First time feature filmmaker, Ted Melfi is my first guest. Ted’s film, St. Vincent, about the unlikely friendship between a grumpy old codger (Bill Murray in top form) and young Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) who moves into the house next door. The movie’s all-star cast also includes Melissa McCarthy as Oliver’s recently single mother, Naomi Watts as Daka, the pregnant hooker with a heart of gold, Chris O’Dowd as Oliver’s Catholic School teacher, and Terrence Howard as the local baddie to whom Vincent owes a lot of money. St. Vincent is currently in theaters in NYC & LA, starts expanding on 10/17 and goes national 10/24.
The other guest is documentary filmmaker Sami, whom I interviewed at the Toronto International Film Festival with his film, Iraqi Odyssey. Tracing the emigrations of his family over more than half a century, this riveting 3D documentary epic from acclaimed expatriate Iraqi filmmaker Samir pays moving homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of a people successively plagued by the horrors of dictatorship, war, and foreign occupation.
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