Austin Film Festival's On Story

This week, Academy Award winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland looks back on his favorite projects. First, Helgeland discusses adapting LA Confidential and working with late director Curtis Hanson. Then, Helgeland reflects on his experience writing and directing A Knight’s Tale

Among the films Brian Helgeland has written and directed are Legend, 42, A Knight’s Tale and Payback. As a screenwriter, his credits include Man on Fire, The Taking of Pelham, Conspiracy Theory, Green Zone, Blood Work and Mystic River for which he received an Academy Award nomination.

Helgeland won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for his work on L.A Confidential. He is also the recipient of the Writers Guild of America Award, the Edgar Alan Poe Award, and the Sidney Lumet Award for Integrity in Entertainment.

Helgeland spoke with Barbara Morgan at the 22nd Annual Austin Film Festival and on the phone this year.

Direct download: BRIAN_HELGELAND.mp3
Category:Film and Television -- posted at: 11:24am CDT

This episode of On Story from Austin Film Festival and PRI, Mozart in the Jungle executive producer Paul Weitz discusses the arc of the show's three season run on Amazon and actor Tony Hale describes his work from Arrested Development to HBO's Veep. Get a look inside the creative process with On Story on your local public radio station.

The Amazon original series Mozart in the Jungle was inspired by Blair Tindall’s 2005 memoir about life in orchestral music scene in New York City. The show stars Gael García Bernal as the eccentric rock star conductor of the New York symphony, and co stars Lola Kirke, Malcolm McDowell, Saffron Burrows and Bernadette Peters. The pilot was developed by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Alex Timbers and was directed by our first guest, Paul Weitz. Paul Weitz is best known for collaborations with his brother Chris Weitz on the films American Pie and About a Boy. The latter of which saw the co-directing brothers nominated for Academy Award. We caught up with Paul Weitz over the phone to discuss Mozart in the Jungle

Actor and comedian Tony Hale is best known for his role as Buster Bluth on Arrested Development. Tony Hale has had numerous roles in film and on television, most recently as Gary Walsh in a HBO series Veep for which he’s won 2 prime time Emmy's for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. I spoke with Tony Hale at the 23rd Austin Film Festival in 2016. 

Direct download: OSR_PaulWeitz_TonyHale.mp3
Category:Film and Television -- posted at: 4:05pm CDT

This week, we talk with filmmaker David Lowery about his new film, A Ghost Story. Lowery then joins the screenwriter behind 500 Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now Scott Neustadter to discuss writing time and temporal elements such as flashbacks, flashforwards, dreams, and montages in both Neustadter’s 500 Days of Summer and Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

David Lowery is a filmmaker from Texas. His films include Pioneer, St. Nick, Pete's Dragon and A Ghost Story which is currently in theaters and stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. Both Affleck and Mara first starred in Lowery’s second feature film, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints which garnered numerous critical awards and nominations. David Lowery spoke with me ahead of the release of his new film, A Ghost Story.

Up next, screenwriter Scott Neustadter and filmmaker David Lowery discuss writing time and temporal elements such as flashbacks, flashforwards, dreams, and montages in both Neustadter’s 500 Days of Summer and Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. David Lowery and Scott Neustadter spoke with writer and contributor of No Film School, Christopher Boone at the 20th annual Austin Film Festival in 2013.

 

Direct download: LOWERY_NEUSTADTER.mp3
Category:Film and Television -- posted at: 5:01pm CDT

This week’s On Story, two modern family adventure films. First we hear from The Jungle Book screenwriter Justin Marks discussing the 2016 Disney film based on the Rudyard Kipling classic and inspired by the 1967 animated film of the same name. The Jungle Book features an all-star cast including Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, and Idris Elba as well as new comer, Neel Sethi and was directed by Jon Favreau. Later, Hook screenwriter Jim Hart and the actor who played one of the film’s beloved Lost Boys, Rufio, Dante Basco.

This episode features two modern family adventure films: the 2016 Disney reboot of The Jungle Book and the 1991 classic, Hook. The Jungle Book is based on the work of Rudyard Kipling and inspired by the 1967 Disney animated feature. The film incorporates live action star, young new comer Neel Sethi and an all-star cast of jungle animals voiced by the likes of Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken and Idris Elba. The Jungle Book is also the final appearance of comedy great Garry Shandling and was released less than one month after his death. In our next segment, screenwriter Justin Marks, describes the combination of CGI and artists renderings that resulted in the films compelling characters.

The 1991 fantasy adventure, Hook depicts an adult Peter Pan who forgot Neverland and grew up. The film stars the late Robin Williams as Peter, Dustin Hoffman as the title character Captain Hook and co-stars Julia Roberts, Maggie Smith, the late Bob Hoskins, and one of our next guests, Dante Basco as Lost Boy, Rufio. AFF film competition director, Harrison Glaser spoke with Dante Basco and Hook screenwriter, James V. Hart at a special screening of Hook in 2014 at the Texas Spirit Theater in Austin.

Direct download: OnStory_JungleBookRefeed.mp3
Category:Film and Television -- posted at: 4:19pm CDT

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