July 3, 2017
EP. 190 — 20 Unheralded Geniuses Who Basically Invented Modern Movies
For many people, filmmaking begins and ends with the director. We call it a director’s medium. It’s their vision that guides the entire production and it’s their name that gets the praise when a movie is good, and gets dragged through the mud when a movie stinks. While that’s somewhat accurate, it’s completely forgetting about the hundreds of artists, technicians, producers and craftsmen who bring equal skill to the table and without whom our favorite movies would be totally different.
Take Tim Burton, for example. His films have a “look,” right? Edward Scissorhands, Pee-Wee’s Great Adventure and Beetlejuice sort of exemplify Burton taking atomic age nostalgia and running it through the prism of Dr. Seuss on acid. Burton gets the credit for it, but all of those films (and a huge swath more) were art designed by the same guy, Rick Heinrichs. Without Heinrich’s input, who knows what those movies would look like or if any of them would be as instantly memorable as they are now.
Alex Schimdt welcomes Michael Swaim and Matt Gourley (Superego, I Was There Too, James Bonding) to talk about people like Heinrichs. Unknown artists who have had as much of a guiding hand in modern cinema as your Spielbergs, Lucases and Scorseses, but who you’ve never heard of.
And if you’re in Los Angeles in July, make sure to come to our next live podcast taping. On Saturday July 8th at 7:00pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre, former zoo tour guide and current Cracked Podcast host Alex Schmidt will be joined by Cracked’s Daniel O’Brien and Katie Goldin as well as comedians Caitlin Gill, Joey Clift and Matt Kirshen as they discuss snakes, hippos, octopuses and every other animal that could Planet-0f-the-Apes us if they tried. Tickets are only $7 and available here: https://goo.gl/rVhzPC
Also, make sure to subscribe to our new podcast, Cracked Movie Club! Why? Because almost every movie you love is secretly insane. Join co-hosts Tom Reimann and Abe Epperson (plus special guests) for a journey through the secrets, strangeness, and fan theories behind movies you’ll never see the same way again. And every month focuses on one director’s work, building a case for exactly why Hollywood’s greatest minds are weirder than you ever thought possible.
To get the first two episodes when they premiere on July 13th, type in, “Cracked Movie Club” into wherever you get your your podcasts or subscribe here on Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/fQ2o72
Footnotes:
Article: Fast Company: How Ben Burtt Designed The Sounds of Star Wars: https://goo.gl/CaLwxe
Article: io9: The Most Unforgettable Creations of HR Giger: https://goo.gl/NXD7Qt
Article: Telegraph: Ken Adam: The Man Who Drew the Cold War:
Video: Alex McDowell Lecture on Design and Storytelling: https://goo.gl/zn3f2C
Article: Wired: After Pee Wee and ‘Tonight, Tonight,’ Artist Wayne White is Reborn: https://goo.gl/Yz7mTx
Video: Roger Deakins Featurette: https://goo.gl/B3bHHa
Article/Podcast: NPR: The Story Behind the Stunts: Remembering Hal Needham: https://goo.gl/h9iHp1
Article: Vice: Meet The Most Prolific Stuntman of All Time: https://goo.gl/WRVWv1
Article: Vanity Fair: Meet the Most Powerful Woman in Hollywood: https://goo.gl/MYJjMu
Article: Playbill: The Other Chenoweth: Casting Director Gives Stage Actors Their Film Careers: https://goo.gl/Vc3cES
Video: Trailer for ‘Casting By’: https://goo.gl/jscnYK
Article: Wired: Love Classic Star Trek? You Owe A Huge Debt To Gene L. Coon: https://goo.gl/81CEY1
Video: Godley & Creme: Cry: https://goo.gl/yNcQFk
Article: New Yorker: What Kind of A Genius is Max Martin: https://goo.gl/TQj7IU
Article: Vanity Fair: John Barry: The Man Who Knew The Score: https://goo.gl/oV7cQa
This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: CRACKED) and ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com/CRACKED).
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