BELOW THE LINE PODCAST

Revisiting the 2025 Awards Season means looking back at the winners, the surprises, and the snubs that defined this year’s Oscars. This week on Below the Line, Skid welcomes back Bill Hardy, Roger Mendoza, and Shaun O’Banion from last season’s Oscar panel. They weigh in on what the Academy got right — and where it went off course. Joining them is Katie Carroll, who missed the original conversation but brings fresh perspective to the follow-up. Our discussion ranges across: Sean Baker’s Anora dominating with five Oscars, sparking debate over its strengths, flaws, and Baker’s unusual multiple credits (writer, director, editor, casting director) The panel weighing campaign politics, including Anora’s $6M indie turned $18M Oscar push Dune: Part Two emerging as a favorite for Skid and Katie, with the group questioning why it wasn’t more heavily awarded Split opinions on The Brutalist — admired for its scale and craft, but dismissed by some as slow or austere A Complete Unknown praised for performances and Mangold’s classic approach, despite being shut out on Oscar night Conclave respected as a compelling, old-school drama, with debate about its Catholic framing Emilia Pérez largely dismissed apart from Zoe Saldaña’s standout performance Additional shout-outs and overlooked titles, from Challengers to September 5th to the animated Flow What stands out in this episode is the way the panel blends craft critique with industry context — from union debates to campaign spending — while keeping the conversation fast-moving and funny. 🎧 Press play and go Below the Line as we revisit the Oscar season. For more, visit belowtheline.biz.

Staging motorcycle clubs on film is no small feat — especially when the bikes, the actors, and the period details all have to ride in sync. This week on Below the Line, 1st Assistant Director Don Sparks and Key 2nd Assistant Director Pete Dress join Skid to talk about building Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, the period feature starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy. On the call sheet for today’s conversation: Shooting in and around Cincinnati, Ohio to capture a 1960s Rust Belt look the camera could believe Managing a 41-day schedule on a modest budget, with both ADs heavily involved in prep and problem-solving Creating a motorcycle “boot camp” to get actors licensed and camera-ready on period bikes Insurance hurdles, safety protocols, and staging massive group rides — including the final pack ride of 30+ motorcycles How Jeff Nichols personally matched bikes to characters and remained a constant collaborator with cast and crew Navigating period authenticity challenges, from sourcing cars to designing original biker patches that avoided conflict with real clubs Favorite moments on set, from Norman Reedus’s temperamental bike to watching Hardy and Comer deliver “a master class” in acting What stands out in this episode is the sheer scale of logistical detail — and how the AD team turned it into a smooth-running engine, balancing authenticity, safety, and storytelling at every turn. 🎧 Press play and go Below the Line on The Bikeriders. For more, visit belowtheline.biz.

Conspiracy, power, and the sound of unease — scoring Zero Day means writing tension into every frame. This week on Below the Line, Score Composer Jeff Russo joins Skid and co-host Louis Weeks to talk about building the musical world of Netflix’s Zero Day. In this episode, we dig into: Coming aboard early with showrunner Eric Newman and director Lesli Linka Glatter to set the series’ tonal compass Treating the main theme as a texture — a sound that signals doubt — rather than a traditional melody Mapping George Mullen’s psychological point of view, including a recurring “wake-up” motif that threads through the season Blending electronics with acoustic instruments (strings, piano, guitar): where texture carries the story and where harmony takes the lead How Episode 1 “unlocked” the palette and became the musical template for later episodes Spotting sessions, deadlines, and recording logistics — balancing live players with in-the-box writing under a TV schedule What lessons from Ripley (restraint, negative space) carried into Zero Day without duplicating a previous sound What emerges is a score built on restraint and perspective: Jeff writes to the characters’ doubt and the show’s creeping uncertainty — letting silence, texture, and carefully chosen motifs do the talking. 🎧 Press play and go Below the Line on Zero Day. For more, visit belowtheline.biz.

What happens when the director of a documentary returns years later to retell the same story as a feature film? This week on Below the Line, Skid talks with Director Alex Parkinson about Last Breath, first made as a 2019 documentary and now released as a feature film starring Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Finn Cole. We talk through: How Alex first discovered the real-life story of diver Chris Lemons and shaped it into a documentary built around five minutes of chilling ROV footage The deliberate choice to hide Chris’s survival in the documentary — and how the feature film shifted perspective to follow him underwater Blurring lines between documentary and reconstruction, and carrying that visual style into the feature by weaving real footage with staged material The long road to directing his first feature, convincing producers through lookbooks and rewrites that he could expand his own documentary into a drama Building a crew from scratch and attracting world-class talent, including underwater DP Ian Seabrook, who signed on after watching the documentary The critical role of First AD Jude Campbell in organizing the complex underwater schedule and keeping the production on track Filming in Malta’s massive water tank and on full-scale ship sets designed to preserve authenticity and claustrophobia Working with Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Finn Cole to ground their performances in the documentary while making the feature cinematic What emerges is a story about continuity and transformation — a director returning to familiar material but reimagining it at a different scale, with different tools, and for a wider audience. 🎧 Press play and go Below the Line on Last Breath. For more, visit belowtheline.biz.

Our sixth annual Academy Awards series — with panels of film professionals discussing the Oscar nominees in their category of expertise — concludes with Makeup and Hairstyling. Podcast veterans Angela Nogaro (Makeup) and Yvonne Depatis-Kupka (Hair) return to offer their assessment of this year’s slate of nominees. It’s a lively set of reviews to wrap up the series! I hope you’ve enjoyed these episodes as much as I’ve enjoyed publishing them. The 2024 Nominees for Makeup and Hairstyling: • “A Different Man” • “Emilia Pérez” • “Nosferatu” • “The Substance” • “Wicked” 

Film professionals discussing the nominees in their area of expertise: that’s Below the Line at the Academy Awards. We’re in the home stretch (episode 11 of 12!), and today we’re talking about the Oscar nominees for Cinematography. My returning guests — Patrick Cady and David Tuttman — are directors of photography (and directors in their own right!) with a keen eye for what makes these films worthy of the nomination. It gets a little technical sometimes for my understanding but I suspect you’ll enjoy it nonetheless. The 2024 Nominees for Cinematography:  • “The Brutalist” • “Dune: Part Two” • “Emilia Pérez” • “Maria” • “Nosferatu” 

It’s a wild and woolly episode of the podcast as editors Christopher Angel and Amy Duddleston return to discuss this year’s Oscar nominees for Film Editing. In all the years I’ve hosted these conversations, this pair has always complained about films being too long. Given that the shortest film on this list clocks in at two hours, I was anticipating some blistering critiques, but their assessments surprised me. Did we agree about all of these films on their merits? No. Was I entertained? Yes. I hope you will be as well. The 2024 Nominees for Film Editing: • “Anora” • “The Brutalist” • “Conclave” • “Emilia Pérez” • “Wicked” 

Costume Designers Helen Huang And Liz Vastola offer their insights on this year’s Academy Award nominees for Costume Design. This one runs a little longer than usual, but we take some time to discuss how costume design is different from fashion design, the role actors play in the shaping of their costumes, and other challenges of the craft. With the ceremony less than two weeks away, we’re in the home stretch, and I hope you’re keeping up. The 2024 Nominees for Costume Design: • “A Complete Unknown” • “Conclave” • “Gladiator II” • “Nosferatu” • “Wicked” 

Oscar season continues here at Below the Line, where film professionals discuss the nominees in the category of their expertise. Today’s animated conversation about the nominees for Animated Feature Film benefits from returning guests, Kent Seki and Camille Leganza. We also take a brief side quest to discuss the challenges currently faced by the Animation Industry. The 2024 Nominees for Animated Feature Film: • “Flow” • “Inside Out 2” • “Memoir of a Snail” • “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” • “The Wild Robot” 

Today we’re discussing the Oscar nominees for Original Song. My guests — Chris Molanphy (chart analyst and podcast host), Louis Weeks (score composer), and Tom Peyton (song writer) — offer both analysis and critique of this year’s nominees. Is there a lot of enthusiasm for the musical innovations these songs offer the listening audience? Well, no. Does it make for an interesting discussion? Yes, definitely.  The 2024 Nominees for Original Song: • “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez” • “The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight” • “Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing” • “Mi Camino” also from “Emilia Pérez” • “Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late”