Popcorn Talk proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. One of the most artistic and imaginative directors to walk this earth, David Lynch has created some of the most iconic and cult classic films that leave you always wondering what the true meaning behind them is. No matter their true intention, you can always find your own deeper meaning within his films. Joining the discussion today on Profiles are special call ins from Justin Theroux and Kyle Maclachlan. David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American film director, television director, visual artist, musician, actor, and author. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed a unique cinematic style. The surreal and, in many cases, violent elements contained within his films have been known to “disturb, offend or mystify” audiences. Born to a middle-class family in Missoula, Montana, Lynch spent his childhood traveling around the United States, before going on to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he first made the transition to producing short films. Deciding to devote himself more fully to this medium, he moved to Los Angeles, where he produced his first motion picture, the surrealist horror film Eraserhead (1977). After Eraserhead became a cult classic on the midnight movie circuit, Lynch was employed to direct a biographical film about a deformed man, Joseph Merrick, titled The Elephant Man (1980), from which he gained mainstream success. Then being employed by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, he proceeded to make two films: the science-fiction epic Dune (1984), which proved to be a critical and commercial failure, and then a neo-noir crime film, Blue Velvet (1986), which was critically acclaimed. Next, Lynch created his own television series with Mark Frost, the popular murder mystery Twin Peaks (1990–1991; 2016): he also created a cinematic prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992); a road movie, Wild at Heart (1990); and a family film, The Straight Story (1999); in the same period. Turning further towards surrealist filmmaking, three of his subsequent films operated on “dream logic”, non-linear narrative structures: the psychological thriller Lost Highway (1997), the neo-noir mystery film Mulholland Drive (2001) and the mystery film Inland Empire (2006). Meanwhile, Lynch embraced the Internet as a medium, producing several web-based shows, such as the animated short of Dumbland (2002) and the surreal sitcom Rabbits (2002). Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

Popcorn Talk proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. Willard Carroll Smith, Jr. was born in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of four children of Caroline (Bright), a school board employee, and Willard Carroll Smith, Sr., who owned a refrigeration company. He grew up in a middle class area in West Philadelphia called Wynnefield. Will attended the Overbrook High School located in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He got the nickname “Prince” because of the way he could charm his way out of trouble. Bright student Will also signed up with the high-status Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia. Pursuing music, he met Jeffrey A. Townes at a party and they soon began performing together as “D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince”. When the duo took off in popularity, Smith made and spent a lot of money on a house, cars and jewelry, leading to his near-bankruptcy in his early twenties. Luckily, in 1989, he met Benny Medina, who had an idea for a sitcom based on his life in Beverly Hills. Smith loved the idea as did N.B.C. which put on the The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990). The plot was simple – Will basically played himself; a street-smart West Philly kid transplanted to Beverly Hills. The series lasted six years. During that time, he ventured into movies where the critics took note of him in Six Degrees of Separation (1993). With the success that came with the action picture Bad Boys (1995), Will’s movie career was set. He had a huge Blockbuster hit with Independence Day (1996), where he plays the alien-battling Marine Corps Captain Steven Hiller. Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

Popcorn Talk proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His father had English, and some German, ancestry, while his mother’s family, originally surnamed “Fraga”, was entirely Portuguese. Tom grew up in what he has called a “fractured” family. He moved around a lot after his parents’ divorce, living with a succession of step-families. No problems, no abuse, no alcoholism – just a confused childhood. He had no acting experience in college and, in fact, credits the fact that he couldn’t get cast in a college play with actually starting his career. He went downtown, auditioned for a community theater play, was invited by the director of that play to go to Cleveland, and there his acting career started. He met his second wife, actress Rita Wilson on the set of his television show Bosom Buddies (1980) – she appeared in one episode in the second season (1981), Bosom Buddies: All You Need Is Love (1981). They have two children, and Tom has another son and daughter by his first wife, Samantha Lewes. In 1996, he made his first step behind the camera, directing and writing as well as starring in the film, That Thing You Do! Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

Popcorn Talk proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. This episode of PROFILES is all about the work of stylish Composer John Williams. As one of the best known, awarded, and financially successful composers in US history, John Williams is as easy to recall as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein, illustrating why he is “America’s composer” time and again. With a massive list of awards that includes over 41 Oscar nominations (five wins), twenty-odd Gold and Platinum Records, and a slew of Emmy (two wins), Golden Globe (three wins), Grammy (18 wins), National Board of Review (including a Career Achievement Award), Saturn (six wins), and BAFTA (seven wins) citations, along with honorary doctorate degrees numbering in the teens, Williams is undoubtedly one of the most respected composers for Cinema. Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

Popcorn Talk proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. This episode of PROFILES is all about the work of stylish filmmaker Tim Burton. His early film career was fueled by almost unbelievable good luck, but it’s his talent and originality that have kept him at the top of the Hollywood tree. Tim Burton began drawing at an early age, going on to attend the California Institute of the Arts, studying animation after being awarded a fellowship from Disney, for whom he went on to work. Although he found that the mainstream Disney films he worked on (The Fox and the Hound (1981)) were far removed from his own sensibility, Disney let him have the freedom to work on his own personal projects, the six-minute animated black-and-white Gothic Vincent Price tribute Vincent (1982), and the 27-minute live-action Frankenweenie (1984), which was judged unsuitable for children and never released. However, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) saw it and decided that Burton, still only in his mid-twenties, would be the ideal person to direct his feature debut, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985). An enormous (and surprise) box-office hit, it led to the supernatural comedy Beetlejuice (1988), which in turn led to Burton being entrusted with the reins on the hugely expensive Batman (1989). Although his least personal film, it was one of the most successful films of all time, and gave him unprecedented power in Hollywood considering the originality and adventurousness of his work thus far. Edward Scissorhands (1990), another hit, saw him at the peak of his creative powers and established a fruitful working relationship with actor Johnny Depp. Batman Returns (1992) was a far darker and quirkier film than the original, a reflection of how much creative freedom Burton had won (though Warner Bros were reputedly unhappy with the final result). And although Ed Wood (1994), his loving tribute to the life and work of the legendary Worst Director of All Time, Edward D. Wood Jr., was a box-office disaster, it garnered some of the best reviews of Burton’s career, and suggests that he’ll continue dazzling audiences for many years to come. Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

Popcorn Talk proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. This episode of PROFILES is all about the work of stylish filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott. Malone and Mantz talk about their favorite Scott films, and talk to Sir Ridley himself about his career and his new film EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS. Are you not entertained?? Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

Popcorn Talk proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. On this episode Malone & Mantz focus on the brilliant career of Richard Linklater. They cover everything from the directors early work like the cult films Dazed and Confused, the Sunset trilogy to his most recent critic darling Boyhood. Richard’s bio: Self-taught writer-director Richard Linklater was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. Typically setting each of his movies during one 24-hour period, Linklater’s work explored what he dubbed “the youth rebellion continuum,” focusing in fine detail on generational rites and mores with rare compassion and understanding while definitively capturing the 20-something culture of his era through a series of nuanced, illuminating ensemble pieces which introduced any number of talented young actors into the Hollywood firmament. Born in Houston, Texas, Linklater suspended his educational career at Sam Houston State University in 1982, to work on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He subsequently relocated to the state’s capital of Austin, where he founded a film society and began work on his debut film, 1987’s It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988). Three years later he released the sprawling Slacker (1991), an insightful, virtually plotless look at 1990s youth culture that became a favorite on the festival circuit prior to earning vast acclaim at Sundance in 1991. Upon its commercial release, the movie, made for less than $23,000, became the subject of considerable mainstream media attention, with the term “slacker” becoming a much-overused catch-all tag employed to affix a name and identity to America’s disaffected youth culture. Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

In today’s episode it’s all about Christopher Nolan. Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear story-telling, acclaimed writer-director Christopher Nolan was born on July 30, 1970 in London, England. Over the course of 15 years of film-making, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the biggest blockbusters ever made.

At 7 years old, Nolan began making short movies with his father’s Super-8 camera. While studying English Literature at University College London, he shot 16-millimetre films at U.C.L.’s film society, where he learned the guerrilla techniques he would later use to make his first feature, Following (1998), on a budget of around $6,000. The noir thriller was recognized at a number of international film festivals prior to its theatrical release, and gained Nolan enough credibility that he was able to gather substantial financing for his next film.

Nolan’s second film was Memento (2000), which he directed from his own screenplay based on a short story by his brother Jonathan. Starring Guy Pearce, the film brought Nolan numerous honors, including Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay. Nolan went on to direct the critically acclaimed psychological thriller, Insomnia (2002), starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.

The turning point in Nolan’s career occurred when he was awarded the chance to revive the Batman franchise in 2005. In Batman Begins (2005), Nolan brought a level of gravitas back to the iconic hero, and his gritty, modern interpretation was greeted with praise from fans and critics alike. Before moving on to a Batman sequel, Nolan directed, cowrote and produced the mystery thriller The Prestige (2006), starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as magicians whose obsessive rivalry leads to tragedy and murder.

In 2008, Nolan directed, cowrote, and produced The Dark Knight (2008) which went on to gross more than a billion dollars at the world-wide box office. Nolan was nominated for a Directors Guild of America (D.G.A.) Award, Writers Guild of America (W.G.A.) Award and Producers Guild of America (P.G.A.) Award, and the film also received eight Academy Award nominations.

In 2010, Nolan captivated audiences with sci-fi thriller Inception (2010), which he directed and produced from his own original screenplay. The thought-provoking drama was a world-wide blockbuster, earning more than $800,000,000 dollars and becoming one of the most discussed and debated films of the year. Among its many honors, Inception received four Academy Awards and eight nominations, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay. Nolan was recognized by his peers with D.G.A. and P.G.A. Award nominations, as well as a W.G.A. Award win for his work on the film.

One of the best-reviewed and highest-grossing movies of 2012, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) concluded Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Due to his success rebooting the Batman character, Warner Bros. enlisted Nolan to produce their revamped Superman movie Man of Steel (2013), which opened in the Summer of 2013.

Nolan currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, producer Emma Thomas, and their children. Nolan and Thomas also have their own production company, Syncopy.

Popcorn Talk Network proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. In today’s episode it’s all about Francis Ford Coppola! Talk about an offer you can’t refuse! Our best Profiles yet, dedicated to the movies of FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, with special guest… FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA himself!! (Yes, he called in to speak with Malone and Mantz!) Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated with a degree in drama from Hofstra University, and did graduate work at UCLA in filmmaking. He was training as assistant with filmmaker Roger Corman, working in such capacities as sound-man, dialogue director, associate producer and, eventually, director of Dementia 13 (1963), Coppola’s first feature film. During the next four years, Coppola was involved in a variety of script collaborations, including writing an adaptation of “This Property is Condemned” by Tennessee Williams (with Fred Coe and Edith Sommer), and screenplays for Is Paris Burning? (1966) and Patton (1970), the film for which Coppola won a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award. In 1966, Coppola’s 2nd film brought him critical acclaim and a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1969, Coppola and George Lucas established American Zoetrope, an independent film production company based in San Francisco. The company’s first project was THX 1138 (1971), produced by Coppola and directed by Lucas. Coppola also produced the second film that Lucas directed, American Graffiti (1973), in 1973. This movie got five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. In 1971, Coppola’s film The Godfather (1972) became one of the highest-grossing movies in history and brought him an Oscar for writing the screenplay with Mario Puzo The film was a Best Picture Academy Award-winner, and also brought Coppola a Best Director Oscar nomination. Following his work on the screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974), Coppola’s next film was The Conversation (1974), which was honored with the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and brought Coppola Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominations. Also released that year, The Godfather: Part II (1974), rivaled the success of The Godfather (1972), and won six Academy Awards, bringing Coppola Oscars as a producer, director and writer. Coppola then began work on his most ambitious film, Apocalypse Now (1979), a Vietnam War epic that was inspired by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1993). Released in 1979, the acclaimed film won a Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and two Academy Awards. Also that year, Coppola executive produced the hit The Black Stallion (1979). With George Lucas, Coppola executive produced Kagemusha (1980), directed by Akira Kurosawa, and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), directed by Paul Schrader and based on the life and writings of Yukio Mishima. Coppola also executive produced such films as The Escape Artist (1982), Hammett (1982) The Black Stallion Returns (1983), Barfly (1987), Wind (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), etc. He helped to make a star of his nephew, Nicolas Cage. Personal tragedy hit in 1986 when his son Gio died in a boating accident. Francis Ford Coppola is one of America’s most erratic, energetic and controversial filmmakers.

Popcorn Talk Network proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. In today’s episode it’s all about Cate Blanchett.Cate Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to June (Gamble), an Australian teacher and property developer, and Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr., an American advertising executive, originally from Texas. She has an older brother and an younger sister. When she was ten years old, her 40-year old father died of a sudden heart attack. Her mother never remarried, and her grandmother moved in to help her mother. Cate graduated from Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992 and, in a little over a year, had won both critical and popular acclaim. On graduating from NIDA, she joined the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Caryl Churchill’s “Top Girls”, then played Felice Bauer, the bride, in Tim Daly’s “Kafka Dances”, winning the 1993 Newcomer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle for her performance. From there, Blanchett moved to the role of Carol in David Mamet’s searing polemic “Oleanna”, also for the Sydney Theatre Company, and won the Rosemont Best Actress Award, her second award that year. She then co-starred in the ABC Television’s prime time drama Heartland (1994), again winning critical acclaim. In 1995, she was nominated for Best Female Performance for her role as Ophelia in the Belvoir Street Theatre Company’s production of “Hamlet”. Other theatre credits include Helen in the Sydney Theatre Company’s “Sweet Phoebe”, Miranda in “The Tempest” and Rose in “The Blind Giant is Dancing”, both for the Belvoir Street Theatre Company. In other television roles, Blanchett starred as Bianca in ABC’s Bordertown (1995), as Janie Morris in G.P. (1989) and in ABC’s popular series Police Rescue (1994). She made her feature film debut in Paradise Road (1997). She also married writer Andrew Upton in 1997. She had met him a year earlier on a movie set, and they didn’t like each other at first. He thought she was aloof, and she thought he was arrogant, but then they connected over a poker game at a party, and she went home with him that night. Three weeks later he proposed marriage and they quickly married before she went off to England to play her breakthrough role in films: the title character in Elizabeth (1998) for which she won numerous awards for her performance, including the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama. Cate was also nominated for an Academy Award for the role but lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow. 2001 was a particularly busy year, with starring roles in Bandits (2001), The Shipping News (2001), Charlotte Gray (2001) and playing Elf Queen Galadriel in the “Lord Of The Rings” trilogy. She also gave birth to her first child, son Dashiell, in 2001. In 2004, she gave birth to her second son Roman. Also, in 2004, she played actress Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese’s film “Aviator” (2004), for which she received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for playing a teacher having an affair with an underage student in “Notes on a Scandal” (2006). In 2007, she returned to the role that made her a star in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007). It earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. She was nominated for another Oscar that same year as Best Supporting Actress for playing Bob Dylan in “I’m Not There” (2007). In 2008, she gave birth to her third child, son Ignatius. She and her husband became artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company, choosing to spend more time in Australia raising their three sons. Because of that, her film work became sporadic, until Woody Allen cast her in the title role in Blue Jasmine (2013), which won her the Academy Award as Best Actress. Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

Talk Network proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. In today’s episode it’s all about Tom Cruise. If you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not-too-distant future he would be considered one of the top hundred movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to become a priest. None the less, this sensitive, deeply religious youngster who was born in July 1962 in Syracuse, New York, was destined to become Tom Cruise, one of the highest paid and most sought-after actors in screen history. Tom is the only son (among four children) of nomadic parents, Mary Lee (Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Maphoter III, an electrical engineer, both originally from Louisville, Kentucky. He is of Irish, German, and English descent. Tom spent his boyhood eternally on the move, and by the time he was fourteen, had attended fifteen different schools in the U.S. and Canada. He finally settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, with his mother and her new husband. While in high school, he developed an interest in acting and abandoned his plans of becoming a priest, and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career. The next fifteen years of his life are the stuff of legends. He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences. Within five years Tom Cruise was starring in some of the top grossing films of the decade including Top Gun (1986); The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). By the 1990s and 2000s he was one of the highest paid actors in the world earning an average fifteen million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible II (2000), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), and Jerry Maguire (1996) – for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for best actor. In 1990 he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced The Church Of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life. A kind and thoughtful man well known for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of the best liked members of the movie community. He was married to actress Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has indeed come a long way from the lonely wanderings of his youth. Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

Popcorn Talk Network proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. In today’s episode it’s all about Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, to Dorothy (Nidelman), a radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an actor turned advertising executive. His father had Irish and German ancestry, and his maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. He was a lackluster student at Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge Illinois (no athletic star, never above a C average). After dropping out of Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he did some acting and later summer stock, he signed a Hollywood contract with Columbia and later Universal. His roles in movies and television (Ironside (1967), The Virginian (1962)) remained secondary and, discouraged, he turned to a career in professional carpentry. He came back big four years later, however, as Bob Falfa in American Graffiti (1973). Four years after that, he hit colossal with the role of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977). Another four years and Ford was Indiana Jones in The Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Four years later and he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his role as John Book in Witness (1985). All he managed four years after that was his third starring success as Indiana Jones; in fact, many of his earlier successful roles led to sequels as did his more recent portrayal of Jack Ryan in Patriot Games (1992). Another Golden Globe nomination came his way for the part of Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive (1993). He is clearly a well-established Hollywood superstar. He also maintains an 800-acre ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!

Popcorn Talk Network proudly presents Profiles with Malone and Mantz! In this vodcast series hosts Alicia Malone and Scott “Movie” Mantz break down and focus on some of the most prolific Hollywood directors, writers and actors in the entertainment industry – past & present. In today’s episode it’s all about Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick was born in New York, and was considered intelligent despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would produce better academic performance, Kubrick’s father Jack (a physician) sent him in 1940 to Pasadena, California, to stay with his uncle Martin Perveler. Returning to the Bronx in 1941 for his last year of grammar school, there seemed to be little change in his attitude or his results. Hoping to find something to interest his son, Jack introduced Stanley to chess, with the desired result. Kubrick took to the game passionately, and quickly became a skilled player. Chess would become an important device for Kubrick in later years, often as a tool for dealing with recalcitrant actors, but also as an artistic motif in his films. Jack Kubrick’s decision to give his son a camera for his thirteenth birthday would be an even wiser move: Kubrick became an avid photographer, and would often make trips around New York taking photographs which he would develop in a friend’s darkroom. After selling an unsolicited photograph to Look Magazine, Kubrick began to associate with their staff photographers, and at the age of seventeen was offered a job as an apprentice photographer. In the next few years, Kubrick had regular assignments for “Look”, and would become a voracious movie-goer. Together with friend Alexander Singer, Kubrick planned a move into film, and in 1950 sank his savings into making the documentary Day of the Fight (1951). This was followed by several short commissioned documentaries (Flying Padre: An RKO-Pathe Screenliner (1951), and (The Seafarers (1953), but by attracting investors and hustling chess games in Central Park, Kubrick was able to make Fear and Desire (1953) in California. Filming this movie was not a happy experience; Kubrick’s marriage to high school sweetheart Toba Metz did not survive the shooting. Despite mixed reviews for the film itself, Kubrick received good notices for his obvious directorial talents. Kubrick’s next two films Killer’s Kiss (1955) and The Killing (1956) brought him to the attention of Hollywood, and in 1957 he directed Kirk Douglas in Paths of Glory (1957). Douglas later called upon Kubrick to take over the production of Spartacus (1960), by some accounts hoping that Kubrick would be daunted by the scale of the project and would thus be accommodating. This was not the case, however: Kubrick took charge of the project, imposing his ideas and standards on the film. Many crew members were upset by his style: cinematographer Russell Metty complained to producers that Kubrick was taking over his job. Kubrick’s response was to tell him to sit there and do nothing. Metty complied, and ironically was awarded the Academy Award for his cinematography. Kubrick’s next project was to direct Marlon Brando in One-Eyed Jacks (1961), but negotiations broke down and Brando himself ended up directing the film himself. Disenchanted with Hollywood and after another failed marriage, Kubrick moved permanently to England, from where he would make all of his subsequent films. Despite having obtained a pilot’s license, Kubrick was rumored to be afraid of flying. Kubrick’s first UK film was Lolita (1962), which was carefully constructed and guided so as to not offend the censorship boards which at the time had the power to severely damage the commercial success of a film. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) was a big risk for Kubrick; before this, “nuclear” was not considered a subject for comedy. Originally written as a drama, Kubrick decided that too many of the ideas he had written were just too funny to be taken seriously. The film’s critical and commercial success allowed Kubrick the financial and artistic freedom to work on any project he desired. Around this time, Kubrick’s focus diversified and he would always have several projects in various stages of development: “Blue Moon” (a story about Hollywood’s first pornographic feature film), “Napoleon” (an epic historical biography, abandoned after studio losses on similar projects), “Wartime Lies” (based on the novel by Louis Begley), and “Rhapsody” (a psycho-sexual thriller). The next film he completed was a collaboration with sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is hailed by many as the best ever made; an instant cult favorite, it has set the standard and tone for many science fiction films that followed. Kubrick followed this with A Clockwork Orange (1971), which rivaled Lolita (1962) for the controversy it generated – this time not only for its portrayal of sex, but also of violence. Barry Lyndon (1975) would prove a turning point in both his professional and private lives. His unrelenting demands of commitment and perfection of cast and crew had by now become legendary. Actors would be required to perform dozens of takes with no breaks. Filming a story in Ireland involving military, Kubrick received reports that the IRA had declared him a possible target. Production was promptly moved out of the country, and Kubrick’s desire for privacy and security resulted in him being considered a recluse ever since. Having turned down directing a sequel to The Exorcist (1973), Kubrick made his own horror film: The Shining (1980). Again, rumors circulated of demands made upon actors and crew. Stephen King (whose novel the film was based upon) reportedly didn’t like Kubrick’s adaptation (indeed, he would later write his own screenplay which was filmed as The Shining (1997).) Kubrick’s subsequent work has been well spaced: it was seven years before Full Metal Jacket (1987) was released. By this time, Kubrick was married with children and had extensively remodeled his house. Seen by one critic as the dark side to the humanist story of Platoon (1986), Full Metal Jacket (1987) continued Kubrick’s legacy of solid critical acclaim, and profit at the box office. In the 1990s, Kubrick began an on-again/off-again collaboration with Brian Aldiss on a new science fiction film called “Artificial Intelligence (AI)”, but progress was very slow, and was backgrounded until special effects technology was up to the standard the Kubrick wanted. Kubrick returned to his in-development projects, but encountered a number of problems: “Napoleon” was completely dead, and “Wartime Lies” (now called “The Aryan Papers”) was abandoned when Steven Spielberg announced he would direct Schindler’s List (1993), which covered much of the same material. While pre-production work on “AI” crawled along, Kubrick combined “Rhapsody” and “Blue Movie” and officially announced his next project as Eyes Wide Shut (1999), starring the then-married Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. After two years of production under unprecedented security and privacy, the film was released to a typically polarized critical and public reception; Kubrick claimed it was his best film to date. Special effects technology had matured rapidly in the meantime, and Kubrick immediately began active work on A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), but tragically suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep on March 7th, 1999. After Kubrick’s death, Spielberg revealed that the two of them were friends that frequently communicated discretely about the art of filmmaking; both had a large degree of mutual respect for each other’s work. “AI” was frequently discussed; Kubrick even suggested that Spielberg should direct it as it was more his type of project. Based on this relationship, Spielberg took over as the film’s director and completed the last Kubrick project. How much of Kubrick’s vision remains in the finished project — and what he would think of the film as eventually released — will be the final great unanswerable mysteries in the life of this talented and private filmmaker. Follow Alicia on Twitter! Follow Scott on Twitter! SUBSCRIBE TO PROFILES ON ITUNES!