Transcript
Marvel and Local Films (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Wed Feb 19, 2025
All right.
Let's get our number two going here on a Wednesday edition of Night Light.
Great to have you with me wherever you're joining us from.
In the great state of Wisconsin, welcome.
We're broadcasting live from beautiful downtown Green Bay.
And our question of the night is what or who is your favorite Star Wars character?
We've never really delved into the Star Wars characters, ensembles.
It's a movie.
Beast there's it's a franchise like no other and I feel like we haven't paid it justice even though I'm not the biggest fan.
I Like it a lot and I know a lot of you are fans.
So that's what we're doing tonight.
Who or what is your favorite Star Wars character?
We've had some droids Yeah, I say Han Solo Conrad says Anakin Skywalker all inclinations of Anakin Bridget just texted in she's in the 818 says C3PO funny and kind and cool looking
Sounds
like
So that's our question tonight.
Be part of the fun.
Let us know what you think.
And right now, all right, so from time to time, you know, my son and I talk movies a lot.
His name is Joe Schwabba.
He's a writer himself and he does comedy sports in Milwaukee.
And he's got some great takes and we have some really good discussions about movies at home.
He had an interesting thought.
about Star Wars that I wanted to talk to him about and I thought this would make a fun quick segment.
So Joe is on the phone right now.
Are you there, buddy?
Yes.
Hello.
How are you doing?
I'm good.
I'm good.
You had to step out of class.
I was a little
cold, but good.
Yeah.
Is it cold in Milwaukee?
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
It warmed up since yesterday, though.
I think yesterday was like one.
Now it's seven.
So it's a nice change of pace.
That's progress.
That's good.
Yeah.
Want to also say Joe Conrad.
I don't know if you do this.
Do you send reels to your family like funny stuff to my brother?
Yeah, you guys share them.
All right, we do that at our house, too I just got something from Joe You gotta help me explain this Joe this is a guy who was asked not to attend magic events anymore because Is that what it was Joe was magic events?
It was a guy it was a guy going to like like like
Magic the gatherings like a card game.
Okay.
That's kind of associated with like nerdiness and And it's this guy that got kicked out because he kept Bending down and taking pictures with all of like the nerds playing magic but cracks and It was funny.
I just thought you get kicked out of it and clearly you did it
was funny because like
First of all, I'm fascinated by someone who would do that.
But the look on the guy's face is really funny too.
He's not really smiling.
He's just kind of very matter-of-factly crouching down next to some guy's part of his butt is hanging out.
Very funny stuff that made
laugh.
I'm amazed constantly on the internet that people find a niche or something to brand themselves with.
It's very
funny.
Well, anyway, thanks for having me on.
Have a good rest of your
show.
No.
Wait, you can't leave yet.
Okay.
So, all right, you had a great... We're talking about Star Wars tonight, Joe.
I don't know who your favorite character is.
I know you oftentimes, when we're together, you tell me about a new Star Wars thing and you make fun of me because my eyes kind of gloss over because I can't keep track.
Of all
the
spin-offs, whether it's TV, film, one-off movies, there's a ton of stuff in the Star Wars universe.
But you had an interesting take or opinion about the fan base.
Please share that.
I guess my opinion would be the Star Wars fan base is probably the worst fan base on the planet.
They're very toxic and evil and...
Nothing will ever make him happy.
So
that's interesting When you say that are you are you are you kind of labeling a certain age group or?
No, I
mean, I think that I Mean, I still think kids like Star Wars, but I think that a lot of the maybe ages like 22 to I don't know 40
i think they're pretty critical of the content that now disney owned star wars makes and it kind of prevents them from doing anything like unique or cool so a lot of the star wars content you get today that's released on disney plus or in theaters is really like really really kind of vanilla and um it's just let and you know when they do finally do something different or cool usually the fan base
It's not what they want and they end up hating it
so I
think the property at this point is just kind of like It's like an amusement park like you go.
It's like Mickey Mouse, you know, like you go.
Oh, it's it's all Kind of like symbols.
I don't think there's really much Substance anymore
so you're saying like the studio which is now Disney is sort of being held hostage by their fan base They're scared of their fan base.
They don't want to piss them off
So the movies are kind of
yeah, and then like
I don't want to
give Disney any like, you know Like hold their hand or anything, but like I would be critical of what they're doing with Marvel But with Star Wars I feel like I don't think they really have a choice because the fan base is just so Kind of just like toxic.
Yeah,
that's interesting because I don't know when that started like I know like
Like you said, kids your age, maybe up to 40, maybe even up to 45.
When I saw Star Wars, it was just a movie.
I was like, oh, that was cool.
Did you like it?
Yeah, I loved it.
Oh, I liked it.
It wasn't like breaking down every character and putting them like in Woos category or cool.
It was, but now that's all people do.
It seems like it's almost like a all consuming hobby is to criticize Star Wars.
Yeah, and everybody has their own brand of Star Wars.
You know, there's people
like you that saw it in the theaters for the first time.
Then there's people that grew up with the prequel trilogy.
Someone like me watched the animated show when I was a kid.
So, and all of those have very different tones and characters and storylines.
So everybody has a different opinion of what they think Star Wars is.
So then when you release the bigger things like movies or TV shows, if they don't have that thing,
They're looking for I think it's like an assault on their nostalgia
Wow
them
very sad Okay, that said do you have a favorite Star Wars character?
Yeah, but it's gonna be one of those characters where I think your eyes are gonna glaze over I All right lay it on me.
I Like I like Captain Rex.
He's a clone trooper.
Oh, yeah Yeah, he's a clone trooper
No,
I remember watching that show with you and you telling me how much you liked him Yeah Go ahead.
Sorry.
No.
No, I was just saying I remember watching that show with you when you were like 14 You wanted me to watch it.
You're like dad check this out.
I remember you talking about that care
I think I was a little younger than 14.
I mean, that's kind of That's kind of brutal to say like I remember you I thought you had a shave and then we
No, all right, maybe you were younger.
After you
got home from prom, took your date home, and then we sat down and we watched Star Wars the Clone Wars.
I don't think it was quite that.
All right, maybe you were younger, but I do remember that character, and I like him.
Hey, we have a couple more minutes, Joe.
You also, the whole reason I wanted to have you on to begin with, because you heard part of my interview with Matt Miller the other night from the Milwaukee Film Critic.
You kind of agreed with him, but what was your take on...
Captain America Brave New World Oh man,
I was so bummed out when I saw that movie it I've always been I've kind of gotten like hot and cold with Marvel I'm rewatching a lot of the movies for some reason now maybe because this movie was coming out and The old Marvel movies really have you know, there are some good movies in there and this one is just
nothing like those this this movie is I didn't really like the acting and the dialogue was really hard and and the funny part is the biggest reveal in the movie was all over the marketing so you know the biggest plot twist
I hate when
they
do
that before you go into the movie
yeah
and that that's kind of how the whole narrative of the movie
It's like the whole mystery of the movie and you already know it's gonna happen So then when it happens you're like, okay, that was kind of cool, but you knew it was gonna happen So Yeah, it was just bad.
It was just a bad movie.
So you went with friends did what was the take like it's gotten about like 50% at rotten tomatoes You went with two or three friends.
What did they feel the same way you
did?
For the most part, yeah, one of them I think was a little more lenient with it, but
two of us were like yeah this this stinks and Anthony Mackie I mean he's like a good actor you know so that kind of leads me to think that it was either the maybe the direction that wasn't the best or um but he just didn't really it didn't seem like he had all that much to do and uh the dialogue was really corny where it was like a kind of a somber moment and then you have a character going like
oh gee that sucks man like let's go do that like just like the corny marvel dialogue but like it just felt like a parody of itself I
don't know I think it's weird that you just you just use that voice to describe describe a character in the movie and that's the voice used to describe me when you make fun of me at home so well I will break that down in my
head
Joe, thanks for jumping on tonight, buddy.
Get back to class.
Yeah, thanks
for having me.
You're welcome.
Glad
to be the resident nerd.
You said that, not me.
I think you're doing fine.
All right, have a good night.
Okay.
All right.
You
too.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
Conrad, that was the first time a member of my family did not wait too long to say goodbye where I start talking.
I'll say, all right, I'll see you later.
And then there's a long pause.
And then they'll say,
All right, bye, dad.
Like they wait like 30 seconds and then I always hang up on him.
I find it maddening.
Oh, Joe just texted.
He forgot that he had a kid.
Kit Fisto.
That's a good character,
about Kit Fisto.
that Jameson's?
All right, we can do this.
I'm a fast reader.
I'll speed read.
I'll read it my head.
I'll break it down and it kind of is like everything I
the text.
He's like, will you please get the text?
Jameson from the 814 says, I don't know about favorite, but an interesting character set is Owen and Baru.
Baru Lars, who suddenly lost her mother, mother-in-law, Anakin's mother.
Yeah, that was cool.
Anakin's mother then had to raise Luke knowing who his father is and always remembering he's the son of a mass murderer who has enormous power.
To likely and keeping him straight.
That is a great text.
That's a great story Yeah, yeah, that's really cool And there's so much of that in Star Wars you just forget but the the franchise is packed with that kind of stuff All right, we are coming back with another movie maker and another guy from ran at Wisconsin Nathan Deming joins us next.
This is Pete Schwabba on the civic media radio network
Welcome
back.
You got Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.
Thanks for spending your evening with us here as we broadcast from beautiful downtown Green Bay.
Conrad loves the cold.
We're
getting through it.
We are getting through it and
It's great to have you with us.
Join in, folks.
We have a... Our question of the night is, who or what is your favorite Star Wars character?
So we've been having fun with that tonight and seen some... Kit Fisto is kind of the one that came out of left field.
That was a good one.
And then your Uncle Dick texted again, Conrad.
I don't want to forget that.
He said, right... C-3PO.
No, that's Bridget.
Was Dick just telling us he lives in Sheboygan, or do you have a favorite Star Wars character?
Oh, okay.
Oh because you asked him probably where he was texting from Because he did answer the question
Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you uncle dick.
I feel like I Don't know you well enough to call you uncle
even though you're an avuncular type character.
But thank you for all the text.
Keep coming, folks.
Who's your favorite Star Wars character?
Or what is your favorite Star Wars character?
And we will ask my next guest that.
Folks, we talk about show business every night on the show.
Movies, TV, music, comedy.
and also a lot of stuff that's going on in Wisconsin.
And it's fun when we can marry the two, which we try to do to some degree, just about every night.
Tonight, it's like an all local show.
We had a comedian from Marinette, Wisconsin.
My son, Joe chimed in on a Star Wars take he had.
He spent time in Marinette, Wisconsin.
And now my next guest.
I don't know how we did this.
but Radio History is being made again on Nightlight.
Our third guest with a connection to Marinette, Wisconsin joins me now.
His film is screening Saturday at 1 p.m.
in the afternoon.
The film is February and joining me now on Nightlight.
He's no stranger to Nightlight, folks.
It's Nathan Deming, the writer-director.
Hey, buddy.
Pete, Pete, can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Boy, this has been a night for tech spazs.
Hasn't it Conrad?
I mean between the two of us.
Now Nathan's having trouble with the phone.
We were looking at Jeff Cohn's ear for part of his interview.
We've had all kinds of problems, Nathan.
I can hear you great buddy.
How you doing?
I'm great.
Dexter Jettster.
Has anybody said that yet?
The Star Wars character?
Yeah.
I do not believe so.
Do you know that Conrad?
What was it
again?
Dexter Jetser Sounds
made up Nathan.
He's in Attack of the Clones.
He's in the diner scene.
The guy who analyzes the little darts for Obi-Wan.
arms and he's kind of like, oh Obi-Wan.
Oh, that's great.
Oh, that's a totally out of left field one.
I love it.
Um, how you doing tonight, Nathan?
Where are you calling from?
I'm calling you from Minakwa, Wisconsin.
Do you know where that?
Oh my gosh.
And there's a beer walking towards my car right now.
Oh,
hide your wallet.
Um, I do know.
Manaqua I was part of a film tour myself about eight years ago I was in a film called Aquarians and one of our stops was Manaqua and it was a really great little theater
Lakeland cinema.
Yeah, it's a beautiful up there.
What is your is February showing up there tonight?
Oh, you know it.
We're screening everywhere Pete all over this great landing of ours from Superior Lake Superior the Mississippi River
Door County and now now Minakwa.
Yeah the and this theater is a part of a chain That's pretty cool Wisconsin chain owned by the suic family, which some people might know also makes a very famous musky lure Okay, so fun fun fishing connection
fun for you So they're they're in the musky game and they own movie theaters.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah
multifaceted.
I like that a lot
And that kind of plays into your movie.
So for those listening, Nathan, who haven't, you've been on the show before, you've talked about February, give us a little background in this film, which is the whole reason you're traveling the state right now.
You're promoting your film February, you're coming to Marinette on Saturday.
Tell us how it's going and tell us about the film.
Yeah, so this is a part of my year project where I make a film for every month of the year, all set in Wisconsin.
And I want the series to be a little bit like Spotted Cow, like a movie series where you can only get it in Wisconsin.
And on top of and Iron Mountain, I went to Iron Mountain.
I'll go 15 miles into another state.
But other than that, keep it in Wisconsin.
Yeah, February specifically is about a Mexican immigrant who's just moved to Wisconsin.
And it's struggling to fit in until he finds ice fishing.
That is so great.
Where did you come up with that idea?
Because right now, I don't know if this helps your film or hurts it, but immigration is all over the news, obviously.
And so are people commenting on that?
I know you're doing Q&As.
We're doing one on Saturday for people to come out to the Mariner Theater and see the film.
What kind of feedback have you gotten given the subject matter?
Yeah, that's what's been super interesting because also David who plays the lead came out from California for the first week
and a
half of the tour and most part Everybody was enormously positive and you know some of these places we went were just these like very white communities who I don't think they're necessarily you know
I don't know.
I don't know the demographics of the voting demographics, but I think maybe it would be safe to say that they're just It'd be a new face to see somebody Latino basically, right?
But there wasn't animosity they were very open to it and they treated David like a movie star and to grab photos with him and we're traveling around with this Ice fishing tent we've been putting up to and everybody's been grabbing photos with it and so for the most part it's a very positive
And yes, I get that question, like every other screening is like about the hot button nature of it.
But I guess I'm not really a political filmmaker and my hope is that people walk away, seeing our state through different eyes and then also trying to see, I mean, yeah, you saw it without spoiling too much.
I guess my belief is that the immigrants and the Wisconsinites who are in the tent, the ice fishing tent in the movie,
They ultimately have a little bit more in common than the people at top, whoever you want to put in there, who are making us point fingers at each other all the time.
Isn't that crazy?
And that does not surprise me at all.
I think most people would be like that.
And I think most people are really going to like the film.
So this is the film.
It's February.
It's showing in Marinette at 1 p.m.
at the Mariner Theater.
I'm going to introduce the film.
And then we're doing a Q&A right after, right?
Yeah, you're going to be there.
I'll be there buddy.
You
can ask me that immigration question then.
I've got so many questions for you.
Most of them rated NC 17, so prepare for that.
But we're going to tell you a really cool thing that Nathan's film just achieved at another film festival that's coming up after the news.
This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Whatever you love me
We are in our fourth quadrant of the show tonight.
Tomorrow night on the show, ladies and gentlemen, it's our Popcorn Pick of the Week.
It's Thursday.
Norm Kepesky will be here from Appleton Cigar, one of our show's sponsors.
Great to have Norm on board, and it will be fun to have him making the Popcorn Pick of the Week.
And then Tim Cote will be here.
He's the president of the Fox Valley Veterans Association.
Tim will be here tomorrow night as well, and all kinds of Tom Fullery.
So we hope you can join us then as well.
Right now.
My third guest associated with Marinette Wisconsin joins the show that's never been done before or at least never been proven that it's been done before Nathan Deming he is showing his film February at the Marinette theater on Saturday at 1 p.m.
I will be introducing the film and I will be hosting a Q&A after the film and if you've never been to a Q&A
With the director folks, I highly recommend if you're in the Marinette area or northeast Wisconsin, and you don't mind making a road trip.
It's worth it because it Oftentimes after any movie people have questions and with the director right there.
That's a one-in-a-lifetime Opportunity maybe not one in a lifetime.
It's like winning the lottery Nathan, but it will be good to have you there.
That's what I'm saying
Well, and it's not one director, but two
You'll be there too.
I see what you did there.
Thank you, buddy Plug I guess I have directed a film I've been directed by you which was a pleasure in your film speaking in tongues which people can find where can people find us speaking in tongues
Speaking in tongues, they could find that on Amazon and 2B.
Yeah, that was a real kick.
I loved being part of that project.
But February, it's such a good film.
You played it last year at the Wisconsin Film Festival.
You also played it just recently a few days ago at the Dork County Film Festival.
How did that go?
Pretty good.
We won the People's Choice Audience Award.
How about that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, um, I got to enjoy fish Creek, uh, which even in minus two degrees is quite enchanting.
It is.
It's beautiful.
That's when the, uh, the pretty funny thing about doing a roadshow tour in February is, uh, um, all of that.
I've been through like three snow storms and then multiple negative degree days.
Everybody has a running nose in the theater, but, uh,
I'll gather, gather in the warm space for a little bit.
I do remember that.
That is the most frustrating part about watching movies in the theater in Wisconsin in the winter is the coughing.
And people, you're, you're absolutely right.
And sniffling and it can get really, uh, it can get you down because it can take away from the movie experience.
But all right, so.
At least we're not in our living rooms.
We're not alone, you know, we're together for that, that little bit of community.
Very well said.
Well, congratulations on the win.
Audience award to me is, that's pretty cool because that just shows you're doing something right if people voted for it and liked it the best.
So congrats.
Thank you.
Yeah, yeah, that was a pretty cool one to
win.
So tell us, all right, I know you've had some favorite spots on your tour through Wisconsin here.
How has that been going?
You mentioned snowstorms, you mentioned some cold weather.
What else have you encountered in our first date?
Well, of course the first snowstorm hit on the day that I drove up to Hayward in Ashland Six inches of snow or something like that Okay in terms of favorite spots I I'll start off with one that surprised me the most which is Alma, Wisconsin Have you you know where that is?
I've heard of it.
I don't know much about Alma now
Oh my gosh, super charming town on the Mississippi River population, less than a thousand, but somehow just like the most laid back, cool, charming atmosphere.
There's a train that just runs right through the middle of town.
Yeah.
That place really jumped out of me as a pretty cool one.
I don't, I will not name the worst, but they know who they are.
Can you give us a hint?
Like, what region are we talking about here is the worst?
Oh, I'm kidding.
Actually, there hasn't been a worst.
Of course not.
I'm sure they welcome you
with our terms.
You know, other ones that surprised me that I wasn't expecting much from Elroy Wisconsin, which is a pretty small town at the start of the Elroy Sparta bike trail, which a lot of people know.
Oh, yeah.
And there's the movie theater there, which is like, this is the other fun part of the tour for me personally, is just finding all these amazing
old movie theaters, a lot of them that were built in the 1930s that are still owned and operated.
And so there's a movie theater.
So nearby, I grew up in Tomah, much bigger town.
We don't have a movie theater.
Elroy, a third of the population, has this movie theater.
And it was pretty cool.
People came from all these other little towns nearby.
And again, like an area where you would be like, oh, are they going to maybe have some problems with
the immigration themes or with David or something like that.
Everybody was super warm, wanted a photo with David.
It was cool.
You know, it's so fun.
Like in Marinette, we have, I would say, when I went to high school there, it was pretty lily white.
There are a lot more people of color there now.
And there's like four Mexican restaurants and, you know, there's great soccer clubs.
And I think people like immigrants, I would assume,
Some of them are at least have assimilated really well.
I can't imagine Like when you actually interact with people and see how human they are and what you have in common You know that that's what it's all about and that's what you have in your movie.
That's what I think is so cool about this kid who learns how to ice fish
Well, it's also like the history of our state and the country in general I mean you don't have to go very far back in my family to find immigrants and like
I think
it's like
two generations ago, like they spoke German and Norwegian, like they spoke a different language already, you know, and they, they came here, they, they were looking for a better life, you know, like that's not that long ago, you know, and, and like we go even before that, I mean, in general, we're not supposed to be here, you know, we stole this land.
So like, I mean, I think the best thing we can do with the time we have together is, yeah, treat each
other
equally.
And, uh, one of the best comments I had on the tour was that our
Eau Claire kickoff where somebody came who only spoke Spanish so the Q&A moderator had to translate for me but she said something really beautiful about the movie I hadn't thought about.
Well I knew it in the far back of my mind but it was great to see that that was her reaction to it as Latino was that the movie
and
hopefully and this is just also true I think in real life Latinos aren't just coming to Wisconsin and assimilating they are also changing Wisconsin and we are learning from them which are like
I thought was really cool.
Like she said that she liked that the film captured that.
And I was like, oh, yes, thank you.
I didn't totally realize that.
I mean, that's, I think, more of just about them because I was just trying to show what they're doing.
But yeah, like you mentioned, they're moving into downtown that have become kind of dilapidated in Wisconsin.
They're
renovating them.
They're building Mexican restaurants and Latin American grocery stores and bringing kind of a life of vitality
to it.
That's so funny you say that because we have that in Marinette too.
We have a Latin grocery store.
And if you had told me that would have been there 20 years ago, I would have said no way, but I think it's thriving.
So that's exciting too.
What's the, what was the biggest challenge making this film?
You shot this film in winter in Northern Wisconsin.
What was your biggest challenge doing that?
Well, the shooting on the lake, like I talked to...
Charlie Barron's about this, not to mention another radio host.
You're much more fun to talk to Pete.
He's on this network.
You can do that.
I've had Charlie on the show.
He doesn't like me personally, but he was a good guest.
Yeah.
Well, I was like trying to explain to him, like I start to answer the question of, yeah, it's really hard to shoot on a lake.
And of course I'm talking to Charlie Barron to make this video every two months out on a person lake.
He's pretty used to it.
Um, but yeah, for my crew from California, they were not used to it.
And, um, uh, that was one of the bigger things.
And then there was a couple of days we were filming on the lake that like temperature spiked up to 50.
So that's not a great feeling to be on a lake.
Nobody moves.
I mean, it's nice.
It's physically nice.
I mean, in general, what we were told is true, which is that, I mean, the lake's not going to, like two feet of ice isn't going to disappear in, you know, 24 hours.
But still, when you got 15 people that you're responsible for and three vehicles, I mean, there's, you can never put a vehicle on ice and know it's safe because no ice is, you know, ever perfectly safe.
So I was, I was pretty relieved when the ice sections were finished.
Do you really know like the people?
Like, I wouldn't even have known that, that you don't park a car.
Like, in Marinette, there are people that do ice car racing out in the bay.
I was gonna say, I
saw that for the first time when I went up to Ashland during the snowstorm day.
I look out at Lake Superior and there's like drag racing going on.
Yeah.
I'm not in LA right now.
What is
that?
It's crazy because the bay where we live is like two feet deep.
So if you go through, I mean, I suppose you could...
injure yourself or possibly drown, but Lake Superior is a whole different animal, man.
That's like the ocean, basically, or outer space.
No thanks, you know.
So, all right, so my guess is Nathan Deming.
He's showing his film February.
It's one of 12.
He's gonna make a movie for every month of the year.
He's got the first two down.
I assume you're working on March, but Saturday,
The movie will be screened at the Mariner Theatre in Marinette, just an hour north of where we're broadcasting from right now.
If you're in the northeast Wisconsin area, it might be worth a road trip, folks.
Nathan will be there.
I will introduce the film.
I'm going to host a Q&A.
And the film's about 45 minutes long, Nathan.
Closer to an hour.
OK.
So closer to an hour.
And then we'll do a Q&A.
It's going to be a really fun event.
1 o'clock in the afternoon.
If you can swing by, it'd be great.
Trust me, you'll love Nathan.
He's a great guest.
I've had him on a PBS show I host before and he's going to make a great interview after you see a good film.
So it's definitely worth it.
Are you, what is the entrance fee, Nathan?
Yeah, that's the worst part.
It's $0.
Who's
got that
kind of
money?
It's the best part.
It's the best part.
Yeah, the real
dollar.
So you'll only lose an hour and a half of your life spending it with us.
Okay, and you can buy snacks.
They've got snacks.
Who doesn't like
snacks?
They've got snacks, concessions.
Yeah, it's a mariner's theater.
I think they have an arcade there, too.
They do.
If you don't like the movie, just go play video games.
Oh, don't do that.
That's then you hear Pac-Man in the back.
My wife worked at that theater in high school.
I didn't know her in high school, but she worked there.
And I remember they had these girls.
I don't think you'd get away with this now, but they wore these cute little outfits that I don't think would go over very well.
But I always remember thinking it was, and that was the only theater in town at the time.
And they had two screens, and it was just a blast.
So I have a lot of fondness for the Mariners.
It's a great little joint, and it's going to be a fun event.
So come on out and join us.
Nathan, speaking of directors, I don't think I've ever asked you this.
And I've known you for several years now.
Who are your favorite directors and which directors have influenced you the most?
Oh, okay.
Well, influenced and favorite overlapping list.
I mean,
I mean, the first person I would say is Mike Lee, the British director, which is the reason I went to the film school I went to.
And I think, especially with this year series, the style I'm like kind of carving out for myself.
Yeah, similar to the love Mike Lee, but for American filmmakers, I gotta say, Paul Thomas Anderson, that's my favorite, favorite guy.
Every time, every time he puts out a film is kind of a new.
chapter of my life.
I just love every one of his films.
Did you see Phantom Thread or Licorice Pizza?
No, you know, oh, God, Licorice Pizza.
I keep forgetting to watch.
I have to write that down.
No, I've seen Boogie Nights, Magnolia.
I've seen like four or five of his films.
I haven't seen all of them, though.
What's great about him, I think, is that everybody has a favorite film, which I think speaks to like how
strong with a filmmaker is, you know, like Boogie Nights is completely different from Magnolia.
Um, I love Phantom Thread.
I love There Will Be Blood.
Oh yeah.
I saw that.
Great movie.
Yeah.
So like, yeah, he's amazing.
And, uh, everything he does with the camera is like the coolest thing ever.
Yeah.
You know, I think my favorite Paul Thomas Anderson film might be, uh, this might surprise you as heart eight.
with John C. Riley.
Yeah, yeah, interesting.
Yeah, that was a really, it's kind of had an indie feel to it, but a really good movie about gambling and who's the guy who I all of a sudden don't like anymore?
William Macy is in it and he's a really good actor.
And then Maria Bello, I want to say is in it, but it's a really just a solid, I really like the film.
Yeah, it's like his breakout hit, that one's pretty strong.
shout out to uh... so my home town is calma wisconsin and calma native rachel schrader a girl who went to my high school she just worked on his latest film which is coming out
on
it and maybe this year maybe next uh... she's uh... she moved out that way to do sound
worked her way up and now she works on all the giant stuff.
Oh, that is so great.
We'll have a couple more minutes coming up with Nathan after a very short break, and I got my movies confused.
I did mean Hard 8, but I'm thinking of the cooler that William Macy was in, but Hard 8 is my favorite.
Yeah, I was kind of like
trying to track that.
All right, we'll be right back with a few more minutes with our buddy Nathan Deming.
This is Pete Schwab.
And nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Andrew from Maine says, that high of a cover charge in this economy, outrageous.
I guess the only other way we could make this kind of cushion the blow, Nathan, is just to give people a couple bucks when they come in to watch your film.
Oh, I'm paying them now.
I guess that's Andrew from Maine's suggestion.
Ah, OK, OK.
So, yeah, so we're talking about Paul Thomas Anderson.
Is he the guy that's influenced you the most or the guy whose films you like to watch the most?
Oh, you know, well, there's several guys I could go off on and then go, oh my God, I just want to make films like that.
Right.
No, I get it.
Yeah, Terrence Malek, too.
I mean, one of the movies that had the biggest effect on my life was Tree of Life, if you've seen that.
I saw it years
ago.
Go ahead,
sorry.
You saw it years ago?
Tree of Life, yeah.
Yeah, I saw it at the old Sundance Cinema in Madison, which, sadly, RIP is gone now.
That just, I don't know, right age, right time, and I just kind of like blew my little brain.
But I like, yeah, I like a lot of people.
I mean, I do, I still love Spielberg, if you heard of him.
I've heard
of
his work, yeah.
Yeah, he did a little film called E.T.
He did some movies called Indiana Jones, kind of obscure.
You
wouldn't know it.
It's funny that you're saying, you're saying these films and I love that you're like this jaded film guy, but you're picking some of his bigger hits, which I think is really cool because like, you know, sometimes you talk to people who are really in the know and they'll say like, well, sugarland express or, you know, something more obscure, but I love that you're picking these hits.
Yeah.
Cause those are great films.
Oh man.
No.
Yeah.
You can't top, I mean, come on.
Yeah.
I mean, he's a guy who like, I think also film people like to.
crap on him or like yeah and like they don't love his movies like come on like any five of his best are up there for five of the greatest of all time they've been private ryan you know like uh... i'm trying to come up with them at the time i have a e-t jobs and come on
or the uh... i can't the holocaust on shillers list
yeah shillers list drastic park
I mean, yeah, we're just living in the effect of his career on the industry.
The Jurassic Park Nine is coming out this year, something like that, which I would argue is not because these movies are good, but because that first one is so good that, you know, they just are ripping it off
forever.
So, one other movie I wanted to ask you about, this is on your favorites list, and I just saw the whole thing recently.
It was shot in the UP with Jimmy Stewart, Anatomy of a Murder.
Oh, yes.
Tell me about your thoughts on that film.
Well, this has quickly become, I think, one of my favorite films of all time.
What did you think of it?
Did you like it?
Yeah, I liked it.
I didn't love it.
I read the book first.
But, um, I love Jimmy Stewart.
I love the look of it.
Uh, I think, I hate to say this because it makes me sound like a simpleton, but I think it was long and I think I kind of meandered a little bit.
I'm probably going to get pushed back on that, but I did like it overall.
Yes.
Oh man.
Yeah.
I just, I don't know what clicked in me about that film, but well, I love fifties movies in general.
And that one has such a crazy unique tone.
You know, it's about, I mean, I'm sure a lot of people have seen it, but if you haven't, it's like Jimmy Stewart's lawyer who just goes fishing all the time
in
the UP.
He's like waiting for a good case.
And then like the worst case comes along, which is like a very clear cut murder with very clear motivation.
And then yet everything's off about it.
He like.
He takes it.
He defends the murderer.
He even kind of like leads the murderer on without saying enough.
He basically helps him understand that he needs to pretend to be insane or he needs to plead insanity.
Um, and then most of the movies in the courtroom and apparently it's been used in law schools.
Uh, I've, I've read like to like show it's apparently, uh, the most realistic depiction of what court is like.
and uh... uh... and i think it's based on a like real court well yeah you read the book yet but based on a real trial that happened uh... uh... i don't know everything about it so fast it's got that great jazzy score and yes and for tall of uh... of the the wife right
No, it's great and they there's some great shots of him driving by I assume it's like superior, but Love the cinematography and I love the small my dad's a lawyer in Marinette which is probably I think this was shot in Marquette and they had a me of a murderer Yeah, and it had that
I mean, I love that they shot it on location.
It's such a small town.
Feel to it.
And they totally captured that.
So I'll have to give it another watch.
But if you like 1950s movies, the next time you come on, I have been immersing myself in film noir's for the last like six months.
And I absolutely love it.
So next time you come on, we'll have to have a discussion about that.
Definitely chat about that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I will see you Saturday.
Nathan Deming, the film is February.
It's playing at the Mariner Theater Saturday afternoon at 1 PM.
I'll be there to introduce it.
Nathan will be there.
We'll do a Q&A afterwards.
It's going to be a great time.
Come on out.
It's free at those prices you can't afford not to go.
And Nathan, break a leg on Saturday.
I will see you there.
And thanks so much for your time tonight, buddy.
See you soon, Pete.
OK.
All right.
Have a good night.
That's Nathan Deming.
Yeah, I'm excited.
I think that's going to be fun.
I love doing a Q&A.
It's fun to talk to.
I love the questions people ask filmmakers.
Because oftentimes, the people aren't film buffs, but they have these great questions that...
You know, anybody can come up with a great question, and oftentimes it's something even the filmmaker didn't think of.
So it's going to be a fun event.
Hope to see you out there Saturday.
We will be back to do all of this.
Tomorrow night, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank Jeff Kohn, Joe Schwabba, Nathan Deming, and thank you, the listener, for all your texts and calls.
Great fun tonight on Nightlight, and we will do it again tomorrow on behalf of the lovable producer, Conrad.
I'm Pete Schwabba saying good night, Wisconsin.
I'll sing it to your best friend's house and momma lay with me.
