You might want to call this episode of BEHIND THE LENS, “Six Degrees of Separation of Paul Rudd” as all of our filmmakers today are connected to Paul Rudd. . .and let’s not forget that Paul Rudd has two films currently out in theatres and/or on VOD and digital – THE CATCHER WAS A SPY and “Ideal Home” – with one of the most anticipated films of the year opening up this week – ANT-MAN AND THE WASP!
First up, we dive into the quantum realm of ANT-MAN AND THE WASP and hear a bit from writer/director PEYTON REED as he talks about the award-worthy editing of the film as cast and crew traverse the streets of San Francisco, going from micro to macro to huge and back again, wth rapier precision and edge of your seat intensity. And you’ll hear film critic debbie elias’ take on the heartfelt family humor filling the film. (Come on! Who doesn’t love silly dad jokes!)
Then we move into some world history and particularly that of WWII and the story of former baseball player, Moe Berg, with THE CATCHER WAS A SPY. A multi-degreed intellectual, fluent in at least 12 languages, Berg was solicited by the OSS and tasked with uncovering the truth about German physicist and 1932 Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg and whether he was developing the atom bomb for the Nazis. If Berg believed Heisenberg was close to achieving the impossible, his mission was to kill him. The US, of course, was deep into The Manhattan Project. With a script by “Saving Private Ryan” scribe Robert Rodat, and Paul Rudd in the starring role as Moe Berg, take a listen to our exclusive interview with director BEN LEWIN (“The Sessions”, “Please Stand By”) as he goes in-depth on THE CATCHER WAS A SPY talking everything from history to casting to production design to locations to expanding his own directorial skills with battle sequencing and multi-camera lensing, and a personal favorite, getting to play with a real Sherman tank. A fascinating conversation about a fascinating film. THE CATCHER WAS A SPY is in theatres and On Demand. A “Must See Film.” As a side note, a documentary on Moe Berg from Aviva Kempner is in the works and anticipated to hit the festival circuit in 2019. As Paul Rudd himself said to me last week, “Can you believe it? Isn’t this story something? Isn’t [Moe] an interesting guy?” Absolutely.
Lastly, we take a look at UNDER THE TREE. From Icelandic writer/director HAFFSTEIN GUNNAR SIGURDSSON (whose first film “Either Way” was remade by David Gordon Green as “Prince Avalanche” starring Paul Rudd), UNDER THE TREE is a dark dark comedy about what being neighborly is all about. . .or not. At its heart, a metaphor for war and geopolitical conflict, listen as Haffstein talks not only about story development, but casting “The Tree.” Yes, filmmakers, there was tree casting. Take a listen and learn all about it!
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