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by Following Films
Interviews with some of the most unique voices in independent film and popular culture. Think of it as a weekly film recommendation for something a bit off the beaten path. Become a Paid Subscriber: https://anchor.fm/followingfilms/subscribe
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- 3 days ago35 min
Padraic McKinley on The Weight
Welcome back to Following Films. Before we jump in today, do me a quick favor: if you're enjoying the show, hit that subscribe button, leave us a quick review on whatever app you're using, and share this episode with a friend. It really helps get the word out.Today on the show, I’m talking with director Padraic McKinley about his new film, The Weight, which lands in theaters nationwide starting today.Padraic directed the film from a screenplay by Matthew Chapman and Shelby Gaines, based on a story hatched by Matthew Booi, Leo Scherman, and Chapman. It’s got a massive team behind it, produced by Simon Fields, Nathan Fields, Ryan Hawke, Jonas Katzenstein, and Maximilian Leo, alongside a heavy lineup of executive producers including Andreas Rübo, Klaus Dohle, Frédéric Fiore, Céline Dornier, Ralf Berchtold, Peter Jarowey, Rich Goldberg, and Peter Block. Plus, the cast is stacked: Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe lead the charge, alongside Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, and Sam Hazeldine.The setup is pretty grim. It’s 1933 in Oregon, and a guy named Samuel Murphy, played by Ethan Hawke, gets ripped away from his daughter and tossed into a brutal work camp. The warden, played by Russell Crowe, offers him a way out: smuggle a haul of gold through a completely deadly stretch of wilderness for an early release. Naturally, the crew he's stuck with starts rotting from the inside with betrayal, and Murphy has to figure out just how much of his own humanity he's willing to trade off to actually see his kid again. It’s a desperate, messy story about desperate people, and Padraic and I break down how it all came together. Here is my conversation with Padraic McKinley.
- 5 days ago37 min
Todd Stephens on Gypsy 83: The Director’s Cut
Welcome back to the Following Films Podcast. On this episode, I’m sitting down with director Todd Stephens to talk about Gypsy 83: The Director’s Cut, which is back in select theaters right now for its 25th anniversary.If you grew up in the late 90s or early 2000s, there's a good chance this one has a special place on your shelf. The story centers on two Sandusky, Ohio goth misfits and massive Stevie Nicks superfans: Gypsy Vale, played by Sara Rue, and her younger, queer best friend Clive Webb, played by Birkett Turton. When they hear about a "Night of 1000 Stevies" event happening at a club in New York City, they pack up their black eyeliner and hit the road, fully convinced this is Gypsy’s big break.The film co-stars John Doe from the legendary punk band X, plus the iconic Karen Black playing a washed-up lounge singer. Todd Stephens basically took the standard coming-of-age road trip formula, flipped it on its head, and handed it over to the weird kids and outsiders who usually don't get to be the heroes of these stories.For this 25th anniversary release, they didn't just dump an old file onto a screen. The movie has been completely re-edited and restored in 4K directly from the original 35mm camera negative. It includes never-before-seen footage and a soundtrack loaded with heavy hitters like The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen.Before we jump into my chat with Todd about digging through old footage and bringing this story back to the big screen, do me a quick favor: subscribe to the show if you like what we’re doing, leave us a review wherever you're listening, and send this episode to a friend who appreciates good music and classic indie cinema. Now, here is my conversation with Todd Stephens.
- 3 weeks ago24 min
PROJECT HAIL MARY VFX Supervisors Paul Lambert and Mag Sarnowska and a DISCLOSURE DAY Giveaway
Welcome back to the Following Films Podcast.On today’s episode, I’m talking with VFX supervisors Paul Lambert and Mag Sarnowska about their work on Project Hail Mary. The film just hit home video, so you can pick it up right now on 4K Blu-ray, DVD, or digital. Honestly, it’s easily one of the best movies to come out all year, so if you haven't seen it yet, you need to change that.For those unfamiliar, the movie follows Ryland Grace, a middle school science teacher who wakes up alone on a spaceship with zero memory of who he is or how he got there. As his memory slowly comes back, he realizes he’s humanity's last hope to stop an extinction-level threat that's consuming the sun. He has to rely on pure science, trial and error, and an unexpected partnership with an alien engineer named Rocky to figure out a way to save Earth. What makes the film work so well—and why talking to Paul and Mag was so great—is how it grounds all this massive visual scale in practical problem-solving and a genuinely compelling friendship.Before we get into that conversation, today’s episode is sponsored by Universal Pictures and their new release, Disclosure Day. That one is also out now on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD. The movie drops you right into the fallout of humanity discovering we aren't alone, focusing less on grand sci-fi spectacle and more on the chaotic, paranoid scramble of government cover-ups, media frenzy, and how ordinary people handle the rug being pulled out from under reality.The team over at Universal sent over a copy of Disclosure Day on 4K Blu-ray for me to give away to one lucky listener. If you want to win it, just send an email over to editor@followingfilms.com. Make sure you include your full mailing address in the email so I actually know where to ship the disc if your name gets pulled.Also, a quick heads-up for anyone in Arizona. I’ll be out at Tucson Comic Con over Labor Day weekend, running from September 4th through September 6th. I’m hosting 13 different panels across the weekend, so if you’re planning on attending, check out the schedule, come hang out, and say hello.If you enjoy what we’re doing here, take a quick second to leave us a review on whatever app you're listening on, hit that subscribe button, and send this episode to a friend who loves movies.Now, let's jump into my chat with Paul Lambert and Mag Sarnowska.
- Aug 21, 202616 min
Julia Sweeney and director Rowan Haber on WE ARE PAT
Welcome back to the Following Films Podcast. Before we jump in, if you enjoy the show, please take a quick second to leave us a review, hit that subscribe button, and share this episode with a friend. It really helps get the word out and keeps us doing what we do.On today’s episode, I’m talking with Julia Sweeney and director Rowan Haber about their new documentary, We Are Pat, which is available to stream on Peacock starting August 20th.If you were around in the 90s, you remember "Pat" from Saturday Night Live. Julia Sweeney created this character, and it became an absolute pop culture phenomenon back then. But as conversations around gender identity, transness, and non-binary visibility evolved over the years, the joke aged into something a lot more complicated and heavily critiqued.What's cool about We Are Pat is that it doesn't just run away from that backlash or try to sweep it under the rug. Instead, it turns into this really fascinating excavation of comedy, authorship, and what happens when a bit outlives the era it started in. Rowan pulls together an incredible roster of trans and gender non-conforming comedians, writers, and cultural commentators, including folks like Molly Kearney, Abby McEnany, Murray Hill, Robin Tran, and Jules Gill-Peterson, and basically asks them to do the impossible: reconsider and try to rewrite "Pat" through a modern, inclusive lens.Fresh off a sold-out screening at Vidiots in LA, Julia and Rowan joined me to unpack the messy human side of revisiting past work, confronting cultural shifts, and figuring out where comedy goes from here. Here is my conversation with Julia Sweeney and Rowan Haber.
- Aug 17, 202637 min
Chris Hartwell on DO NO HARM
Welcome back to the Following Films Podcast.We’ve all spent time in the healthcare system, whether it’s sitting in a sterile waiting room or trying to navigate a bureaucratic nightmare for a loved one. It’s a system run by people who are constantly expected to be flawless, even when they’re completely running on empty. That brings us to today's film, Do No Harm.The movie follows Sam Yeong, played by Harry Shum Jr., a home health nurse who is already burnt out to the point of collapse. In his exhaustion, he makes a single mistake, administering what might be a fatal dose of medication to a young patient. Instead of a clean medical drama where everything gets wrapped up with a nice moral lesson, the story spirals over 24 hours as Sam tries to cover his tracks while colliding head-on with the grieving father. It’s a tense, deeply uncomfortable look at moral injury, institutional pressure, and what happens when the people we expect to save us simply break under the weight. The cast also features Rosaline Elbay and Ronny Chieng, who bring a lot of weight to a situation where nobody comes out clean.I sat down with writer and director Chris Hartwell to talk about how this whole project came together. Chris has deep family roots in the medical world: his dad is a doctor and his wife is a home health nurse, so he’s been listening to these ground-level stories for years. It took him nearly a decade to get this made, pulling together a low-budget, highly collaborative production that involved everyone from industry vets to his own film students. We talk about turning those real-life systemic pressures into a legit thriller, the nightmare of human error, and what it actually takes to drag an independent feature across the finish line these days.Before we jump into the conversation, do me a quick favor: if you like what we’re doing here, take ten seconds to subscribe to the podcast, drop us a rating or review on whatever platform you're using, and share the episode with a friend who loves indie cinema. It really helps keep the lights on and gets these films in front of more people.Here is my chat with Chris Hartwell.
- Aug 6, 202638 min
C. Kim Miles on the Netflix Reboot of Little House on the Praire
Welcome back to the Following Films Podcast. I'm your host, and today we are talking about a show that probably sounds like a strange candidate for a modern streaming reboot, until you actually look at how they made it.When Netflix announced a new take on "Little House on the Prairie," a lot of people reasonably expected a soft, nostalgic retread of the 1970s TV series. Instead, the 2026 reboot starring Alice Halsey, Luke Bracey, and Warren Christie dropped last month, and it is a completely different beast. It pulls much closer to the raw, gritty reality of the original books than the old show ever did. It already got picked up for a second season, and a huge reason the series hits the way it does comes down to how it looks.My guest today is cinematographer C. Kim Miles, ASC, CSC, MYSC. He shot four of the eight episodes this season, and he had to deal with absolute chaos to pull it off. We're talking severe prairie weather, tornadoes, ticks, rough terrain, and keeping heavy camera gear moving around actors wearing full period costumes. It was a brutal shoot, but the visuals speak for themselves.If you follow Kim’s work, that adapt-and-survive approach shouldn't surprise you. He lensed "The Brothers Sun" for Netflix, shot the Apple TV+ documentary "Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie" which earned him an Emmy nomination, and worked on projects like "Yellowjackets," "Lost Ollie," and Robert Zemeckis's "Project Blue Book." He knows how to ground large-scale, difficult productions in real human texture.We talk about building the look of the new series, fighting the elements, and what it actually takes to make a pioneer story feel dangerous again.Before we jump in, do me a quick favor: if you enjoy the show, take ten seconds to leave us a review on whatever app you're listening on, hit that subscribe button, and send this episode to a friend who loves film craft. It genuinely helps get the show in front of more people. Now, here is my conversation with C. Kim Miles.
- Jul 27, 20261h 7m
James Kniest on The Devil's Mouth and Tess & The Details Cover of Scattered by Green Day
On today's episode, I'm chatting with cinematographer James Kniest about his work on the upcoming Amazon original film, The Devil's Mouth. The setup is classic survival horror: a group of college friends on a Thailand trip end up trapped in submerged caves. There's a dangerous predator in the water with them, and all their ugly personal baggage and past conflicts start bubbling up while they try not to die. What makes or breaks a movie like this usually comes down to how real that claustrophobia feels, so James and I talk about what it actually takes to shoot in dark, wet, cramped spaces without it looking like a soundstage.Before we get to that interview, I want to talk about a fantastic new track from the San Francisco punk band Tess & The Details. They just released a cover of Green Day's "Scattered," which is featured on a new Green Day tribute compilation out from Coffin Curse Records and Punk Rock Radar. Even better, all the proceeds from the compilation go straight to no-kill animal shelters.Rather than just doing a carbon copy of the original Nimrod track, they completely made it their own. Frontwoman Tess Stevens directed the music video as a bit of a love letter to the Bay Area, shooting at places like an old BART station payphone and the legendary San Francisco venue Bottom of the Hill, which is unfortunately closing down at the end of 2026. I'm going to play a quick snippet of the song right now, and then I'll play the full track at the very end of the episode after the interview.Ok lets get into my conversation with James. In addition to The Devil’s Mouth, we chat about our shared love of music, the current state of the film industry, and what it was like working with Mike Flanagan. The Devil's Mouth will be available to stream on Amazon Prime on 7/29. I hope you enjoy the show
- Jul 22, 202634 min
Double Danger on EVIL DEAD BURN and How to Win a Free Copy of OBSESSION
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Following Films Podcast.Before we get into today’s show, do me a quick favor: if you’re enjoying what we're doing here, take two seconds to leave us a review, hit that subscribe button, and send this episode to a friend who loves movies. It really helps us out and keeps the lights on.This week’s episode is brought to you by the folks at Universal Pictures Home Video to celebrate their release of Obsession. They’ve been kind enough to give us a copy to pass along to one of you. If you want to get your hands on it, we're running a quick giveaway. Just send an email over to editor@followingfilms.com with the subject line "I want Obsession" and tell us why you should win. Just make sure you include your full name and your mailing address in the body of the email so we know where to send it if your name gets drawn.Today, we're talking with Double Danger, the French musical duo who handled the score for Evil Dead Burn. The movie just hit theaters, and if you’re a physical media collector, the soundtrack is actually getting a vinyl release this September.If you haven't caught the trailer yet, the plot centers on Alice, played by Souheila Yacoub. She’s a young widow trying to process the death of her abusive husband, Will. She goes to stay with her former in-laws for a memorial, which already sounds like a nightmare on its own, but then things go completely off the rails. They come across the Necronomicon, unleash the usual Deadite chaos, and Alice has to hunt down a Kandarian dagger to burn the whole family house to the ground just to stop the spread.It takes a lot of those classic, messy Evil Dead tropes and grounds them in a pretty dark family dynamic. We talked with Double Danger about how they approached scoring that specific brand of chaos, how they landed on the sound for this entry, and what it was like working in such an iconic horror universe. Here is our conversation with Double Danger.
About Following Films Podcast
Interviews with some of the most unique voices in independent film and popular culture. Think of it as a weekly film recommendation for something a bit off the beaten path. Become a Paid Subscriber: https://anchor.fm/followingfilms/subscribe
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