Aaron Stewart-Ahn Talks with Nicolas Winding Refn for The Talkhouse Film Podcast

As his new film The Neon Demon hits theaters, the dynamic Danish director visits Samsung 837 in NYC for a filmmaker-to-filmmaker conversation.

By Aaron Stewart-Ahn and Nicolas Winding Refn

6:00 AM EDT on June 30, 2016

On the latest episode of the Talkhouse Film podcast, to mark the release of Nicolas Winding Refn's dark, stylish thriller The Neon Demon, filmmaker and Talkhouse Film contributor Aaron Stewart-Ahn sits down with the Danish director at Samsung 837 in New York City. In a highly entertaining conversation, Refn opens up about such diverse subjects as embracing narcism, how overcoming dyslexia taught him to turn his weaknesses into strengths, the filmmaking advice he received from Elia Kazan, the near-spiritual experiences he had communing with master auteurs Alejandro Jodorowsky and Dario Argento, his time as a club kid in New York City in the 1980s, his surprising home-viewing habits, and much more. For more filmmakers talking film and TV, visit Talkhouse Film at thetalkhouse.com/film.

The music featured in the podcast is as follows:
1. Intro / outro underscore: “Plastic Man vs. The Giant Red Phase Of The Sun” – Iced Ink

Episode engineered and edited by Elia Einhorn

Aaron Stewart-Ahn

Aaron Stewart-Ahn lives in NYC. He is the co-writer of Mandy. He is currently working on Thor for Marvel Comics and a documentary about police brutality. In between film projects he works in bicycle shops and as an occasional film journalist.

Nicolas Winding Refn

Danish writer-director Nicolas Winding Refn exploded onto the global cinema scene in 1996 with his debut feature, Pusher, which he followed up with Bleeder and Fear X, which he co-wrote with Hunert Selby, Jr. After completing the Pusher trilogy in 2004-2005, Refn returned to international prominence with Bronson, starring Tom Hardy, and Valhalla Rising. He reached a new career high in 2011 with the acclaimed Ryan Gosling thriller Drive, and reteamed with Gosling on Only God Forgives. His new film, The Neon Demon, is in theaters now. (Photo by Aaron Stewart-Ahn)