Altmania

Songwriter (1984) w/ Chris Woodward

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be podcasters. It's another edition of Altmania: Friends of Bob, continuing right along in our Alan Rudolph series. This time we're joined again by a returning champion, our pal from Podside Picnic, Chris Woodward. We get into this interesting leap in budget for ol' Rudolph, working alongside Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson in a fun little film about what it means to make art in the US of A. What does it mean to be an artist, to get tied up in the financial end of the music biz, and to avoid all those fat gangsters in suits? Well, you'll just have to tune in to find that out now won't you. Y'all come back now, ya hear?Follow Chris Woodward:https://twitter.com/cww_0https://www.patreon.com/PodsidePicnicPodside PicnicEste's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

Choose Me (1984) w/ Esmé Holden

Choose me!! That's what this episode is telling you in your feed right now, press play, press the little button and listen to me!! We're back from a short break, joined by our friend Esmé Holden, a wonderful film writer and cool person all around to discuss Alan Rudolph's biggest independent film CHOOSE ME. We get into the film's many playful depictions genre, artifice, and mood; its many wonderful characters and how they intermingle within the sparse Rudolphian spaces. And unfortunately about halfway through we also learn about the passing of David Lynch, which was a real bummer, and we got it aaaall on tape! Listen in, and enjoy this episode because it's a "good one".Follow Esmé Holden:https://twitter.com/esmesaysshttps://letterboxd.com/esmepartii/Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973): That Long Black Cloud is Comin’ Downmentioned in the episodeEste's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

UNLOCKED: The Late Show (1977)

We're taking a short break for some personal stuff, but for now, enjoy this unlocked episode from our Patreon feed. If you like what you hear, consider subscribing for just $5/month, and receive 2 monthly bonus episodes----------------------------------------It's our final Lion's Gate production this episode (Remember My Name is this week so that's the other one we're doing lol). This time it's THE LATE SHOW written/directed by ROBERT BENTON - we've got Lily Tomlin and Art Carney as a couple of LA wackos trying to solve a caper. It's a ton of fun; we're really in the chit-chat joke zone on this episode so come join us for some fun talk on Altman's sound technology, edible underwear, Ryan's oven, and perhaps a special sneak peek on something cool that we're gonna be doing soon. It's all here on ALTMANIA PREMIUM.Articles Mentioned:A True Pioneer in Recording Overlapping Dialogue - CinemontageInterview With Robert Altman - Roger EbertThe Late Show - AFI catalog, 1893 - 1993Robert Altman: Jumping Off the Cliff, a biography of the great American director by Patrick McGilliganRobert Benton: Character Determines Action - GreenCine

Endangered Species (1982) w/ Peter Raleigh

Don't have a cow, man - it's another episode of Altmania right on schedule. We're joined by a returning favorite, a writer we both admire, Peter Raleigh! He steps into the pen with us to check out Alan Rudolph's second film with Zalman King (happy Zalmanuary to those that celebrate). It's the horror sci-fi eco-thriller ENDANGERED SPECIES - we get into X-Files talk, Twin Peaks, 1982 horror, cattle mutilations, aliens, the CIA, other government ops, Gary Larson, Cow Tools, Robert Urich being a weird sex freak in the movie. So much to enjoy on this episode, and the movie is pretty cool, too!HERE'S A LINK to a nice version you can watch...  Follow Peter Raleigh:twitter.com/PetreRaleighpeterraleigh.substack.com/Este's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

Roadie (1980)

It's time to kick out the mother-loafing jams because we're getting into 2025 with ROADIE. A movie where Meat Loaf plays a redneck macgyver that goes around fixing other band's equipment. Oh and Art Carney eats a bunch of ribs with sauce all over his face. There's other stuff in here too, we talk about late '70s rock, Meat Loaf's music, his abilities as a leading man, and what Alan Rudolph was doing on his first big studio picture. All that and sooo much more on Altmania, the year of Rudolph!!
Este's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

A Conversation with Richard Baskin

We were lucky enough to sit down for an interview with the composer of Nashville, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, Welcome to LA, RICHARD BASKIN - who shared stories with us from throughout his career; starting out as a singer-songwriter in LA, meeting Altman and working on all of the music of Nashville, his experiences with Keith Carradine, Ronee Blakely, Gwen Welles, Henry Gibson. This leads up to Buffalo Bill and the Indians, working at the Lion's Gate Production studios, and right into Alan Rudolph's WELCOME TO LA. We discuss being a part of making these two films that are centered around his music, how both directors worked on massively different scales, and we close out on some general conversation on his work, Altman and Rudolph's style of work, etc. 
Thank you so much again to Mr. Baskin for taking some time during the holidays to chat with us, and making our show feel legit, we hope to do more interviews with Altman / Rudolph, even PTA collaborators if we can. This was so much fun and thank you to our listeners who helped us all year and keep the show alive through Patreon or just listening on the main feed! You're all awesome, we hope to have a great 2025. Este's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

Remember My Name (1978) w/ Valerie Keaton

It's our final episode of 2024 (special bonus episode next week) and we're ending it on Rudolph's second film under his renewed directorial vision. Joining us this time is Altmania third timer Valerie, who helps us examine this film following Geraldine Chaplin as an ex-con putting her life and image back together, while secretly tormenting Anthony Perkins’ suburban life - perhaps theres more at play? So much to get into this episode, and we were all very excited for this one, hope you all enjoy it.
Follow Valerie:twitter.com/StealingValeriestealingvalerie.bsky.socialEste's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

Welcome to LA (1976)

This is like our third intro episode in the Rudolph series, but this time we're really getting started. It's his first big swing, setting the precedent for a unique vision of his own, it's WELCOME TO LA. We go over some stuff on Nashville, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, this time focusing on Rudolph's hand in those productions. We talk about Lion's Gate, Rudolph influencing Altman, the responses that this film has. Overall, we give this one a ton of praise for its style, the way it uses the medium of film, conventions of genre, and strange camera spiking throughout to evoke a mood that we've never really seen before - but also have seen throughout the history of film. It's time to lock in because we are in full on Rudolph mode.
Special thank you to Richard Baskin for communicating with us, we don't mention in this episode, but he helped us with some of the music in the edit, you might see something else related to him soon. Special thanks as well to Dan Sallitt, who wrote so much wonderful stuff on Rudolph - and to Jason Miller for being our guide through these films, as well as additional readings.
Este's NEW Website:https://estebannoel.com/
Dan Sallitt's writing:https://sallitt.blogspot.com/2016/08/alan-rudolph-1985.htmlhttps://sallitt.blogspot.com/2022/01/alan-rudolph-only-true-romantic-left-in.html
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Terror Circus (1973) w/ Jason Miller

Terror Circus, I didn't know we were watching C-SPAN this episode! We're joined by our resident Alan Rudolph scholar and a wonderful mind in this world we know - it's Jason Miller. We spend maybe 33% of this episode discussing Terror Circus, and 66% on what we'll be looking forward to once we begin Rudolph's legit filmography. We talk about the overly formal trends of modern films, the eschewing of imagination, Rudolph's influences, his work with Robert Altman, and some of his approaches to directing. Jason also gets us really excited about EQUINOX, which looks so sick. There's also a discussion about Terror Circus in here too, a movie Alan Rudolph directed about 1 day in advance. Thanks everybody
 
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Premonition (1972)

We're BACK, it's only been one week but we're BACK. This time we're introducing our new guy, Alan Rudolph. We read about his dad's career in Hollywood, life growing up in LA, majoring as an accountant at UCLA, joining the DGA program and becoming an assistant director, his story of meeting Bob, and then we get into his very first film, PREMONITION. It's a weird hippie horror film about evil red flowers and smoking too much dope, with a crazy soundtrack and shot by the guy that went on to do Mishima. Insane stuff!! We're happy to be back though and hope you're excited to get into some great movies. HERE'S A LINK to today's movie
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PTA Finale (for now)

Well folks, it’s time to close the old book on Paul - or at least until he puts out a new movie. We take a final look back over this little series, read some cool PTA news, talk a little bit of The Master, read some Punch-Drunk Love rotten tomatoes reviews, pay a tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman, and read some finely curated critic reviews. Then we bring back something all the fans have been wanting, begging for every single episode, THE BOB AWARDS. We hand out some nice new awards, as well as some old categories you may remember. We close out introducing our next subject, the great ALAN RUDOLPH - very close to home for us. 
Articles mentioned:
https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2024/11/14/more-clues-surface-about-paul-thomas-andersons-the-battle-of-baktan-cross
https://www.vulture.com/article/emily-watson-dune-prophecy-small-things-like-these-interview.html
Thank you to all our new and old listeners, the show had a little jump, and we hope to keep that momentum up into next year. You’re gonna want to stick with us. 
And to our guests (new and old) - it was such a treat to have you all on for a truly spectacular, guest packed look at PTA. 
Reilly, Chris Woodward, Jordan Fish, Peter Raleigh, Jake Serwin / Ian Rhine, CJ, Brie, Lydia. THANK YOU!!
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Licorice Pizza (2021) w/ Lydia

Well, we've already reached the end of our PTA mini-series! This week we're joined by Ryan's partner and Altmania social media manager Lydia, as we discuss PTA's most recent film. We recorded this episode once already and the audio got messed up, so you all get to hear the second try in all of its glory. It turned out to be a much looser and more fun episode as we discuss burnt pizzas, being aimless 20-somethings, PTA's characters and their relationships, his "synthesis" era and solidifying himself as a Hollywood Elder Statesman. We also talk about Jon Peters, Sean Penn, being the son of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, all the strange and wacky faces that show up in this film. Thank you everyone who's followed us through this series, we'll come back and wrap it up with a little finale - and welcoming in our next director that we're gonna be focusing on for a little while. 
 
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