The One with Just Sam and Maria
This week in Part-Time Characters, we talk about movies about making movies, filmmaking and show business. In honor of the Disaster Artist, a movie about the production of The Room, we discuss our favorite movies that concentrate on the art of making a movie, the struggles behind the scenes and the final product the audience gets.
Before Sam and I reveal our top five movies about making movies, we have a quick catch up about what we have been watching in our spare time. Sam watched 88 films in the month of November in a streaming service called Filmstruck. He tells me about the latest director he has explored and some of his movies he enjoyed. On the other hand, I talk about a delightful show I’ve been watching on Amazon Prime, The Wonderful Mrs. Maisel. When Midge Maisel’s world is destroyed due to her husband leaving her, Mrs. Maisel takes to stand up comedy and decides to go for it even though in the 50s she is just supposed to be a housewife and a mother.
The majority of the episode is dedicated to movies about filmmaking. Sam picks some lovely classics plus other more obscure choices that showcase the love for movies by the people behind the camera. I pick a few movies that came out in the 2000s and have the triumph of picking five movies that Sam has never seen; a real first for Part-Time Characters!
ANNOUNCEMENT: We are thinking of making a confession game. We are going to leave our anonymous confessions here (all related to movies or celebrities) and in the next episode, we will read them and try to decipher who confessed what. The whole point is to bluff and make sure people don’t guess our confession. You can leave yours as well and confuse us. When we play the game, you can admit to your confession in the comment section. Click here to register and confess!
Question of the Week: What is your favorite movie about making movies?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments and Sam will read them next week. You can also send us your thoughts to our email parttimecharacters[at]gmail[dot]com. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook or Twitter so you can send us direct messages and get podcast updates.
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This Week’s Cast: Maria Garcia and Sam Noland
MUSIC
Great Days by Joakim Karud
ILLUSTRATIONS
Saving Mr. Banks by Ramin Design Shop
Sunset Boulevard by Chungkong Art
The Artist by Chungkong Art
I haven’t actually seen any movies about making movies except for Tropic Thunder, because I haven’t seen a ton of movies. I thought Tropic Thunder was really funny, but I was watching it alone, and I have tried to convince my friends to see it, but nobody has seen it yet. Oh well. I’ll probably watch some of the ones you mentioned at some point.
Don’t forget the two great animated representatives of this subgenre—Cats Don’t Dance (1997—dir. Mark Dindal) and Millennium Actress (2001—dir. Satoshi Son)!
*Satoshi Kon
My faovrite movie about making movies in 2017 at least is a little underwatched picture called Brigsby Bear.
I’ll mention my top 5 movies about making movies not mentioned here. Ed Wood and Shadow of the Vampire would make my list but Sam mentioned them. The Disaster Artist might make it too
5) Wes Craven’s New Nightmare: good horror at the same time
4) Be Kind Rewind: comes off as a typical Jack Black hucks and chucks, and it kinda starts like that but gets cool once they start making movies
3) Living in Oblivion: the frustration of a film set
2) Inception: the movie about making movies that nobody knew was about making movies
1) King Kong: Probably the most influential movie ever