Category: Interviews

Interview: Actress Kelly Macdonald and Director Marc Turtletaub

Actress Kelly Macdonald and director Marc Turtletaub discuss their new indie film Puzzle

Puzzle director Marc Turtletaub with lead actress Kelly Macdonald. (photo by Alex Geranios)

A neglected housewife turns the tables on her dull life by enrolling in a jigsaw puzzle competition in the new film Puzzle, one of the breakout hits at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Director Marc Turtletaub and lead actress Kelly Macdonald (Trainspotting) are the first to admit that a movie about competitive puzzle building may not be at the top of everyone’s must-see list, and yet the duo have managed to make a compelling movie despite those odds.
 
The pair recently traveled to San Francisco to promote Puzzle and found that the Bay Area reception to their movie was just as rapturous as the one on the festival circuit. We recently sat down with them to talk about the movie, and the following is a transcription of that conversation.

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Spinning Platters Interview: Choreographer Annie-B Parsons

New York, NY – December 16, 2015 – Annie-B Parson, at her home in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

David Byrne’s American Utopia has been regarded as one the most ambitious stage shows in rock history; a performance that enables the entire band to move freely about the stage is rare. Spinning Platters recently had an opportunity to catch up with one of Byrne’s collaborators on this project, choreographer Annie-B Parsons, to discuss this show, her method, and music in general.

How did you end up syncing up with David Byrne? Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Choreographer Annie-B Parsons”

Interview: Actor Peter Fonda and Writer/Director Shana Feste

Peter Fonda and writer/director Shana Feste discuss their new family comedy Boundaries

Peter Fonda. (Photo courtesy of Sean McCarthy.)

A family road trip is at the center of the new comedy Boundaries, a movie that has become very therapeutic for its writer-director, Shana Feste. Her story of a pot-smuggling father (Christopher Plummer) forced to bond with his neurotic daughter (Vera Farmiga) after being kicked out of a nursing home mirrors her reality very closely. To hear Feste tell it, only a few small changes needed to be made to the story, and the rest wrote itself.

The film mostly plays out during a long car ride to transport the cranky free spirit to a new home but along the way we meet a few characters from his wild past. One of them is fellow pot-smoker Joey, played by Peter Fonda with the devilish charm of an ex-hippie. His scenes are few, but shock the film to life in unexpected ways. Feste and Fonda came to San Francisco to promote Boundaries, and we spoke about filmmaking, battle scars, and the challenge of adapting family stories to the big screen. The following is a transcription of that conversation. Continue reading “Interview: Actor Peter Fonda and Writer/Director Shana Feste”

Spinning Platters Interview: Blag Dhalia of The Dwarves

Blag Dahlia has been the front person for legendary punk Bay Area punk band THE DWARVES for over 30 years. They put on one of the rowdiest, messiest live shows you will ever see, and you’ll get to experience it all at this year’s Burger Boogaloo. We had an opportunity to chat with him ahead of the festival to talk about performing live, their fantastic new record, and pretty much anything else he wanted to talk about.

The Dwarves are playing Burger Boogaloo in Mosswood Park in Oakland THIS SUNDAY with The Damned and more! Tickets are available here!

Hello Blag! I know you’ve got a radio show to get to after this call, so I’m going to make this quick. So, tell me about this radio show you are running off to?

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Spinning Platters Interview: Chad Heimann, Talent Buyer at August Hall

For those that have lived in the Bay Area for a long time, there was a long stretch of time where it felt like we were losing venues left and right. In the last two years however, it seems that the tides are turning in the other direction. Legendary venues Cafe du Nord and Swedish American Hall have reopened after several years of laying dormant. The UC Theater – best known as the place to see Rocky Horror Picture Show in the Nineties – has resurrected itself as a rock club. And brand new spaces like Cornerstone and Starline Social Club are really killing it in the East Bay.

The most recent addition to our live music landscape is August Hall. This venue is going in at the same location as the old Ruby Skye, only it’s been totally remodeled, and they’ve added a full restaurant and bowling to the space! They are opening up this weekend with SF’s own Giraffage on Saturday night, and the epic double bill of Courtney Barnett and Jay Som on Sunday. Spinning Platters had a chance to interview their talent buyer, Chad Heimann, about the venue, his career, and we did a little bit of making fun of Ruby Skye.

They’ve got a stacked calendar here, but you better act soon, as shows are selling out left and right.

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Interview: Director Cory Finley and Actress Anya Taylor-Joy on Thoroughbreds

 Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy play a kind of chess in Thoroughbreds, Cory Finley’s new film.

Cory Finley’s debut feature, Thoroughbreds, has many signs that point to a promising career in film. His dialogue is often whip-smart, crackling along at a fast pace. He has scenes of incredible tension realized in interestingly new yet classic style. He’s got a knack for casting, and clearly has a way with actors, as his small ensemble performs the heck out of the material. There’s so much to like about this movie, yet it left me with so many questions about its history and its themes. Lucky for me, director Cory Finley and star Anya Taylor-Joy were in town to talk about the film, and I was able to sit down with them to discuss this fun and tense film.

SP: When I saw this film, I had no idea it was based on a play, and then I watched it and talked to my friend, and I said, “I think that was based on a play.” I think there were two things that stood out. One is sort of just the conservation of characters. I was really surprised that we met the moms at all. I thought that we were going to get through the whole film without the moms. Were the moms in the play? Continue reading “Interview: Director Cory Finley and Actress Anya Taylor-Joy on Thoroughbreds“

Spinning Platters Interview: Rick Springfield

 

Although it’s widely touted as a comedy festival, SF Sketchfest has a wide ranging program that meanders into film, television, literature and music as well. How fitting it is, then, that Rock Solid With Pat Francis is welcoming a guest with a long career doing all three. From his beginnings with mega-hit “Jesse’s Girl” to his years as Noah Drake on General Hospital to his critically acclaimed memoir of depression, Late, Late Night all the way to co-starring with Meryl Streep in Jonathan Demme’s final film, Rikki and the Flash, Rick Springfield has a career as interesting and varied as the rest of the programming at SF Sketchfest. When given the opportunity to talk to him about his Sketchfest appearance and his new blues centered album The Snake King, and told I would only have an hour to prepare, I jumped at the chance.

Rick Springfield was in his car on the way to Joshua Tree when he called. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Rick Springfield”

Spinning Platters Interview: Rhea Butcher

Rhea Butler is an amazing, outspoken comic. She released not one, but TWO records last year on Kill Rock Stars: Butcher and her collaborative record with her wife, Cameron Esposito, called Back To Back. Butler has three shows this weekend at SF Sketchfest presented by Audible, and we had the chance to talk to her ahead of those shows. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Rhea Butcher”

Spinning Platters Interview: Dave Hill

Photo by Michelle Crow

Dave Hill is one of the most prolific performers you’ve probably never heard of. He plays guitar for the bands Valley Lodge (who do the theme to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver), Diamondsnake (a metal band with Moby), and his black metal band Witch Taint, which he’s bringing to Sketchfest this year as part of a larger schedule. He also hosts “The Goddamn Dave Hill Show” on WFMU radio, and a podcast called “Dave Hill’s Podcasting Incident.” Not good enough? He’s also an accomplished writer and stand-up comic. Spinning Platters pulled Hill away from his busy schedule to speak to us. Here’s how it went!

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