Director Watch Podcast Ep. 52 – ‘Crimson Tide’ (Tony Scott, 1995)

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 52 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by AwardsWatch Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello to discuss the latest film in their Tony Scott series, Crimson Tide (1995).

Back in 1993, the U.S Navy allowed studio executives to come in and film their day-to-day operations in the hope of Hollywood making a submarine film in the vein of Top Gun. But what director Tony Scott and producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer took from their experience was a much more serious, deeper connection to the mindset of the officers below, thus became the beginning of a research process that would result in one of the great action thrillers of the 1990s, Crimson Tide. Based on a script by Michael Schiffer (with significant additions by Quentin Tarantino), Scott crafted a masterpiece in tension, pitting two generational actors, Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington, against each other for the battle of not just the ship they are on or the idea of going to all-out war with their enemy, but an examination of who people really are when they are faced with pressure, and just how dangerous or stubborn they can become in the name of having to be provide right. Ryan, Jay, and Sophia break down their feelings on the film, talk way too much about college football, the behind-the-scenes disagreement between Washington and Tarantino, dive deep into Hackman’s career at this time, the racial component at the core of the film, the stacked supporting cast, and even sing a little bit of Seal once they get to the Oscar conversation at the end of the episode.

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 2h13m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Tony Scott with a review of his next film, Enemy of the State. 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)