Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men) Talks with Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You) for the Talkhouse Podcast

Two of the hottest new directors of 2018 sit down at the Sundance Film Festival to discuss their contrasting paths to success.

By Reinaldo Marcus Green, Boots Riley, and Talkhouse Podcast

6:00 AM EDT on July 10, 2018

On the latest episode of the Talkhouse Podcast, two of the most exciting emerging writer-directors of the moment sit down together for a chat at the Sundance Film Festival. The filmmakers in question – Reinaldo Marcus Green, whose Monsters and Men is forthcoming this fall, and Boots Riley, frontman of the Coup and mastermind behind the current cinematic sensation Sorry to Bother You – talk about the contrasting routes they took to making their debut features, the stresses of selling your movie at Sundance, how internet-age distraction is the enemy of creativity, partying with Idris Elba, and much, much more. For more filmmakers talking film and TV, visit Talkhouse at talkhouse.com/film. Subscribe now to stay in the loop on future episodes of the Talkhouse Podcast.

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 by Nick Dawson and co-produced by Mark Yoshizumi. The Talkhouse Podcast’s producer is Elia Einhorn.

Reinaldo Marcus Green

Reinaldo Marcus Green is a thesis student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. His films have screened at many film festivals around the world including Festival de Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, Telluride, and LAFF, and have garnered distribution and been televised by HBO and Condé Nast. While at NYU, he has worked as an assistant to directors Kasi Lemmons and Todd Solondz and received the 2014 Honorarium Award from the prestigious Princess Grace Foundation.

Boots Riley

Boots Riley is the writer-director of Sorry to Bother You, one of the most acclaimed films of 2018. Growing up in Oakland, he studied film at San Francisco State University before dropping out in favor of a major label recording deal. He put in two decades as leader of The Coup, a radical funk/punk/hip-hop band, where he penned six albums to widespread critical acclaim, receiving “Pop Album of The Year” by The Washington Post and the Associated Press, and “Hip Hop Album of The Year” by Rolling Stone. His book of lyrics and anecdotes Tell Homeland Security We Are the Bomb is out now on Haymarket Press. The Coup's seventh, as-yet-unreleased album, The Sun Exploding, is the soundtrack to Sorry to Bother You. The New York Post says, "Boots Riley ranks as some kind of genius." Jeff Chang said, “he is one of the most influential poets and thinkers of this generation.” Stereogum says, "Boots Riley is a national treasure." While Slavoj Zizek says “The very existence of a person like Boots Riley is a miracle.” It is his hope to be a part of creating a new movement in film.

Talkhouse Podcast

Your favorite musicians, filmmakers, and other creative minds one-on-one. No moderator, no script, no typical questions. The Talkhouse Podcast offers unique insights into creative work from all genres and generations. Subscribe now, and explore more illuminating shows on the Talkhouse Podcast Network.