Film

Film director David Lynch has collaborated with Alan Splet on all of his movies. Splet joins Fresh Air to discuss how he helped Lynch create an unsettling atmosphere in movies like Eraserhead and Blue Velvet.

Allan Arkush is part of a new breed of directors who switches back and forth between film and television. A veteran of B-movies and cult films, he says TV offers more room for experimentation and narrative innovation.

Director Tim Hunter's new movie is about a teenage murderer and the impact his actions have on his friends. The movie stars Dennis Hopper, Keanu Reeves, and Crispin Glover.

James Lardner's new book examines how videocassette recorders have changed the motion picture industry and viewers' movie and television watching habits. The author also considers how nearly all VHS players are manufactured in Japan, though the technology was developed in the U.S.

Time Magazine film critic Richard Schickel's new book compiles promotional photographs of film actors that were taken while they were under contract with movie studios -- a publicity model which became obsolete with the advent of television talk shows and the decline of studio contracts.

Stephen Frears directed a new biopic about the life and death of the gay British playwright called Prick Up Your Ears.

Jill Godmilow's American Playhouse film explores the relationship between the avant-garde writer and her partner Alice Toklas. While much of the plot is invented, Godmilow was careful to stay true to the women's lives.

Novelist William Kennedy and his son Brendan collaborated on a children's book called Charlie Malarkey and the Belly-Button. Despite the elder Kennedy's success as a novelist, the two received a series of rejections before finally getting their work published. Kennedy also talks about his recent work as a screenwriter.

Film director John Waters has cultivated a second career as a writer. His newest collection of essays is called Crackpot. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his television watching and filmgoing habits, and to discuss some of his favorite recent releases. Listeners call in with their questions.

Film critic Roger Ebert returns to Fresh Air to discuss the impact VCRs and the home video market has affected an audience's movie watching habits--a topic he explores in the book Roger Ebert's Movie Home Companion. The newest iteration of his television show with fellow critic Gene Siskel is called At the Movies. Fresh Air listeners call in with their questions.