Bonus episode.I released episode 40 today. My conversation with author John Glennie. But as it's close to Christmas, I thought "what the heck"... lets put out episode 41 too.Both are with authors of great movie books that you should be adding to your Christmas list.So, here's my chat with author John Walsh about his new book Escape from New York The Official Story of the Film, available now!Twitter - @walshbrosBook at Amazon - https://amzn.to/3qgWNzEBook at Waterstones - https://www.waterstones.com/book/escape-from-new-york-the-official-story-of-the-film/john-walsh/9781789096217Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/jamiebenning)This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

For this episode, number 78, I spoke to composer Stu Phillips.Stu was born in 1929, is an American composer of film scores and television series theme music, He’s also a conductor and record producer. Though he is probably best known for composing the theme tunes to the television series Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider.After a career spanning decades, in 2002, he published his autobiography Stu Who?: Forty Years of Navigating the Minefields of the Music Business. It's well worth checking out.Stu and I had tried to arrange a chat for months. I was unwell at one point, then I had some internet problems, then his phone line went down. But we finally managed to do it in May this year (2023).I have to say it was a genuine pleasure chatting to Stu. And as you’ll hear, he is as sharp as a tack at 93 years old. At one point in the conversation Stu and I talk about how artists borrow from each other all the time. Hang around at the end of this episode to hear what I found out after a deep dive into one particular track of Stu’s.As with my conversation with Peter Kuran (episode 75), I was having internet problems at the time, so there are a couple of drop outs. Some I’ve managed to edit around, others I haven’t so if you hear any little jumps in the conversation, that’s why.LinksReturn of the Jedi Timeline Book - Register your interest!Filmumentaries MerchSupport the Podcast on PatreonStu's BookThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

Ok so for this episode, number 77 (cool number) I have a guest host in the shape of my co-author on the new Return of the Jedi Unauthorized timeline book, Justin Berger. So the conversation you’re about to hear is our interview with Jedi’s co-producer Jim Bloom about his time working on the film. We are so happy to say that he also wrote a wonderful introduction for the book.So today, 25th May, was supposed to be the release day of the book. Unfortunately Amazon let us down and we’ve had to delay until June 1st (jeditimeline.com) Basically our proof copies which should have arrived in a matter of a couple of days, didn’t arrive until too late. We didn’t want to put the book up for sale without having handled it ourselves to make sure everything is in order. Better to get this done properly than quickly. And in fact a couple of things have come to light since we decided to delay which are going to make this a better book anyway.There will be three versions of the book. The contents are the same in each but we have three versions to suit all pockets. The first is the colour hardback. The second is the colour softcover and thirdly there's a version with a colour softcover with black and white pages. That’s the cheapest of the bunch. If you can afford it, why not buy yourself a hardback cover one to keep and treasure and a softcover one to flick through at your leisure?So here’s our conversation with Jim Bloom. Justin’s internet died a couple of times so he doesn’t say a huge amount, but what he does say is great. Thanks to both of these gents for their time.LinksReturn of the Jedi Timeline Book - Register your interest!Filmumentaries Merch!Support the Podcast on PatreonThe Man Who Shot Luke SkywalkerThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

This is a BONUS episode for May 2023.This is my conversation with editor Michael Harte about his new film "Still: A Michael J Fox Movie", which is out today in cinemas and on Apple TV.Listen out for some exclusive clips of the film during our conversation.I hope you enjoy it.https://twitter.com/AppleTV#AppleOriginals #STILLThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

For this episode, number 75, I spoke with filmmaker and optical VFX expert Peter Kuran. Peter was one of the few people employed by George Lucas on Star Wars and became a core crew member at Industrial Light and Magic. He went on to have a long career in VFX and then became a director in his own right.I should point out that we had internet problems so some of the recording is garbled or lost. I’ve edited around it in places and left it in in other places so you know that there was a piece missing. Apologies. We never found out if it was my connection or Peter’s. I hope you enjoy the conversation.LinksReturn of the Jedi Timeline Book - Register your interest!Filmumentaries Merch!Support the Podcast on PatreonThe Man Who Shot Luke SkywalkerThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

For this episode of the podcast, number 74, I spoke with VFX artist, expert, VFX twitter ambassador and all round good guy Todd Vaziri.Todd began his career right out of college and worked on shows like Charmed and Xena Warrior Princess for Flat Earth productions before moving to among others, Banned from the Ranch before landing at ILM for Attack of the Clones.Since then he’s worked on just about every ILM tentpole movie.So here is my conversation with ILM VFX artist Todd Vaziri. I hope you enjoy it.LinksReturn of the Jedi Timeline Book - Register your interest!Filmumentaries Merch!Support the Podcast on PatreonThe Man Who Shot Luke SkywalkerThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

Episode 73If you remember, I interviewed House of the Dragon writer and showrunner, Ryan Condal back in September 2022, episode 59 I think. Well he and I have become friends and we chat quite a bit on Whatsapp. He suggested I speak to his Special Effects Supervisor on Dragon, Michael Dawson. “He’s been in the industry since Superman in the late 70’s. He’s a great guy and would be perfect for your podcast”.So, a couple of weeks ago I did indeed have a great chat with Mike. He not only worked on Superman, but also on the three original Indiana Jones films, Return of the Jedi, Return to Oz, Alien 3, Patriot Games, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and so many more! We didn’t get the chance to talk about all of them but we did have a great conversation about his job and his 45 plus years working in special effects.So here’s my chat with Special Effect Supervisor Michael Dawson.LinksReturn of the Jedi Timeline Book - Register your interest!Filmumentaries Merch!Support the Podcast on PatreonThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

So for this episode I spoke with Van Ling. A name you may recognise. Perhaps for his work on laserdisc, DVD and blu ray, perhaps for his collaborations with James Cameron on The Abyss and Terminator 2 (you’ll love the story of how he got started with Cameron), or maybe for his time working on VFX at Banned From The Ranch Entertainment on films like Dante’s Peak or The Relic. Either way you’ll find his eclectic career fascinating.I spoke with Van just before our trip to LA. We were hoping to meet up for lunch while we were out there but the schedule was too tight. Maybe next time Van.So here is my interview with Van Ling, disc creator, VFX supervisor, director…LinksFilmumentaries Merch!Support the Podcast on PatreonThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

For this episode, number 70, I finally spoke with director Patrick Read Johnson.He recently released his many years in the making, labour of love 5-25-77. A film that semi fictionalises and chronicles the early life of a character, named Patrick Read Johnson and his love of movies like 2001 A Space Oddysey, Star Wars and Close Encounters.I saw an early cut of this about ten years ago with several scenes missing. Patrick and I connected over the release of my Star Wars Begins (still available to view for free on Vimeo by the way). 5-25-77 is currently available on blu ray and on several streaming platforms.So here’s my chat with the director of 5-25-77, Patrick Reid Johnson and I’ll be back at the end for a bit more jabbering on.LinksFilmumentaries Merch!Support the Podcast on PatreonThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

For this episode, number 69 I spoke with ILM and Sony Picture Imageworks legend Ken Ralston. Ken started on VFX in advertising, then in 1976 he was employed to work on a little film called Star Wars. He remained at ILM for 20 years having worked on Star Wars, Star Trek, Dragon Slayer, Back to the Future, I mean the list is huge. He then went on to work as Visual Effect Supervisor and Creative Head at Sony Pictures Imageworks. He’s won five academy awards during his career. If you know who Ken is, you’ll love this conversation. If you don’t know who Ken is, firstly WHY? But secondly, you’ll definitely know his work.He of course recently featured in the Disney+ Lawrence Kasdan documentary series Light and Magic. But as ever I am keen to dig a little deeper. I hope you enjoy our conversation.Filmumentaries Merch!Support the Podcast on PatreonThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

For this episode, number 68 I spoke with an animator at ILM, namely Hal Hickel. Now, if you’re on twitter you’ll know that Hal is a prolific tweeter. I’ve had a number of conversations with him online. Recently in one conversation it transpired that Hal had done some of the work on the 2004 version of Star Wars (A new hope), particularly on the redone Jabba scene. A redo of the 1997 special edition release. My friend Drew of Star Wars Visual Comparisons. So I decided to approach Hal to come on the podcast and talk about that scene as well as many of the films he’s worked on over the years. Looking at my notes here for the keywords I’ll add to the podcast, we talk about Toy Story, Jurassic Park, Rogue One, The Life Aquatic and many more inbetween.Filmumentaries Merch!Support the Podcast on PatreonThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

For this episode I had the pleasure of speaking with the ultra talented and lovely human being… Jean Bolte, that’s BoltE, rhymes with Nick Nolte as she told me.Jean has worked in the film industry for many years. She started in wigs and beard, then moved to ILM in time for Willow for which she was a model maker. The thumbnail for the episode shows Jean working on the ostrich for the famous morphing scene.She then went to work on Hook, Jumanji, Men in Black, The Phantom Menace and so many more huge movies as a digital texture artist.She’s recently handed in her notice to ILM but is going to be staying very much in the creative world.Jean was just so great to talk to, we hit it off immediately. Chatting with her was surprisingly relaxing and also very inspiring.So here’s my conversation with texture artist and supervisor Jean Bolte... Nick Notle and I’ll be back at the end for a bit more jabbering on.My Filmumentary Videos on VimeoThe Filmumentaries Podcast MerchPodcast PatreonThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

For episode 66, I have an Oscar winning director. But I don’t talk to him about his films at all. Instead I talk to him about a book he’s written. Lee Unkrich is probably best known by film fans as the director of Toy Story 3 and Coco. He of course won an Oscar for both of those movies. What you might not know is that he is a lifelong fan of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. For many years he has run a website “the overlook hotel”, which he fills with everything and anything he can about his favourite film.After ten years or so in the making, he is just about to release his book, published by Taschen and limited to 1000 copies (in the collector edition at least). It’s called Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. I spoke to Lee just after Christmas 2022. So here’s our conversation. I hope you enjoy it.Taschen's new "Stanley Kubrick's The Shining"This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

Just before Christmas I spoke with Rose Duignan. If you watched Light and Magic on Disney+ you’ll have seen Rose, a long time employee at ILM. She filled several roles during her years there including production assistant, production supervisor and a role in marketing too.So here’s my chat with Rose Duignan, I hope you enjoy it.Thanks for joining me in 2022 and I hope you can do so again for the next year of episodes of The Filmumentaries podcast in 2023! Happy New Year.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

Now as any historian should, I like to hear differing points of view from people, in my case the memories of people who worked on the same movies.I like to dig deeper than just the surface level or accepted version of events. Those things that have become mythologised in “making ofs” and articles for years. The more breadth I can find in the narratives I record, the more interesting it becomes.Now you may recognise Steve Williams' story if you’ve seen… and I hate to say it because I dislike this show with strong feelings, The Movies That Made Us. Yes Steve, is the guy who made the T-rex skeleton against the wishes of his superiors and made sure it was seen by producer Kathleen Kennedy in the pre-production days on Jurassic Park. This series of events changed the movie industry forever. You may say that this could have been to any number of VFX artists, and who knows how close other artists may have been to making a similar breakthrough, but this is firmly in the history of Steve Williams himself. He was that guy.Scott Leberecht has directed Jurassic Punk, a feature-length documentary all about Steve. Warts and all. Just a couple of weeks ago I emailed Steve after a kind friend sent his email address over. Almost immediately Steve called me on the phone. He’s great to talk with, very fun, very smart, we talked about UK sitcoms, Rugby and the fact that he’d travelled quite extensively, even to my home town… but he also carries this burden this story. The documentary is very open and honest about Steve’s issues with alcohol, his tempestuous career and seeks to shed more light on his impact on the VFX business.There are a few swears in this conversation and I also wanted to point out that Steve misunderstood one of my questions to Scott about showing his early documentary cuts to friends… regardless of that I had a fun chat with both of these gents.So here’s my conversation with Steve Williams (VFX artist) and Scott Leberecht (the director of the new documentary Jurassic Punk).https://www.jurassicpunkmovie.com/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

I managed to get in contact with ILM VFX legend Dennis Muren. All thanks to a friend who put in a good word for me. Thanks Mark. Dennis and I chatted a couple of weeks ago for about an hour and forty minutes. Rather than ask him the same old tired questions, I really wanted to talk to him about his approach and about some of the VFX sequences I’ve enjoyed the most and how he went about producing them. But of course I had to begin with how it all started for him. I hope you enjoy it. Please share.Here's the link to our "Not Your Average Joe" Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jamiebenning/not-your-average-joe-0This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

If you listened to episode 61 you’ll know it was part one of a two part conversation with Lucasfilm and ILM producer Jim Bloom. Jim is a great talker and worked on so many projects, most of them successful but he also talks openly and enthusiastically about some movies that didn’t make it into production and about some that did but didn’t do much at the box office.In this conversation we talk about his cameos as Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back, about the challenges running an effects house and the ups and downs of life as a producer, his views on Return of the Jedi director, the late Richard Marquand and his time working alongside Richard in Yuma and in the Redwood forests of California. We also talk about a little known film that Jim produced called Warning Sign, released in 1983, which he says had some hints towards how a future pandemic may play out. I’m going to track down a DVD or blu ray of that.I hope you enjoy it.Check out the following link if you're interested in supporting the Joe Alves documentary project on Kickstarter - https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/1d3f98a4-6576-46f0-9585-6c9fc45ab7e5/landingThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

So for this episode, number 61 I have ex ILM and Lucasfilm producer Jim Bloom. Jim started his career proper on Lucas’s American Graffiti and then navigated a very interesting path through numerous titles with some amazing directors. Some of those titles... The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Close Encounters, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers...I spoke with Jim just a couple of weeks ago over Zoom. We had a very long conversation so this will be a two parter. I warn you, we do go off on a few tangents, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Jim speaks so enthusiastically about his time in the industry.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

Back in December 2021 I spoke with author John Walsh about his book “Escape from New York - The Official Story of the Film”, that was episode 41. Well he’s been busily beavering away on a new book, “Dr Who and the Daleks - The Official Story of the films”. FilmS because there were of course who of them. Both starring Peter Cushing as The Doctor. I remember watching these on Channel 4 in the early 90’s and couldn’t quite believe they existed. They are odd, but also pretty great.So I spoke to John earlier this month, October 2022. There will also be a free video version of this interview on my youtube and vimeo channels. This is usually given only to patreons (on patreon.com/jamiebenning) of £3+.Links:- vimeo.com/filmumentaries- https://uk.bookshop.org/books/escape-from-new-york-the-official-story-of-the-film/9781789096217- https://titanbooks.com/70944-dr-who-the-daleks-the-official-story-of-the-films/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement

Today’s guest is a writer, a showrunner, podcaster and original props collector by the name of Ryan Condal. I mean he’s the writer and showrunner on the world's biggest show right now., House of the Dragon, on HBO. He's also co-host of "The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of" podcast with David Mandel.Ryan and I chatted in late July. I hope you enjoy out conversation.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5530733/advertisement