Hosts @DMovies1701 & @PDSvitek interview composer/editor John Ottman. They discuss his latest projects – X-Men: Apocalypse and The Nice Guys.
Make sure to subscribe to Popcorn Talk! – http://youtube.com/popcorntalknetwork

iTalk movies is a long-form interview series featuring leading members of the film community. In this episode, our hosts Demetri Panos and Phil Svitek interview John Ottman in studio about editing and composing on some of Hollywood’s biggest films including recent movies X-Men: Apocalypse and The Nice on the Popcorn Talk Network.

John Ottman holds dual distinctions as a leading film composer and an award winning film editor. Ottman has often completed both monumental tasks on the same films. Such remarkable double duties have included The Usual Suspects, X-Men 2, Superman Returns, Valkyrie, and Jack the Giant Killer. He has also held producer roles on several of these films, as well as directing, editing and scoring Urban Legends 2.

From an early age in San Jose, California, Ottman began writing and recording radio plays on cassette tapes. He’d perform many characters with his voice (and some sound effects), and called upon his neighborhood friends as extra cast members.

By the fourth grade, Ottman was playing the clarinet and continued doing so throughout high school. But his real concentration turned from audio productions to making films. He turned his parents’ garage into a movie studio, where multiple sets were interchangeable to accommodate productions – invariably some sort of science fiction film. By high school, his films evolved to hour-long productions complete with large sets and lavish scores edited together from his favorite soundtracks.

Having been a veteran of numerous short films, Ottman excelled at USC film school, receiving accolades for his direction of actors and for how masterfully he edited their performances. It was in this directing course that a graduate filmmaker asked Ottman to re-edit his thesis film. John modified the story from raw footage and also designed the film’s extensive sound. The film ended up winning the student Academy Award. On that film, Ottman met a production assistant named Bryan Singer.

Singer, only aware of Ottman’s editing (Ottman stayed awake into the wee hours learning midi gear and composing music), asked him to edit a short film starring Ethan Hawke – a childhood friend of Singer’s. Ottman ended up co-directing the film (Lion’s Den) as well as editing and doing the sound design.

Ottman edited Singer’s first feature, Public Access. His effective sequences and editorial montages became the highlight of the picture. In the eleventh hour, the film lost its composer. Singer asked Ottman to write the score, after much prodding from the editor. Public Access received the Grand Jury Prize at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, with the score and editing being lauded in reviews.

With The Usual Suspects and future Singer films, Ottman held to a promise that, despite his scoring dreams, he would commit to the months required to also serve as editor on Singer’s films. The wary producers of The Usual Suspects gave the go-ahead for him to both edit the complicated picture and write the score, the demands of which no one had undergone. The film was edited in Ottman’s living room on a Steinbeck flatbed and a splicer. The Usual Suspects and Ottman’s work received widespread acclaim, earning Ottman the British Academy Awards for his editing, a Saturn Award for his score, and a nomination by the American Cinema Editors.

Since then, Ottman has scored numerous films with the intent of keeping thematic film scoring alive. Ottman also made a brief foray into television for which he received an Emmy nomination (“Fantasy Island.”)

HELPFUL LINKS:
Website – http://popcorntalk.com
Follow us on Twitter – https://twitter.com/thepopcorntalk
Merch – http://shop.spreadshirt.com/PopcornTalk/

ABOUT POPCORN TALK:
Popcorn Talk Network is the online broadcast network with programming dedicated exclusively to movie discussion, news, interviews and commentary. Popcorn Talk Network is comprised of the leading members and personalities of the film press and community including E!’s Maria Menounos, Scott “Movie” Mantz, The Wrap’s Jeff Sneider, Screen Junkies and the Schmoes Know, Kristian Harloff and Mark Ellis who are the 1st and only YouTube reviewers to be certified by Rotten Tomatoes and accredited by the MPAA.

Current Roster or Shows:
-Schmoes Know Movies
-Disney Movie News
-Anatomy of a Movie
-Profiles with Malone and Mantz
-Box Office Breakdown
-Jedi Alliance
-Meet the Movie Press
-Guilty Movie Pleasures
-Marvel Movie News
-DC Movie News
-Otaku Movie Anatomy
-Action Movie Anatomy
-Watchalong Series!

@ThePopcornTalk

iTalk movies is a long-form interview series featuring leading members of the film community. In this episode, our host Kari Lane interviews Mat Best, Jarred Taylor and Nick Palmisciano in studio about Range 15 on the Popcorn Talk Network.

Range 15 is an ensemble horror/action comedy indie film with a release date tentatively scheduled for May 2016. As of January 2016, Range 15 is the 4th highest crowd sourced film on Indiegogo. The movie is a collaboration between the Veteran run military themed apparel companies, Ranger Up and Article 15 Clothing, and stars many of their staff members. The movie is being produced and directed by Ross Patterson.

@ThePopcornTalk