Director Watch Podcast Ep. 88 – ‘Primary Colors’ (Mike Nichols, 1998) with Special Guest Ben Miller

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 88 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by film critic Ben Miller to discuss the next film in their Mike Nichols series, Primary Colors (1998).

Released shortly before one of the biggest political scandals in American history, director Mike Nichols reteamed with writer Elaine May to release their latest film, Primary Colors, based on the best-selling novel about of the same name about a southern governor’s rise to becoming President of the United States. Though the book was deemed a work of fiction, it was based around Bill Clinton and his run to the White House, which made for a topical, fascinating subject to dissect, so much so Nichols paid a million dollars for the rights of the book to make it into a film. But as we all know, while Nichols was a hardcore member of the Democratic party and engrossed himself into politics, he struggled in his filmography to land a film that landed a punch when talking about the issues facing our country, and Primary Colors is another mixed bag. Ryan, Jay, and Ben break down their thoughts on the film, the behind the scenes of making the film, if Henry (Adrian Lester) is written poorly, John Travolta’s over the top performance, the greatness of Kathy Bates and Billy Bob Thornton, if the film was made too soon during the Clinton administration’s time in the White House, if the scandal’s in the film are a walk in the park compared to today, and how each of the guys navigate talking politics and making the turkey at Thanksgiving.

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 2h05m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Mike Nichols with a review of his next film, Closer. 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).

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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.

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