Movies In Focus

#26. Darren Le Gallo, Schuyler Fisk & Henry Thomas Talk About SAM & KATE

Sam & Kate is a heartfelt family dramedy from writer-director Darren Le Gallo. It’s a low-key piece, which features a collection of strong performances from its cast - Dustin Hoffman, Sissy Spacek, Jake Hoffman, Schuyler Fisk and Henry Thomas. They all manage to cover a wide range of emotions, delivering plenty of light-hearted moments amongst the very honest dramatic beats.

Aside from the well honed screenplay, Sam & Kate is notable because it not only features the pairing of Hoffman and Spacek - but because Jake Hoffman is the son of The Graduate star, while  Fisk is the daughter of the acclaimed Badlands actress.

Darren Le Gallo, Schuyler Fisk and Henry Thomas all joined the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about their time working on film.

Le Gallo discussed the film's long gestation period and how it came to star two Hollywood greats and their offspring. Fisk discussed working with her mother as well as her musical career and Thomas touched on everything from his upcoming projects to well the pros and cons of streaming and the theatrical releasing.

#25. Romuald Boulanger Talks ON THE LINE / Chuck Russell Talks PARADISE CITY

This episode of the Movies In Focus podcast sees a pair of directors join Niall Browne to talk about their latest movies.

First up is French filmmaker Romuald Boulanger who is discussing his new thriller On The Line. The film sees Mel Gibson star as a radio host whose evening show is thrown into chaos when he gets caught-up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a deadly caller. It’s a hugely enjoyable film with plenty of twists and turns which will keep audiences guessing right to the end.

This spoiler free chat sees Romuald talk about working with Mel Gibson, shooting the L.A. based movie in Paris and what it’s like shooting a thriller in a confined location.

The second guest in Chuck Russell, director of the Jim Carrey breakout comedy The Mask, the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Eraser and the Dwayne Johnson vehicle, The Scorpion King.

Chuck joins the podcast to discuss Paradise City, a new film which reunites Pulp Fiction stars John Travolta and Bruce Willis. It’s a chat which covers everything from working with two of the biggest screen icons of the last 50 years to the complexities of filming an action movie on location in Hawaii.

#24. Director K. Asher Levin Talks About The Horror-Action-Comedy SLAYERS

Director K. Asher Levin joins the Movies In Focus podcast to talk with Niall Browne about his horror-action-comedy Slayers.

A very modern take on the vampire film, Slayers stabs its stake into the heart of everything from online influencers to QAnon conspiracy theorists. It’s an energetic and entertaining genre pic with committed performances from a cast that includes Thomas Jane, Kara Hayward, Jack Donnelly, Lydia Hearst, Malin Akerman, Abigail Breslin.

During the course of the conversation Levin discusses what it's like working with Thomas Jane, how the films of John Carpenter and The Lost Boys influenced the film’s style and tone and how the structure of Slayers changed in the editing room.

#23. Gerry Maguire On The Irish Film Festival London 2022

Gerry Maguire, the Head of Irish Film London returns to the Movies In Focus podcast to discuss the 2022 incarnation of The Irish Film Festival London.

The festival, which is now in its 11th year will take place in London from the 16 – 20 November 2022. Showcasing the best of Irish cinema, the festival opens with a gala screening of Frank Berry’s drama, Aisha at the Vue Leicester Square on 16 November and closes with Róise & Frank at the Riverside Studios on Sunday November 20. 

With patrons including Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell and Fiona Shaw, the organisation is not just a major force for Irish film in the UK, but it now has a strong global reach.

This time around Gerry talks about the The Irish Film Festival London’s 2022 line-up, the festival's selection process, what it's like hosting a film festival in a shifting cinema culture and more.

You can see the full Irish Film Festival London 2022 line-up and download the brochure here and visit www.irishfilmlondon.com to get your tickets. 

#22. Legendary Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza On His Hollywood Career & Films Such As Die Hard, 49 Hours, Hudson Hawk & More!

Steven E. de Souza, the acclaimed screenwriter and director joins Niall Browne for this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast.

Mega hits and cult classics such as 48 Hours, Commando, Die Hard, The Running Man, Die Hard 2, Hudson Hawk, Streetfighter, Judge Dredd and Tomb Raider litter his filmography. That’s taking into account television shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, V and Tales From The Crypt.

In this bumper-size episode, Steven talks about how he broke into the movie and television business and how he went on to become one of the most sought after screenwriters in Hollywood.

This conversation is filled with movie trivia, behind the scenes shenanigans and all sorts of great tales. It’s an episode you won’t want to miss!

#21. Director Andrew Baird Discusses The Thriller ONE WAY & Working With Colson ’Machine Gun Kelly’ Baker

This time around Irish filmmaker Andrew Baird joins Niall Browne to talk about his new film One Way. 

A character based thriller which stars Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly), Kevin Bacon and Travis Fimmel, One Way is a piece which mainly takes place in one location - onboard a bus.

Considering its limited scope, One Way is a film which is directed with a tremendous amount of flair and energy - and it must be given credit for featuring a strong performance by rapper-turned actor Coulson Baker. 

During the course of the conversation, Baird talks about how the thriller came together, its various location changes, the difficulties of making a low budget film  - as well as what it was like working with his leading man.

#20. Lorne Balfe Talks About Composing The Music For TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Actors, writers, directors and producers all have key roles in production - but one of the most important aspects in a film is the musical score - a score can literally make or break a film.

Composer Lorne Balfe joins the Movies In Focus podcast about his work on the hugely acclaimed and massively successful Tom Cruise blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick. Balfe worked on the film’s music alongside the masterful Hans Zimmer and the legendary Harold Faltermeyer.

Balfe started his career as Zimmer’s assistant and over the last decade has become one of the most influential composers working in the film industry - delivering a variety of memorable scores in films such as Michael Bay’s 13 Hours, 6 Underground and Ambulance, Marvel’s Black Widow and many others

He has also become an important composer when it comes to taking established film franchises and breathing new life into iconic scores like Balfe did with Terminator Genysis, Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Bad Boys For Life.

It was his work with Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible and Jerry Bruckheimer on Bad Boys which made him the perfect candidate to create new music - and update old themes - for Top Gun: Maverick.

Lorne Balfe talks about the film scoring process and what it was like composing music for the follow-up to one of the most iconic soundtracks of the 1980s.

#19: Horror Filmmaker Sonny Mallhi On His Career As A Writer/Director/Producer

At the tail end of 2021 Movies In Focus watched and reviewed Sonny Mallhi’s excellent horror, Hurt. On The surface it appeared that Hurt was just another film in the slasher genre - but it turned out to be much more than that,

Yes, it was a horror film but it had rich characterisation and dealt with a lot of interesting themes such as fear, death, violence, loss, love, family, isolation and yes, hurt.

Sonny got in touch, thanking me for my review and I invited him onto the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about the film and his career. He started off producing films such as the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock romance The Lake House before moving on to darker material such as The Strangers, House At The End Of The Street, Spike Lee’s remake of Oldboy and the brilliant The Dark And The Wicked.

Mallhi is also a writer, having penned five films - including the aforementioned Hurt - a film which he also directed. Passionate about film, my conversation with Sonny Mallhi covered a vast array of fascinating topics in this hour-long episode.

#18: James Kenney On Finding The Lost Director’s Cut Of Peter Bogdanovich’s SQUIRRELS TO THE NUTS

Premiering at the Venice Festival in 2014, She’s Funny That Way was the final narrative feature from the late Peter Bogdanovich. Starring Owen Wilson, Imogen Poots, Kathryn Hahn, Will Forte, Rhys Ifans and Jennifer Aniston, the film was a screwball comedy which, while enjoyable, never truly felt like a cohesive vision from the master writer-director. And that’s because it wasn’t.

Originally filmed as Squirrels To The Nuts Bogdanovich’s vision was compromised during post-production and after he finished his edit, he conducted reshoots and removed a lot of the film’s multi-strand plot . It was believed that the director’s original cut was lost all together - and that’s where James Kenney comes in.

A life-long fan of Peter Bogdanovich, Kenney is a teacher and film writer at Tremble Sigh Wonder with an eye for collecting scripts and other film materials. One evening he was trawling through eBay when he noticed a HD tape for sale, titled Squirrels To The Nuts. The label on the tape stated a running time much longer than that of the final film - and It transpired that Kenney had discovered what is likely the only remaining copy of Bogdanovich’s true vision.

Ultimately Kenney ended-up connecting with Bogdanovich, who began working to get his version of Squirrels To The Nuts released. Sadly, Bogdanovich died in January 2022, before he could achieve this, but now Squirrels To The Nuts is getting a limited run at New York’s Museum Of Modern Art (MoMA) and it looks like the film will also get a full release at a later date.

James Kenney joined the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about discovering the director’s cut of Squirrels To The Nutsand how he worked with Peter Bogdanovich to get the film released. We also discussed Bogdanovich’s career and a host of other film related topics in this podcast episode.

#17. Batman On Film Founder Bill Ramey Talks About BATMAN On The Big Screen

Since 1998, Bill Ramey’s Batman On Film has been the go-to website for the best news for Batman on the big screen.  It was founded in the wake of Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin as a way of ‘lobbying for the long-term continuation of the Batman film franchise and the production of quality Bat-Movies’.

Batman-On-Film was there for the first rumblings of new Batman movie and the lead-up to what would become Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. The site then gained a huge following throughout the production of Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy and the creation of Zack Snyder’s Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Justice League and beyond.

Bill Ramey joined the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about all things Batman related - including Matt Reeves’ The Batman starring Robert Pattinson, Ben Affleck’s tenure as The Dark Knight and Michael Keaton’s Batman return in The Flash and Batgirl.