#619 - Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Lighton on Pillion

This week we’re excited to present a conversation with Paul Thomas Anderson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall, and Chase Infiniti as they discuss their hit film One Battle After Another, which was recently presented on 70mm at our Walter Reade Theater. This conversation was moderated by NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim. In One Battle After Another, washed-up revolutionary Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). When his evil nemesis resurfaces after 16 years and Bob’s daughter goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her, father and daughter both battling the consequences of his past. Paul Thomas Anderson’s most viscerally thrilling film to date is a total blast, an epic, comic adventure of the weird new America that spans years and stretches from across the treacherous rolling-hill highways of the southwest and beyond. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, but with a flavor and cinematic rush that’s pure PTA, One Battle After Another is an exhilarating, ultimately moving portrait of undying commitment to family amidst the mania of our contemporary world One Battle After Another is now in theaters.

Welcome to the final edition of the daily 63rd New York Film Festival podcast. On today’s edition, Park Chan-wook and Lee Byung Hun join NYFF selection committee member Justin Chang to discuss No Other Choice. In his diabolical new thriller, director Park crafts a dark fable about the cutthroat nature of contemporary work culture, starring Lee Byung Hun as a husband and father who takes violent action after being laid off. The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex.

Director Jafar Panahi returned to the New York Film Festival for the first time in 25 years to present the Main Slate selection It Was Just an Accident, his first film since his 2022 imprisonment. NYFF was honored to invite Panahi for special conversation with none other than Martin Scorsese. The legendary filmmakers discussed Panahi's childhood, early days of filmmaking, his relationship with Abbas Kiarostami, the rebellious nature of his work, his 2025 Palme d’Or winner, and much more. Thank you to interpreter Sheida Dayani. It Was Just An Accident opens at Film at Lincoln Center on October 15 with Panahi in person. The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex.

Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, and Christine Ebersole join NYFF selection committee member Florence Almozini to discuss this year’s Closing Night selection, Is This Thing On? Will Arnett and Laura Dern play a couple whose separation leads to unpredictable midlife self-reckonings, most dramatically in Alex’s wild career pivot to become a confessional stand-up comic. Director Bradley Cooper’s beautifully lived-in third feature is both lacerating and sweet-souled, funny and tender. The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex.

Claire Denis, Isaach de Bankolé, Matt Dillon, and Tom Blyth discuss The Fence with NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim at the 63rd New York Film Festival. In Claire Denis’s absorbing and intimate film, set at a white-run construction site in West Africa, Albouny (Isaach de Bankolé) demands the return of his brother’s body, killed in a mysterious work accident, but the site’s foreman (Matt Dillon) is clearly hiding the truth. The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex.

Ben Stiller and Amy Stiller discuss Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost with NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim at the 63rd New York Film Festival. In this funny, moving documentary from director Ben Stiller—the most personal film of his career—he tells the story of his parents: the comedy duo of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, who were a beloved mainstay of 1960s and ’70s American culture. The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex.

Harry Lighton and Alexander Skarsgård discuss Pillion with NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim at the 63rd New York Film Festival. In his unorthodox queer romance, Harry Lighton crafts a film about a sadomasochistic relationship that is both transgressive and disarming, starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård in fearless performances as a mild young man and his leather-clad dom lover. The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex.

Welcome to the daily 63rd New York Film Festival podcast. Today we’re featuring two conversations with Richard Linklater and the teams of his two NYFF selections. First, NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim moderates a conversation with Linklater and Blue Moon’s screenwriter Robert Kaplow, as well asd its stars Ethan Hawke, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott, followed by a conversation with Linklater and Nouvelle Vague’s Zoey Deutch, Guillaume Marbeck, Aubry Dullin, and Michèle Pétin, moderated by NYFF programmer Florence Almozini. Blue Moon is a portrait of one crucial night in the melancholy life of legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart (played by Ethan Hawke, in a tour de force performance). The film is a surprising yet entirely fitting addition to the Richard Linklater canon. And the spirit of cinematic revolution is alive and well in Linklater’s affectionate and wildly entertaining passion project, Nouvelle Vague, which transports the viewer back to a creative landmark: the 1959 making of Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard. Nouvelle Vague opens at Film at Lincoln Center on October 31st, with the first week of screenings presented on 35mm. Tickets are on sale now. The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex. Get tickets at filmlinc.org.

Mary Bronstein, Rose Byrne, Conan O'Brien, and Christian Slater discuss If I'd Had Legs I'd Kick You with Film Comment editor and NYFF Talks programmer Devika Girish at the 63rd New York Film Festival. The nightmarish stresses of motherhood and work are pushed to their absurdist extremes in Mary Bronstein’s stellar piece of cinematic anxiety, starring a bravura Rose Byrne (Berlinale Silver Bear winner) as a woman on the verge of something far beyond a nervous breakdown. The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex.

Welcome to the daily 63rd New York Film Festival podcast. On today’s edition, Joachim Trier, Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, and Eskil Vogt join NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim to discuss Sentimental Value. In Joachim Trier’s Cannes Grand Prix–winning follow-up to The Worst Person in the World, Renate Reinsve burrows to the steely core of an acclaimed stage actress reconnecting with her estranged movie director father (played by Stellan Skarsgård). The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex. Get tickets at filmlinc.org Enjoy this conversation with Joachim Trier and the cast of Sentimental Value.