A Five Part Series from TTBOOK!

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Wisconsin Public Radio

TALKING PICTURES

Program 08-02-17-B

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Woody Allen is an Academy Award-winning film-maker and screenwriter. Allen is notoriously media-shy. Yet, Eric Lax has had regular conversations with him over the past 36 years. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll talk to Eric Lax about talking to Woody Allen. And Lax will share a few exclusive excerpts from his conversations with Allen. Also, we'll explore how independent screenplays work.

SEGMENT 1:

Eric Lax has had regular conversations with Woody Allen over the past 36 years which he's turned into a book called "Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies and Moviemaking." Lax talks with Steve Paulson about Woody Allen, and we hear excerpts from the conversations Lax had with Woody Allen, as well as clips from Allen's films.

SEGMENT 2:

Jeanine Basinger is the chair of film studies at Wesleyan University and the curator of the cinema archives there. She's written ten books on film including her latest, "The Star Machine." Basinger tells Anne Strainchamps how the movie studios manufactured stars from the 1930s to the 1950s. And we hear clips.

SEGMENT 3:

J.J. Murphy is a film-maker and film professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He's also the author of "Me and You and Memento and Fargo: How Independent Screenplays Work." Murphy tells Steve Paulson that from the 1980s to today, independent screenplays have used a distinct approach to cinematic storytelling. Also, Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt are the founders of "Lebowski Fest," an annual event that celebrates Joel and Ethan Coen's 1998 film, "The Big Lebowski." They're also the co-authors (with Bill Green and Ben Peskoe) of "I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You." They tell Jim Fleming how they went from selling t-shirts to running Lebowski Fest, what happens over the two day event, and what Joel and Ethan think. We hear clips, of course, and The Dude abides.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 08-02-17-B.

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Books:

Jeanine Basinger, The Star Machine (Alfred A. Knopf)
Eric Lax, Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies, and Moviemaking (Knopf)
J.J. Murphy, Me And You And Memento And Fargo: How Independent Screenplays Work (Continuum)
Bill Green, Ben Peskoe, Will Russell, & Scott Shuffitt, Foreword by Jeff Bridges, I'm A Lebowski, You're A Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, And What Have You (Bloomsbury)
J.M. Tyree & Ben Walters, "The Big LebowskI" (BFI Film Classics Series) (if you're looking to be even more of a Lebowksi achiever) http://www.ucpress.edu/books/bfi/pages/PROD0591.html

Film:

The Big Lebowski: Collector's Edition (Widescreen) (Universal)

Film Clips:

• -- Clip from "Annie Hall" (MGM Video)
• -- Clips from "Witness for the Prosecution" (MGM Video)
• -- Clip from "The Bad and the Beautiful" (Turner Home Entertainment)
• -- Clip from "Fargo (Special Edition)" (MGM Video)
• -- Clip from "Memento (Widescreen Two-Disc Limited Edition)" (Sony Pictures)
• -- Clips from "Adaptation" (Sony Pictures)
• -- Clips from "The Big Lebowski (Widescreen Collector's Edition) (Universal Studios)

Websites:

• -- Eric Lax/"Conversations with Woody Allen"
  http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375415333
  
• -- Jeanine Basinger
  http://www.wesleyan.edu/wesmaps/course9900/faculty/basinger588.htm
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanine_Basinger
  
• -- J.J.Murphy/"Me And You And Memento And Fargo: How Independent
  Screenplays Work"
  http://www.jjmurphyfilm.com/
  http://tinyurl.com/32dlso
  
• -- Will Russell & Scott Shuffitt/"I'm A Lebowski, You're A Lebowski"
  http://www.bloomsburyusa.com/catalogue/details2.asp?isbn=9781596912465&cf=0
  
• -- Lebowski Fest
  http://lebowskifest.com/

Music:

• -- "20th Century Fox Fanfare"/Composed by Alfred Newman
  from the CD, "The Home Video Album" (RCA)
• -- "Wild Man Blues"/Woody Allen and His New Orleans Jazz Band
  from the CD, "WIld Man Blues: Re-Recorded Selections from the Documentary and
  Additional Music from..." (RCA Victor)
  
• -- "Hooray for Hollywood (Cha-Cha)"/Don Swan & His Orchestra
  from the CD, "Ultra-Lounge, Volume 2: Mambo Fever" (Capitol)
  http://www.ultralounge.com/
  
• -- "Peter Gunn Suite"/Ray Anthony
  from the CD, "Ultra-Lounge, Volume 7: The Crime Scene" (Capitol)
  http://www.ultralounge.com/
  
• -- "Tumble Weed"/Piero Piccioni
  from the CD, "Minnesota Clay: Soundtrack" (Cam)

Distribution dates: week of 02/17/2008 - hour 2

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