Film
After the death of his friend, and a break-up with his partner, Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan is back for the first time in over a year. He opened up to Marc Fennell about his dreams and his depression.
It’s 1:54 am in the middle of an ABC studio. I just mixed what is very likely to be my last triple j review.
I’ve been That. Movie. Guy for almost my entire adult life.
Sitting here alone tonight in an empty, cavernous public broadcaster feels somehow both anti-climatic and entirely appropriate. In the last decade I’ve spent way, way too many nights like this at the ABC finishing off a review after a long week making The Feed, Download This Show or Hungry Beast before them. So, sitting here for this Major Life Turning Point™ all by myself in the silent dead of night seems... about right. If I were producing this scene, it would need some nostalgic, swelling emotionally manipulative play-off music.
I’ve made roughly 734 reviews over 11 years. I’ve outlived 5 breakfast shows and the entire Twilight franchise. I think now is the time for someone new.
And I'm pretty sure the next person will be 100% better than me.
Because that person... is probably you.
Right now, triple j is hunting for someone who will - I personally hope - rip up the sound and format that I created for myself. You should absolutely go apply. Be that person who decides the way we *should* be talking about movies and TV in 2017. Make it your own. Make it awesome. And, above all, make it better than this dickhead:
One thing you should know: triple j is not like other radio stations.
I will always remember my first exposure to triple j. It was a Hottest 100 party in 2001. I was hooked instantly. Adam and Will had a breakfast show that made being a nerd seem cool. Richard Kingsmill introduced me to my new favourite music but also gave me reasons to appreciate the music I hated. On Sunday nights before the school week, I was glued to Fenella Kernebone and Megan Spencer introducing me to new movies, arts and culture. I’d never experienced radio like that. It made me feel connected to a universe far bigger than my microscopically small community christian high school. It made me feel included. Even in the depths of shitty, shitty self-loathing adolescence, I could see a horizon.
triple j gave me that.
Sure, they played a bit more Jack Johnson than any of us would like to admit, but - look - everyone fucks up occasionally.
I still love film. I’ll still be bringing you the best cult movies on SBS VICELAND. I'm still going to be interviewing the most amazing people in film, music and writing on The Feed. I'm still very much part of the ABC with my other radio show Download This Show. This week I'm also helping launch something really exciting with Junkee. And I've also helped launch a new not-for-profit called Media Diversity Australia.
But most importantly - I still want to talk with you about movies. I’ve always said that my triple j reviews were the beginning of a conversation that you guys get to finish. Right now, I’m thinking about what the next evolution of that might look like. I have some plans for something completely different and new. I'm also keen to hear what you want. So lemme know in the comments or shoot me a message on Facebook.
I walked into triple j when I was 20 and the fact that they haven't fired me in the last decade has been both an absolute shock and probably a testament to how cheap I am to employ.
It may have only been a little 2-minute piece of radio that I made but I still count myself so lucky. So lucky that I found triple j when I did as a teenager. So lucky to broadcast to the best audience in Australia. Ask anyone: there's no group quite like triple j listeners. You are an engaged, passionate, weirdly-Tool obsessed cohort of sexy motherfuckers and I can't wait to hear which one of you takes over from me.
But right now - It’s 2:05am and I’m driving home from making my last ever triple j review. The good news is that I found the 2001 Hottest 100 on Spotify and thanks to the number 1 song I finally have...
Thank you triple j.
Thank you for the horizon.
Me: "What would you change about how we teach music?"
Hans Zimmer: "I would make it about playfulness."
The man who wrote the music to Batman, The Lion King, Inception and more has no formal music education. He just writes from the heart.
If you were an Australian kid in the late 80's or 90's then you would've - at some point - picked up a book by Paul Jennings. Or, of course, you would've watched the brilliant tv show Round the Twist.
He's a legendary author. He has sold around 8.9 million copies of his over 60 different books. He doesn't give a lot of interviews but he kindly allowed us to come visit his home and talk about his life, his career, his moving family experience and more.
It was pretty special.
I get a musical masterclass from Alan Menken in how Disney movies are made and learns how AIDS shaped some of the most iconic movies of our childhood.
It is the largest, best-known (possibly only) independent women's media company in Australia. It commands millions in video views and podcasts. Creator Mia Freedman has told the story of Mama Mia in her new book "Work Strife Balance". She takes Marc through the journey from her lounge to an international media brand. What she's learnt from old and new media. What she wouldn't do again and the fine line between a great headline and bad click bait.
The goal of MDA is to create positive solutions. It’s about understanding the reasons why diverse Australians aren’t finding their way onto our screens.
Read More“When you sit down with somebody, at a dinner table or here [at Parliament on King], and you meet them, and talk to them, you get to know them as a human being.”
I sat down with Bob Odenkirk ahead of the launch of season 3 of Better Call Saul (airing in Australia on Stan from April 11) and the conversation took a turn for the serious. We talked about how comedy acts as therapy for Odenkirk, why he opts out of too much involvement in Better Call Saul and there's a fascinating moment where we talk about his time as a writer on SNL. Turns out Bob would really like to host. And Lorne Micheals knows it.
Genuine triple threat Josh Gad is starring as Disney's first openly gay character LeFou in the live action Beauty and the Beast and he chatted everything from Robin Williams to Juilliard with Marc Fennell.
They say you shouldn't meet your heroes, but for Aussie musician Harts meeting his hero Prince quite literally changed his life.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle sits down with Marc Fennell to talk about his sequel to Trainspotting, using drugs and directing the Queen.
She has played a Disney princess twice, she's the first Asian woman to win a Tony Award and she's the voice behind Aladdin's A Whole New World.
Real-life Lion: meet the guy who inspired the hit film starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman
Naomie Harris has just been nominated for an Oscar for Moonlight where she plays the hate-filled drug-riddled mother of young, gay boy, Chiron, growing up in the rough end of Miami. It's an incredible performance made more so by the fact that she filmed it all in just 3 days. Yes, 3 days.
Harris built up a pretty bloody great career with the likes of Spectre, Pirates of the Carribean and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. She's also got a few hard and fast rules about what kinds of roles she will and won't take. And playing a stereotypical black crack addict was right up on that list. It's a rule she broke for the Golden Globe winning, Oscar nominated film.
Naomie and I chatted on ABC radio about why Harris' mother has proven to be a guiding force in her career choices, what she'd like to change about Hollywood and filmmaking. And then she promised to go win an Oscar for us.
It was the largest short film festival in the world. A truly unique Australian media property. And then it all came to a crashing halt. In this special conversation on Download This Show, Polson opens up about how Tropfest has changed in the last year. He addresses accusations about whether Tropfest is a boys club and how they’re changing to face the future.
These interviews are the most fun thing I do. I love getting lost in someone’s work, I love editing them and I love getting to show them to you. Here is my 2015 list.
