Celebrating Women in Film with Vanguard

This episode is brought to you with Vanguard, whose Managed ISA service provides a smart way to invest with confidence, giving you a better chance of investment success.    It’s an International Women’s Day special, and we’ll be celebrating women in film by looking back at some of our favourite interviews with women filmmakers who have joined us on the Take. We’ve got Past Lives director Celine Song, editing legend and pioneer Thelma Schoonmaker, megastar actor-turned-director, Kate Winslet, and our live show guest Nia DaCosta on directing 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Plus we’ll hear from our Take guest booker Heather Dempsey about the importance of championing female filmmakers, and what barriers we need to keep pushing.   If you’ve been putting off sorting your ISA, or you’re new to investing and don’t know where to start, Vanguard’s Managed ISA might be a good fit. Essentially, it’s a Stocks and Shares ISA but managed by Vanguard experts. They’llhelp you work out your risk appetite, match you to an investment plan that’s right for you, and then they’ll do the rest. So, you can focus on the things you’d rather be doing… like listening to more of the Take, of course.     You can find out more at:  https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/stocks-shares-isa/we-do-it-for-you?cmpgn=DP0126PBAMISA01UKEN0082     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Mark actually went to the BAFTAs this year IRL—and this week’s Take kicks off with a rundown of the winners and all the big moments of the ceremony, including of course some reflections on its controversy from Mark and Simon and from your correspondence. In celebration of Pixar’s 40th anniversary, Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter is our special guest this week. As the creative force behind some of Pixar’s most beloved films—including Up, Monsters Inc. and Inside Out, he joins Simon and Mark to celebrate the studio’s milestone birthday, and to look ahead to the release of their brand-new adventure, Hoppers. Featuring reflections on four decades of storytelling, a peek behind the animation curtain, and the secrets to making grown adults crumple into sobbing wrecks (in a good way). Mark’s Hoppers review is still to come next week—but first it’s another packed show with the Good Doctors’ verdicts on all the biggest big screen releases of this week. First up, the latest instalment in a horror institution, Scream 7, where the body count rises and we’re once again promised that this really is the last one of these films (bet it isn’t though). Remember what Mark thought of the last one? Well, you’re in for a ranty treat... Then there’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert—so anyone who knows how Mark feels about Elvis will know we’re in for a ravey treat. Plus The Testament of Ann Lee, a Shaker musical exploring faith, fervour, and ecstatic song starring Amanda Seyfried. You can hear her and director Mona Fastvold on last week’s show too. Finally, Sirât—the nerve-jangling desert-set tale from Oliver Laxe that is blowing minds left right and centre. Mark throws his hat into the ring. Plus all the usual delights of the Take: the box office top 10, the unpredictable and unbridled joy of the Laughter Lift, and your always-excellent correspondence. Thanks for listening! Timecodes 00:00:00 Show starts 00:15:21 Scream 7 review 00:24:54 Box Office Top 10 00:38:38 Pete Docter interview 00:56:49 The Testament of Ann Lee review 01:07:38 Laughter Lift 01:10:16 EPiC review 01:21:23 Sirât review You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Amanda Seyfried is our special guest this week. She’s starred in Mean Girls, The Housemaid and Mamma Mia!, but she’s never been a Mancunian... until now. She joins Simon alongside writer-director Mona Fastvold to talk about The Testament of Ann Lee, in which Seyfried stars as the titular leader of the Shakers. You might not have heard of her and the 18th century radical religious sect she founded—and we promise you’ve definitely never seen a musical about her. Seyfried talks about her struggle to crack a Manchester accent for the role, never mind all that ecstatic song and dance—and we hear from Fastvold about he old-school filmmaking techniques that helped her and co-writer husband Brady Corbet bring this unique story to the screen on shoestring budget. Mark will review The Testament of Ann Lee next week, but we’ve got four more movie reviews for you in the meantime—it's a packed show! First, The Secret Agent, where paranoia and deception collide as an ex-academic gets caught up in South American political turmoil. Then there’s If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, a darkly comic tale of maternal burnout pushed to surreal extremes. We also have Wasteman—a gritty prison drama starring Rye Lane’s David Jonsson. And finally, Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die, a genre-bending evil-tech adventure starring Sam Rockwell. Plus all the usual delights: the box office top 10, the unpredictable joy of the Laughter Lift, and your tip-top correspondence. Don’t miss it. Timecodes 00:00:00 Show starts 00:10:09 The Secret Agent review 00:22:02 Box Office Top 10 00:39:24 Mona Fastvold and Amanda Seyfried interview 01:01:24 If I Had Legs I’d Kick You review 01:07:35 Laughter Lift 01:12:09 Wasteman review 01:19:13 Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die review You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Bodices will be ripped in this week’s Take, because we’re talking Wuthering Heights. Emerald Fennell heads to the wild and windy moors for a cinematic storm of obsession, repression, lots of rain and, well… let’s just say nobody’s getting this worked up about the weather alone. Controversially starring Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff and Margot Robbie as Catherine, it’s already dividing the critics, so where does Mark stand? The lascivious literary adaptation’s director is our guest this week. She joins Simon to talk about the story’s sensuality, toxicity, and how much glaring, breathing, and storm-lashed longing is too much glaring, breathing, and storm-lashed longing? She tells us how it felt to realise her teenage dream of bringing her vision for this classic to the screen, and why its tale of love, revenge, and emotional chaos still gets pulses racing. Plus reviews of three more of the week’s cinematic offerings. There’s Crime 101, Bart Layton’s sleek thriller pairing Chris Hemsworth’s precision jewel thief with Mark Ruffalo’s relentlessly pursuing detective, and proving once again that nobody in LA should ever relax. Whistle brings supernatural horror and the world’s worst extracurricular activity, as students discover that cursed ancient Aztec artefacts are best left well alone. And Little Amélie offers something altogether gentler — an animated adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s autobiographical story of childhood, identity, and wonder. All this, plus the box office top 10, a trip to the dizziest heights of humour in the Laughter Lift, and the customary digressions and delights of another top Take. 00:00:00 Show starts 00:08:53 Crime 101 review 00:18:33 Box Office Top 10 00:32:14 Emerald Fennell interview 00:46:27 Wuthering Heights review 01:00:06 Laughter Lift 01:03:11 Little Amelie review 01:08:49 Whistle review You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello hello, Take listeners!A quick heads‑up: if you’re not yet part of our brilliant Patreon community, you’re missing out on an entire extra episode every single week.   Take 2 is where Mark & Simon stretch out, go deeper, get sillier, and answer the questions we simply can’t squeeze into the main show. And that’s just the start. Our Patreon subscribers also get polls, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, newsletters, video versions of Take 2, and Take Ultra — our fortnightly extra video and audio show packed with even more of the good stuff. Here’s a free taste of this week’s Take 2. If you enjoy it, come join us on Patreon — you’ll instantly unlock a whole world of bonus content and become part of something genuinely special.   Head over to Patreon for more. And here's a code to get 90% off your first month: T90. Just add it at checkout. Join Mark and Simon here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/kermodeandmayo/membership   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. It’s the take you’ve all been waiting for... Mark’s Melania review. Did he enjoy this, er, ‘documentary’ about the FLOTUS? Obviously not. Will you enjoy listening to him slate it? We think so. Buckle up. Our guest this week is Riz Ahmed—actor, musician, writer and all-round creative force—joining Simon to talk about his bold new film adaptation of Hamlet. Reimagining Shakespeare’s most introspective tragedy for the screen, Ahmed takes on the iconic role of the Prince of Denmark in a version that fuses classic text with contemporary urgency. He tells Simon what it means to wrestle with “to be or not to be” in the modern world. Mark also reviews Hamlet, plus three more of this week’s notable releases. There’s Send Help, Sam Raimi’s survival thriller that strands its characters in a fight against both nature and themselves; The Chronology of Water, a visceral adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir, and Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut; and It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, a documentary portrait of the elusive, mythic musician whose influence still reverberates decades on. All this, plus the box office top 10, the lofty pleasures of the Laughter Lift, and the usual conversational twists, turns, and small-hill-pedantry you’ve come to expect. Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Send Help review - 08:53 ( clip: 11:27 – 12:18 Box Office Top 10 - 00:15:56 Melania review - 00:18:46 (clip 00:19:10 - 00:19:58) Riz Ahmed interview - 00:38:50 (film clip Universal 00:39:16 - 00:40:02) Hamlet review - 00:55:07 Laughter Lift - 01:02:50 Chronology of Water review - 01:04:46 (clip 01:05:41 - 01:06:32) It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley 01:11:19 (clip 01:11:56 - 01:12:44) You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Our guests this week are two comedy giants: star of Arrested Development, 30 Rock and BoJack Horseman, Will Arnett—and mega-successful scouse standup John Bishop. It’s Bishop’s unlikely comedy origin story that inspired Is This Thing On?, the new Hollywood feelgood blockbuster directed by Bradley Cooper. In it, Arnett plays a divorced dad who puts his name down for an open mic at a bar just to save the entry fee—then accidentally catches the comedy bug. As he secretly follows his new standup dreams, can comedy save his sanity—and maybe even his marriage? Find out what Mark makes of it, plus two more of this week’s big screen releases. First up its Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater’s homage to the French new wave film movement of the 1960s. Linklater’s film dramatises the making of one of its essential movies, Jean Luc Godard’s Breathless. And from uber-cool Parisians murderous monkey’s, we’ll be reviewing Primate too: a tongue in cheek horror where a pet chimp goes bad. The boys are here in the studio IRL this week, so you’ll be getting all of this, plus the box office top 10 and the banterous heights of the laughter lift, beamed right at you from the room where movie-reviewing magic happens. Keep it real, Vanguardistas and all-comers! Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Nouvelle Vague review - 10:32 Box Office Top 10 - 23:51 Will Arnett and John Bishop interview - 39:19 Is This Thing On? review 56:11 Laughter Lift - 01:03:04 Primate review - 01:07:20 You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Claire Foy is our special guest this week—and we promise that’s not just because her dad keeps writing in to the show... It’s also because she’s starring in H is For Hawk, out in cinemas this week. She plays Helen, who decides to keep and train a notoriously difficult goshawk as a means of coming to terms with the death of her father (played by Brendan Gleeson). Claire chats to Simon about bringing this bestselling memoir to the screen and learning to falcon with one of these ‘perfectly evolved psychopaths’ for real. Mark reviews H is for Hawk, plus three more fresh film releases—it's a packed show! First, Saipan—the football drama starring Éanna Hardwicke as Roy Keane and Steve Coogan as Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, which charts their legendary bust-up ahead of the 2002 world cup. From Korean cinema superstar Park Chan-wook we’ve got No Other Choice, a black comedy about a white-collar worker who turns lethal after being laid off. And last but certainly not least we’ve got even more Josh O’Connor and more Paul Mescal (surely those two lads deserve a holiday?) in The History of Sound—a gay romance between two student musicians in WW1 era America. Plus all the cinema action from the box office top 10, the endless hilarity of the laughter lift, and your tip top correspondence. Don’t miss it! Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Saipan review 08:36 Box Office Top 10 - 18:43 Claire Foy interview – 42:09 H is For Hawk review 58:08 Laughter Lift - 01:07:47 The History of Sound review 1:16:01 No Other Choice review 1:10:54 You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. The chilling on screen (but charming IRL) Jack O’Connell joins us on the Take this week to talk 28 Years Later: the Bone Temple. Directed by Nia DaCosta, who loyal listeners may remember from our live Christmas Extravaganza, it’s the second installment in a sequel trilogy to Danny Boyle’s zombie smash hit. Jack talks tracksuits, tiaras and being the most villainous actor of the past year—plus lots more on-set insights from the horror-thriller that’s got you all talking. Don;t miss this one! Mark reviews Bone Temple too, plus more of this week’s fresh new films. First up, Rental Family—which sees Brendan Fraser’s Philip join a Japanese agency providing fake ‘family for hire’ for its clients’ social and companionship needs. Plus a tougher but important watch, The Voice of Hind Rajab, which replays the tragic death of six-year-old Hind Rajab—killed in Gaza in January 2024—based on real audio of her final recorded calls to the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the efforts of its volunteers to save her life. Plus all the usual top quality nonsense on all things film-related and beyond, and your emergency mails of course. Thanks for listening! Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Rental Family review 09:55 Box Office Top 10 - 17:23 Jack O’Connell interview - 44:30 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple review 59:15 Laughter Lift - 1:15:14 The Voice of Hind Rajab review You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. It’s a New Year’s correspondence special this week on the Take. Simon and Mark will be breaking open our bursting postbag and cracking into your excellent emergency mails from across the holiday period. We’ll be hearing your top takes on the films that made your festive breaks—and one repentant confession from the poor soul who made the mistake of watching The Lighthouse with their granny... We’ve got reviews of the freshest films from 2026’s first week too. First up it’s Becoming Victoria Wood, a documentary looking for the true personality behind the comedy persona of the national treasure. Plus you’ll hear Mark’s verdict on the new British boxing drama GIANT—which follows the true story of ring star Naseem Hamed (Amir El-Masry) and his fractious relationship with trainer Brendan Ingle, played by Pierce Brosnan. Not forgetting the much-anticipated Hamnet—the Chloé Zhao-directed biopic of William Shakespeare and his family during a period of personal turmoil and tragedy—based on Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel. It’s already tipped for awards success—especially for lead performances by Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal—but do the Good Doctors believe the hype? Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Becoming Victoria Wood review – 15:46 BO10 – 31:11 Hamnet review – 55:25 Laughter Lift – 1:10:25 GIANT review – 1:13:51 You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices