The Treatment

There are few figures in American culture as with as potent a step as David Mamet (American Buffalo, House of Games, Heist), first as a playwright, then as a filmmaker. With his new movie, Redbelt, he takes on a new frontier, the action film. We hear how he came to climb that mountain.  

It's not often that filmmakers turn to literary devices rather than film conventions for their work. It happens to be the case for director Vadim Perelman for both House of Sand and Fog and his newest, The Life Before Her Eyes.

The late writer-director Anthony Minghella (Michael Clayton, Cold Mountain, The English Patient, Truly, Madly, Deeply) focused on characters trying to come to terms with themselves and found drama in the misperceptions in films both epic and intimate. We use this sad occasion to revisit his thoughtful interview on his last film, Breaking and Entering. (This show originally aired February 7, 2007.)

He's one of America’s premier filmmakers and has devoted his career to bringing a nuanced portrayal of the African American experience to the screen. Writer-director Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep, My Brother's Wedding, American Family) describes what got him into the movies and how stereotypes is still a battle worth fighting.

What a difference a decade makes. In the 1990's, director Kimberly Peirce brought Boys Don’t Cry to the big screen. Almost a decade later, she returns with Stop-Loss.

What do Dr. Doolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Bonnie and Clyde and In the Heat of the Night all have in common? All play a prominent role in movie history, as Mark Harris (Entertainment Weekly) notes in his new book, Pictures at a Revolution. It's history with a surprise ending.

The book Inside Inside not only takes a behind-the-scenes look at the television show Inside the Actors' Studio, but at its creator and host, James Lipton. This time, it's questions for the interrogator!

As a filmmaker, director Brett Morgen (The Kid Stays in The Picture) is attracted to real-life subjects about bigger-than-life figures. Chicago 10 is his biggest yet.  

You may know the name Jon Poll from his work as editor on Meet the Parents and two of the Austin Powers films. He's just directed his first film, Charlie Bartlett, starring Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey, Jr. and Hope Davis. He discusses being the guy that makes the cut and the guy who says, "Cut."

You might think it difficult to make fear, weakness bulling a career. Writer-director Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men, Nurse Betty) disagrees with you. He's proved it works in film, on stage and with the West Coast premiere of his new play, Some Girls.