 6m

  After a fraught journey to the big screen at the hands of corporate overlords, Coyote Vs. ACME has finally seen the light of day. Despite the C-suite mishigas the film is proving to be a well-earned success. It’s a funny, charming, and uniquely sobering look at the things we buy and use, and the companies we get used by. Rooted as much in the world of Chuck Jones as The Verdict or A Civil Action, the cartoon courtroom antics are built on the bones of a legal thriller, and the resulting observations bear an uncomfortable resemblance to the reality of our relationship with almost every corporation in 2026. To unpack this, I spoke with Joe Galbo, a social media specialist for a U.S. safety regulatory agency. Over the past decade, Galbo has made it his mission to raise awareness of unsafe products in wry and off-beat ways one meme at a time. We discuss the irony of how the film’s fraught distribution is reflected in its script, and frankly enhances its message. We also get into how the film captures an ever-present dread in the face of AI and the “enshittification” of just about everything we buy and use. We marvel at how unflinching the film is in delivering these sentiments, and why the Looney Tunes are the perfect vessel to raise awareness. Be sure to follow Joe @josephgalbo.bsky.social, and for any info on unsafe products (or how to report them) visit saferproducts.gov. Coyote Vs. ACME is now in theaters.
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  The B-Side Ep. 189 – In Conversation with Martin Campbell 02.09.2026 42m

  Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie directors! And sometimes we get to talk to movie directors about their own B-Sides! Today, with his new film Just Play Dead now in theaters and available on VOD/Digital, we spoke with the great Martin Campbell about his long, accomplished career. Along with Just Play Dead, we focus on his early films Criminal Law, Cast a Deadly Spell, and Beyond Borders. The perennially underrated filmmaker tells us how he gets movies like Just Play Dead made these days, why he still wants to make an outright comedy, why his Green Lantern film didn’t work (spoiler alert: it was the script being written “by committee" and eleventh-hour budget cuts), and the freedom that comes with smaller budgets on independent productions. There are also brief discussions about GoldenEye (a final budget of just $58 million!), his cult classic No Escape, and why he doesn’t like the actual making of his movies but he loves the editing.
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  The B-Side – Jason Statham Revisited 26.08.2026 1h 6m

  Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars and not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones they made in between. In a revisited episode as Mutiny arrives, Dan Mecca, Conor O'Donnell, and Jordan Raup discuss The B-Sides of Jason Statham’s career.
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  The B-Side – Matt Damon Revisited 24.08.2026 2h 36m

  Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars and not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones they made in between. Today, in a revisited episode, we explore the career of a B-Side prince: Matt Damon. From his Oscar-laden breakout film Good Will Hunting to the upcoming Ford v Ferrari, the Boston-born filmmaker has made many hit movies, and twice as many that were underseen. And don’t get us started on all of the cameos! Our Damon-focused episode explores Gerry, The Brothers Grimm, Hereafter and The Great Wall. We discuss the career of Terry Gilliam and his many troubles making Grimm. We dive into the tragic inspiration behind Gerry as well as Gus Van Sant and Matt Damon’s desire to experiment with long camera shots. We gauge how accurate podcast producer Conor O’Donnell’s review of The Great Wall was from a couple of years back.
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  Emulsion Ep. 26 - Rob Tregenza on FAST 11.08.2026 1h

  When, a few years ago, I agreed to interview the filmmaker Rob Tregenza on the eve of his career-spanning retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, I did not anticipate it would, before long, lead to a producing credit on his new film. Nor a whole other feature in the time between that he thanked me for helping motivate, or an extended interview on his strange experiences working with Béla Tarr. This week marks the release of Tregenza’s sixth feature, Fast, a characteristically audacious and formally virtuosic that opens at MoMA on Wednesday, August 12 for a world-premiere one-week run, followed by an opening at Los Angeles’ Laemmle cinemas on August 21. If you suspect I’m biased in the movie’s favor, good work; you are correct. But I also have as many questions about it as anyone else, and wanted to speak to Tregenza about Fast’s particulars and peculiarities. Thus this conversation that I hope you—whether you choose to be the listener or the reader—find as illuminating as I, the interviewer.
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  Emulsion Ep. 25 - Amber A’Lee Frost & Chris Wade on Chunks and Chapo Trap House 30.07.2026 55m

  There’s podcasts about movies (hello) and there are movies about podcasts. A podcast helping create a movie that is not itself about the podcast, but reflects its worldviews and the sense of humor that has become a kind of lingua franca among people in their 20s and 30s: that is novel. Thus: Chunks. If you’re a regular listener of Chapo Trap House, you’ve probably heard ads for the film proffered by the show’s producer Chris Wade, who has also taken up producing duties on this film, which is a comedy anthology that moves between public-access TV, animation, live-streamed poker, and more straight-ahead narrative projects that still reflect something of screen life and the modern dystopia. Chunks was spearheaded by Amber A'Lee Frost, a longtime contributor to Chapo who has since started ColdFeet, a production entity that previously supported Eephus. It was my pleasure speaking with Chis and Amber about Chunks, translating the Chapo sensibility to cinema, and ColdFeet’s forthcoming projects. Music courtesy of Lex Walton: “Love Theme from an Unreleased Film” from the album Giving It Up.
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  The B-Side Ep. 188 – Michael Mann (with Blake Howard) 28.07.2026 2h 10m

  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 the great Michael Mann! Our B-Sides are The Keep, Public Enemies, Blackhat, and Ferrari. Our guest is the iconic Blake Howard of One Heat Minute Productions. We discuss the troubled making of The Keep, as well as that incredible Tangerine Dream score. The legendary Twilight Zone episode “The Howling Man” also comes up. There’s also mention of how many movies about the French-Indian War there are (spoiler alert: not many!) Blake, Conor, and Dan Mecca discuss the legacy of Mann and his recent output of underappreciated films. Why is it that Michael Mann’s films are often released to lesser success than their long-term reputations suggest? There’s celebration of Mann’s ever-evolving digital aesthetic, conversation about the contentious star-director relationship on the set of Public Enemies, and his demanding, exacting instincts. As legendary producer Amy Pascal once put working with the director: “You forget about the pain of childbirth too. I mean, whatever you go through, you still want another baby. It’s like that with Michael too.”
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  The B-Side Ep. 187 – Christopher Nolan (with Blake Howard) 16.07.2026 1h 46m

  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 perhaps the most popular filmmaker alive today: Christopher Nolan! Our B-Sides are Insomnia, The Prestige, and Tenet. Our guest is the legendary Blake Howard of One Heat Minute Productions.  We chat about late-period Al Pacino, the unexpected success of Batman Begins, and those other magician movies that came out around The Prestige in 2006. There’s appreciation for the unique Nolan commentary for Insomnia and that Entertainment Weekly cover for Batman Begins, and the great character actor Martin Donovan.
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  Emulsion Ep. 24 - Yasmina Tawil on BAM's Electronica 10.07.2026 34m

  Like the old song goes: summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the street. While the theater has its benefits as a restrictive space, and we do not encourage interrupting those to your immediate left and right with heavy movement, one appreciates, at times, the excuse to tap your feet. Or at least a reminder that theaters aren’t just about a big screen, but a sound system better than the built-in speaker  situated behind your TV. Hence: Electronica. It’s a new series running at BAM from today, July 10, to July 14, featuring an "amalgam of films from across the globe boasting electronic-heavy soundtracks." Some titles you might know chapter and verse; others, I think, have not played in New York for at least the decade I’ve lived here. I was glad to speak with BAM’s Yasmina Tawil about Electronica, but what follows is really a discussion of programming in its finer points: when to screen and why; when you can’t screen but really want to; what attracts an audience, and how you attract the audience with something they don’t necessarily want; and how this is seemingly the one realm of cinema where people reject monetary offers. I hope you enjoy, and see something in Electronica as it’s running. Learn more: https://www.bam.org/film/2026/electronica
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  The B-Side Ep. 186 – Julia Roberts (with Joe Reid) 01.07.2026 2h 12m

  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 America’s Sweetheart: Julia Roberts! Our B-Sides include: I Love Trouble, America’s Sweethearts, Full Frontal, and Larry Crowne. Our lovely guest is Joe Reid of Vulture and the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. We discuss Julia’s frequent career peaks and valleys, that ridiculous People Magazine cover in 1993, the tumultuous production of I Love Trouble, and the aftermath of a difficult Hook shoot. There’s talk of the giant comeback that was My Best Friend’s Wedding and Julia’s knowing, clever subversion of the rom-com leading character in it. We make time for the rise and fall of Revolution Studios, Joe Roth’s passion project that had a tumultuous first seven years. Scooter gangs and the 2008 Recession come up in talking about Larry Crowne (naturally), and there’s debate over how successful Julia has been over these last couple of decades in her “legend era.”
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  The B-Side Ep. 185 – Steven Spielberg (with Bilge Ebiri) 18.06.2026 2h 10m

  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 one of the greatest film directors to ever live: Steven Spielberg! Our B-Sides are 1941, Hook, Amistad, and The Adventures of Tintin. Our guest is dear friend and incredible writer Bilge Ebiri! As of this writing, he just published his piece The Raider of a Lost Art, an oral history about Spielberg in conjunction with the release of his new film Disclosure Day. He’s also discussed Spielberg with The Film Stage before! We chat about Spielberg’s early start and the difficult production of 1941, his stratospheric ‘80s, the successful failure of Hook, and his underrated Amistad. There’s a celebration of Spielberg’s improbable millennium run of films, from Saving Private Ryan through Munich. The three of us dig into why Bilge loves Hook so much, he speaks on some additional, unpublished gems from his oral history piece, we appreciate the genius of John Milius, and the impossible camera that injects so much energy into The Adventures of Tintin.
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  The B-Side – In Conversation with John Sayles Part II 09.06.2026 47m

  The thing about filmmaker John Sayles is that he has done everything. Do you love Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial or Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist? Sayles' unmade screenplay Night Skies is a piece of the source code for both classics. How about The Big Chill? Sayles' lovely Return of the Secaucus 7 (which he wrote and directed) investigated the curdling of the baby boomers' American dream long before Lawrence Kasdan took a crack at it. The man has been essential to the evolution of nearly every genre of American film, in one way or another. Ahead of TIFF Cinematheque's retrospective Declarations of Independence: The Cinema of John Sayles (curated by Adam Nayman and beginning this Thursday), we spoke with Sayles about this series and how they selected which films to screen. We also touch on his (hopefully) next film I Passed This Way, working with James Cameron, and which noir classics he's caught up with recently. Read more: https://thefilmstage.com/the-hard-work-is-in-the-screenwriting-john-sayles-on-resourceful-filmmaking-james-cameron-and-his-tiff-retrospective/
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  The B-Side Ep. 184 – Goldie Hawn (with Jen Johans) 05.06.2026 1h 45m

  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 perhaps the most likeable movie star alive: Goldie Hawn! Our B-Sides include: Butterflies Are Free, The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, Seems Like Old Times, and Deceived. Our guest today is dear friend Jen Johans, host of the superb Watch With Jen Podcast! We chat about Goldie’s hot start on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and the early Oscar she won for her dynamic, engaging performance in Cactus Flower. It was her first film role and she was still on Laugh-In! Hawn quickly became a commercially-friendly representation of the counterculture movement, as evidenced in Butterflies Are Free. There’s debate about Goldie on the production of Jonathan Demme’s ultimately troubled Swing Shift (though she did officially meet Kurt Russell on set, so a huge silver lining!) and how much it hurt her reputation. We celebrate the TV Specials, how Goldie Hawn is her given name, and her autobiography.  We enjoy the absurdities of Deceived, posit that maybe Protocol was a proto-Ishtar, and admire the shagginess of the stars in 1970s movies. There’s mention of Goldie’s 1972 album! Her charity comes up! How huge of a star Neil Simon was in the ‘70s and ‘80s comes up! There’s a lot to chew on in this episode. Enjoy!
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  The B-Side Ep. 183 – Laurence Fishburne (with Mitchell Beaupre) 22.05.2026 2h 17m

  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 a truly underrated star: Laurence Fishburne! Our B-Sides include: Bad Company, Fled, Hoodlum, and Biker Boyz. Conor and guest host Mitchell Beaupre discuss Fishburne’s early work, his movie star run (the mid-90s, of which three of our B-Sides are a part of!), and the roles he passed on over the years.  They debate whether or not Kevin Hooks’ Fled (a ‘90s take on The Defiant Ones) is worth the watch, if Oliver Parker’s Othello works as a movie, and that other time Fishburne played a character based on famous gangster Bumpy Johnson (that would be Francis Ford Coppola’s underrated The Cotton Club). There’s a celebration of Bill Duke’s directorial career (the legendary actor made Hoodlum and also Deep Cover, both starring Fishburne) and a conversation about Biker Boyz internal conflict in being a Fast & Furious movie.