31. Michael Duignan (The Paragon) - My Movie DNA

In this bonus episode, Johnny is joined by GUT INSTINCT director Doug Dillaman and the film's star Sarah Watt for a post-film Q&A. This conversation was recorded live on stage at the Hollywood Avondale in late-November of 2024. As such the audio is rough and ready, until we can persuade Peter Jackson to use his software to clean it up. GUT INSTINCT is one of the gems of New Zealand moviemaking in 2024. Trust your gut and seek it out! Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support. You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].

In this bonus episode, Johnny is joined by his good friend and fellow podcaster Jasher Drake to talk all things James Bond. This is the first of three bonus episodes, and this episode explores the films of Sean Connery and George Lazenby. Johnny and Jasher talk about overused Bond cars and underused Bond gadgets, they talk about all the important things like which Bond Girl has the biggest secret weapons, and Johnny accidentally implicates the wrong Hollywood actor in a real-life unsolved murder.  This conversation was recorded online in mid-November of 2024. Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support. You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].

In episode 34, Johnny talks to director, editor, writer and podcaster Doug Dillaman. Doug’s second feature film GUT INSTINCT is currently infecting New Zealand cinemas, fresh from its world premiere at the Terror-Fi film festival.  GUT INSTINCT is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction film about an alien microbe that invades earth, presented as a public information film, and consisting entirely of archival footage from across the decades. It’s something that should be experienced in a cinema, and it can’t be recommend enough.  As well as a behind the scenes look at the making of GUT INSTINCT, their chat includes Doug’s highlights from the recent Terror-Fi film festival, including the best time-travel film Johnny's seen in a long time, they take a trip from classic Westerns, to psychedelic horror, to the urban jungle of New York City in the 1970s, and they discuss the link between Margaret Qualley and the Imperial Starfleet from Star Wars.  This conversation was recorded face to face in early November of 2024. Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support. You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].

In episode 33, Johnny talks to New Zealand genre-movie fan and podcaster Steve Skeet, one third of the ⁠Ludicrously Specific⁠ podcast. You may remember one of Skeet’s co-hosts Darren Waugh visited My Movie DNA all the way back in episode 18. Johnny's chat with Skeets covers a hush-hush talk about the Hollywood Avondale’s 24-Hour Movie Marathon - now in its 25th year - which they both attended recently, they discuss the lasting impact of directors like John Carpenter, James Cameron and George Miller on genre cinema, and they talk about the holy trinity of bad movies, bad directors…and bad accents. This conversation was recorded face to face in late October of 2024. Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support. You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].

In episode 32, Johnny talks to New Zealand composer and acoustician Reuben Jelleyman.
 Reuben popped up on Johnny's radar a couple of months back at a screening of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner at the Hollywood Avondale, and before the film, Reuben provided a musical performance up on stage that just blew everyone away.  Not surprisingly their chat covers Reuben's rendition of selections from the iconic Vangelis soundtrack score, they discuss the New Zealand International Film Festival, which took place recently in Auckland, and they talk about the pressures of being a composer and a cinephile in 2024 when you’re not really a fan of either Christopher Nolan or Hans Zimmer. This conversation was recorded face to face in late August of 2024. Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support.
 You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].

In episode 31, Johnny talks to New Zealand director Michael Duignan.
 Michael’s debut feature - The Paragon - premiered last year at the New Zealand International Film Festival, and blew audiences away.  Made for a budget of just $25,000 NZD - the dictionary definition of making something ‘off the smell of an oily rag’ - The Paragon is a sci-fi-comedy that punches well above its weight. You can see the film in theatres in five American cities - L.A., New York, Austin, Chicago and Portland - from the 6th of September 2024, or online from Music Box films, and AroVision in New Zealand.  Not surprisingly Johnny and Michael's talk covers the trials and tribulations of making a low-budget psychedelic fantasy film in New Zealand, they discuss the work of Michael Mann - always a favourite subject - and his lasting impact on cinema, and they take a spoiler-filled look at the latest Alien film, Alien Romulus.  This conversation was recorded face to face in late August of 2024. We recorded in the garden of Michael’s house - AKA the Paragon house - and so there’s a lovely soundtrack of birds, ducks and the occasional car driving past. Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support.
 You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].

In episode 30, Johnny talks to Academy Award-winning art director and production designer Grant Major.
 Described by Vanity Fair as ‘the architect of New Zealand’s greatest cinematic achievements’, Grant has an impressive body of work. 
 His work in the early 1990s on Jane Campion’s An Angel At My Table led him to work with Peter Jackson on Heavenly Creatures. He remained in the Peter Jackson fold on The Frighteners, followed by the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong. He also worked on Niki Caro’s Whale Rider in the early 2000s, and recently reprised his collaboration with Jane Campion on the Oscar-nominated The Power Of The Dog. 
 Grant has been nominated for five Academy Awards, winning the Oscar in 2003 for his work on The Return Of The King.
 Their talk covers Grant’s career from working in New Zealand television in the 1970s and the BBC in the 1980s, to conquering Hollywood with Jane Campion and Peter Jackson throughout the 1990s and beyond. They discuss Grant's influences from filmmakers like David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick and Ray Harryhausen, and Grant shares what it’s like to witness the first and only take of a devastatingly emotional Oscar-nominated acting performance! 
 This conversation was recorded online in mid-July 2024.
 Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.locolooper.com/ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support.
 You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].

In episode 29, Johnny talks to Dave Wain, one of the last bastions of the video rental industry. Dave runs Snips Movies, one of the UK’s last video stores. The shop, situated in the Wirral near Liverpool, boasts an impressive selection of over 15,000 movies, all available to rent for the great price of 3 for £5. The depth of the range available is eye-watering and is just the tonic against the dull, predictable and limited selections available on the popular streaming services. Johnny's talk with Dave covers the trials and tribulations of running a video rental store in the 21st century, an enterprise that’s going from strength to strength with an ever-changing profile of appreciative customers. They also discuss the directors Joe Dante, Quentin Tarantino and William Friedkin, and they lift the lid on Orson Welles editing lesbian shower sequences for porn films in his spare time... This conversation was recorded online in mid-July 2024. Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support. You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].

In episode 28, Johnny talks to Stevee Taylor, a fellow Kiwi cinephile and a member of the Letterboxd crew here in New Zealand. A couple of years ago, Stevee interviewed Johnny as part of her Masters thesis exploring how movie-watching had changed during the COVID pandemic, and it felt like the right time to return the favour and get Stevee on the show. Johnny's talk with Stevee covers Luca Guadagnino's Challengers and its banging soundtrack score, they discuss the cinema of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s - three powerhouse decades that sometimes get forgotten about almost 100 years on - and like addicts enabling one another, they talk at great length about David Fincher and his long-time musical collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. An absolute Fincher-fest! In fact, there’s a parallel universe where they're still talking about this subject right now! This conversation was recorded online in late-May 2024. Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support.   You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].

In episode 27, Johnny talks to Michele Kaufman, one half of the team behind Enjoy The Ride Records. Michele works alongside label founder Ross Shotland at Enjoy The Ride in Long Island, New York. The label specialises in releases in a variety of genres and formats - movie soundtracks, TV soundtracks, video game soundtracks, and stand-up comedy, all on Vinyl, CD, cassettes, Blu-Ray, and a range of other associated merch.  Johnny's talk with Michele covers Ron Howard, Sofia Coppola, Robin Williams and Pierce Brosnan, they talk about Michele’s recent trip to Hawaii to see Michael Giacchino conducting the 20th anniversary concert for the TV show Lost, and we hear yet another example of somebody finding their career through a strange set of circumstances (the third or fourth such example we’ve heard on this very show this year)... This conversation was recorded online in mid-May 2024. You can find the Songs, Bond Songs release we spoke about here on the Enjoy The Ride website. Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support.   You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email [email protected].