Movie Meltdown: Buster Scruggs and J. Todd Anderson
This week we kick things off with special guest J. Todd Anderson, the man who has been drawing storyboards for EVERY Coen Brothers movie since Raising Arizona! Then the Meltdown Gang sits down to discuss the most recent outing from the Coen Brothers – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
While we ourselves realize we might be as eloquent and well-spoken as an Elizabethan backwoods guy, we also mention… the Cleveland Browns, wedding cakes, Tom Waits, Superman with George Reeves, an unsung, amazing actor, straight out of Looney Tunes, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alfred Hitchcock, this is how he led a nation, Liam Neeson, 8mm, George Clooney, the book goes out to all the keys, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Tim Blake Nelson, Gene Autry, 90% heavy breathing and groaning, death in every form is just out to get everybody, James Franco, they’re very specific and all I have to do is draw and get it right, Stephen Root, the Evil Dead camera effect, the specter of death is hanging over all of us, Brendan Gleeson, lighting sketches, Michael Jackson, to draw the movie as you go, nothing goes as planned, Netflix, Zoe Kazan, Marvel or DC, and it was off to the races until it was off the rails, Tyne Daly, best-laid plans, a lot of cartoons, we shoot the movie before we shoot it, day becomes night, Mick Garris, what’s considered to be a true cowboy, Inherent Vice, out of the frying pan, Bob Kane, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the third campfire chat and a nihilistic approach.
“Most people don’t realize it… I really don’t get hired to draw, I get hired to solve visual problems. I’m just lucky enough to know how to draw.”
Spoiler Alert: This a full discussion of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs including spoilers, so go watch the movie before you listen.
For more on J. Todd Anderson’s new book, go to: https://storyboardsbyjtoddanderson.com