Pop quiz, hotshot: join us as we welcome back BWDR veteran and De Palma completist ⁠Travis Woods⁠ for a special conversation on one of our all-time favorites, Jan de Bont’s Speed (1994). We get into: repetition compulsion and classical Hollywood storytelling, Keanu’s peak hotness, Speed’s existential lessons, does Jeff Daniels close his eyes?, Mark Mancina’s love theme, what it means to “become bomb,” and more.

Further reading/viewing: Veronica’s ⁠BWDR essay on Speed⁠, the comprehensive ⁠50 MPH podcast⁠ on the making of Speed, and Keanu Reeves’s ⁠vision of a perfect day⁠. Find Travis at BWDR, and here’s another ⁠recent piece of his on David Lynch's Wild at Heart⁠ over at Southwest Review.

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The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by⁠ Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and⁠ Chad Perman⁠, and produced by⁠ Eli Sands⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find every issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room at⁠⁠ brightwalldarkroom.com⁠⁠. We welcome comments and inquiries at ⁠⁠podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com⁠⁠.

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This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for one month of free access to curated film lists, essays, live discussions, and more at galerie.com, code: BWDR.

This month’s micro-episode takes us inside the mysterious, sensual brilliance of Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger, a curated pick from director Ezra Edelman:

"The idea of wanting to live with purpose, even if it’s someone else’s purpose—there’s just something so human about it."

We get into: the comfort of slow cinema that doesn't feel slow, the aesthetics of existential malaise, the virility of 70s'-era Nicholson, the intensity of traveling relationships, and more.

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Bonus Feature: We'll be hosting a special live discussion on The Passenger over at Galerie on May 20th at 3pm EST/12pm PST. We'd love to have you join the conversation!

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Hosts: Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ &⁠ Chad Perman⁠⁠

Producer: Eli Sands⁠⁠

Editor: ⁠⁠Buczar⁠⁠

Music: Chad Perman

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This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club where you can chat directly with filmmakers, watch groundbreaking movies, and discover stories that bring you closer than ever to the craft and culture of cinema.

To enjoy one month of Galerie for free, and then receive 50% off the next three months, visit ⁠Galerie.com⁠ and enter the code “BWDR” when you sign up.

This month we sit down with Vulture critic Angelica Jade Bastién, author of the newsletter Madwomen & Muses, where she recently started writing about “Movies That Fuck.” In honor of “cinematic sensuality,” we chat about Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Francis Ford Coppola’s ode to ahistorical melodrama and doomed romance. We get into: Roman Coppola’s practical effects, Keanu’s accent work, crossing oceans of time to find you, Michael Ballhaus (and whether this is the dark b-side of The Age of Innocence), Eiko Ishioka with the muscle armor and tiny glasses, do young people want to be turned on by the movies (or at all), and more.

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Further reading/viewing:

The Costumes are the Sets (a 15-minute doc on the film’s Oscar-winning costumes), and James Hart on the transformation of Dracula’s script.

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The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is hosted by⁠⁠ Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ &⁠ Chad Perman⁠⁠, produced by⁠⁠ Eli Sands⁠⁠, and edited by ⁠⁠Buczar⁠⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

--

This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club where you can chat directly with filmmakers, watch groundbreaking movies, and discover stories that bring you closer than ever to the craft and culture of cinema.

To enjoy one month of Galerie for free—and then receive 50% off the next three months—visit ⁠Galerie.com⁠ and enter the code “BWDR” when you sign up.