Go offline with the Player FM app!
TEASER - 49: Being There (with Jacob Bacharach)
Manage episode 300773008 series 2832298
Access the entire 93 minute episode (and additional bonus episodes) by becoming a patron of Junk Filter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55330993
Author Jacob Bacharach returns to the pod to discuss Hal Ashby’s evergreen social satire Being There (1979), adapted from the novel by Jerzy Kosinski. featuring Peter Sellers in his greatest performance as Chance, a simple-minded gardener raised by television who becomes a respected political thinker in Washington through sheer circumstance, luck and misunderstanding.
Along the way we discuss the amazing run of great films Hal Ashby made through the 1970s, Being There’s (mostly) successful themes of racial unfairness, media saturation and sexual dysfunction in Washington, and how this film was used as a somewhat tired metaphor during the Trump era to “explain” his Presidency.
Plus we discuss the flawed 2004 HBO movie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers starring Geoffrey Rush, which includes a depiction of the making of Being There and in so doing reveals the perils of a great actor attempting to play a great actor... with a sidebar about our mutual enjoyment of Predator 2 (by the same director!)
Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Karen Geier, Will Sloan, Sooz Kempner and Zach Vasquez. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter
182 episodes
Manage episode 300773008 series 2832298
Access the entire 93 minute episode (and additional bonus episodes) by becoming a patron of Junk Filter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55330993
Author Jacob Bacharach returns to the pod to discuss Hal Ashby’s evergreen social satire Being There (1979), adapted from the novel by Jerzy Kosinski. featuring Peter Sellers in his greatest performance as Chance, a simple-minded gardener raised by television who becomes a respected political thinker in Washington through sheer circumstance, luck and misunderstanding.
Along the way we discuss the amazing run of great films Hal Ashby made through the 1970s, Being There’s (mostly) successful themes of racial unfairness, media saturation and sexual dysfunction in Washington, and how this film was used as a somewhat tired metaphor during the Trump era to “explain” his Presidency.
Plus we discuss the flawed 2004 HBO movie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers starring Geoffrey Rush, which includes a depiction of the making of Being There and in so doing reveals the perils of a great actor attempting to play a great actor... with a sidebar about our mutual enjoyment of Predator 2 (by the same director!)
Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Karen Geier, Will Sloan, Sooz Kempner and Zach Vasquez. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter
182 episodes
All episodes
×Welcome to Player FM!
Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.