BTL Radio Show - 05/06/24 with special guest DANNY LEE and our exclusive interview with MARCUS TAORMINA

Behind The Lens

It's a mixed bag this week on #BTLRadioShow thanks to director DANNY LEE talking about his new documentary WHO IS STAN SMITH? and our exclusive interview with VFX Supervisor MARCUS TAORMINA discussing REBEL MOON-PART 2: THE SCARGIVER.

First up, take a listen as we dive into visual effects and my exclusive interview with VFX Supervisor MARCUS TAORMINA going in-depth about the visual effects work in Zach Snyder's REBEL MOON-PART 2: THE SCARGIVER. An interesting conversation as we delve into heat signatures and color, shooting ground battles in California where no pyro is permitted due to fire concerns thus putting more on the shoulders of VFX, working with Weta (aerial battles) and Scanline (ground battles), and more.

But then, one of the most insightful documentary discussions ever on #BTLRadioShow comes courtesy of director DANNY LEE as he talks about his new documentary WHO IS STAN SMITH?. Do you know who Stan Smith is? Some of you may know Stan Smith as a former tennis champion, not to mention having his own Adidas sneaker complete with his face and name on the shoe (long before Michael Jordan's deal with Nike). But how many know anything about the man behind the racket and the shoe; his life, his innate goodness? It's not often one can describe a documentary as "uplifting", but that's exactly what Danny Lee brings us with WHO IS STAN SMITH?. Listen as we delve into all aspects of the "making of" this documentary including research, archival materials and the challenges of finding any film footage of the early days of Stan Smith and tennis in the early 1960s, clearances for archival materials, working with Wimbledon and Adidas and logistics of shooting on multiple continents during the pandemic, newly discovered and previously unseen photos and film, interview subjects - who they have and the one person they wanted, finding an entry point and throughline into this story, the editing process, interstitials and small details, music and scoring, and more. What I love about this conversation is that we hear Danny's passion and thoughtfulness not only for WHO IS STAN SMITH? but for filmmaking in general.