The Film Programme

Francine Stock talks to writer and director Spike Jonze, whose work includes Where the Wild Things Are and Being John Malkovich, about his new film Her, a futuristic love story. Joaquin Phoenix plays a gentle, lonely man who falls in love with a computer operating system brought to life by the voice of Scarlett Johansson.Plus Grant Heslov a producer and long-time collaborator with George Clooney on the WW2 epic, The Monuments Men. It tells the story of the men who crossed Europe under fire to rescue works of art threatened by destruction and looting by the Nazis. It stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett and John Goodman.Industry analyst Charles Gant unpicks the surprise hits and misses of films in international markets - why South Koreans loved Brit rom-com About Time while China feted monster robot action film Pacific Rim which disappointed in the UK and USA markets.And British rising star and BAFTA nominee George MacKay on his career so far - from child actor in Peter Pan to How I Li

Matthew Sweet talks to screenwriter Abi Morgan about The Invisible Woman, the tale of Charles Dickens' love affair with Nelly Ternan, starring Ralph Fiennes and Felicity Jones. Abi's previous work includes The Iron Lady and Shame, as well as telelvision series The Hour. She describes the joy of working with the material of Claire Tomalin's biography and her mixed feelings about the great Victorian man of letters.Jared Leto returns to cinema screens for the first time in six years with Dallas Buyers Club, a film already prominent in the 2014 awards season. Leto plays a trans gender woman and has been nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actor for the role. He explains what attracted him to the part and how he prepared for the transformation.Gary Oldman, whose recent appearances include The Dark Knight Rises and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, discusses the remake of the 1987 part-man part-machine thriller RoboCop. Set in 2028 Detroit, it explores the perils of the corporate world controlling policing. He also

Francine Stock talks to the director Scott Cooper about his film Out of the Furnace, starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker and Woody Harrelson. Cooper explains why his own family history is so pertinent to this story of brothers struggling to find their role as men amidst the dying steel mills of Pennsylvania, and his fascination with modern masculinity.Plus Alex Gibney on his Lance Armstrong documentary, The Armstrong Lie and how he fell under the spell of the disgraced but charismatic cyclist. What started as a comeback story in 2009 turned into something very different as the doping scandal gathered pace.Charlie Bloye, Chief Executive of Film Export UK, the trade body that represents around 30 independent film sales companies, makes a case for more support for getting British indie films seen abroad. And Ginette Vincendeau of King's College London explores the magic of Jeanne Moreau in Lift to the Scaffold, the 1958 Louis Malle film which made her a full-blown star. She explains why the n

Francine Stock talks to Meryl Streep about her role as vicious matriarch in August: Osage County, based on a widely-praised play by Tracy Letts. Streep has picked up a record 18th Oscar nomination for the part, starring alongside Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor and Juliette Lewis. The plot follows a family gathering to bury the head of the family after his suicide. Meryl describes how she revels in the freedom of playing a character without limits and discusses her next project Into the Woods, which has been filming in Richmond Park, London.The National Trust provides a surprisingly diverse range of film locations from elf cottages to Russian love nests. Film Unit Manager Harvey Edgington shows us around, including Ham House which has featured in Anna Karenina and A Little Chaos.Plus Oscar Isaac on playing a failing folk musician in the latest offering from the Coen Brothers, Inside Llewyn Davis. He explains why it was so important to play the music live himself and why it's never fun working with cats..The crit

As Martin Scorsese's latest film, The Wolf of Wall Street, picks up five Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director, Francine Stock talks to actor Jonah Hill, nominated for Best Supporting Actor. He describes how improvisation played an important part in the film which is based on the memoir of trader and convicted fraudster Jordan Belfort. We also hear from editor and long-time Scorsese collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker about the alchemy of the cutting room.The composer Neil Brand explores the use of found, or pre-existing, music in film scores from Saving Mr Banks to Inside Llewyn Davis, Raising Arizona and Black Swan. He explores how the often well-known music can be re-invented and manipulated to work on audiences in sometimes surprising ways.Plus The Night of the Hunter, first released in 1955, directed by British actor Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum, is back on limited re-release. Nick James from Sight and Sound and broadcaster Michael Carlson discuss why it has had such an i

With 12 Years a Slave already tipped as one of the leading films in the awards season, Francine Stock talks to British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor about his role as a kidnapped free man who finds himself working on a plantation. Directed by Steve McQueen, whose previous work includes Hunger and Shame, the film has received 10 BAFTA nominations including Best Actor for Ejiofor.We explore the controversy surrounding what makes a film British, as the BAFTA nominations are announced. Eyebrows were raised about the space adventure Gravity made by an American studio with an American cast, making it into the Best British Film shortlist while 12 Years A Slave, with a British director and leading actors, failed to classify as British. Ben Roberts head of the BFI Film Fund explains the mysterious world of what makes a film British and the sinister-sounding criteria of the Cultural Test.We join the director Ken Loach in the cutting room in London's Soho as he and his editor Jonathan Morris and assistant Paul Clegg put togeth

Francine Stock talks to Idris Elba about playing Mandela in a new film Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom directed by Justin Chadwick. Elba has recently appeared in Thor: The Dark World, Pacific Rim and BBC TV detective series Luther.Analyst Charles Gant and independent cinema owner Kevin Markwick look back at the box office highs and lows of 2013 before turning their attention to the most anticipated films of 2014 and the awards season.Daniel Bruhl tell all about his big filmic break.And the award-winning film club in Newcastle, County Down in Northern Ireland.Producer: Ruth Sanderson.

Francine Stock explores the spirit of the teenager on film through the decades with Kim Newman, Pamela Hutchinson, Hadley Freeman and Charlie Lyne. From Andy Hardy to The Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen, the programme charts the rise of the teenager from pre-war in-betweeners to fully fledged rebels. The director Matt Wolf discusses his documentary Teenage which takes a look at adolescence in the first half of the 20th century. There's debate about the conservatism of teen film guru, the director John Hughes whose work includes The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Weird Science. And we unpick why 1995 marked the beginning of a ten year boom in teen flicks, from Clueless to Mean Girls.

Francine Stock talks to Ben Stiller about The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Based on a short story by James Thurber, he both stars as Walter and directs. Walter daydreams his way through life, while yearning for his co-worker, played by Kirsten Wiig. Stiller describes what attracted him to this tale and why his 2001 comedy Zoolander remains close to his heart. American Hustle, a grifters story set in the 1970s, has already been nominated for awards including the Golden Globes. It's directed by David O Russell, whose last outing Silver Linings Playbook picked up an Oscar for Jennifer Lawrence who also appears in American Hustle. Russell explains why he finds the 1970s an era of innocence.Steve Mortimore is the man you need to call should you require an aircraft carrier to film on at a few weeks notice.. As a location manager, he has worked on World War Z starring Brad Pitt and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy among others. The Film Programme went along to his latest set in Sussex where he's working in a railway tunnel

Francine Stock talks to legendary film producer and co founder of Miramax films Harvey Weinstein, about his life in films, including his most recent release Mandela. Plus a pick of the best Christmas gifts from the film world with Catherine Bray and Jason Solomons. As we enter the "award season" critic Tim Robey discusses the Golden Globe nominations. And Alfonso Cuaron discusses his 3D wonder Gravity, still pulling them into the box office.Producer: Hilary Dunn.

Francine Stock talks to Daniel Radcliffe and Dane Dehaan about Kill Your Darlings in which Radcliffe plays beat poet Allen Ginsberg.Plus Sideways director Alexander Payne on his new film Nebraska starring Bruce Dern. Shot in black and white, it charts a father and son's road journey across the mid West to claim a non-existent sweep stake prize.And James Fox on A Long Way From Home, a portrayal of a marriage under strain after a couple retires to the south of France.Plus a look at the best of British film making as we examine the nominations for the British Independent Film Awards.Producer: Hilary Dunn.

Francine Stock talks to Emma Thompson about Saving Mr Banks, in which she plays the author PL Travers. After prolonged artistic wrangles and a painful grappling with childhood memories, she eventually gives Walt Disney, played by Tom Hanks, the rights to her creation, Mary Poppins. Crowd-sourced films are explored with producer Jack Arbuthnott, who worked on Life in A Day and has now produced Christmas in a Day, a montage of video sent in by the public and directed by Kevin Macdonald. Excerpts have been released on TV as part of a leading supermarket's Christmas advertising campaign with the full version unveiled online on 29th November. Plus documentary makers Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel on Leviathan, an unconventional portrait of deep sea fishing in the North Atlantic. And a look at Stephen King horror tale and iconic film Carrie, originally directed by Brian de Palma in 1976 and now re-made by Kimberly Peirce and starring Chloe Grace Moretz. Author Neil Mitchell compares the two and explains

Francine Stock talks to Stanley Tucci, camp compere of the deadly Hunger Games, on the constant reinvention of the character actor. Based on the young adult novels of Suzanne Collins, part two of the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire, is released this month and stars Jennifer Lawrence and Woody Harrelson.Abdellatif Kechiche, the director of Blue is the Warmest Colour, explains why he wants to break free from the conventions of cinema, whether it's content, form or duration. Winner of this year's Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the film is an explicit and affecting tale of two young women and their tempestuous relationship. He also answers complaints that he was an excessively demanding director for both cast and crew.Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer discuss The Family, a story of a mob family in hiding and their increasingly farcical - and murderous - attempts to fit into their new lives incognito.Plus 47 Ronin, the Japanese legend of the masterless samurai, retold in an American produced film wi

The latest news from the world of film.

Forty five years after the release of genre-defining Night of the Living Dead, Francine Stock talks to the director George A Romero about inventing the undead zombie and where he might unearth horror in contemporary society. Plus why he doesn't rate Stanley Kubrick as a horror director.As Gravity is released on the big screen, with an even bigger budget, we look at the trend for Scottish sci fi in short films with young directors Jamie Stone and Mark Buchanan. They discuss the magic of space and how to do it on a shoe string.The writer and director James Toback, known for Fingers and Bugsy among others, takes his camera on the trail for the big bucks. With actor and friend Alec Baldwin in tow, they mingle at the Cannes Film Festival, lobbying for the cash to make their proposed film Last Tango in Tikrit. Follow their efforts, often hilarious, in the resulting documentary Seduced and Abandoned. James Toback explains just how flexible you have to be before the financiers show you the money...And Ealing studio g

Francine Stock talks to director Stephen Frears about Philomena. Starring Steve Coogan and Judi Dench, it's based on the true story of an unmarried Irish woman who was forced to give up her child for adoption by the Catholic church.The screenwriter Joe Eszterhas shares his Hollywood big break, beginning a career that led to scripts such as Basic Instinct, Flashdance and Jagged Edge.Cutie and The Boxer is a documentary about two Japanese artists living in New York and the rivalries and collaborations of their work and marriage. Director Zachary Heinzerling describes how he spent five years visiting the couple, observing the tensions creative and otherwise between them and pondering how much his camera was influencing the action.But what about the films that have never been made? The masterpieces that didn't quite make it.. In his book The Greatest Movies You'll Never See, Simon Braund describes among others, the film Salvador Dali wanted to make for the Marx Brothers with giraffes in gas masks and dwarves in b

As British director Clio Barnard enjoys warm reviews of her film The Selfish Giant, about two young boys who collect scrap metal, she describes casting her two lead teenage performances. And Francine Stock talks to Ken Loach, an acknowledged influence on Barnard, about how to get the best performances from young people.Composer Neil Brand is back at the piano, exploring the world of vampires from Nosferatu to Dracula and Buffy and explains why he thinks the blood sucker is actually just looking for love. Scott Jordan Harris discusses why he thinks Halloween directed by John Carpenter is well worth a second look as it's released on Blu Ray 35 years on.And documentary maker Kevin Schreck describes his new film Persistence of Vision about the best animation film never made - the 30 year odyssey by pioneering artist Richard Williams.Producer: Elaine Lester.

Director Paul Greengrass talks to Francine Stock about his latest ship-hijacking movie 'Captain Phillips' and how his family's own history on the high seas informed his film making. Actress Robin Wright talks about being immortalized by motion capture and how she felt seeing herself in cartoon form in 'The Congress'. David Gordon Green discusses his surreal comedy 'Prince Avalanche' - the story of two quirky men painting road markings in the middle of nowhere. And master of Japanese cinema Hirokazu Koreeda shares the secret to getting such brilliant performances out of children in his films.Producer: Elaine Lester.

Le Week-End, the latest offering from director Roger Michell, stars Lindsay Duncan and Jim Broadbent embarking on a tempestuous marital mini-break. Francine Stock talks to screenwriter Hanif Kureishi about writing for his generation and why cinema needs to grow up.And as hacktivist Julian Assange remains in the Ecuadorian embassy, fearing extradition, the story of the Wikileaks publication of US military documents is explored in The Fifth Estate, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Bruhl. It's partly based on a book co-authored by investigative journalist David Leigh. He was part of the Guardian newspaper team who published the leaked documents in partnership with Wikileaks. He takes a wry look at the film's version of events. Plus Tim Robey of The Telegraph gives his verdict and considers crusading journalists on film.And as the BFI London Film Festival opens, director Clare Stewart explains how the festival hopes to bring the stars and the films to audiences beyond the capital. Plus BFI archivist Clyde

The Film Programme takes on a Scottish theme and looks at how one country can produce such different styles of film. James McAvoy talks about his latest role in the Edinburgh police corruption tale, Filth, based on Irvine Welsh's novel and reflects on how such a relatively small country should think about and run its film industry. Dexter Fletcher discusses his musical movie based on songs of The Proclaimers - Sunshine on Leith, which is an adaptation of the stage show pioneered by Dundee Rep. Meanwhile dark tales of love and loss from a Scottish fishing village in For Those in Peril - director Paul Wright tells Francine Stock how his own grief informed his narrative. And Scottish director Kevin Macdonald discusses his film How I Live Now, starring Saoirse Ronan and set in England during World War III. His previous films include The Last King of Scotland and Touching The Void.Producer: Elaine Lester.