TALKING PICTURES is an interview series in which I talk to the people behind some of my favorite movies. From cult movie directors to character actors, from seasoned veterans to brilliant newcomers, from celebrated artists to filmmakers who haven’t received the recognition they deserve – these folks have made some great movies and have lots of fascinating stories to tell.
I’ve written and directed the psychological thriller THE MUSE. My mystery/horror short CINEMA DELL’ OSCURITÀ was nominated for the 13th Street Shocking Short award in 2017. I’m currently working on a documentary on cult filmmaker Howard Ziehm. As a journalist and documentarian, I’ve also interviewed filmmakers such as Mick Garris, Jonathan Mostow, William Lustig, Uwe Boll, John Cox, Ken Wheat, Patrick Vollrath, Alan J. Levi, Sam Pillsbury and many others. If you want to learn more about me and my work, feel free to visit my homepage or my IMDB profile.
WHERE ARE EPISODES #21, #23 and #24? My conversations with editor Bobbie O’Steen, editor Anne Goursaud and production designer Richard Sawyer on the making of CHINATOWN and its sequel THE TWO JAKES will be released shortly.
COMING SOON: PITCH BLACK interviews with screenwriter Ken Wheat, storyboarder Brian Murray, animatronics supervisor John Cox, and more!
#31: “I Don’t Need Cute” – Director Carl Schultz on THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES
Today’s guest is director Carl Schultz, and our conversation revolves around his work on the TV series THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES, or THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES, as it’s later been retitled. This lavishly produced early 90’s show, a spin-off of the popular Indiana Jones movies, follows the adventures of Indy as a boy, played by Corey Carrier, and as a young man, played by Sean Patrick Flanery, encountering numerous famous historical figures and events. Carl directed several episodes of the show, including the first few episodes which has the protagonist meeting contemporaries like Pancho Villa, Winston Churchill,…
#30: “It Made Me Read THE TRIAL by Franz Kafka”: Actor Sean Patrick Flanery on THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES
Today’s guest is actor Sean Patrick Flanery, and our conversation revolves around his work on the TV series THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES, later re-titled as THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES– a lavishly produced spin-off of the popular Indiana Jones movies which ran from 1992 to 1996, following the adventures of Indy as a boy, played by Corey Carrier, and as a young man, played by Sean Patrick Flanery, encountering numerous famous historical figures and events. Sean appeared in the lion’s share of the episodes, with Indy fighting numerous battles in World War I, joining Sidney Bechet’s jazz band…
#29: “We Need the Indiana Jones Character”, Says Novelist Max McCoy
Just like in our last episode, today’s guest is not a filmmaker but a novelist. In our last episode, I spoke to Rob MacGregor who wrote several Indiana Jones novels at the beginning of the Nineties – this time, I’m talking to writer Max McCoy who continued the series from 1995 to 1999 with four original Indiana Jones stories, starting with INDIANA JONES AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE and continuing with INDIANA JONES AND THE DINOSAUR EGGS, THE HOLLOW EARTH and THE SECRET OF THE SPHINX. Before his Indy series, Max had already written several novels in the Western genre, including…
#28: Mythology and Spirituality: Rob MacGregor on his Indiana Jones Novels
Today’s guest is not a filmmaker – but his best-known work is closely connected to one of the most popular movie series of all time. It is novelist Rob MacGregor, who wrote the novelization of Steven Spielberg’s third Indiana Jones movie, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE – and then went on to write six more original Indy adventures shortly afterwards, starting with INDIANA JONES AND THE PERIL AT DELPHI in 1991 and then continuing with DANCE OF THE GIANTS, THE SEVEN VEILS, THE GENESIS DELUGE, THE UNICORN’S LEGACY and INDIANA JONES AND THE INTERIOR WORLD throughout 1991 and 1992….
#27: “Nothing Would Ever Top the Ark of the Covenant”: Screenwriter Menno Meyjes on INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE
Today’s guest is screenwriter and director Menno Meyjes, best known for his collaboration with Steven Spielberg in the 80’s. Menno was born in the Netherlands but moved to the United States in 1972 to study at the San Francisco Art Institute. After writing a script for one of the best-known episodes of Spielberg’s AMAZING STORIES TV series – “The Mission”, starring a young Kevin Costner and directed by Spielberg himself – Menno received an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel THE COLOR PURPLE, as directed by Spielberg. As a screenwriter, he also worked on…
Talking Pictures #25: Aaron Lipstadt, Director of ANDROID
Today’s guest is Aaron Lipstadt, best known from the mid-80’s onwards as a director on popular TV shows like MIAMI VICE, QUANTUM LEAP, LAW & ORDER, CROSSING JORDAN, THE 4400, BOSCH or ELEMENTARY. As a producer/director, he also worked on shows like THE MARSHAL, THE DIVISION, MEDIUM and GRIMM. In our interview, however, we go back to the beginning of Aaron’s career – to an independent little science-fiction gem called ANDROID, which came out in 1982 and was compared by film critic Roger Ebert to cult debut films like George Lucas’ THX 1138 and John Carpenter’s DARK STAR. ANDROID was…
Talking Pictures #22: Nicholas Meyer, Writer of THE SEVEN PER-CENT SOLUTION
Today’s guest is the amazing writer and director Nicholas Meyer. While Meyer is probably best known as the writer and director of the beloved sci-fi sequels STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY and also as the director of the sci-fi adventure TIME AFTER TIME and the devastating nuclear disaster TV movie THE DAY AFTER, our conversation revolves around his Sherlock Holmes stories. In 1974, Meyer published the bestselling novel THE SEVEN PER-CENT SOLUTION, presented as a rediscovered manuscript in which Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective meets Sigmund Freud in Vienna who cures…
Talking Pictures #20: Allan Warnick, Supporting Actor in CHINATOWN
This is the second part of our CHINATOWN series where we discuss the making of Roman Polanski’s 1974 masterpiece, and today’s guest is character actor Allan Warnick. CHINATOWN is Allan’s best-known role, and if you’ve seen the film, you remember Allan from the perfect and very funny scene in the Hall of Records where he plays the stuck-up clerk who tells Jack Nicholson that “This is not a lending library”. Allan worked on several other films during the era, starting with Dennis Hopper’s EASY RIDER follow-up THE LAST MOVIE and then appearing in films like MOTHER, JUGS & SPEED by…
Talking Pictures #19: Hawk Koch, Assistant Director of CHINATOWN
Our third season starts with three interviews where we discuss the making of one of the most revered New Hollywood classics, Roman Polanski’s CHINATOWN, originally released in 1974 and now considered to be one of the best American movies of all time. Today’s episode features my conversation with Hawk Koch, who worked on CHINATOWN as an assistant director and had previously worked with Polanski as a dialogue coach on ROSEMARY’S BABY in 1968. Hawk Koch is the son of Hollywood producer Howard Koch, best known as the producer of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and THE ODD COUPLE. Originally known as Howard…
Talking Pictures #18: John Ottman, Director of URBAN LEGENDS: FINAL CUT
For today’s episode, I had the honor and pleasure of talking to John Ottman, best known as the editor and composer of several X-MEN films – X-MEN 2, DAYS OF FUTURE PAST and APOCALYPSE – and of other Bryan Singer movies like THE USUAL SUSPECTS, VALKYRIE and SUPERMAN RETURNS. In 2019, he won an Academy Award for editing the Queen biopic BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. He’s also scored numerous other well-known films like THE NICE GUYS, HOUSE OF WAX, GOTHIKA, UNKNOWN and NON-STOP. Our conversation, however, revolves around John’s feature film debut as a director: URBAN LEGENDS: FINAL CUT from 2000, the…