Someone Else's Movie

With his new documentary Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It opening in New York on Friday, veteran director Paris Barclay is here to unpack Stanley Kramer’s 1967 hot-button love story Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner – a picture he knows inside and out. Your genial host Norm Wilner is here to take it in.

Actor and filmmaker Joan Chen has been racking up awards for her performance in Xiaodan He’s Montreal, My Beautiful; now that it’s opening across Canada on Friday, February 13th, she’s here to talk about how much she loves Julian Schnabel’s 2007 drama The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Your genial host Norm Wilner regrets that we only had half an hour for this one.

Writer-director Blake Winston Rice – whose latest short film Disc is playing this week in the Clemont-Ferrand Short Film Festival – is so enraptured by Chloe Zhao’s swooning historical drama Hamnet that he had to bring it onto the show. Your genial host Norm Wilner can see how that could happen.

Rising actor Emmanuel Kabongo – who both produces and stars in the new thriller Sway, opening in Toronto on Friday – counts Denzel Washington’s Oscar-winning performance in Training Day as one of the formative experiences of his young life, so Antoine Fuqua’s 2001 thriller was his first choice for the podcast. Your genial host Norm Wilner can see how that could happen.

With his first dramatic feature The Well opening across Canada on Friday, Oscar- and Emmy-nominated director Hubert Davis is here to talk about Top Gun, the 1986 blockbuster that defined commercial American moviemaking for a decade – and made Tom Cruise a movie star for a lot longer. Your genial host Norm Wilner has never felt the need for speed, but he can see the appeal.