The making of an action epic, plus a chat with Danny Glover

Talking about Mad Max: Fury Road with the author of a new oral history

Dear Last Thing I Saw fans,

One cold winter night I decided to lose my mind by watching Mad Max: Fury Road again. It remains a dazzling shock to the system, one of the truly great action/sci-fi films and a visual feast of excess memorably dubbed “pure cinema” by TimManohla Dargis. So I was happy to talk all about its bonkers production process with Kyle Buchanan, the New York Times culture reporter who wrote a thoroughly entertaining and informative book-length oral history called Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road.

That’s the latest episode of The Last Thing I Saw, which was recorded a few weeks ago. You’ll find the link below, along with a link to my interview with Danny Glover, a well-loved actor, but perhaps lesser-known as a producer on some of the 21st century’s truly great films, such as Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and more. This year, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an honorary Oscar.

That’s all for now. Thanks as always for listening and reading!

Nic

NEW PODCAST NOTES

Kyle Buchanan on Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road (Episode 111)

I talk with the author of Blood, Sweat & Chrome, which is on sale now. Kyle Buchanan is a pop culture reporter and serves as The Projectionist, the awards season columnist for The New York Times. Prior to joining The Times in 2018, he was a senior editor at Vulture, New York Magazine's entertainment website.

Mad Max: Fury Road is available to stream now.

For more information on the podcast’s opening and closing music by The Minarets (gratefully used with permission):

Follow the band on Instagram

@theminaretsmusic

RECENT WRITING

For The New York Times, I interviewed Danny Glover about his work for social justice and his career producing an extraordinary array of art films (like Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, To Sleep With Anger, in which he also delivers an electrifying performance, and Bamako). He was a terrific and generous interview.

THIS CRITIC’S PICKS

Delectable selections for home viewing.

An online retrospective of filmmaker Satoshi Kon National Museum of Asian Art)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Amazon)

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (HBO MAX)

Anne at 13,000 Feet (MUBI)

When Women Kill (Criterion)

Miracle in Milan (Criterion)

THE END

Here I may end with a song.

ABOUT ME

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw! Nicolas Rapold speaking.

Besides hosting this podcast, I’m a writer and an editor. My features, interviews, festival dispatches, and reviews are published in The New York Times, Sight & Sound, Artforum, Filmmaker, and W Magazine (and appeared in dearly departed publications such as The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine).

I worked as editor-in-chief of Film Comment, where I was for 15 years. I assigned and edited both web and print editorial, hosted its podcast and talks and screenings, learned from brilliant writers, curated Film Comment Selects, and wrote a lot, including interviews with Spike Lee, Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, and Frederick Wiseman. Film Comment was subsequently awarded the Film Heritage Award by the National Society of Film Critics (an honor historically awarded to the Museum of Modern Art and other institutions).

Feel free to get in touch re: writing, editing, moderating, programming, podcasting, etc.

nicolas.rapold@gmail.com