On this episode, host Dr Pasquale Iannone is joined by John Bleasdale. John is a writer and film critic whose work has appeared in Sight & Sound, The Guardian, Variety, The Economist and many other outlets. He’s also a prolific podcaster, with series such as Writers on Film, Cinema Italia and The James Bond Book Club.

John talks to Pasquale about his latest book The Magic Hours (2024), a fascinating biography of the acclaimed American filmmaker Terrence Malick which was recently described by New Yorker critic Richard Brody as ‘a rapturously detailed, sensitively observed, critically insightful account.’ John and Pasquale talk about what makes for a great filmmaker biography and then discuss Malick’s background, his brief but eventful stints in academia and journalism and his beginnings as a screenwriter. Also covered are his first two features as director - 1970s American classics Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978) as well as the much talked about gap of two decades between Days of Heaven and his third feature, The Thin Red Line (1998). Just what was Malick up to during this time? How much truth is there in this image of Malick as the reclusive auteur?

The conversation also takes in key aspects of the Malick methodology and film style, including his work with actors, his editing approach and his use of voiceover.

The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick is out now via the University Press of Kentucky.