The Extras
The Extras
Grand Illusions: TCM Classic Film Festival Preview with Scott McGee
Scott McGee, Senior Director of Original Productions at Turner Classic Movies, previews the upcoming TCM Classic Film Festival and its theme, "Grand Illusions: Fantastic Worlds in Film," taking place April 24-27 in Hollywood.
• Opening night features a 45th anniversary screening of "The Empire Strikes Back" with George Lucas making his first TCM Festival appearance
• The festival includes sub-themes like "Pigments of Imagination" (fantasy films with animation), "Future Shock" (time travel films), and "Far, Far Away" (films set beyond Earth)
• Special guests include Michelle Pfeiffer receiving the handprint-footprint ceremony, with screenings of rare films like "The Fabulous Baker Boys"
• The festival will present two films projected in VistaVision, a horizontal projection technology not used publicly in nearly 60 years
• World premiere restorations include "Ben-Hur" presented by the Film Foundation with Alexander Payne introducing
• Tribute screenings honor recently deceased filmmakers including David Lynch and Gene Hackman
• Scott discusses the Academy's addition of a Stunt Design Oscar category beginning in 2026 as a long-overdue recognition
Visit the TCM Classic Film Festival website to purchase festival passes and individual film tickets for this unique celebration of cinema history.
https://filmfestival.tcm.com/attend/
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Hello and welcome to the Extras. I'm Tim Millard, your host, and today we're catching up with Scott McGee, Senior Director of Original Productions at Turner Classic Movies, and he is also one of the programmers for the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood this April 24th to 27th. Hey, Scott, good to see you.
Scott McGee:Tim, always a pleasure to see you, sir.
Tim Millard:Well, it's that time of year when Hollywood is flooded with classic film fans and you can always tell who they are because they're not the typical person walking around in Hollywood, and each year you have a theme for the festival. So I thought we'd start off our discussion of this year's festival. You could give us a little background on the theme and what that means for the festival.
Scott McGee:Yeah, Grand Illusions Fantastic Worlds in Film was a theme that was actually supposed to be the festival theme in 2020.
Scott McGee:And we had the programming all set and well, you know what happened then and, uh, we always had the intention of coming back to this theme and revisiting at some point, and so this was the year and, um, there were I mean, there were been a number of changes from what we had originally planned.
Scott McGee:Uh, a lot of changes actually, but there are some things that remain that that we had always wanted to do for that fest, like Back to the Future, is included, and so this is just an opportunity for us to sort of expand the theme and kind of consider more genre-based, just like we did last year with an emphasis on crime, and that allowed us to have a lot of detective and film noir and crime dramas. And this one, uh, you know, gives us an opportunity to show more science fiction, fantasy and everything in between, and so that was a that was an important aspect of this year's theme and also, you know, always something that it was it lent itself to have fun with it, and um, and so we we've tried to do that in some of the programming choices we made and the sub themes that we've come up with as well.
Tim Millard:Well, there's always a lot of excitement for that first kickoff movie on Thursday night, and maybe it's not the first film, but it's the kind of the one that you build it around, and this year it's Star Wars. The Empire Strikes Back.
Scott McGee:That's right. Opening night is the Empire Strikes Back. That's right. Opening night is the Empire Strikes Back, celebrating its 40th anniversary, having been released to 1980, or wait, this is the 45th. Anyway, either way, it is a significant anniversary and we will have in attendance George Lucas, who we've never had at the festival before, and we've had just about all of the great directors from the Renaissance era of the 1970s as guests at the festival Spielberg, scorsese, coppola, bogdanovich, other people as well. We've never had Brian De Palma and up to now we've never had George Lucas. So it's nice to have him in the fold, so to speak, and have him appear at the fest. It's our honor to get him.
Tim Millard:Yeah, and it is the 45th year, so there's kind of a special milestone there, but it's surprising that George hasn't been there. Maybe in some ways, but I was thinking about it and it's like okay, those of us who grew up with 80s films, we're now in the classic film group, which is great in a way, because I love the fact that the festival is embracing movies I grew up with, that, I love that, I collect, you know all of those things. So, but it does also make you kind of look in the mirror and look at the gray hair and the missing hair and say, wow, okay, now my films, my favorite films, are all in the classic films.
Scott McGee:Yeah, a little insider baseball. It wasn't always going to be Empire Strikes Back. We had tried to get to do it for the Breakfast Club for the 40th anniversary of that film, but we could not get the cast to commit, so it kind of fell apart. But I was happy to see that they did have a reunion at an event recently I think it was a convention fan event or something where they sat with each other, which reportedly was the first time they've been together in 40 years. So it was nice to see them together. Wish they were at our festival. But hey, george Lucas and the Empire Strikes Back, and it's a. You know, the Empire is a much better fit for our theme than the Breakfast Club would have been, and everything needs to conform to the theme. But it is nice to have that symmetry, particularly when it comes to our art, you know, to the creative that that our design team comes up with, and so it's. It's going to be a blast, yeah.
Tim Millard:Oh, I mean it's, it's perfect that film for the category, and also the 45th, and then George being there and the ability for fans to see it on the big screen again and IMAX. I mean there's just so much going for it. So I think it's fantastic and I love the movie as well. What are some of the other films that kind of fall in that category, you mean under the? Yeah under that specific to the theme. Yeah, yeah.
Scott McGee:So we have a couple of sub-themes, as we always do. One of the sub-themes is Pigments of Imagination, and these are fantasy films that involve some sort of animated work. So the 75th anniversary of Cinderella we're showing at El Capitan, which is the theater owned by Disney, which is right across the street from the TCL Chinese and a beautiful theater in and of itself. In fact, I think that's where Citizen Kane premiered, at the El Cap back in 1941. And then we have the 30th anniversary of Babe, which has some computer animation, and then the Miyazaki film Spirited Away. We've always wanted to show a Miyazaki film, so this seemed like the year yeah. And then we have a sub theme called Future Shock, and this is where we're having to contend with the future and all that it portends for us all. So this is where we slipped in Back to the Future 40th anniversary. And then we're showing also Blade Runner and the Time Machine from 1960. In Blade Runner we have confirmed Sean Young, who plays Rachel in the film, to be there in attendance for Blade Runner Affairs de Mour, which is a fancy way of saying romantic fantasies. That includes Brigadoon, the Enchanted Cottage from 1945, a Guy Named Joe, with Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunn from 1943, which was later remade, as always, in 1989 by Spielberg, which was later remade, as always in 1989, by Spielberg. Blythe Spirit from 1945, which is 80th anniversary, and Blythe Spirit. That print is coming to us from the British Film Institute and we have a thread throughout this festival where we are saluting the BFI with several films that have come from their archive, including, as well as a Club TCM event. That is all about what the BFI is and what it's done and it's important to film history. Chairman from the BFI, but also in attendance with him for this Club TCM panel, which is called From Across the Pond, sights and Sounds from the British Film Archives. Not only Ben Roberts, the CEO, but also Guillermo del Toro will be there for that panel. So that's a big thread for us throughout the festival. So that was a little sidebar away from the sub-themes. Going back to the sub-themes, we have Far, far Away, this is films or stories that have to deal with characters or settings that take place far away from Earth. So we have 2001, a Space Odyssey in 70mm and we will have Keir Dullea there in attendance who plays Dave the astronaut. Every time I say Keir Dullea's name, I always think of the famous Noel Coward quote Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow. And then we have for Far, far Away, earth versus the Flying Saucers which Joe Dante will be introducing. Empire Strikes Back is part of that. Galaxy Far, far Away. And Superman. Superman is there for that.
Scott McGee:It's been on the schedule for some time as being part of the theme, but we're also including it as a salute to the late, great Gene Hackman. We've also included in the programming in honor of Gene Hackman's passing the birdcage just to show off some of Hackman's versatility, which is I don't know how many people had the breadth of his career. Robert Duvall, who was good friends with Hackman, probably is the only other one I can think of right now, but there will never be another Gene Hackman, so we're really honored to be able to remember him in this way at the festival. Back to the sub themes. Once again, size Matters is the last one, and this is where we take stories having to do with really, really small settings in really really big settings. So we've got Fantastic Voyage from 1966. The Incredible Shrinking man, uh, which will also be introduced by joe dante it's one of his favorite films and mothra from 1961, and uh, that that will. That rounds out our size matters. Uh for those five sub themes.
Tim Millard:Uh for our grand illusion in film yeah, there's a lot of great ones in there. Obviously you mentioned blade runner from 1982, with Sean Young in attendance. I mean any chance to see Blade Runner on the big screen. You know, back to the Future on the big screen, these are great opportunities. And then, going back to the Superman, I saw you have an executive there for that one, michael DeLuca from Warner Brothers.
Scott McGee:Yep, michael DeLuca, who is the? Uh, he and Pam Abdi are the co-heads of Warner Brothers Film Studio. Uh, they're the ones that are responsible for things like centers, which is now a big hit at the box office. So good on them. Uh, and they also, you know, shepherded Bartbie from last year. So, uh, or was it two years ago? No, that was a couple years ago, a couple years ago oh, that's right, because of nora one.
Scott McGee:Yeah, so yeah, having mike deluca there and he's been. He's been at the festival one other time he did. He introduced rear window.
Tim Millard:Oh yeah, I believe it last year he's had an amazing career and of course I want to mention it partly too, because a lot of the folks who listen to this podcast are big supporters of Warner Brothers and the Warner Archive and Superman 1978, one of the greatest films ever, especially in that genre. But the big deal here, of course, is that this summer there's a reboot of Superman, and so introducing it and having it fit this theme so well, but also then be a nice introduction for the fans to the July release of the upcoming Superman's Great yeah, and that's a happy accident, because we had had Superman planned to do for some time In fact, I believe that title was part of the 2020 programming, so we had our eye on it for quite some time.
Scott McGee:But the fact that it's footing right up to the release of the new Superman coming out this summer, uh is really just, uh, really just.
Tim Millard:One of the other things I wanted to mention is, uh, this special presentation. I'm not sure if that's the right name for it, but this Vista vision, uh, that you have going. This sound is real. This sounds really interesting and part of it. Last year you had the Searchers, which is VistaVision as well, but this year you have a couple of films. Tell us a little bit about what that is Sure.
Scott McGee:So VistaVision was a widescreen technology that was developed by Paramount in the 50s, and this was a widescreen technology that was to compete with other widescreen techs like CinemaScope or Cinerama Well, cinerama didn't come out until later, but other widescreen technologies like that, like CinemaScope and whatnot, this was Paramount's VistaVision, and what made it different from everything else was that the film, when it was projected, the film would be run through the projector horizontally instead of vertically, like it does in most movie theater projectors, instead of vertically like it does in most movie theater projectors. But this horizontal projection allowed the full image to show greater depth of field and more clarity. I can't tell you exactly how it looks because I've never seen VistaVision. The last time it's been projected, a VistaVision film has been projected in VistaVision was sometime in the early 60s, I think 60 or 61. So VistaVision, a VistaVision film print, has not been projected in decades, in probably over it's nearly 60 years, probably over it's nearly 60 years.
Scott McGee:And so this is a. This is a. This is an opportunity or an event that that people like Chapin Cutler, who is our projection guy he's the, he is the guru who manages all the projection and all of the presentation of our films throughout the weekend. He and his company, boston Light and Sound. They've been with us since the very beginning and they are worth their weight in gold.
Scott McGee:Boston Light and Sound and Chapin Cutler has had on his bucket list to do this division someday and he has figured out a way to do it and I think that story of how it's being done is being told elsewhere. I'm not going to tell you the story because I'm not an expert in this division technology. I don't want to say something that's erroneous, but suffice to say this is not unlike what we did last year with Vitaphone Right, where we had an actual Vitaphone disc being played to a silent film, a sound on disc film, rather from the late 20s, and we had a whole program of those shorts. This is one of those things, only it's in some respects even more rare. So this is one of the things that TCM has been able to do over the years and that is resurrect obsolete, long gone experiences for movie audiences that I don't know if you'll ever be able to see again.
Tim Millard:Yeah, I was there for that Vitaphone presentation and that was the most fascinating. Well, you introduced it, I think. Possibly I was the venue host, I think.
Tim Millard:Yeah, and I was enthralled. Well, number one you got to see a lot of different films as well. They showed a number of them, but the fact that you were able to do that live, and that was the first time since you know God knows when almost 100 years, I think I mean it was going way back what a special thing that was to be there in person. For that I circled this thing with VistaVision as well, because I saw that they're going to have the projectors there and, you know, for the first time, this is an amazing. And the two films we'll just mention Werno Angel's, 1955, gunfight at the OK Corral from 1957. So you know, both are going to be fantastic to see. The fact that you have two opportunities so that you can get people in to, you know, to see these, is a wow that's, that's a great one. I love that fact. I love that fact that you're going to have that there. It makes the festival very unique from other festivals.
Scott McGee:Um, I mean yeah, okay.
Tim Millard:Every festival wants to have a world premiere. I get that, and then that's fantastic. But most films you're going to see, even if there's a world premiere, you're going to see it somewhere else. If you didn't get to see the world premiere and the film isn't any different, you know, you just didn't see it first. This is a situation where there's no other festival bringing in a projector to show these on VistaVision that I can think of or has you know in the past, based on what you just said. So this is so, so unique and I wanted to highlight it.
Scott McGee:Well, not only the projectors, but the film prints themselves. There's not a lot of films still around that are in VistaVision. Your listeners might notice that we are also playing To Catch a Thief, which was also famously shot in VistaVision, but there's no print of it in VistaVision that is projectable. So that's why we're showing a DCP of of to catch a thief, even though it was shot in VistaVision. So these, as you, as you were noting, this is even more rare because the prints just they're just, they just don't exist anymore, at least not in abundance, and so to be able to show at least two of them is quite a boon for us.
Scott McGee:I should also mention to your listeners that the brutalist from last year, the Oscar-winning film, was shot in VistaVision, but it's not projected. It was not projected as such. And Paul Thomas Anderson's next film is being shot in VistaVision, but it's not projected. It was not projected as such, and Paul Thomas Anderson's next film is being shot in VistaVision. As well, as to whether or not it's going to be projected, I could not say, but suffice it to say, just to give your listeners an idea of the specialness of these two programs of we're no angels, uh, and gunfight of the ok corral projected in this division is one of a kind of yeah, yeah uh, and just to follow up with that, to catch a thief.
Scott McGee:It looked like jennifer grant is going to be there, the daughter of that's right, his only child with uh diane cannon, uh carrie grant, and diane cannon had jennifer grant and she's a she's always popular, so we're we're really excited to have her back the other thing I wanted to mention here is you do have some world premiere restorations, because of course, we're talking about classic films, we're not talking about new films, and the one I wanted to be sure we talked about is Ben-Hur from 1959.
Tim Millard:And it looks like Alexander Payne is back. He introduced, I think, the Searchers last year and this year he's going to be talking about Ben-Hur.
Scott McGee:So tell us a little bit about this one, ben-hur is coming to us as a new restoration, a world premiere restoration from our friends at the Film Foundation. We have shown Ben-Hur before at the festival it was, I think it was in 2012, we showed it. But to show a new restoration of it is even more grand, and so we're really excited to have Alexander Payne, who is a I believe he's a board member of the Film Foundation, who is a I believe he's a board member of the Film Foundation and just, I mean, he's just such a great friend to TCM and to film fans everywhere. Alexander Payne is one of the I mean, he's one of the good guys, he loves movies and and to have him there. You know, you wouldn't expect. You wouldn't expect to see Alexander Payne doing Ben Hur, but there he is, there he will be and really fortunate to have him there.
Tim Millard:Well, you could have said that about the searchers last year when he was there, but he was effusive in his praise for the film and for the print. Of course People can't see it because this is an audio podcast, but I have right behind me the 4K release of the searchers, which the Warner Archive released as their very first 4k, and it's been an amazing seller because it's such an amazing film, amazing restoration and then just the product that they put together for the physical media and I know a lot of fans, when they saw that ben hur is going to be here with the restoration, are also looking forward to the physical media release sometime down the road at some point in 4k. But um, these, these restorations with the film foundation and, uh, warner brothers have turned out just fantastic oh, and I got to do a plug.
Scott McGee:If you want to read all about the chariot race from ben hurr, pick up my book danger on the silver screen.
Tim Millard:Well, yeah, guess what I'm, guess what I'm holding up here, scott, yeah, that book yeah, yeah, and I you know in the. You got it right on the cover.
Scott McGee:That's right. He took on a lot of roles in the later years where he plays these manly men and maybe chews the scenery a little bit, but we should never forget that Heston was a really, really good actor and he imbued into his performance as Judah Bidhur a humanity that you could easily overact and choose scenery. But he never does and he allows the camera to do a lot of the work for him and he listened to his director and it shows and that guy richly deserved best actor for that performance.
Tim Millard:Well, you don't have to convince me, I'm a big, big fan of that film and, of course, with Easter recently I just rewatched Ten Commandments for the upteenth time. Moses, moses, moses, it never gets old. And then I'm looking forward to seeing Ben-Hur again. Again, you can rewatch and rewatch these films. They're so, so good. Let's see a couple other things I wanted to mention. Recently I spoke with Eddie Muller about his new, revised and expanded book and he said he's going to be at the festival, of course, and he talked about the fact that he's going to be there for Blue Velvet. Tell us a little bit about this tribute.
Scott McGee:Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart are both there as part of our tribute to David Lynch and we felt that, because his passing was so recent, we really had to take the opportunity. Along with our tribute to Gene Hackman, we had to take the opportunity to honor him as well. And man, I just, you know, just as an aside, I was so glad to see the outpouring of affection and the tributes for Lynch Because you know, he wasn't a mainstream artist like a Spielberg or Scorsese, so I didn't know how, you know how deeply penetrated he got into the overall pop cultural psyche and I think he did. I mean, a lot of that has to do with Twin Peaks, of course, but I think the fact that he was rightly recognized and has been rightly recognized as a as an absolute genius of cinema, it was really, it was. I was really glad to see that.
Tim Millard:I was really glad to see that. You know, you know this, but Hollywood's so obsessed with the money and the box office and reviews and this and that. And you know David Lynch, did he get that many great critical reviews at the time? Did he get great box up? You know what Some people did. He always had his fans, always had his following. But his movies were hit and miss with reviewers and with the audience. But he endured because creatively he was authentic and whether you liked it or not. And likability is way overblown, of course, in art and film. But anyway, I'm going off here on a tangent, but it's great to see that Eddie's going to be there. Kyle McLaughlin is going to be there.
Scott McGee:Actually that is late breaking news. He had to cancel because he had a job of work that came up shooting schedule. So I don't know who we're going to get for Blue Velvet, but I think Eddie will still be involved, sure.
Tim Millard:Well, I'm from the Seattle area, so when it comes to Twin Peaks, I did my sojourn out to Snoqualmie Falls and to get some pie and do all this stuff out there, which is very easy, of course, when you live up there, but lots of fun. So well, there's a lot of other great people. I just want to kind of run through, maybe more quickly. You've got a lot of actors who show up, as always Kathy Bates, sean Cassidy, james Cromwell, zooey Deschanel, bill Hader, ben Vreen. You've got directors Rob Reiner, aaron Serkin, and then let's see, oh, michael Mann for Heat. You're going to have an airing of Heat, a favorite of mine. So there's a lot of great stuff there. And then, of course, we should talk about your hand and footprint ceremony. Special guest.
Scott McGee:Of course. Of course, michelle Pfeiffer. I've had Michelle Pfeiffer on my list of people that we should honor with handprint footprint for some time on her with the with handprint footprint for some time, and so to be able to to get her this year, and as well as with the fabulous baker boys, which is not a film that is seen that often. It's not. I don't see it on television, I don't even think it's on blu-ray. Uh, it might be, but it's not she, it's not shown that often. So, um, and part of that might have been due to rights, because I know that it took a while for Charlie Tabish, our head of programming, to determine who the rights holder was. I think it's Fox now. But regardless, we got it. So I'm really happy we're showing it.
Scott McGee:So, yeah, if we didn't get Fabulous Baker Boys, I was hoping that it might be Married to the Mob, because that's another film that's not shown that often, from 1988. It's got a delightful performance from Michelle Pfeiffer, who I think was nominated for an Academy Award for it. Dean Stockwell, matthew Modine and Mercedes Ruhl all have supporting roles in it and it is just a offbeat, hilarious crime film. But here I am talking about a movie that we're not even showing. But I do want people to go out and seek Mary to the Mob, if you've never seen it.
Tim Millard:Well, back to the fact that it's Michelle Pfeiffer who's your special guest, so that's really fun. And then each year you give out the Robert Osborne Award. Who's this year's recipient?
Scott McGee:It'll be George Stevens Jr. Mr Stevens has done more for the recognition of cinema as a major art form, as a legitimate art form in this country, worthy of celebration. He was one of the founders of the American film Institute. He he began the AFI lifetime achievement award, starting in 1973, when it was given to John Ford. George Stevens jr Was there, and he also was the founder of the Kennedy Senator Honors Awards, which have been in the news recently. So I imagine that might be a topic of discussion. Maybe I should also note that, having Aaron Sorkin and Rob Reiner there for a screening of the American president, I'm sure they'll have a lot to talk about too.
Tim Millard:Yeah, sure, politics is a part of a big part of our lives and films as well, so I'm sure that will come up Absolutely. And then a couple of people very well known to the listeners of the extras are going to be there. I'll just remind folks that Jerry Beck will be there and he's going to be talking about restored cartoons from the UCLA archives. That's on Friday. And then George Feltenstein from Warner Brothers and the Warner Archive will be talking about Rhapsody in Blue restoration. That's on Saturday. And there's just so much other stuff. But those are just highlights I want to be sure we talked about. I see you have Monty Python and the Holy Grail for its 50th year anniversary, so a number of anniversaries you're going to be showcasing as well.
Scott McGee:Right, and I should note that for Monty Python and the Holy Grail that will be introduced by Patton Oswalt, yeah, so that will be a good time. That will be a good time and you know, if you've ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you've got to see it in a theater with an audience, with an audience.
Tim Millard:This is the time to do it. Yep, yep, that's going to be a lot of fun. Well, I want to wrap up our discussion kind of coming back to your book, because the Academy announced recently they're adding a stunt design Oscar, starting in 2026. I know this is so long overdue, but I want to get your take on it.
Scott McGee:I'm elated, I'm absolutely elated, and I'm so happy for the people in the stunt community who have been lobbying for decades to get this done. And I didn't, I was seriously considering are they? Are we just never going to see this happen? And I'm doing, I'm still doing research on the history of stunts in the movies. Maybe I'll write another book, I don't know.
Scott McGee:But the more research I do into the early dawn of cinema, the first decade, the 1910s, and really into the early, into the teens, stunt work was there from the beginning in movies.
Scott McGee:It was part of the promotion, promotional appeal. Newspapers would tout the stunts that all of these people in these movies and the flickers were doing, and that's how they got people into the theaters to see these movies. So stunt work has been a part of cinema from the get go, and it's taken this long to recognize it as a legitimate art form, a discipline rather, of cinema. You know, just as important in my opinion as choreography, as editing cinematography. You know it should have been done a long time ago, but better late than never, and so I'm just so ecstatic for them to be honored this way, and there's no reason that we can't celebrate stunts of the past with the Academy Awards now making it an official recognition. So maybe who knows? Maybe they'll do an exhibition at the Academy Museum of stunt work in the movies as a way of sort of bringing attention to, to the, to the discipline, to the, to the craft. Uh, maybe in conjunction with the advent of the new award in 2020 did you say 2027?
Tim Millard:I think it's coming. I think it's 26, I think it's next year and so you know, just in time for tom cruise, before he hangs up his uh, mission impossible. Uh, yeah, the last film, because the work he is doing and he's not, I mean it's very limited, cgi, he's doing practical stunts there, putting his life on the line. Uh, that is, I mean, that's incredible, the work that he's done on the last two.
Scott McGee:Well, all of the mission impossibles, but these last two unbelievable, I think, especially since ghost protocol, which was the fourth film, and that was the one where he gets dangled out of the burj khalifa, the, the world's tallest building, and you know, I'm sure a lot of people who went to see that film probably thought that was all c. No, that was Tom Cruise hanging on a safety cable outside of the world's tallest skyscraper. Now the, the safety lines were all digitally erased, but he's still out there. I wouldn't, I wouldn't go out there. So that's a stunt. I mean, that is, that is putting your life on the line. And, um, the guy's got it, he's got the, he's got the balls to do it. And I, I think Tom Cruz is, I think he's one of our great, great movie stars and I think he might be the last, the last movie star of the, of the, the way we have classically defined what a movie star is. I think Tom Cruise might be the last one.
Tim Millard:It's my opinion, yeah, no, and and, but the fact that he's doing this and he's not 22, he's in his sixties and I think he said something about um when I watched one of these recent um pre-release feature ads. I mean, he's like I blacked out a couple of times. Now he's, they've got wires on him so he's safe. But I'm like, well, if you're blacking out, you sure you want to go through with that stunt, but he did and wow, wow, wow, wow, you know, is all I can say. I hope that he gets some recognition for that. I wouldn't be so. Well, if he wins, well, definitely nominated, I would think, for the award in the next Oscar.
Scott McGee:If they give it to Tom Cruise, I can't think of a more fitting first recipient. Maybe when the Academy finally introduced a best makeup Academy award in 1981. And Rick Baker was the first recipient for, uh, American werewolf in London, Perfect way to kick off that, that that new category, and with this one, if you know, if he were to win, that would be a perfect symmetry as well.
Tim Millard:Yeah, well, you and I could probably go off on on stunts and talking about this. Uh, that's not the purpose of this podcast, but you and I don't get a chance to talk too often, so I definitely want to get your opinion and it's a good reason for you to do a little revised or update to the book at some point to talk a little bit about that. And also, since you put it out, there's been a lot of really good movies with stunts. Yes, there have been Absolutely. Since you put it out, there's been a lot of really good movies with stunts. So, um, absolutely Well, it's always great, uh, chatting and, uh, looking forward to seeing you at the festival. So much good stuff this year. There's something for everybody. That's the other thing. You make sure that, uh, if you like your films from the twenties and thirties and forties, you'll get plenty of those. If you like some from the 80s and 70s, you're going to get plenty of those as well. So there's so much there for everybody.
Scott McGee:And into the 90s. We are showing Babe 30th anniversary, which is a part of our Pigments of Imagination sub-theme. Our old wall theme is grand illusions and we got pigments of imagination so, and James Cromwell, who was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor for that film, will be in attendance for that one as well. Oh, and I should also note, James Cromwell will also be introducing the Enchanted Cottage from 1945, which was directed by his father, John Crum Wow.
Tim Millard:Wow, wow. That is. There's a lot of little threads that you can. I know you guys are sitting there when you're planning this and you know all these threads are there. But it's nice and fun for the fans to kind of hear these threads when they show up and and make the connections of actor. They show up and make the connections of actor, father director. You know it's really fun to do that. So well, scott, it's always great catching up.
Scott McGee:Thanks for coming on. Always good to talk to you, Tim. I will be there anytime you call.
Tim Millard:If you are interested in learning more about the 16th TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, there is a website link in the podcast show notes so you can review all of the films and events that we discussed today. You can also purchase festival passes and individual film tickets via the website as well. Until next time you've been listening to the Extras with Tim Millard, Stay slightly obsessed.