Mike Leigh at the Garden Cinema discussing the open-ended nature of his films and the reception to his award-winning film Naked (1993) at the New York Film Festival.
Recorded at The Garden Cinema, London on 19 September 2022 as part of Mike Leigh in Conversation: a series of retrospective screenings of Leigh’s films, each followed by a discussion and Q&A with Mike Leigh and Gary Yershon. 8th September – 30th October, 2022
“Over 12 half-hour episodes, we’re seeing a man have a nervous breakdown”.
This week, we talk to journalist Darren Richman about some of his favourite genres and filmmakers.
We discuss the pessimism of Film Noir and the optimism of Mike Leigh, the nature of comedy from Faulty Towers to the Coen Brothers and debate whether or not there is such a thing as “dark comedy” and the depiction of love and compassion in Hollywood films.
You can follow Darren on Twitter @darrenrichman.
Find us on the usual platforms. Send us your comments, feedback and suggestions via Twitter @thegardencinema or by contacting us at podcast@thegardencinema.co.uk.
We chatted with French director Cécile Ducrocq about her first feature film Her Way. We talked about her successful short film Back Alley that served as inspiration for this feature, her longstanding working relationship with actress Laure Calamy (Call My Agent), the conflicting feminist views over prostitution and the film’s focus on the mother-son relationship.
Mike Leigh discusses his battle to maintain final cut on his Palme d’Or winning film Secrets & Lies (1996) against the wishes of the French funders.
Recorded at The Garden Cinema on 13 September 2022 as part of Mike Leigh in Conversation: our ongoing series of retrospective screenings of Leigh’s films, each followed by a discussion and Q&A with Mike Leigh and Gary Yershon.
This week, we speak to Angela Allen who has worked on the film sets of many celebrated films, including The Third Man, The African Queen and The Dirty Dozen, for nearly six decades, overseeing continuity, supervising scripts and advising directors.
Angela shares with us anecdotes and personal stories from her time on and off the set. This podcast episode is slightly longer than usual, so we’ve included a discussion breakdown:
2.04 How to know if a film will be good.
2.45 Angela on the editing process and working with Carol Reed (The Third Man)
7.30 The current fashion for “overcoverage” and working with John Huston
10.25 Zeffirelli vs Huston and filming Elizabeth Taylor
13.58 The auteur theory from France
15.47 Different directors, same scripts
18.25 “We’d have sixteen pages on the fact that Jennifer Jones’s toilet paper had to be pink”, meeting David O’Selznick
21.10 Working with Korda and Spiegel, “the most intelligent producer but a bit of a crook, too”
26.40 Working with Orson Wells and stories from The Third Man
35.36 Arthur Miller & Marilyn Monroe (The Misfits)
39.55 “Paula Strasberg made her as impossible as she was”
43.23 “Do you feel sorry for [Marilyn]? No I don’t”
44.32 Angela on writing a book
Find us on the usual platforms. Send us your comments, feedback and suggestions via Twitter @thegardencinema or by contacting us at podcast@thegardencinema.co.uk.
We discuss the pleasure and power of the cinema experience and which films are better on the silver screen with MUBI’s podcast host, journalist Rico Cagliano.
We talk to Rico about the MUBI podcast seasons, cinemas he’s researched and visited and share anecdotes about films that should be watched on a big screen, such as Lawrence Of Arabia and Wings Of Desire.
Find us on the usual platforms. Send us your comments, feedback and suggestions via Twitter @thegardencinema or by contacting us at podcast@thegardencinema.co.uk.
Our weekly update with news about upcoming events and listings as well as interviews with Jose Arroyo, George Crosthwait and Hotsy Totsy
We talk about the films of Almodovar, his depiction of the Spanish civil war, Spanish cinema and Penelope Cruz with Film Professor José Arroyo, who has written extensively about the Spanish director and has interviewed him a number of times.
We invited him to mark our upcoming Penelope Cruz season, to talk more generally about the actress, Almodovar and Spanish cinema.
We discuss glamour, camp and appeal of Almodovar’s filmography and Jose’s own interest in the filmmaker, his working relationship with Penelope Cruz, her versatility and comparisons with Sofia Loren, depicting the Spanish Civil War and the post-Franco Spanish film industry.
We also touch on other films from our season, such as Jamon Jamon and discuss the merits of a season of contemporary Spanish “new wave” directors.