Dork Shelf talks with heavy metal icon Slash to talk about his first foray into feature film production, Nothing Left to Fear, the differences between film and music business, why his life has always been following a learning curve, balancing life on the road as a musician with being a producer, how filmmaking plays into his more impulsive desires as an artist, scoring a film he helped produce, and the real life legend of Stull, Kansas.
Dork Shelf talks with recent Emmy winner and TV icon Julia Louis-Dreyfus about her starring role in the comedy Enough Said and creating chemistry with the cast, how she brought her own personal feelings about her eldest leaving for college to the production, why she never really actively sought out work in film prior to this and stuck to TV, and what sports movie contains her favourite cinematic moment.
Dork Shelf talks to all nigh B-movie maven and host of Shock and Awe (happening at Toronto's Revue Cinema this Friday at 11:30pm) Dion Conflict about this year’s selections, the work that goes into the festival, his love for Shock and Awe crowds, spaghetti westerns, sex flicks being on the cutting edge of technology, being duped into seeing Mac and Me a second time in theatres, programming shorts between the features, how the mystery feature stays under wraps (with a slight tease for this year), and finding the right times to run certain movies that might not have gone over as well a year or two prior.
Dork Shelf talks to Enough Said director Nicole Holofcener about how she draws inspiration from real life, the passing of James Gandolfini, how the late actor wasn’t her first choice, why it took so long for anyone to give Julia Louis-Deryfuss a starring role, and the difficulties of modern filmmaking as a female director who likes making age appropriate movies about real women.
Dork Shelf talks to Enough Said co-stars Toni Collette and Catherine Keener about the differences between female characters written by men and those created by women, the reality that writer-director Nicole Holofcener brings to her productions, and why they see both of their characters’ professions as somewhat crazy.
Dork Shelf talks to Don Jon writer, director, and star Joseph Gordon-Levitt about how he came up with the message for his debut feature, how much pornography he thought was appropriate to show, creating the film’s unique family dynamic, producing this film outside of a major studio, and how the casting of Scarlett Johnansson fit into his particular vision for the film.
Don Jon actress Scarlett Johansson talks to Dork Shelf about the differences between pornography and romantic comedy, her collaboration with Joseph Gordon-Levitt for the first time, how her decision making process has evolved over the years, what it’s like watching a sexualized film in front of family and loved ones, and her own (somewhat surprising) addiction.
Dork Shelf sits down with first time filmmaker (and former Major League Baseball Pitcher and doctor) Drew Taylor and veteran documentarian Larry Weinstein about their collaboration on the film Our Man in Tehran, which looks beyond the events depicted in Argo and looks at the Iranian Revolution and the ensuing American hostage crisis as a whole.
We talk to visual artists and directors of the offbeat animated TIFF selection Asphalt Watches Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver about burgers, road tripping, crazy people who think they are Santa, the things they do for money, animation, staying true to the feeling of the trip, believing in the good in people, foul mouthed families, and not wanting to necessarily be the spokesmen for burgers.
We talk to Danis Goulet, director of the Cree inspired science-fiction short Wakening, filmed at the Winter Garden Theatre and screening prior of the TIFF opening night gala of The Fifth Estate on Thursday night to help honour the theatre's 100th anniversary. We talk about transforming the Winter Garden and the surrounding area into a post-apocalyptic wasteland, her film’s role in the resurgence of aboriginal cinema, and getting the cops accidentally called on the production for being too realistic.
We talk to When Jews Were Funny documentarian Alan Zweig (whose latest film debuts at TIFF this week) about the challenges of getting a comic to open up on camera about real topics, the generation gap he noticed, how Mel Brooks making his father laugh opened up his eyes to Jewish humour, how to deal with a difficult interview, and what he hopes his daughter can take from him after he’s gone.
We talk to Siddharth director Richie Mehta (whose new film debuts in Venice before coming to the Toronto International Film Festival next week) about how a failed project led to him finding this story, writing characters that don’t necessarily align with his own beliefs or logic, returning to shoot in India, the goodness in people, and how he thinks the film will be perceived in India.
Dork Shelf talks to director and actor Don McKellar about his return to feature film directing with The Grand Seduction (debuting Sunday September 8th at TIFF) and about how people perceived his time away from filmmaking, the script that tempted him to come back, shooting on location in Trinity Bay, the different stresses between city filming and country filming, and what Gleeson brought to his role and to the set.
We talk to TIFF Cinematheque programmer Brad Deane about the classic films playing for free at this year's Toronto International Film festival, how the Cinematheque sources their prints, why he feels strange watching things on his computer, which film he’s most excited to share this year, a bit about this year’s line-up, a few tidbits about TIFF’s upcoming David Cronenberg retrospective, and what films he would love to see restored so he can share them in the future with festival audiences.
Dork Shelf talks to No One Lives actor and WWE Superstar (not to mention the only living Funkasaurus in captivity) Brodus Clay about the differences between horror crowds and wrestling crowds, how he almost spontaneously agreed to be in the film following a rough night at the office, what it’s like to get killed on camera, the butterflies he felt when the film debuted at TIFF last year, the importance of a well rounded education, and what it’s like being in the WWE locker room after doing a movie.
