kernels

Tommy Wiseau

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 09:13:00 GMT

The one and only Tommy Wiseau sits down with us to talk life after 'The Disaster Artist', 'The Room' on Broadway, his love of architecture, 'Ocean's 11', and his plans for a horror movie about using 8% of your brain (?), in certainly our most directionless conversation yet.

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#32: Peep Show and Succession creator Jesse Armstrong

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:52:39 GMT

Chris talks to the man behind Peep Show and In The Loop about his major new HBO show Succession, which centres on a Murdoch-esque family ruling the American media. The pair explore how writers' rooms work, what a showrunner actually does, getting your head around complex business jargon for a script, the 'toilet paper draft' and the future of liberalism in the face of Trump.

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#31: Brian Tyree Henry is the heir apparent to James Gandolfini

Wed, 01 Aug 2018 13:30:03 GMT

Atlanta's Brian Tyree Henry just earned an Emmy nomination for his work on Atlanta and is tapped to work with Steve McQueen and Joe Wright on upcoming films. He sits down with Chris to discuss the stage and screen actor's similar acting style to James Gandolfini, how Atlanta season 2's standalone episode format was kinda scary for the cast, the show's silent moments, patient plot advancement, and how it doesn't try to hammer you over the head with a message.

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#30: The shaming of Mark Duplass

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 21:08:17 GMT

Indie film pioneer Mark Duplass has been forced to issue an apology for recommending a podcast to his followers. We look at how internet mob mentality can seemingly elicit a mea culpa from anyone for just about anything, how there is now no room in Hollywood for dissent, and where all of this might be headed.

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#29: Is Westworld exquisitely intricate or just convoluted?

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 17:08:51 GMT

Westworld, the heir apparent to Game of Thrones, is back on HBO for a second season, but is it a sophisticated puzzle of a show or just an overly-complicated scramble of information? Christopher Hooton and Jacob Stolworthy chew it over.

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#28: Lena Waithe on Master of None's future, Ready Player One and Spielberg's soul

Fri, 23 Mar 2018 14:27:00 GMT

After breaking through as Denise in Netflix's 'Master of None', Lena Waithe has found herself doing motion capture in Steven Spielberg's new action-adventure epic, 'Ready Player One'. She talks to Christopher Hooton about working with 'kind soul' Steven Spielberg, growing up in the South Side of Chicago, and the future of 'Master of None' following the whole Aziz Ansari situation.

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#27: Chris finishes his first film + why do acting Oscars keep going to biopic roles?

Wed, 28 Feb 2018 13:56:30 GMT

In something of a meta pod, the Kernels team review and discuss host Christopher Hooton's just-completed first feature film, Meniscus. Jacob Stolworthy and Jack Shepherd give their thoughts on the experimental format drama and find out how Chris and his co-director, David Rapson (also on the pod), turned it around on next to no budget.

Later, the guys talk The Lost Boys podcast and, ahead of the Oscars, question whether dishing out awards to actors playing historical figures is justified and if we're confusing impressions with good acting.

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#26: Right nominees, wrong winners? Who'll win the 2018 Oscars and who should

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 11:58:25 GMT

The Oscar nominations are out and for once there's barely a ripple of outrage - the list is good and we can broadly say that the right films, actors, directors and crew members have been picked. The same might not be true with the winners however, with several obvious picks the favourites to win, overlooking some sensational cinema that came out in 2017. Taking up a bunch of categories, Christopher Hooton looks at who will win and who should with colleagues Jack Shepherd and Jacob Stolworthy.

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#25: 'American films would rather have someone explode than say cunt' - Martin McDonagh

Mon, 15 Jan 2018 16:44:39 GMT

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths director Martin McDonagh talks working with the same actors, not having written enough gay characters, worrying about the body of work he'll leave behind, how Seven Psychopaths could have been better, and why he doesn't want to move into TV.

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#24: Jake Gyllenhaal

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 14:43:58 GMT

Jake Gyllenhaal is a quiet but powerful actor who's explored some different types of characters in reason years. Jacob winds up talking to him about oddity 'Nightcrawler', how he chooses films, his sister Maggie's move into television and his latest film, 'Stronger'.

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#23: The Last Jedi backlash - what the hell's happening?

Fri, 22 Dec 2017 12:15:32 GMT

You know the drill. Critics publish scathing or just lukewarm reviews of blockbuster franchise films, fans go in droves to see them at cinemas anyway and end up fighting their corner. Not so with 'The Last Jedi', with reviewers loving the latest Star Wars movie but many fans loathing it, some even going so far as to sign a petition trying to get it struck it from the Star Wars canon.

FIlm reporters Jack Shepherd and Jacob Stolworthy join Culture Editor Christopher Hooton to try and work out what happened, whether the criticisms are fair, and what this polarised feeling means for the future of the franchise.

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#22: Charlie Brooker

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 04:00:00 GMT

The Black Mirror creator discusses his sudden rise from columnist to award-winning screenwriter, how he owes everything he knows to Ross Kemp series Ultimate Force, and how nice it is not to have to tweet so much anymore.

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#21: James and Dave Franco on The Disaster Artist

Wed, 22 Nov 2017 13:43:41 GMT

The Disaster Artist, a Warner Bros film about a relatively obscure indie drama gone wrong had no right to work. And yet director James Franco has created not only a hilarious movie about how The Room was made and the auteur behind it, Tommy Wiseau, but a human one. Chris talks to James and his brother Dave (also the stars of the movie) about his own experience with Tommy, the "secret tapes" James got hold of to inform his performance, Seth Rogen struggling to keep his shit together on set, how one of the screenwriters turned in a script draft before he'd even seen The Room, and the complexity of shooting a film within a film.

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#20: Mindhunter director Asif Kapadia on Ed Kemper and learning David Fincher's style

Mon, 06 Nov 2017 04:00:48 GMT

Netflix's new original series Mindhunter has enrapt a legion of viewers with its smart, reserved style. Chris Hooton sits down with episodes 3 and 4 director Asif Kapadia to look at how it came together, how Brad Pitt's DVD of Senna led to his signing, directing an actor as serial killer Ed Kemper, learning from David Fincher on set, and how a season of TV's episodes are carved up for different directors.

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#19: Willem Dafoe

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 15:36:15 GMT

"I'm not supposed to be in this movie." A character actor with an extraordinary filmography, Willem Dafoe sits down to discuss why he's taken such a left turn so late in his career with new indie The Florida Project, which mostly stars non-actors.

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#18: The mad brilliance of Blade Runner 2049 and the rise of Denis Villeneuve

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 17:03:58 GMT

Blade Runner 2049 is an audacious proposition: a $185 million film that doesn't patronise the audience or feel made by consortium. The Independent's Christopher Hooton, Jacob Stolworthy and Jack Shepherd discuss the film's controlled insanity and submit that director Denis Villeneuve is going to be a household name in the same way Christopher Nolan is.

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#17: Ethan Hawke

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 17:30:00 GMT

An actor you'll never see in a cape, Ethan Hawke is more interested in humanist roles. He chats to Kernels' Jacob Stolworthy about the movies of his that people want to talk to him about, his special relationship with director Richard Linklater, how he earned his screenwriting credit in the Before trilogy and the future for protagonists Jesse and Céline.

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#16: Steven Soderbergh

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 03:06:00 GMT

The incredibly versatile and efficient director (Ocean's trilogy, Logan Lucky and more) talks to host Christopher Hooton about coming out of retirement, fucking with the studio system and the value of pseudonyms, before getting grilled on what he's been watching in 2017.

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#15: Adam Driver

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 03:00:00 GMT

In spite of Star Wars swallowing up most of his time, Adam Driver has still managed to fire out some great indies the past couple of years. He talks to Christopher Hooton about Paterson, While We're Young, his next Steven Soderbergh movie, Logan Lucky, his process and the importance of making a good meatloaf.

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#14: David Lowery

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 03:00:00 GMT

After completing Disney animation 'Pete's Dragon', director David Lowery took a real left turn, heading to Texas with friends Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck and making weird, avant garde, self-funded indie film 'A Ghost Story' in secret. Chris Hooton talks to him about this bold move, Casey acting under a bed sheet for most of the movie, finding motivation in the face of the futility of existence, and how great pie is.

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#13: What does a film editor actually do and what makes for a good one?

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 15:52:43 GMT

Film editing is a huge chunk of work, but the film editor's hustle often goes unrecognised. Chris chats to 'Nymphomaniac Vol. I & II' editor and Academy member Molly Stensgaard about her process and how good film editing is about the opposite of putting a personal stamp on things.

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#12: Assessing Dunkirk hype and chatting to stars Cillian Murphy & Mark Rylance

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 11:00:00 GMT

Is Christopher Nolan's new film a masterpiece or merely a near-masterpiece? Chris reviews Dunkirk and looks at the hype surrounding it and Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance explain what the auteur is like to work with and the intensity he brings on set.

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#11: Is Game of Thrones actually good?

Tue, 04 Jul 2017 14:00:00 GMT

HBO's Game of Thrones is an impressive, technically proficient series, but is it a good one? Ahead of season 7, Chris, Jacob and Jack look at how the show has changed, assess the hype surrounding it and lament how it has a tendency to drown in characters.

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#10: Is Rotten Tomatoes really killing movies?

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 16:30:00 GMT

Producer Brett Ratner has called Rotten Tomatoes 'the worst thing that we have in today’s movie culture'. An executive at an independent film distributor has branded this argument 'ridiculous', countering: 'F**k you, make a good movie!' Chris, joined by team members Jack and Jacob examine how review aggregation is affecting film consumption and how the role of the film critic is changing.

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#9: Marc Maron

Mon, 05 Jun 2017 16:30:00 GMT

A podcast with the godfather of podcasts. Chris and Marc discuss everything from happiness to hand soap, how he's playing 'a piece of shit' in new Netflix show GLOW and how he doesn't want to make a big deal out of his part when the series is all about the women.

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#8: On interviewing Martin Scorsese, chatting to Jessica Chastain, and hyping The Leftovers

Mon, 22 May 2017 19:00:00 GMT

Chris discusses what it was like interviewing Martin Scorsese, Jacob chats to Jessica Chastain about how she thinks about her roles and what she looks for in movies, and we implore you to find time for The Leftovers.

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#7: Jason Blum

Mon, 08 May 2017 06:52:00 GMT

Financing low-budget found-footage horrors has enabled Jason Blum to produce Oscar-winning indies like Whiplash. We talk to him about what motivates a producer, how directors differ from genre to genre and the enormous success of Get Out.

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#6: Warren Beatty

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 17:00:00 GMT

At the age of 80, Warren Beatty has just written, directed and co-produced a movie that he also stars in. With a career spanning over 50 years, how does he see the industry having changed, and is he aware of the comparison between himself and his latest subject, Howard Hughes? Also in the episode, Chris catches up with a colleague who's been surveying the scene at Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida.

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#5: How will we watch film & TV in the future?

Tue, 11 Apr 2017 15:27:00 GMT

The way we consume films and TV shows is fast changing, but is the cinema really doomed? We chew over different viewing experiences and near future possibilities, with help from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CCO Ted Sarandos.

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#4: Ben Wheatley

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 17:00:00 GMT

What’s it like going from a budget of £6,000 to £6 million? Brit director Ben Wheatley discusses his rise to new single-location action film Free Fire, how it was influenced by video game Counter-Strike, working with Martin Scorsese and a new film about women with shotguns killing giant crabs

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#3: Bob Odenkirk

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 18:30:00 GMT

Bob Odenkirk drops in to discuss how and why it's easier to move from comedy to drama than the other way around, his Netflix neo-noir oddity 'Girlfriend's Day', how Saul Goodman came in part from the "divorced, bankrupt, fucked" people he grew up around and the third season of 'Better Call Saul'.

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#2: Sir Patrick Stewart

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 10:00:00 GMT

The one and only Sir Patrick Stewart talks 17 years as Xavier, crew members on drips, revisiting an old character in a very new way and the sense of finality in Logan (mild spoilers enclosed).

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#1: Matthew McConaughey

Mon, 30 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

The Texan acting legend talks building a character, the joy of acting, that chest-thumping Wolf of Wall Street scene and his new film, Gold.

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