DeepSummary
This episode begins with an introduction to the podcast's structure for covering the new season of House of the Dragon. Then, Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins are joined by Chris Ryan to discuss Jeff Nichols' new film The Bikeriders, exploring its successes, influences, and the performances of stars like Austin Butler and Tom Hardy. They build a partial canon of "dudes rock" movies featuring male camaraderie and raucous behavior.
After Chris leaves, Sean and Amanda dive into Yorgos Lanthimos' anthology film Kinds of Kindness, analyzing its experimental structure and continuation of Lanthimos' working relationship with Emma Stone. They debate whether the movie succeeds or feels too self-indulgent.
Finally, Sean interviews director Jeff Nichols about the making of The Bikeriders. Nichols discusses how Danny Lyon's photography book inspired the film, his process for developing the story and characters, working with actors like Butler and Hardy on accents and performances, and his future ambitions for potentially making bigger studio films.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Jeff Nichols strives to make emotionally impactful films driven by personal passion, even if working with limited budgets.
- The Bikeriders was inspired by Danny Lyon's photography book chronicling 1960s Midwest motorcycle culture.
- Nichols allowed actors like Tom Hardy creative freedom in developing idiosyncratic character portrayals and regional accents.
- Despite acclaimed films, Nichols has faced challenges getting certain projects greenlighted by major studios.
- The hosts engaged in a meta-discussion about cultural curation algorithms limiting serendipitous discovery of fresh content.
- Amanda felt ambivalent about Yorgos Lanthimos' Kinds of Kindness, questioning if its experimental nature felt self-indulgent.
- The episode constructs a tentative canon of male-centric "dudes rock" films capturing raucous camaraderie.
- Nichols aims to balance emotionally resonant character studies with pursuing opportunities for bigger-budget studio films.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “You know, from the very beginning, since shotgun stories, we've been trying to make movies that are big. It doesn't mean the budgets are big, but the emotional scale should be.“ by Jeff Nichols
- “At the end of the day, it's not as hard of a decision because none of it ever actually feels real. You know, the thing about quiet place day one is I found an emotional connection to that film. By the end, I found an ending in that story that, I mean, it gave me time, you know, tears and goosebumps.“ by Jeff Nichols
- “I'm annoyed by my own reaction to it.“ by Amanda Dobbins
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Episode Information
The Big Picture
The Ringer
6/21/24