Culture Gabfest: Nicolas Cage is Your Nightmare
This week, Dana and Stephen are joined by Supreme Friend of the Pod, Isaac Butler, who co-hosts Slate\u2019s Working podcast and is the author of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act (which is now available in paperback!). The panel begins by pondering Dream Scenario, a provocative new film from Norwegian writer-director Kristoffer Borgli. The nightmarish social satire stars Nicolas Cage as Paul Matthews, a hapless middle-aged biology professor who begins appearing randomly in people\u2019s dreams in a tale about anonymity and the cycle of virality. Then, the three speak with the brilliant author and classicist Emily Wilson about her recent translation of Homer\u2019s the Iliad, and her unique approach to metered verse and how she came to access the interior lives of Hector, Patroclus, Achilles, and more. Finally, the trio discusses Coyote vs. Acme, a completed film based on Ian Frazier\u2019s 1990 comic in The New Yorker, that was shelved last week by Warner Bros. (reportedly in favor of a $30 million tax write-off) then un-shelved when the studio received backlash for being \u201canti-art.\u201d\xa0\xa0\n\nIn the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel descends into a different kind of nightmare: The Beatles\u2019 music video for \u201cNow and Then.\u201d Has director Peter Jackson created a touching CGI tribute to the legendary band? Or has he engineered something truly evil?\n\nEmail us at culturefest@slate.com.\xa0\n\nEndorsements:\n\nDana: The Public Domain Review, an online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to \u201cthe exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas.\u201d She\u2019s only just begun to scratch the site\u2019s surface, but recommends starting with \u201cW.E.B. Du Bois\u2019 Hand-Drawn Infographics of African-American Life.\u201d\n\nIsaac: Deadloch, an Australian feminist noir comedy set in a fictional working class fishing village that\u2019s been, as he describes, \u201cgentrified by the most granola crunchy lesbians on earth.\u201d\xa0\xa0\n\nStephen: The song \u201cNew Romantic\u201d by British folk singer-songwriter Laura Marling, specifically her extraordinary 2006 live performance of it when she was quite young at a now-closed music venue in West London.\xa0\n\nOutro music: \u201cAny Other Way\u201d by Particle House\n\nPodcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong.\xa0\n\nIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You\u2019ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices