Director Watch Podcast Ep. 34 – ‘The Hunted’ (William Friedkin, 2003)

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 34 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys discuss the latest film in their William Friedkin series, The Hunted (2003).

In the early 2000s, William Friedkin had transitioned into work in some mainstream adult action-dramas that looked into ideas of the military industrial complex and how those institutions can break and corrupt a man. With his 2000 feature, Rules of Engagement, he unsuccessfully tried to tackle these issues in a run of the mill court room drama that fell flat for most audiences, as well as Ryan and Jay. But with The Hunted, Friedkin makes a bloody, lean, mean action thriller about an FBI deep-woods tracker who attempts to capture a trained assassin he mentored who is going on a killing spree and must be stopped. Led by two entertaining performances from Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro, the guys break down this underrated gem in Friedkin’s filmography, the wild action sequences, Tommy Lee Jones’s career, the biting commentary Friedkin is able to pull off with making a cat and mouse thriller, and they get into a little bit of a debate on the correct year you should say when referring to a previous Oscar season.

You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h38m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series covering the films of William Friedkin with a review of his next film, Bug. You can stream the film on Pluto TV. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro)

• Author
• Recent Posts

Ryan McQuade

Ryan McQuade is the AwardsWatch Executive Editor and a film-obsessed writer in San Antonio, Texas. Raised on musicals, westerns, and James Bond, his taste in cinema is extremely versatile. He’s extremely fond of independent releases and director’s passion projects. Engrossed with all things Oscars, he hosts the AwardsWatch Podcast. He also is co-host of the Director Watch podcast. When he’s not watching movies, he’s rooting on all his favorite sports teams, including his beloved Texas Longhorns. You can follow him on Twitter at @ryanmcquade77.

Latest posts by Ryan McQuade (see all)

• Director Watch Podcast Ep. 95 – ‘Ishtar’ (Elaine May, 1987) - April 17, 2025
• AwardsWatch Podcast Ep. 283 – Reviewing ‘Warfare’ and Breaking Down the 2025 Cannes Film Festival Lineup - April 14, 2025
• ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Review: Love in the Time of Cordyceps [A-] - April 13, 2025