April 22, 2025 • 38 mins
Scott McGee, Senior Director of Original Productions at Turner Classic Movies, previews the upcoming TCM Classic Film Festival and its theme, "Grand Illusions: Fantastic Worlds in Film," taking place April 24-27 in Hollywood.
• Opening night features a 45th anniversary screening of "The Empire Strikes Back" with George Lucas making his first TCM Festival appearance
• The festival includes sub-themes like "Pigments of Imagination" (fantasy films with animation), "Future Shock" (time travel films), and "Far, Far Away" (films set beyond Earth)
• Special guests include Michelle Pfeiffer receiving the handprint-footprint ceremony, with screenings of rare films like "The Fabulous Baker Boys"
• The festival will present two films projected in VistaVision, a horizontal projection technology not used publicly in nearly 60 years
• World premiere restorations include "Ben-Hur" presented by the Film Foundation with Alexander Payne introducing
• Tribute screenings honor recently deceased filmmakers including David Lynch and Gene Hackman
• Scott discusses the Academy's addition of a Stunt Design Oscar category beginning in 2026 as a long-overdue recognition
Visit the TCM Classic Film Festival website to purchase festival passes and individual film tickets for this unique celebration of cinema history.
https://filmfestival.tcm.com/attend/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Millard (00:04):
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andtoday we're catching up with
Scott McGee, Senior Director ofOriginal Productions at Turner
Classic Movies, and he is alsoone of the programmers for the
TCM Classic Film Festival inHollywood this April 24th to
27th.
Hey, Scott, good to see you.
Scott McGee (00:24):
Tim, always a pleasure to see you, sir.
Tim Millard (00:26):
Well, it's that time of year when Hollywood is
flooded with classic film fansand you can always tell who they
are because they're not thetypical person walking around in
Hollywood, and each year youhave a theme for the festival.
So I thought we'd start off ourdiscussion of this year's
festival.
You could give us a littlebackground on the theme and what
that means for the festival.
Scott McGee (00:47):
Yeah, Grand Illusions Fantastic Worlds in
Film was a theme that wasactually supposed to be the
festival theme in 2020.
And we had the programming allset and well, you know what
happened then and, uh, we alwayshad the intention of coming
back to this theme andrevisiting at some point, and so
(01:10):
this was the year and, um,there were I mean, there were
been a number of changes fromwhat we had originally planned.
Uh, a lot of changes actually,but there are some things that
remain that that we had alwayswanted to do for that fest, like
Back to the Future, is included, and so this is just an
opportunity for us to sort ofexpand the theme and kind of
(01:34):
consider more genre-based, justlike we did last year with an
emphasis on crime, and thatallowed us to have a lot of
detective and film noir andcrime dramas.
And this one, uh, you know,gives us an opportunity to show
more science fiction, fantasyand everything in between, and
so that was a that was animportant aspect of this year's
(01:55):
theme and also, you know, alwayssomething that it was it lent
itself to have fun with it, andum, and so we we've tried to do
that in some of the programmingchoices we made and the sub
themes that we've come up withas well.
Tim Millard (02:09):
Well, there's always a lot of excitement for
that first kickoff movie onThursday night, and maybe it's
not the first film, but it's thekind of the one that you build
it around, and this year it'sStar Wars.
The Empire Strikes Back.
Scott McGee (02:24):
That's right.
Opening night is the EmpireStrikes Back.
That's right.
Opening night is the EmpireStrikes Back, celebrating its
40th anniversary, having beenreleased to 1980, or wait, this
is the 45th.
Anyway, either way, it is asignificant anniversary and we
(02:49):
will have in attendance GeorgeLucas, who we've never had at
the festival before, and we'vehad just about all of the great
directors from the Renaissanceera of the 1970s as guests at
the festival Spielberg, scorsese, coppola, bogdanovich, other
people as well.
We've never had Brian De Palmaand up to now we've never had
George Lucas.
So it's nice to have him in thefold, so to speak, and have him
(03:10):
appear at the fest.
It's our honor to get him.
Tim Millard (03:14):
Yeah, and it is the 45th year, so there's kind of a
special milestone there, butit's surprising that George
hasn't been there.
Maybe in some ways, but I wasthinking about it and it's like
okay, those of us who grew upwith 80s films, we're now in the
classic film group, which isgreat in a way, because I love
(03:35):
the fact that the festival isembracing movies I grew up with,
that, I love that, I collect,you know all of those things.
So, but it does also make youkind of look in the mirror and
look at the gray hair and themissing hair and say, wow, okay,
now my films, my favorite films, are all in the classic films.
Scott McGee (03:54):
Yeah, a little insider baseball.
It wasn't always going to beEmpire Strikes Back.
We had tried to get to do itfor the Breakfast Club for the
40th anniversary of that film,but we could not get the cast to
commit, so it kind of fellapart.
But I was happy to see thatthey did have a reunion at an
(04:15):
event recently I think it was aconvention fan event or
something where they sat witheach other, which reportedly was
the first time they've beentogether in 40 years.
So it was nice to see themtogether.
Wish they were at our festival.
But hey, george Lucas and theEmpire Strikes Back, and it's a.
You know, the Empire is a muchbetter fit for our theme than
(04:38):
the Breakfast Club would havebeen, and everything needs to
conform to the theme.
But it is nice to have thatsymmetry, particularly when it
comes to our art, you know, tothe creative that that our
design team comes up with, andso it's.
It's going to be a blast, yeah.
Tim Millard (04:55):
Oh, I mean it's, it's perfect that film for the
category, and also the 45th, andthen George being there and the
ability for fans to see it onthe big screen again and IMAX.
I mean there's just so muchgoing for it.
So I think it's fantastic and Ilove the movie as well.
What are some of the otherfilms that kind of fall in that
(05:18):
category, you mean under the?
Yeah under that specific to thetheme.
Yeah, yeah.
Scott McGee (05:25):
So we have a couple of sub-themes, as we always do.
One of the sub-themes isPigments of Imagination, and
these are fantasy films thatinvolve some sort of animated
work.
So the 75th anniversary ofCinderella we're showing at El
(05:45):
Capitan, which is the theaterowned by Disney, which is right
across the street from the TCLChinese and a beautiful theater
in and of itself.
In fact, I think that's whereCitizen Kane premiered, at the
El Cap back in 1941.
And then we have the 30thanniversary of Babe, which has
some computer animation, andthen the Miyazaki film Spirited
(06:10):
Away.
We've always wanted to show aMiyazaki film, so this seemed
like the year yeah.
And then we have a sub themecalled Future Shock, and this is
where we're having to contendwith the future and all that it
portends for us all.
So this is where we slipped inBack to the Future 40th
anniversary.
(06:31):
And then we're showing alsoBlade Runner and the Time
Machine from 1960.
In Blade Runner we haveconfirmed Sean Young, who plays
Rachel in the film, to be therein attendance for Blade Runner
Affairs de Mour, which is afancy way of saying romantic
fantasies.
That includes Brigadoon, theEnchanted Cottage from 1945, a
(06:56):
Guy Named Joe, with SpencerTracy and Irene Dunn from 1943,
which was later remade, asalways, in 1989 by Spielberg,
which was later remade, asalways in 1989, by Spielberg.
Blythe Spirit from 1945, whichis 80th anniversary, and Blythe
Spirit.
That print is coming to us fromthe British Film Institute and
(07:22):
we have a thread throughout thisfestival where we are saluting
the BFI with several films thathave come from their archive,
including, as well as a Club TCMevent.
That is all about what the BFIis and what it's done and it's
important to film history.
Chairman from the BFI, but alsoin attendance with him for this
(07:51):
Club TCM panel, which is calledFrom Across the Pond, sights
and Sounds from the British FilmArchives.
Not only Ben Roberts, the CEO,but also Guillermo del Toro will
be there for that panel.
So that's a big thread for usthroughout the festival.
So that was a little sidebaraway from the sub-themes.
Going back to the sub-themes,we have Far, far Away, this is
(08:14):
films or stories that have todeal with characters or settings
that take place far away fromEarth.
So we have 2001, a SpaceOdyssey in 70mm and we will have
Keir Dullea there in attendancewho plays Dave the astronaut.
Every time I say Keir Dullea'sname, I always think of the
(08:36):
famous Noel Coward quote KeirDullea, gone tomorrow.
And then we have for Far, farAway, earth versus the Flying
Saucers which Joe Dante will beintroducing.
Empire Strikes Back is part ofthat.
Galaxy Far, far Away.
And Superman.
Superman is there for that.
(08:58):
It's been on the schedule forsome time as being part of the
theme, but we're also includingit as a salute to the late,
great Gene Hackman.
We've also included in theprogramming in honor of Gene
Hackman's passing the birdcagejust to show off some of
(09:18):
Hackman's versatility, which isI don't know how many people had
the breadth of his career.
Robert Duvall, who was goodfriends with Hackman, probably
is the only other one I canthink of right now, but there
will never be another GeneHackman, so we're really honored
to be able to remember him inthis way at the festival.
(09:40):
Back to the sub themes.
Once again, size Matters is thelast one, and this is where we
take stories having to do withreally, really small settings in
really really big settings.
So we've got Fantastic Voyagefrom 1966.
The Incredible Shrinking man,uh, which will also be
(10:04):
introduced by joe dante it's oneof his favorite films and
mothra from 1961, and uh, thatthat will.
That rounds out our sizematters.
Uh for those five sub themes.
Tim Millard (10:18):
Uh for our grand illusion in film yeah, there's a
lot of great ones in there.
Obviously you mentioned bladerunner from 1982, with Sean
Young in attendance.
I mean any chance to see BladeRunner on the big screen.
You know, back to the Future onthe big screen, these are great
opportunities.
And then, going back to theSuperman, I saw you have an
(10:41):
executive there for that one,michael DeLuca from Warner
Brothers.
Scott McGee (10:45):
Yep, michael DeLuca , who is the?
Uh, he and Pam Abdi are theco-heads of Warner Brothers Film
Studio.
Uh, they're the ones that areresponsible for things like
centers, which is now a big hitat the box office.
So good on them.
Uh, and they also, you know,shepherded Bartbie from last
year.
So, uh, or was it two years ago?
(11:06):
No, that was a couple years ago, a couple years ago oh, that's
right, because of nora one.
Yeah, so yeah, having mikedeluca there and he's been.
He's been at the festival oneother time he did.
He introduced rear window.
Tim Millard (11:19):
Oh yeah, I believe it last year he's had an amazing
career and of course I want tomention it partly too, because a
lot of the folks who listen tothis podcast are big supporters
of Warner Brothers and theWarner Archive and Superman 1978
, one of the greatest films ever, especially in that genre.
(11:40):
But the big deal here, ofcourse, is that this summer
there's a reboot of Superman,and so introducing it and having
it fit this theme so well, butalso then be a nice introduction
for the fans to the Julyrelease of the upcoming
Superman's Great yeah, andthat's a happy accident, because
(12:02):
we had had Superman planned todo for some time In fact, I
believe that title was part ofthe 2020 programming, so we had
our eye on it for quite sometime.
Scott McGee (12:17):
But the fact that it's footing right up to the
release of the new Supermancoming out this summer, uh is
really just, uh, really just.
Tim Millard (12:28):
One of the other things I wanted to mention is,
uh, this special presentation.
I'm not sure if that's theright name for it, but this
Vista vision, uh, that you havegoing.
This sound is real.
This sounds really interestingand part of it.
Last year you had the Searchers, which is VistaVision as well,
but this year you have a coupleof films.
Tell us a little bit about whatthat is Sure.
Scott McGee (12:52):
So VistaVision was a widescreen technology that was
developed by Paramount in the50s, and this was a widescreen
technology that was to competewith other widescreen techs like
CinemaScope or Cinerama Well,cinerama didn't come out until
later, but other widescreentechnologies like that, like
(13:16):
CinemaScope and whatnot, thiswas Paramount's VistaVision, and
what made it different fromeverything else was that the
film, when it was projected, thefilm would be run through the
projector horizontally insteadof vertically, like it does in
most movie theater projectors,instead of vertically like it
(13:37):
does in most movie theaterprojectors.
But this horizontal projectionallowed the full image to show
greater depth of field and moreclarity.
I can't tell you exactly how itlooks because I've never seen
VistaVision.
The last time it's beenprojected, a VistaVision film
(13:59):
has been projected inVistaVision was sometime in the
early 60s, I think 60 or 61.
So VistaVision, a VistaVisionfilm print, has not been
projected in decades, inprobably over it's nearly 60
years, probably over it's nearly60 years.
(14:20):
And so this is a.
This is a.
This is an opportunity or anevent that that people like
Chapin Cutler, who is ourprojection guy he's the, he is
the guru who manages all theprojection and all of the
presentation of our filmsthroughout the weekend.
He and his company, bostonLight and Sound.
They've been with us since thevery beginning and they are
(14:42):
worth their weight in gold.
Boston Light and Sound andChapin Cutler has had on his
bucket list to do this divisionsomeday and he has figured out a
way to do it and I think thatstory of how it's being done is
being told elsewhere.
I'm not going to tell you thestory because I'm not an expert
(15:04):
in this division technology.
I don't want to say somethingthat's erroneous, but suffice to
say this is not unlike what wedid last year with Vitaphone
Right, where we had an actualVitaphone disc being played to a
silent film, a sound on discfilm, rather from the late 20s,
(15:30):
and we had a whole program ofthose shorts.
This is one of those things,only it's in some respects even
more rare.
So this is one of the thingsthat TCM has been able to do
over the years and that isresurrect obsolete, long gone
(15:51):
experiences for movie audiencesthat I don't know if you'll ever
be able to see again.
Tim Millard (15:57):
Yeah, I was there for that Vitaphone presentation
and that was the mostfascinating.
Well, you introduced it, Ithink.
Possibly I was the venue host,I think.
Yeah, and I was enthralled.
Well, number one you got to seea lot of different films as
well.
They showed a number of them,but the fact that you were able
(16:20):
to do that live, and that wasthe first time since you know
God knows when almost 100 years,I think I mean it was going way
back what a special thing thatwas to be there in person.
For that I circled this thingwith VistaVision as well,
because I saw that they're goingto have the projectors there
and, you know, for the firsttime, this is an amazing.
And the two films we'll justmention Werno Angel's, 1955,
(16:51):
gunfight at the OK Corral from1957.
So you know, both are going tobe fantastic to see.
The fact that you have twoopportunities so that you can
get people in to, you know, tosee these, is a wow that's,
that's a great one.
I love that fact.
I love that fact that you'regoing to have that there.
It makes the festival veryunique from other festivals.
Scott McGee (17:06):
Um, I mean yeah, okay.
Tim Millard (17:07):
Every festival wants to have a world premiere.
I get that, and then that'sfantastic.
But most films you're going tosee, even if there's a world
premiere, you're going to see itsomewhere else.
If you didn't get to see theworld premiere and the film
isn't any different, you know,you just didn't see it first.
This is a situation wherethere's no other festival
bringing in a projector to showthese on VistaVision that I can
(17:28):
think of or has you know in thepast, based on what you just
said.
So this is so, so unique and Iwanted to highlight it.
Scott McGee (17:37):
Well, not only the projectors, but the film prints
themselves.
There's not a lot of filmsstill around that are in
VistaVision.
Your listeners might noticethat we are also playing To
Catch a Thief, which was alsofamously shot in VistaVision,
but there's no print of it inVistaVision that is projectable.
(17:58):
So that's why we're showing aDCP of of to catch a thief, even
though it was shot inVistaVision.
So these, as you, as you werenoting, this is even more rare
because the prints just they'rejust, they just don't exist
anymore, at least not inabundance, and so to be able to
(18:20):
show at least two of them isquite a boon for us.
I should also mention to yourlisteners that the brutalist
from last year, theOscar-winning film, was shot in
VistaVision, but it's notprojected.
It was not projected as such.
And Paul Thomas Anderson's nextfilm is being shot in
VistaVision, but it's notprojected.
It was not projected as such,and Paul Thomas Anderson's next
film is being shot inVistaVision.
(18:41):
As well, as to whether or notit's going to be projected, I
could not say, but suffice it tosay, just to give your
listeners an idea of thespecialness of these two
programs of we're no angels, uh,and gunfight of the ok corral
projected in this division isone of a kind of yeah, yeah uh,
(19:05):
and just to follow up with that,to catch a thief.
It looked like jennifer grant isgoing to be there, the daughter
of that's right, his only childwith uh diane cannon, uh carrie
grant, and diane cannon hadjennifer grant and she's a she's
always popular, so we're we'rereally excited to have her back
the other thing I wanted tomention here is you do have some
(19:27):
world premiere restorations,because of course, we're talking
about classic films, we're nottalking about new films, and the
one I wanted to be sure wetalked about is Ben-Hur from
1959.
Tim Millard (19:40):
And it looks like Alexander Payne is back.
He introduced, I think, theSearchers last year and this
year he's going to be talkingabout Ben-Hur.
Scott McGee (19:49):
So tell us a little bit about this one, ben-hur is
coming to us as a newrestoration, a world premiere
restoration from our friends atthe Film Foundation.
We have shown Ben-Hur before atthe festival it was, I think it
was in 2012, we showed it.
But to show a new restorationof it is even more grand, and so
(20:10):
we're really excited to haveAlexander Payne, who is a I
believe he's a board member ofthe Film Foundation, who is a I
believe he's a board member ofthe Film Foundation and just, I
mean, he's just such a greatfriend to TCM and to film fans
everywhere.
Alexander Payne is one of the Imean, he's one of the good guys
(20:32):
, he loves movies and and tohave him there.
You know, you wouldn't expect.
You wouldn't expect to seeAlexander Payne doing Ben Hur,
but there he is, there he willbe and really fortunate to have
him there.
Tim Millard (20:40):
Well, you could have said that about the
searchers last year when he wasthere, but he was effusive in
his praise for the film and forthe print.
Of course People can't see itbecause this is an audio podcast
, but I have right behind me the4K release of the searchers,
which the Warner Archivereleased as their very first 4k,
and it's been an amazing sellerbecause it's such an amazing
(21:03):
film, amazing restoration andthen just the product that they
put together for the physicalmedia and I know a lot of fans,
when they saw that ben hur isgoing to be here with the
restoration, are also lookingforward to the physical media
release sometime down the roadat some point in 4k.
But um, these, theserestorations with the film
foundation and, uh, warnerbrothers have turned out just
(21:28):
fantastic oh, and I got to do aplug.
Scott McGee (21:31):
If you want to read all about the chariot race from
ben hurr, pick up my bookdanger on the silver screen.
Tim Millard (21:36):
Well, yeah, guess what I'm, guess what I'm holding
up here, scott, yeah, that bookyeah, yeah, and I you know in
the.
You got it right on the cover.
Scott McGee (22:05):
That's right.
He took on a lot of roles inthe later years where he plays
these manly men and maybe chewsthe scenery a little bit, but we
should never forget that Hestonwas a really, really good actor
and he imbued into hisperformance as Judah Bidhur a
humanity that you could easilyoveract and choose scenery.
(22:28):
But he never does and he allowsthe camera to do a lot of the
work for him and he listened tohis director and it shows and
that guy richly deserved bestactor for that performance.
Tim Millard (22:43):
Well, you don't have to convince me, I'm a big,
big fan of that film and, ofcourse, with Easter recently I
just rewatched Ten Commandmentsfor the upteenth time.
Moses, moses, moses, it nevergets old.
And then I'm looking forward toseeing Ben-Hur again.
Again, you can rewatch andrewatch these films.
(23:06):
They're so, so good.
Let's see a couple other thingsI wanted to mention.
Recently I spoke with EddieMuller about his new, revised
and expanded book and he saidhe's going to be at the festival
, of course, and he talked aboutthe fact that he's going to be
there for Blue Velvet.
Tell us a little bit about thistribute.
Scott McGee (23:26):
Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart are both there as
part of our tribute to DavidLynch and we felt that, because
his passing was so recent, wereally had to take the
opportunity.
Along with our tribute to GeneHackman, we had to take the
opportunity to honor him as well.
And man, I just, you know, justas an aside, I was so glad to
(23:48):
see the outpouring of affectionand the tributes for Lynch
Because you know, he wasn't amainstream artist like a
Spielberg or Scorsese, so Ididn't know how, you know how
deeply penetrated he got intothe overall pop cultural psyche
(24:09):
and I think he did.
I mean, a lot of that has to dowith Twin Peaks, of course, but
I think the fact that he wasrightly recognized and has been
rightly recognized as a as anabsolute genius of cinema, it
was really, it was.
I was really glad to see that.
Tim Millard (24:26):
I was really glad to see that.
You know, you know this, butHollywood's so obsessed with the
money and the box office andreviews and this and that.
And you know David Lynch, didhe get that many great critical
reviews at the time?
Did he get great box up?
You know what Some people did.
He always had his fans, alwayshad his following.
But his movies were hit andmiss with reviewers and with the
(24:49):
audience.
But he endured becausecreatively he was authentic and
whether you liked it or not.
And likability is way overblown, of course, in art and film.
But anyway, I'm going off hereon a tangent, but it's great to
(25:09):
see that Eddie's going to bethere.
Kyle McLaughlin is going to bethere.
Scott McGee (25:12):
Actually that is late breaking news.
He had to cancel because he hada job of work that came up
shooting schedule.
So I don't know who we're goingto get for Blue Velvet, but I
think Eddie will still beinvolved, sure.
Tim Millard (25:28):
Well, I'm from the Seattle area, so when it comes
to Twin Peaks, I did my sojournout to Snoqualmie Falls and to
get some pie and do all thisstuff out there, which is very
easy, of course, when you liveup there, but lots of fun.
So well, there's a lot of othergreat people.
I just want to kind of runthrough, maybe more quickly.
You've got a lot of actors whoshow up, as always Kathy Bates,
(25:57):
sean Cassidy, james Cromwell,zooey Deschanel, bill Hader, ben
Vreen.
You've got directors Rob Reiner, aaron Serkin, and then let's
see, oh, michael Mann for Heat.
You're going to have an airingof Heat, a favorite of mine.
So there's a lot of great stuffthere.
And then, of course, we shouldtalk about your hand and
footprint ceremony.
Special guest.
Scott McGee (26:17):
Of course.
Of course, michelle Pfeiffer.
I've had Michelle Pfeiffer onmy list of people that we should
honor with handprint footprintfor some time on her with the
with handprint footprint forsome time, and so to be able to
to get her this year, and aswell as with the fabulous baker
boys, which is not a film thatis seen that often.
(26:38):
It's not.
I don't see it on television, Idon't even think it's on
blu-ray.
Uh, it might be, but it's notshe, it's not shown that often.
So, um, and part of that mighthave been due to rights, because
I know that it took a while forCharlie Tabish, our head of
programming, to determine whothe rights holder was.
(27:01):
I think it's Fox now.
But regardless, we got it.
So I'm really happy we'reshowing it.
So, yeah, if we didn't getFabulous Baker Boys, I was
hoping that it might be Marriedto the Mob, because that's
another film that's not shownthat often, from 1988.
It's got a delightfulperformance from Michelle
(27:23):
Pfeiffer, who I think wasnominated for an Academy Award
for it.
Dean Stockwell, matthew Modineand Mercedes Ruhl all have
supporting roles in it and it isjust a offbeat, hilarious crime
film.
But here I am talking about amovie that we're not even
showing.
But I do want people to go outand seek Mary to the Mob, if
(27:45):
you've never seen it.
Tim Millard (27:45):
Well, back to the fact that it's Michelle Pfeiffer
who's your special guest, sothat's really fun.
And then each year you give outthe Robert Osborne Award.
Who's this year's recipient?
Scott McGee (27:57):
It'll be George Stevens Jr.
Mr Stevens has done more forthe recognition of cinema as a
major art form, as a legitimateart form in this country, worthy
of celebration.
He was one of the founders ofthe American film Institute.
He he began the AFI lifetimeachievement award, starting in
(28:22):
1973, when it was given to JohnFord.
George Stevens jr Was there,and he also was the founder of
the Kennedy Senator HonorsAwards, which have been in the
news recently.
So I imagine that might be atopic of discussion.
Maybe I should also note that,having Aaron Sorkin and Rob
(28:45):
Reiner there for a screening ofthe American president, I'm sure
they'll have a lot to talkabout too.
Tim Millard (28:51):
Yeah, sure, politics is a part of a big part
of our lives and films as well,so I'm sure that will come up
Absolutely.
And then a couple of peoplevery well known to the listeners
of the extras are going to bethere.
I'll just remind folks thatJerry Beck will be there and
he's going to be talking aboutrestored cartoons from the UCLA
(29:13):
archives.
That's on Friday.
And then George Feltensteinfrom Warner Brothers and the
Warner Archive will be talkingabout Rhapsody in Blue
restoration.
That's on Saturday.
And there's just so much otherstuff.
But those are just highlights Iwant to be sure we talked about
.
I see you have Monty Python andthe Holy Grail for its 50th
year anniversary, so a number ofanniversaries you're going to
(29:36):
be showcasing as well.
Scott McGee (29:39):
Right, and I should note that for Monty Python and
the Holy Grail that will beintroduced by Patton Oswalt,
yeah, so that will be a goodtime.
That will be a good time andyou know, if you've ever seen
Monty Python and the Holy Grail,you've got to see it in a
theater with an audience, withan audience.
Tim Millard (30:00):
This is the time to do it.
Yep, yep, that's going to be alot of fun.
Well, I want to wrap up ourdiscussion kind of coming back
to your book, because theAcademy announced recently
they're adding a stunt designOscar, starting in 2026.
I know this is so long overdue,but I want to get your take on
(30:20):
it.
Scott McGee (30:21):
I'm elated, I'm absolutely elated, and I'm so
happy for the people in thestunt community who have been
lobbying for decades to get thisdone.
And I didn't, I was seriouslyconsidering are they?
Are we just never going to seethis happen?
And I'm doing, I'm still doingresearch on the history of
(30:42):
stunts in the movies.
Maybe I'll write another book,I don't know.
But the more research I do intothe early dawn of cinema, the
first decade, the 1910s, andreally into the early, into the
teens, stunt work was there fromthe beginning in movies.
(31:03):
It was part of the promotion,promotional appeal.
Newspapers would tout thestunts that all of these people
in these movies and the flickerswere doing, and that's how they
got people into the theaters tosee these movies.
So stunt work has been a partof cinema from the get go, and
(31:23):
it's taken this long torecognize it as a legitimate art
form, a discipline rather, ofcinema.
You know, just as important inmy opinion as choreography, as
editing cinematography.
You know it should have beendone a long time ago, but better
(31:43):
late than never, and so I'mjust so ecstatic for them to be
honored this way, and there's noreason that we can't celebrate
stunts of the past with theAcademy Awards now making it an
official recognition.
So maybe who knows?
Maybe they'll do an exhibitionat the Academy Museum of stunt
(32:06):
work in the movies as a way ofsort of bringing attention to,
to the, to the discipline, tothe, to the craft.
Uh, maybe in conjunction withthe advent of the new award in
2020 did you say 2027?
Tim Millard (32:19):
I think it's coming .
I think it's 26, I think it'snext year and so you know, just
in time for tom cruise, beforehe hangs up his uh, mission
impossible.
Uh, yeah, the last film,because the work he is doing and
he's not, I mean it's verylimited, cgi, he's doing
practical stunts there, puttinghis life on the line.
Uh, that is, I mean, that'sincredible, the work that he's
(32:44):
done on the last two.
Scott McGee (32:45):
Well, all of the mission impossibles, but these
last two unbelievable, I think,especially since ghost protocol,
which was the fourth film, andthat was the one where he gets
dangled out of the burj khalifa,the, the world's tallest
building, and you know, I'm surea lot of people who went to see
(33:05):
that film probably thought thatwas all c.
No, that was Tom Cruise hangingon a safety cable outside of
the world's tallest skyscraper.
Now the, the safety lines wereall digitally erased, but he's
still out there.
I wouldn't, I wouldn't go outthere.
(33:26):
So that's a stunt.
I mean, that is, that isputting your life on the line.
And, um, the guy's got it, he'sgot the, he's got the balls to
do it.
And I, I think Tom Cruz is, Ithink he's one of our great,
great movie stars and I think hemight be the last, the last
movie star of the, of the, theway we have classically defined
(33:49):
what a movie star is.
I think Tom Cruise might be thelast one.
Tim Millard (33:53):
It's my opinion, yeah, no, and and, but the fact
that he's doing this and he'snot 22, he's in his sixties and
I think he said something aboutum when I watched one of these
recent um pre-release featureads.
I mean, he's like I blacked outa couple of times.
Now he's, they've got wires onhim so he's safe.
(34:14):
But I'm like, well, if you'reblacking out, you sure you want
to go through with that stunt,but he did and wow, wow, wow,
wow, you know, is all I can say.
I hope that he gets somerecognition for that.
I wouldn't be so.
Well, if he wins, well,definitely nominated, I would
think, for the award in the nextOscar.
Scott McGee (34:35):
If they give it to Tom Cruise, I can't think of a
more fitting first recipient.
Maybe when the Academy finallyintroduced a best makeup Academy
award in 1981.
And Rick Baker was the firstrecipient for, uh, American
werewolf in London, Perfect wayto kick off that, that that new
(34:59):
category, and with this one, ifyou know, if he were to win,
that would be a perfect symmetryas well.
Tim Millard (35:04):
Yeah, well, you and I could probably go off on on
stunts and talking about this.
Uh, that's not the purpose ofthis podcast, but you and I
don't get a chance to talk toooften, so I definitely want to
get your opinion and it's a goodreason for you to do a little
revised or update to the book atsome point to talk a little bit
about that.
And also, since you put it out,there's been a lot of really
(35:26):
good movies with stunts.
Yes, there have been Absolutely.
Since you put it out, there'sbeen a lot of really good movies
with stunts.
So, um, absolutely Well, it'salways great, uh, chatting and,
uh, looking forward to seeingyou at the festival.
So much good stuff this year.
There's something for everybody.
That's the other thing.
You make sure that, uh, if youlike your films from the
twenties and thirties andforties, you'll get plenty of
those.
If you like some from the 80sand 70s, you're going to get
(35:51):
plenty of those as well.
So there's so much there foreverybody.
Scott McGee (35:57):
And into the 90s.
We are showing Babe 30thanniversary, which is a part of
our Pigments of Imaginationsub-theme.
Our old wall theme is grandillusions and we got pigments of
imagination so, and JamesCromwell, who was nominated for
an Academy Award for bestsupporting actor for that film,
(36:18):
will be in attendance for thatone as well.
Oh, and I should also note,James Cromwell will also be
introducing the EnchantedCottage from 1945, which was
directed by his father, JohnCrum Wow.
Tim Millard (36:33):
Wow, wow.
That is.
There's a lot of little threadsthat you can.
I know you guys are sittingthere when you're planning this
and you know all these threadsare there.
But it's nice and fun for thefans to kind of hear these
threads when they show up andand make the connections of
actor.
They show up and make theconnections of actor, father
(36:54):
director.
You know it's really fun to dothat.
So well, scott, it's alwaysgreat catching up.
Scott McGee (36:57):
Thanks for coming on.
Always good to talk to you, Tim.
I will be there anytime youcall.
Tim Millard (37:08):
If you are interested in learning more
about the 16th TCM Classic FilmFestival in Hollywood, there is
a website link in the podcastshow notes so you can review all
of the films and events that wediscussed today.
You can also purchase festivalpasses and individual film
tickets via the website as well.
Until next time you've beenlistening to the Extras with Tim
(37:30):
Millard, Stay slightly obsessed.
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andtoday we're catching up with
Scott McGee, Senior Director ofOriginal Productions at Turner
Classic Movies, and he is alsoone of the programmers for the
TCM Classic Film Festival inHollywood this April 24th to
27th.
Hey, Scott, good to see you.
Scott McGee (00:24):
Tim, always a pleasure to see you, sir.
Tim Millard (00:26):
Well, it's that time of year when Hollywood is
flooded with classic film fansand you can always tell who they
are because they're not thetypical person walking around in
Hollywood, and each year youhave a theme for the festival.
So I thought we'd start off ourdiscussion of this year's
festival.
You could give us a littlebackground on the theme and what
that means for the festival.
Scott McGee (00:47):
Yeah, Grand Illusions Fantastic Worlds in
Film was a theme that wasactually supposed to be the
festival theme in 2020.
And we had the programming allset and well, you know what
happened then and, uh, we alwayshad the intention of coming
back to this theme andrevisiting at some point, and so
(01:10):
this was the year and, um,there were I mean, there were
been a number of changes fromwhat we had originally planned.
Uh, a lot of changes actually,but there are some things that
remain that that we had alwayswanted to do for that fest, like
Back to the Future, is included, and so this is just an
opportunity for us to sort ofexpand the theme and kind of
(01:34):
consider more genre-based, justlike we did last year with an
emphasis on crime, and thatallowed us to have a lot of
detective and film noir andcrime dramas.
And this one, uh, you know,gives us an opportunity to show
more science fiction, fantasyand everything in between, and
so that was a that was animportant aspect of this year's
(01:55):
theme and also, you know, alwayssomething that it was it lent
itself to have fun with it, andum, and so we we've tried to do
that in some of the programmingchoices we made and the sub
themes that we've come up withas well.
Tim Millard (02:09):
Well, there's always a lot of excitement for
that first kickoff movie onThursday night, and maybe it's
not the first film, but it's thekind of the one that you build
it around, and this year it'sStar Wars.
The Empire Strikes Back.
Scott McGee (02:24):
That's right.
Opening night is the EmpireStrikes Back.
That's right.
Opening night is the EmpireStrikes Back, celebrating its
40th anniversary, having beenreleased to 1980, or wait, this
is the 45th.
Anyway, either way, it is asignificant anniversary and we
(02:49):
will have in attendance GeorgeLucas, who we've never had at
the festival before, and we'vehad just about all of the great
directors from the Renaissanceera of the 1970s as guests at
the festival Spielberg, scorsese, coppola, bogdanovich, other
people as well.
We've never had Brian De Palmaand up to now we've never had
George Lucas.
So it's nice to have him in thefold, so to speak, and have him
(03:10):
appear at the fest.
It's our honor to get him.
Tim Millard (03:14):
Yeah, and it is the 45th year, so there's kind of a
special milestone there, butit's surprising that George
hasn't been there.
Maybe in some ways, but I wasthinking about it and it's like
okay, those of us who grew upwith 80s films, we're now in the
classic film group, which isgreat in a way, because I love
(03:35):
the fact that the festival isembracing movies I grew up with,
that, I love that, I collect,you know all of those things.
So, but it does also make youkind of look in the mirror and
look at the gray hair and themissing hair and say, wow, okay,
now my films, my favorite films, are all in the classic films.
Scott McGee (03:54):
Yeah, a little insider baseball.
It wasn't always going to beEmpire Strikes Back.
We had tried to get to do itfor the Breakfast Club for the
40th anniversary of that film,but we could not get the cast to
commit, so it kind of fellapart.
But I was happy to see thatthey did have a reunion at an
(04:15):
event recently I think it was aconvention fan event or
something where they sat witheach other, which reportedly was
the first time they've beentogether in 40 years.
So it was nice to see themtogether.
Wish they were at our festival.
But hey, george Lucas and theEmpire Strikes Back, and it's a.
You know, the Empire is a muchbetter fit for our theme than
(04:38):
the Breakfast Club would havebeen, and everything needs to
conform to the theme.
But it is nice to have thatsymmetry, particularly when it
comes to our art, you know, tothe creative that that our
design team comes up with, andso it's.
It's going to be a blast, yeah.
Tim Millard (04:55):
Oh, I mean it's, it's perfect that film for the
category, and also the 45th, andthen George being there and the
ability for fans to see it onthe big screen again and IMAX.
I mean there's just so muchgoing for it.
So I think it's fantastic and Ilove the movie as well.
What are some of the otherfilms that kind of fall in that
(05:18):
category, you mean under the?
Yeah under that specific to thetheme.
Yeah, yeah.
Scott McGee (05:25):
So we have a couple of sub-themes, as we always do.
One of the sub-themes isPigments of Imagination, and
these are fantasy films thatinvolve some sort of animated
work.
So the 75th anniversary ofCinderella we're showing at El
(05:45):
Capitan, which is the theaterowned by Disney, which is right
across the street from the TCLChinese and a beautiful theater
in and of itself.
In fact, I think that's whereCitizen Kane premiered, at the
El Cap back in 1941.
And then we have the 30thanniversary of Babe, which has
some computer animation, andthen the Miyazaki film Spirited
(06:10):
Away.
We've always wanted to show aMiyazaki film, so this seemed
like the year yeah.
And then we have a sub themecalled Future Shock, and this is
where we're having to contendwith the future and all that it
portends for us all.
So this is where we slipped inBack to the Future 40th
anniversary.
(06:31):
And then we're showing alsoBlade Runner and the Time
Machine from 1960.
In Blade Runner we haveconfirmed Sean Young, who plays
Rachel in the film, to be therein attendance for Blade Runner
Affairs de Mour, which is afancy way of saying romantic
fantasies.
That includes Brigadoon, theEnchanted Cottage from 1945, a
(06:56):
Guy Named Joe, with SpencerTracy and Irene Dunn from 1943,
which was later remade, asalways, in 1989 by Spielberg,
which was later remade, asalways in 1989, by Spielberg.
Blythe Spirit from 1945, whichis 80th anniversary, and Blythe
Spirit.
That print is coming to us fromthe British Film Institute and
(07:22):
we have a thread throughout thisfestival where we are saluting
the BFI with several films thathave come from their archive,
including, as well as a Club TCMevent.
That is all about what the BFIis and what it's done and it's
important to film history.
Chairman from the BFI, but alsoin attendance with him for this
(07:51):
Club TCM panel, which is calledFrom Across the Pond, sights
and Sounds from the British FilmArchives.
Not only Ben Roberts, the CEO,but also Guillermo del Toro will
be there for that panel.
So that's a big thread for usthroughout the festival.
So that was a little sidebaraway from the sub-themes.
Going back to the sub-themes,we have Far, far Away, this is
(08:14):
films or stories that have todeal with characters or settings
that take place far away fromEarth.
So we have 2001, a SpaceOdyssey in 70mm and we will have
Keir Dullea there in attendancewho plays Dave the astronaut.
Every time I say Keir Dullea'sname, I always think of the
(08:36):
famous Noel Coward quote KeirDullea, gone tomorrow.
And then we have for Far, farAway, earth versus the Flying
Saucers which Joe Dante will beintroducing.
Empire Strikes Back is part ofthat.
Galaxy Far, far Away.
And Superman.
Superman is there for that.
(08:58):
It's been on the schedule forsome time as being part of the
theme, but we're also includingit as a salute to the late,
great Gene Hackman.
We've also included in theprogramming in honor of Gene
Hackman's passing the birdcagejust to show off some of
(09:18):
Hackman's versatility, which isI don't know how many people had
the breadth of his career.
Robert Duvall, who was goodfriends with Hackman, probably
is the only other one I canthink of right now, but there
will never be another GeneHackman, so we're really honored
to be able to remember him inthis way at the festival.
(09:40):
Back to the sub themes.
Once again, size Matters is thelast one, and this is where we
take stories having to do withreally, really small settings in
really really big settings.
So we've got Fantastic Voyagefrom 1966.
The Incredible Shrinking man,uh, which will also be
(10:04):
introduced by joe dante it's oneof his favorite films and
mothra from 1961, and uh, thatthat will.
That rounds out our sizematters.
Uh for those five sub themes.
Tim Millard (10:18):
Uh for our grand illusion in film yeah, there's a
lot of great ones in there.
Obviously you mentioned bladerunner from 1982, with Sean
Young in attendance.
I mean any chance to see BladeRunner on the big screen.
You know, back to the Future onthe big screen, these are great
opportunities.
And then, going back to theSuperman, I saw you have an
(10:41):
executive there for that one,michael DeLuca from Warner
Brothers.
Scott McGee (10:45):
Yep, michael DeLuca , who is the?
Uh, he and Pam Abdi are theco-heads of Warner Brothers Film
Studio.
Uh, they're the ones that areresponsible for things like
centers, which is now a big hitat the box office.
So good on them.
Uh, and they also, you know,shepherded Bartbie from last
year.
So, uh, or was it two years ago?
(11:06):
No, that was a couple years ago, a couple years ago oh, that's
right, because of nora one.
Yeah, so yeah, having mikedeluca there and he's been.
He's been at the festival oneother time he did.
He introduced rear window.
Tim Millard (11:19):
Oh yeah, I believe it last year he's had an amazing
career and of course I want tomention it partly too, because a
lot of the folks who listen tothis podcast are big supporters
of Warner Brothers and theWarner Archive and Superman 1978
, one of the greatest films ever, especially in that genre.
(11:40):
But the big deal here, ofcourse, is that this summer
there's a reboot of Superman,and so introducing it and having
it fit this theme so well, butalso then be a nice introduction
for the fans to the Julyrelease of the upcoming
Superman's Great yeah, andthat's a happy accident, because
(12:02):
we had had Superman planned todo for some time In fact, I
believe that title was part ofthe 2020 programming, so we had
our eye on it for quite sometime.
Scott McGee (12:17):
But the fact that it's footing right up to the
release of the new Supermancoming out this summer, uh is
really just, uh, really just.
Tim Millard (12:28):
One of the other things I wanted to mention is,
uh, this special presentation.
I'm not sure if that's theright name for it, but this
Vista vision, uh, that you havegoing.
This sound is real.
This sounds really interestingand part of it.
Last year you had the Searchers, which is VistaVision as well,
but this year you have a coupleof films.
Tell us a little bit about whatthat is Sure.
Scott McGee (12:52):
So VistaVision was a widescreen technology that was
developed by Paramount in the50s, and this was a widescreen
technology that was to competewith other widescreen techs like
CinemaScope or Cinerama Well,cinerama didn't come out until
later, but other widescreentechnologies like that, like
(13:16):
CinemaScope and whatnot, thiswas Paramount's VistaVision, and
what made it different fromeverything else was that the
film, when it was projected, thefilm would be run through the
projector horizontally insteadof vertically, like it does in
most movie theater projectors,instead of vertically like it
(13:37):
does in most movie theaterprojectors.
But this horizontal projectionallowed the full image to show
greater depth of field and moreclarity.
I can't tell you exactly how itlooks because I've never seen
VistaVision.
The last time it's beenprojected, a VistaVision film
(13:59):
has been projected inVistaVision was sometime in the
early 60s, I think 60 or 61.
So VistaVision, a VistaVisionfilm print, has not been
projected in decades, inprobably over it's nearly 60
years, probably over it's nearly60 years.
(14:20):
And so this is a.
This is a.
This is an opportunity or anevent that that people like
Chapin Cutler, who is ourprojection guy he's the, he is
the guru who manages all theprojection and all of the
presentation of our filmsthroughout the weekend.
He and his company, bostonLight and Sound.
They've been with us since thevery beginning and they are
(14:42):
worth their weight in gold.
Boston Light and Sound andChapin Cutler has had on his
bucket list to do this divisionsomeday and he has figured out a
way to do it and I think thatstory of how it's being done is
being told elsewhere.
I'm not going to tell you thestory because I'm not an expert
(15:04):
in this division technology.
I don't want to say somethingthat's erroneous, but suffice to
say this is not unlike what wedid last year with Vitaphone
Right, where we had an actualVitaphone disc being played to a
silent film, a sound on discfilm, rather from the late 20s,
(15:30):
and we had a whole program ofthose shorts.
This is one of those things,only it's in some respects even
more rare.
So this is one of the thingsthat TCM has been able to do
over the years and that isresurrect obsolete, long gone
(15:51):
experiences for movie audiencesthat I don't know if you'll ever
be able to see again.
Tim Millard (15:57):
Yeah, I was there for that Vitaphone presentation
and that was the mostfascinating.
Well, you introduced it, Ithink.
Possibly I was the venue host,I think.
Yeah, and I was enthralled.
Well, number one you got to seea lot of different films as
well.
They showed a number of them,but the fact that you were able
(16:20):
to do that live, and that wasthe first time since you know
God knows when almost 100 years,I think I mean it was going way
back what a special thing thatwas to be there in person.
For that I circled this thingwith VistaVision as well,
because I saw that they're goingto have the projectors there
and, you know, for the firsttime, this is an amazing.
And the two films we'll justmention Werno Angel's, 1955,
(16:51):
gunfight at the OK Corral from1957.
So you know, both are going tobe fantastic to see.
The fact that you have twoopportunities so that you can
get people in to, you know, tosee these, is a wow that's,
that's a great one.
I love that fact.
I love that fact that you'regoing to have that there.
It makes the festival veryunique from other festivals.
Scott McGee (17:06):
Um, I mean yeah, okay.
Tim Millard (17:07):
Every festival wants to have a world premiere.
I get that, and then that'sfantastic.
But most films you're going tosee, even if there's a world
premiere, you're going to see itsomewhere else.
If you didn't get to see theworld premiere and the film
isn't any different, you know,you just didn't see it first.
This is a situation wherethere's no other festival
bringing in a projector to showthese on VistaVision that I can
(17:28):
think of or has you know in thepast, based on what you just
said.
So this is so, so unique and Iwanted to highlight it.
Scott McGee (17:37):
Well, not only the projectors, but the film prints
themselves.
There's not a lot of filmsstill around that are in
VistaVision.
Your listeners might noticethat we are also playing To
Catch a Thief, which was alsofamously shot in VistaVision,
but there's no print of it inVistaVision that is projectable.
(17:58):
So that's why we're showing aDCP of of to catch a thief, even
though it was shot inVistaVision.
So these, as you, as you werenoting, this is even more rare
because the prints just they'rejust, they just don't exist
anymore, at least not inabundance, and so to be able to
(18:20):
show at least two of them isquite a boon for us.
I should also mention to yourlisteners that the brutalist
from last year, theOscar-winning film, was shot in
VistaVision, but it's notprojected.
It was not projected as such.
And Paul Thomas Anderson's nextfilm is being shot in
VistaVision, but it's notprojected.
It was not projected as such,and Paul Thomas Anderson's next
film is being shot inVistaVision.
(18:41):
As well, as to whether or notit's going to be projected, I
could not say, but suffice it tosay, just to give your
listeners an idea of thespecialness of these two
programs of we're no angels, uh,and gunfight of the ok corral
projected in this division isone of a kind of yeah, yeah uh,
(19:05):
and just to follow up with that,to catch a thief.
It looked like jennifer grant isgoing to be there, the daughter
of that's right, his only childwith uh diane cannon, uh carrie
grant, and diane cannon hadjennifer grant and she's a she's
always popular, so we're we'rereally excited to have her back
the other thing I wanted tomention here is you do have some
(19:27):
world premiere restorations,because of course, we're talking
about classic films, we're nottalking about new films, and the
one I wanted to be sure wetalked about is Ben-Hur from
1959.
Tim Millard (19:40):
And it looks like Alexander Payne is back.
He introduced, I think, theSearchers last year and this
year he's going to be talkingabout Ben-Hur.
Scott McGee (19:49):
So tell us a little bit about this one, ben-hur is
coming to us as a newrestoration, a world premiere
restoration from our friends atthe Film Foundation.
We have shown Ben-Hur before atthe festival it was, I think it
was in 2012, we showed it.
But to show a new restorationof it is even more grand, and so
(20:10):
we're really excited to haveAlexander Payne, who is a I
believe he's a board member ofthe Film Foundation, who is a I
believe he's a board member ofthe Film Foundation and just, I
mean, he's just such a greatfriend to TCM and to film fans
everywhere.
Alexander Payne is one of the Imean, he's one of the good guys
(20:32):
, he loves movies and and tohave him there.
You know, you wouldn't expect.
You wouldn't expect to seeAlexander Payne doing Ben Hur,
but there he is, there he willbe and really fortunate to have
him there.
Tim Millard (20:40):
Well, you could have said that about the
searchers last year when he wasthere, but he was effusive in
his praise for the film and forthe print.
Of course People can't see itbecause this is an audio podcast
, but I have right behind me the4K release of the searchers,
which the Warner Archivereleased as their very first 4k,
and it's been an amazing sellerbecause it's such an amazing
(21:03):
film, amazing restoration andthen just the product that they
put together for the physicalmedia and I know a lot of fans,
when they saw that ben hur isgoing to be here with the
restoration, are also lookingforward to the physical media
release sometime down the roadat some point in 4k.
But um, these, theserestorations with the film
foundation and, uh, warnerbrothers have turned out just
(21:28):
fantastic oh, and I got to do aplug.
Scott McGee (21:31):
If you want to read all about the chariot race from
ben hurr, pick up my bookdanger on the silver screen.
Tim Millard (21:36):
Well, yeah, guess what I'm, guess what I'm holding
up here, scott, yeah, that bookyeah, yeah, and I you know in
the.
You got it right on the cover.
Scott McGee (22:05):
That's right.
He took on a lot of roles inthe later years where he plays
these manly men and maybe chewsthe scenery a little bit, but we
should never forget that Hestonwas a really, really good actor
and he imbued into hisperformance as Judah Bidhur a
humanity that you could easilyoveract and choose scenery.
(22:28):
But he never does and he allowsthe camera to do a lot of the
work for him and he listened tohis director and it shows and
that guy richly deserved bestactor for that performance.
Tim Millard (22:43):
Well, you don't have to convince me, I'm a big,
big fan of that film and, ofcourse, with Easter recently I
just rewatched Ten Commandmentsfor the upteenth time.
Moses, moses, moses, it nevergets old.
And then I'm looking forward toseeing Ben-Hur again.
Again, you can rewatch andrewatch these films.
(23:06):
They're so, so good.
Let's see a couple other thingsI wanted to mention.
Recently I spoke with EddieMuller about his new, revised
and expanded book and he saidhe's going to be at the festival
, of course, and he talked aboutthe fact that he's going to be
there for Blue Velvet.
Tell us a little bit about thistribute.
Scott McGee (23:26):
Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart are both there as
part of our tribute to DavidLynch and we felt that, because
his passing was so recent, wereally had to take the
opportunity.
Along with our tribute to GeneHackman, we had to take the
opportunity to honor him as well.
And man, I just, you know, justas an aside, I was so glad to
(23:48):
see the outpouring of affectionand the tributes for Lynch
Because you know, he wasn't amainstream artist like a
Spielberg or Scorsese, so Ididn't know how, you know how
deeply penetrated he got intothe overall pop cultural psyche
(24:09):
and I think he did.
I mean, a lot of that has to dowith Twin Peaks, of course, but
I think the fact that he wasrightly recognized and has been
rightly recognized as a as anabsolute genius of cinema, it
was really, it was.
I was really glad to see that.
Tim Millard (24:26):
I was really glad to see that.
You know, you know this, butHollywood's so obsessed with the
money and the box office andreviews and this and that.
And you know David Lynch, didhe get that many great critical
reviews at the time?
Did he get great box up?
You know what Some people did.
He always had his fans, alwayshad his following.
But his movies were hit andmiss with reviewers and with the
(24:49):
audience.
But he endured becausecreatively he was authentic and
whether you liked it or not.
And likability is way overblown, of course, in art and film.
But anyway, I'm going off hereon a tangent, but it's great to
(25:09):
see that Eddie's going to bethere.
Kyle McLaughlin is going to bethere.
Scott McGee (25:12):
Actually that is late breaking news.
He had to cancel because he hada job of work that came up
shooting schedule.
So I don't know who we're goingto get for Blue Velvet, but I
think Eddie will still beinvolved, sure.
Tim Millard (25:28):
Well, I'm from the Seattle area, so when it comes
to Twin Peaks, I did my sojournout to Snoqualmie Falls and to
get some pie and do all thisstuff out there, which is very
easy, of course, when you liveup there, but lots of fun.
So well, there's a lot of othergreat people.
I just want to kind of runthrough, maybe more quickly.
You've got a lot of actors whoshow up, as always Kathy Bates,
(25:57):
sean Cassidy, james Cromwell,zooey Deschanel, bill Hader, ben
Vreen.
You've got directors Rob Reiner, aaron Serkin, and then let's
see, oh, michael Mann for Heat.
You're going to have an airingof Heat, a favorite of mine.
So there's a lot of great stuffthere.
And then, of course, we shouldtalk about your hand and
footprint ceremony.
Special guest.
Scott McGee (26:17):
Of course.
Of course, michelle Pfeiffer.
I've had Michelle Pfeiffer onmy list of people that we should
honor with handprint footprintfor some time on her with the
with handprint footprint forsome time, and so to be able to
to get her this year, and aswell as with the fabulous baker
boys, which is not a film thatis seen that often.
(26:38):
It's not.
I don't see it on television, Idon't even think it's on
blu-ray.
Uh, it might be, but it's notshe, it's not shown that often.
So, um, and part of that mighthave been due to rights, because
I know that it took a while forCharlie Tabish, our head of
programming, to determine whothe rights holder was.
(27:01):
I think it's Fox now.
But regardless, we got it.
So I'm really happy we'reshowing it.
So, yeah, if we didn't getFabulous Baker Boys, I was
hoping that it might be Marriedto the Mob, because that's
another film that's not shownthat often, from 1988.
It's got a delightfulperformance from Michelle
(27:23):
Pfeiffer, who I think wasnominated for an Academy Award
for it.
Dean Stockwell, matthew Modineand Mercedes Ruhl all have
supporting roles in it and it isjust a offbeat, hilarious crime
film.
But here I am talking about amovie that we're not even
showing.
But I do want people to go outand seek Mary to the Mob, if
(27:45):
you've never seen it.
Tim Millard (27:45):
Well, back to the fact that it's Michelle Pfeiffer
who's your special guest, sothat's really fun.
And then each year you give outthe Robert Osborne Award.
Who's this year's recipient?
Scott McGee (27:57):
It'll be George Stevens Jr.
Mr Stevens has done more forthe recognition of cinema as a
major art form, as a legitimateart form in this country, worthy
of celebration.
He was one of the founders ofthe American film Institute.
He he began the AFI lifetimeachievement award, starting in
(28:22):
1973, when it was given to JohnFord.
George Stevens jr Was there,and he also was the founder of
the Kennedy Senator HonorsAwards, which have been in the
news recently.
So I imagine that might be atopic of discussion.
Maybe I should also note that,having Aaron Sorkin and Rob
(28:45):
Reiner there for a screening ofthe American president, I'm sure
they'll have a lot to talkabout too.
Tim Millard (28:51):
Yeah, sure, politics is a part of a big part
of our lives and films as well,so I'm sure that will come up
Absolutely.
And then a couple of peoplevery well known to the listeners
of the extras are going to bethere.
I'll just remind folks thatJerry Beck will be there and
he's going to be talking aboutrestored cartoons from the UCLA
(29:13):
archives.
That's on Friday.
And then George Feltensteinfrom Warner Brothers and the
Warner Archive will be talkingabout Rhapsody in Blue
restoration.
That's on Saturday.
And there's just so much otherstuff.
But those are just highlights Iwant to be sure we talked about
.
I see you have Monty Python andthe Holy Grail for its 50th
year anniversary, so a number ofanniversaries you're going to
(29:36):
be showcasing as well.
Scott McGee (29:39):
Right, and I should note that for Monty Python and
the Holy Grail that will beintroduced by Patton Oswalt,
yeah, so that will be a goodtime.
That will be a good time andyou know, if you've ever seen
Monty Python and the Holy Grail,you've got to see it in a
theater with an audience, withan audience.
Tim Millard (30:00):
This is the time to do it.
Yep, yep, that's going to be alot of fun.
Well, I want to wrap up ourdiscussion kind of coming back
to your book, because theAcademy announced recently
they're adding a stunt designOscar, starting in 2026.
I know this is so long overdue,but I want to get your take on
(30:20):
it.
Scott McGee (30:21):
I'm elated, I'm absolutely elated, and I'm so
happy for the people in thestunt community who have been
lobbying for decades to get thisdone.
And I didn't, I was seriouslyconsidering are they?
Are we just never going to seethis happen?
And I'm doing, I'm still doingresearch on the history of
(30:42):
stunts in the movies.
Maybe I'll write another book,I don't know.
But the more research I do intothe early dawn of cinema, the
first decade, the 1910s, andreally into the early, into the
teens, stunt work was there fromthe beginning in movies.
(31:03):
It was part of the promotion,promotional appeal.
Newspapers would tout thestunts that all of these people
in these movies and the flickerswere doing, and that's how they
got people into the theaters tosee these movies.
So stunt work has been a partof cinema from the get go, and
(31:23):
it's taken this long torecognize it as a legitimate art
form, a discipline rather, ofcinema.
You know, just as important inmy opinion as choreography, as
editing cinematography.
You know it should have beendone a long time ago, but better
(31:43):
late than never, and so I'mjust so ecstatic for them to be
honored this way, and there's noreason that we can't celebrate
stunts of the past with theAcademy Awards now making it an
official recognition.
So maybe who knows?
Maybe they'll do an exhibitionat the Academy Museum of stunt
(32:06):
work in the movies as a way ofsort of bringing attention to,
to the, to the discipline, tothe, to the craft.
Uh, maybe in conjunction withthe advent of the new award in
2020 did you say 2027?
Tim Millard (32:19):
I think it's coming .
I think it's 26, I think it'snext year and so you know, just
in time for tom cruise, beforehe hangs up his uh, mission
impossible.
Uh, yeah, the last film,because the work he is doing and
he's not, I mean it's verylimited, cgi, he's doing
practical stunts there, puttinghis life on the line.
Uh, that is, I mean, that'sincredible, the work that he's
(32:44):
done on the last two.
Scott McGee (32:45):
Well, all of the mission impossibles, but these
last two unbelievable, I think,especially since ghost protocol,
which was the fourth film, andthat was the one where he gets
dangled out of the burj khalifa,the, the world's tallest
building, and you know, I'm surea lot of people who went to see
(33:05):
that film probably thought thatwas all c.
No, that was Tom Cruise hangingon a safety cable outside of
the world's tallest skyscraper.
Now the, the safety lines wereall digitally erased, but he's
still out there.
I wouldn't, I wouldn't go outthere.
(33:26):
So that's a stunt.
I mean, that is, that isputting your life on the line.
And, um, the guy's got it, he'sgot the, he's got the balls to
do it.
And I, I think Tom Cruz is, Ithink he's one of our great,
great movie stars and I think hemight be the last, the last
movie star of the, of the, theway we have classically defined
(33:49):
what a movie star is.
I think Tom Cruise might be thelast one.
Tim Millard (33:53):
It's my opinion, yeah, no, and and, but the fact
that he's doing this and he'snot 22, he's in his sixties and
I think he said something aboutum when I watched one of these
recent um pre-release featureads.
I mean, he's like I blacked outa couple of times.
Now he's, they've got wires onhim so he's safe.
(34:14):
But I'm like, well, if you'reblacking out, you sure you want
to go through with that stunt,but he did and wow, wow, wow,
wow, you know, is all I can say.
I hope that he gets somerecognition for that.
I wouldn't be so.
Well, if he wins, well,definitely nominated, I would
think, for the award in the nextOscar.
Scott McGee (34:35):
If they give it to Tom Cruise, I can't think of a
more fitting first recipient.
Maybe when the Academy finallyintroduced a best makeup Academy
award in 1981.
And Rick Baker was the firstrecipient for, uh, American
werewolf in London, Perfect wayto kick off that, that that new
(34:59):
category, and with this one, ifyou know, if he were to win,
that would be a perfect symmetryas well.
Tim Millard (35:04):
Yeah, well, you and I could probably go off on on
stunts and talking about this.
Uh, that's not the purpose ofthis podcast, but you and I
don't get a chance to talk toooften, so I definitely want to
get your opinion and it's a goodreason for you to do a little
revised or update to the book atsome point to talk a little bit
about that.
And also, since you put it out,there's been a lot of really
(35:26):
good movies with stunts.
Yes, there have been Absolutely.
Since you put it out, there'sbeen a lot of really good movies
with stunts.
So, um, absolutely Well, it'salways great, uh, chatting and,
uh, looking forward to seeingyou at the festival.
So much good stuff this year.
There's something for everybody.
That's the other thing.
You make sure that, uh, if youlike your films from the
twenties and thirties andforties, you'll get plenty of
those.
If you like some from the 80sand 70s, you're going to get
(35:51):
plenty of those as well.
So there's so much there foreverybody.
Scott McGee (35:57):
And into the 90s.
We are showing Babe 30thanniversary, which is a part of
our Pigments of Imaginationsub-theme.
Our old wall theme is grandillusions and we got pigments of
imagination so, and JamesCromwell, who was nominated for
an Academy Award for bestsupporting actor for that film,
(36:18):
will be in attendance for thatone as well.
Oh, and I should also note,James Cromwell will also be
introducing the EnchantedCottage from 1945, which was
directed by his father, JohnCrum Wow.
Tim Millard (36:33):
Wow, wow.
That is.
There's a lot of little threadsthat you can.
I know you guys are sittingthere when you're planning this
and you know all these threadsare there.
But it's nice and fun for thefans to kind of hear these
threads when they show up andand make the connections of
actor.
They show up and make theconnections of actor, father
(36:54):
director.
You know it's really fun to dothat.
So well, scott, it's alwaysgreat catching up.
Scott McGee (36:57):
Thanks for coming on.
Always good to talk to you, Tim.
I will be there anytime youcall.
Tim Millard (37:08):
If you are interested in learning more
about the 16th TCM Classic FilmFestival in Hollywood, there is
a website link in the podcastshow notes so you can review all
of the films and events that wediscussed today.
You can also purchase festivalpasses and individual film
tickets via the website as well.
Until next time you've beenlistening to the Extras with Tim
(37:30):
Millard, Stay slightly obsessed.
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