By Edward Douglas 

Jillian Bell has been an amazing comedic actor for quite a few years now, but her work in Paul Downs Colaizzo’s “Brittany Runs A Marathon” is above and beyond her previous work, as it’s a movie that allows her to really create a full character and give her a true story arc.

Brittany is a New Yorker in her late 20-somethings who just hasn’t been able to get the whole idea of “adulting” together, so she works a lot of dead-end jobs, goes partying with her roommate (Alice Lee) and doesn’t worry too much about her physical health and well-being. When a doctor warns Brittany that she has to lose weight to avoid having serious health issues, Brittany is dubious but her upstairs neighbor (Michaela Watkins) convinces her to join a running group. Brittany soon learns that she enjoys running, and while she’s still trying to get the rest of her life together, running ends up becoming her life.

By Matt Neglia 

For this week's main podcast review, I am joined by ​Cody Dericks and together we review the latest entry (spin-off?) in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise titled "Hobbs & Shaw," starring Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba and Vanessa Kirby. What did we think? Tune in below to find out. But stay tuned, for afterward we have a conversation with the film's costume designer Sarah Evelyn!

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Edward Douglas 

Earlier this year, filmmaker Guy Nattiv won the Oscar in the Live Action Short category for his short “Skin.” 

It’s always interesting to see where the filmmakers behind these shorts go after winning the Oscar, and normally, it isn’t too far. For every Andrea Arnold or Martin McDonagh, there are countless filmmakers who we never hear from again or at least their feature films aren’t as prominent. In Nattiv’s case, he already had a feature-length film in the can, also called “Skin,” one that premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and A24 had already stepped up to distribute it.

Unlike the short, which takes place in a similar world, the feature is based on the true story of Bryon Widner, a tattoo-covered white supremacist neo-Nazi from the Midwest, who has a change of heart due to a few new factors in his life. In the movie, Bryon is played by Jamie Bell, the leaders of his gang – and Bryon’s ersatz adoptive parents -- are played by Vera Farmiga and Bill Camp. Things change for Bryon when he meets Julie, played by Danielle Macdonald (“Patti Cake$”), a single mother with three daughters who he motivates him to want to change his ways. At the same time, an FBI agent played by Mike Colter (“Luke Cage”) is pressuring Bryon to turn on his “family,” and these two things motivate Bryon to get surgery to remove the hateful tattoos that cover his entire body and face.s

Next Best Picture spoke with Nattiv last week about his film, and he also gave us the 411 on the next movie he’s developing to shoot soon, an interesting personal family story that sounds amazing and should have some great roles for a mostly female cast.

By Matt Neglia 

In 2014, Jennifer Kent came on the scene with the indie horror film "The Babadook," which won her a tremendous amount of critical acclaim and is regarded today as a horror masterpiece. Now, 5 year later, she is back with "The Nightingale," an equally horrifying film that explores themes of brutality, compassion, history and more! Jennifer was kind enough to chat with us about her latest film, why you should still seek it out despite the buzz around the film's violence and its awe-inspiring performances.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Matt Neglia 

Adapted from J.C. Lee's play to the screen by director Julius Onah and J.C. Lee himself, "Luce" made its debut at this year's Sundance Film Festival where I had the pleasure of seeing it and being completely blown away by its tension, drama, themes and characters. I have seen it two more times since then and cannot wait to revisit what is surely one of the most riveting films of the year. Julius and J.C. were kind enough to chat with me about the film ahead of its release date on August 2nd.

*Apologies about the audio during this recording, as the conditions on my end were not the most ideal*

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Edward Douglas 

When it comes to independent filmmaking, Lynn Shelton has been at the forefront of a wave of filmmakers that has helped keep it going over the last decade, first getting attention at Sunday for her 2009 film “Humpday,” followed by “You Sister’s Sister” a year later. In recent years, Shelton’s film output has dwindled slightly as she focused on directing television shows like Netflix’s “GLOW,” ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” and most recently, adapting Celeste Ng’s 2017 novel “Little Fires Everywhere” for streaming service Hulu.

Shelton’s new movie “Sword of Trust” is a lot more comedic than some of her other movies, starring Marc Maron from “GLOW” as Mel, owner of a pawn shop in Birmingham, Alabama who is constantly dealing with the area’s oddball irregulars as well as his aggravatingly-naive assistant Nathaniel (Jon Bass). One day, two women, Mary, and Cynthia (Michaela Watkins, Jillian Bell), come into his shop with a Civil War sword that may offer new answers to the way that war ended. Being in the South, they have a lot of potential buyers, mostly white supremacists with some being scarier than others. But yes, it is very much a very timely comedy.

By Matt Neglia 

Jessie Buckley is a 29 year old actress from Ireland who made her on-screen debut in Michael Pearce's film "Beast" in 2017. She was last seen by most viewers in HBO's "Chernobyl" in a supporting role but now with "Wild Rose," she gets the chance to show everyone the range of her talent playing an ex-convict who is struggling to balance raising her two children and pursuing her dreams as a country music star. Jessie was kind enough to chat with Next Best Picture about her promising career thus far, what it was like working on "Wild Rose," her upcoming projects and more! Take a listen down below.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

​By Edward Douglas 

While everyone else is busy writing about whatever movie is being released into thousands of theaters across the nation this weekend, one of Canada’s national treasures, Denys Arcand, has released his first movie in many years. It’s called “The Fall of the American Empire,” and if that name sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because in 1985, he made a movie called “The Decline of the American Empire.” “Fall” isn’t a sequel to that movie, as that was the 2004 Oscar-nominated film “The Barbarian Invasions.”

Arcand’s latest film stars Alexandre Landry as Pierre-Paul, a philosophy student working as a courier to make ends meet, who comes upon a robbery gone wrong and suddenly finds himself with two bags full of unmarked cash. The only thing is that others are looking for that money from the person responsible for laundering it to the corrupt police who take a cut of any found cash. 

As might any young single guy, Pierre-Paul decides to use some of the money to hire a classy escort, but when “Aspasie” (Maripier Morin) finds out about the money, instead of robbing Pierre-Paul, she decides to help him, as does an accountant just out of prison for laundering (Arcand regular Rémy Girard).  Things seem to be looking up for Pierre-Paul, although he still has to figure out how he can benefit from his windfall without getting himself killed.

​By Edward Douglas 

​Nisha Ganatra has been directing for some time, first in independent film but more recently in television, and it’s obvious that it’s been hard to get noticed in the competitive world of filmmaking. That is likely to change with Ganatra’s latest film, “Late Night,” which is written, produced and stars Mindy Kaling of “The Office” and “The Mindy Project.” In the movie, Mindy plays Molly Patel, an ambitious young Indian woman who comes to New York with dreams of being a comedy writer. She somehow manages to get a job in the writers’ room for “Late Night with Katherine Newbury,” starring Emma Thompson’s title character, a veteran comic who is one of the first women of late night. Her writers’ room, on the other hand, is made up of all white men, so Molly needs to find her way through the sausage factory to get her voice heard. At the same time, Katherine is about to be replaced on her own show unless she can turn things around.

The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to raves, and Amazon Studios quickly picked it up for release. It’s not too surprising, since the movie plays so well with audiences of all ages, genders, and races, as well as being very timely to some of the discussions being had in the world today.

Next Best Picture spoke with Ganatra over the phone last week for the following interview...

By Edward Douglas 

​​Few filmmakers are as beloved by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as Mike Leigh.  Mr. Leigh has been nominated for seven Oscars, either for writing or directing films of his going back to 1997’s “Secrets and Lies” – shockingly, he has yet to actually win an Oscar. Leigh’s latest, “Peterloo,” is another foray into the past. Set in the early 19th Century, it explores the unrest in Northern England by citizens who want to be represented in the British Parliament. Their hopes lie in renowned orator Henry Hunt (Rory Kinnear) being that representative, as Hunt travels up to the poverty-stricken region to give a speech to thousands of locals in St. Peter’s Square in Manchester, some who walked for miles to get there. What starts out as a peaceful community gathering turns deadly when the military is sent to break up the gathering, injuring and killing the weaponless citizens.

“Peterloo” is an amazing achievement, even compared to Leigh’s previous historical films “Mr. Turner” (about the landscape artist) and “Topsy-Turvy” (about musical maestros Gilbert and Sullivan). It spends a good two hours introducing many characters, some more important than others, and allowing the story to develop organically before the enormous gathering, which is bigger than anything seen previously in any of Leigh films.

NextBestPicture got on the phone with Mr. Leigh a few weeks back, a call that had a few technical issues. He seemed undaunted by the problems, though, as he helped debunk a few of the myths surrounding his filmmaking techniques. (For instance, I was convinced that Leigh would never use CG to create the amazing finale with thousands of people congregating on Manchester’s St. Peter’s Square).

​By Edward Douglas  

Back in 2014, New York filmmaker Alex Ross Perry cast Elisabeth Moss in his third feature “Listen Up Phillip.” Moss had already been nominated for multiple Emmys for her work on “Mad Men” at that point, but it would precede her Golden Globe-winning work on “Top of the Lake” and her current Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale.” 

That partnership led to Perry featuring Moss’ talents in his next feature “Queen of Earth,” and now the two are back together again with “Her Smell.” In the movie, Moss plays Becky Something, the leader of an iconic all-girl punk band who has been at the top of their game but are starting to falter due to Becky’s erratic behavior and drug addiction. 

“Her Smell” documents Becky and her band as things start to fall apart, and then cuts forward in time when Becky is trying to get her life together and make amends for all the people she hurt during her various flame-outs including her bandmates (Agyness Deyn, Gayle Rankin), ex-husband (Dan Stevens), her manager (Eric Stolz), mother (Virginia Madsen) and young daughter. 

Next Best Picture got on the phone with Perry last week to talk about his third collaboration with Moss for what might be her best performance yet. Perry also talked to us about the casting and building sets on a soundstage for his movie for the first time.

By Will Mavity 

Jeff Tremaine has made his directing career working with the "Jackass" crew on all of their theatrical films. Now, with Netflix's "The Dirt," he is working for the first time with a plot, telling a musical biopic of one of the world's most popular rock bands: Mötley Crüe. Jeff was kind enough to sit down with us to tell us about the experience of making the film, what a departure it was for him, the film's suggestive content and more!

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Will Mavity ​

​Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre's debut feature film "The Mustang" premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. We were lucky enough to chat with her about the film which can be read below.

​By Edward Douglas 

Director James Kent spent almost thirty years directing television and TV documentaries before venturing into the film world with 2014’s “Testament of Youth.” Now, he has a new film called “The Aftermath,” based on Rhidian Brook’s novel set just as World War II is coming to an end.

Keira Knightley plays Rachel Morgan, a British woman who has moved to Hamburg, Germany with her husband Lewis, a British officer who is cleaning up loose ends including an underground Nazi insurrection. They move into a gorgeous mansion owned by Alexander Skarsgard’s Stephan Lubert, a German doctor who is recovering from the death of his wife in the British bombing. Rachel and Lewis have had their own loss, as their son was killed in the British bombings, but Lewis allows Stephan and his teen daughter to move upstairs rather than kicking them out. As Lewis tries to quell the German revolt against the British occupation, Rachel tries to deal with her loss by bonding with Stephan and his daughter. It’s another great historic drama from Kent that includes a mix of timely politics amidst the romance and grief.  

Next Best Picture spoke with Kent about the film over the phone from the film’s London junket a few weeks back, and we got a nice history lesson in the bargain.

By Matt Neglia 

Kim Nguyen is a Canadian director and writer who gained a lot of attention for his Academy Award nominated foreign language film "War Witch" in 2012. He has made a few films since then but his latest "The Hummingbird Project" is his most accessible and biggest yet, featuring an A-list cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgard & Salma Hayek. The 45 year old filmmaker was kind enough to sit with me for a few minutes to talk about his latest film.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Daniel Howat 

Rob Marshall has become the go-to director in Hollywood for lavish productions. With his Best Picture winning musical "Chicago," to his other musicals "Nine" and "Into The Woods" to the newly released Disney sequel to "Mary Poppins," titled "Mary Poppins Returns," Marshall has cemented quite a legacy for himself in both theatre and film. Rob was kind enough to take a few minutes to talk about his work on "Mary Poppins Returns" with us here on the Next Best Picture Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Will Mavity 

Marco Beltrami has been developing film scores since the 1990's. Exploding onto the scene with the iconic music for "Scream," and a 2-time Academy Award nominee for "3:10 To Yuma" and "The Hurt Locker," his latest film is John Krasinski's horror hit "A Quiet Place," for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for. With Oscar voting currently underway for nominations and "A Quiet Place" showing up throughout the guilds, we decided to take a moment to talk to Beltrami about his work on "A Quiet Place."

By Daniel Howat 

Brad Bird has become one of the most successful directors in recent memory. He has given us instant classics such as "The Iron Giant," "The ​Incredibles," "Ratatouille" and now "Incredibles 2." He has also directed the live-action films "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" "Tomorrowland." With such a prolific career, we were lucky enough to get a few minutes of his time to talk about his past and upcoming work here on the Next Best Picture Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Will Mavity 

One film that is currently shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Visual Effects and had a strong showing at the 2019 Visual Effects Bake-Off is Robert Zemeckis' new film "Welcome To Marwen."

​Despite a less than enthusiastic critical reception, the heavily computer generated film is receiving high remarks for its visual effects. Here to tell us a little bit more detail on how those effects were achieved, we were lucky enough to sit down and talk with Visual Effects Supervisor Kevin Baille.

By Daniel Howat 

Michael P. Shawver has had a long collaboration with writer/director Ryan Coogler going all the way back to their years in film school together. Michael has served as an editor on all of Ryan's films so far including "Fruitvale Station," "Creed" and now their biggest film to date, "Black Panther." What is their collaboration process like and how has it evolved over the years? How was the experience of working on a large Marvel property any different than what the two had done before? And what's it like being a part of a huge critical, financial success and now, awards hopeful? We discuss all of this and more here on the Next Best Picture Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.