Director Watch Podcast Ep. 53 – ‘Enemy of the State’ (Tony Scott, 1998) with Guest Robert Daniels

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 53 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by Robert Daniels, Associate Editor of RogerEbert.com, to discuss the latest film in their Tony Scott series, Enemy of the State (1998).

The paranoid conspiracy, political thriller seemed like a perfect vehicle for Tony Scott at this moment in his career, and with Enemy of the State, it turned out to be the excellent choice after Crimson Tide. Based on a script by David Marconi, with additions by writers Aaron Sorkin, Henry Bean and Tony Gilroy, Scott and his team set out to create on the great paranoid thrillers that existed in a pre-9/11 world, using one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Will Smith, and pairing him with veteran actor Gene Hackman, who is no stranger this genre as his performance in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation was an inspiration on the film. Ryan, Jay, and Robert break down their thoughts on the film, the stacked supporting cast of the film, how Will Smith’s career seems like a massive missed opportunity, Hackman’s incredible work in Enemy of the State, and reminiscing on the nominations for the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.

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 1h33m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Tony Scott with a review of his next film, Spy Game. 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)