Interviews
Hard-hitting interviews conducted by the ever-vigilant CinemaNerdz film devotees.
Interview with Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, the writers, directors, and stars of Hell Baby
Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon are perhaps best known to the public as Deputy Travis Junior (Garant) and Lieutenant Jim Dangle (Lennon) from the comedy series Reno 911! (2003-2009). But they’ve also been working steadily behind the camera as writers, having written numerous big budget screenplays including Night at the Museum and Balls of Fury (they also created Reno 911!). Altogether, their...[Read More]
Interview with Paul Feig and Joey McIntyre, the Director and co-star of The Heat
The new Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy comedy The Heat arrives in theaters this Friday. The film is a feminine take on the buddy cop genre, which isn’t all that odd considering the film’s director is Paul Feig, the man who made the female-driven comedy Bridesmaids in 2011. Feig was recently in town promoting The Heat, along with actor Joey McIntyre, who is perhaps best known as a member of Ne...[Read More]
Interview with Jim Burnstein, writer of Renaissance Man
Aside from screening several films throughout the weekend, the 2013 Cinetopia International Film Festival will also be featuring talks by several individuals involved with a variety of the screened films. One such guest is screenwriter Jim Burnstein. Burnstein has been working as a screenwriter for about twenty-five years and is responsible (or partly responsible) for writing such films as Renaiss...[Read More]
Interview with Russ Collins, Cinetopia International Film Festival
France has Cannes. Austin has SXSW. Utah has Sundance. And now, Southeastern Michigan has Cinetopia. Taking place June 6th – 9th in Ann Arbor, MI and at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), the second annual film festival promises expanded offerings, more films, and the chance to interact with many of the filmmakers responsible for the films being shown this year. As someone who has grown up lovin...[Read More]
Interview with David Chase, writer/director/producer of Not Fade Away
With all of David Chase’s monstrous success from creating, producing, and writing the disturbingly popular show The Sopranos, I expected to meet someone larger than life. With his first feature film, Not Fade Away, which he also wrote, produced, and directed being released across the nationwide, I am ready for David Chase to jump out of his skin at any given second. Instead, I find a quiet humble ...[Read More]
Interview with Sacha Gervasi, director of Hitchcock
Sacha Gervasi (pronounced Jur-VAH-zee), the director of the documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil, made his feature film directing debut this year with the film Hitchcock. He’s also made a name for himself as a successful screenwriter, penning such entries as the Steven Spielberg-helmed film The Terminal. Based on the Stephen Rebello book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Gervasi’s new f...[Read More]
Interview with Josh Peck, star of Red Dawn
Back in 2008, actor Josh Peck established himself as a talent to take notice of with his star turn alongside Sir Ben Kingsley in The Wackness, in which he played a troubled young man who sells pot from an ice cream pushcart. This year, he’s back in the action film Red Dawn – a remake of the much-adored film from 1984 about a fictional Russian invasion and occupation of the United States and the sm...[Read More]
Interview with RZA, writer/director/star of The Man with the Iron Fists
“I said to [Quentin] Tarantino, I want to do what you do.” That is what the acclaimed music producer and leader of the Wu-Tang Clan turned director RZA said when asked how his new project movie The Man with the Iron Fists came to be. RZA (aka, Robert Diggs) studied Tarantino for two years on set to learn from the man he affectionately refers to as the “Godfather” of the sam...[Read More]
Interview with Craig Atkinson, Co-producer/Cinematographer of Detropia
The next time you’re out of town let the locals know you’re from Detroit. You’ll get sympathetic remarks from people who think it’s such a “shame” what’s happening in the city. I’d argue most people aren’t well educated about the conditions that have led to the city’s decline, however. Detropia, a documentary currently being screened in select theate...[Read More]
Interview with Jason Biggs and Eddie Kaye Thomas, stars of American Reunion
Along with a few other members of the press, I had the great pleasure of interviewing the stars of the new comedy American Reunion, Jason Biggs and Eddie Kaye Thomas on March 22, 2012. While the pair was in town to promote the newest entry in the American Pie series, the conversation was more like having drinks with old friends than a structured interview. As we started out with a great deal of la...[Read More]
Interview with Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, writers/directors of American Reunion
On March 22, 2012, I, along with other members of the press, had the opportunity to interview the writers/directors of the upcoming movie American Reunion, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Scholssberg. The two are best known for their work with the Harold and Kumar series. This was both a lively conversation, and candid in regard to the nature of the American Pie franchise. Both Jon and Hayden proved to be ...[Read More]
Interview with Carl Colby, director of The Man Nobody Knew
Award-winning filmmaker Carl Colby’s latest documentary, The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby, is a personal quest to understand who his father really was. I interviewed Carl via telephone on Wednesday, December 7, 2011. He was gracious with his time and spoke openly and candidly about the film and his father. What follows is an edited version of our conversatio...[Read More]