Ep. 48 - Mark Pellington on The Severing, I Melt with You and Nada Surf How Did They Get There

Mark Pellington’s pioneering influence on music videos as a modality to convey emotion, story and feeling will never be forgotten. From Leonard Cohen to Linkin Park, Michael Jackson to Public Enemy, Foo Fighters and Alice in Chains to Chelsea Wolfe and Bruce Springsteen, MP had penultimate foresight in constructing some of the most memorable portraits of love, war, loss, spirit and activism. His feature films each brought a tenet to the medium of storytelling. From 1997’s Going All The Way (Ben Affleck, Jeremy Davies, Rachel Weisz, Rose McGowan), to the Grand Prix/Saturn Award-nominated Arlington Road (Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Hope Davis); to The Mothman Prophecies, an intriguing parapsychological adaptive tale starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney; the dramedy, Henry Poole is Here; a story of friendship and loyalty in I Melt With You (Jeremy Piven, Thomas Jane, Christian McKay, Rob Lowe); the subtle poetry of grief, The Last Word; Nostalgia, with Catherine Keener and Jon Hamm headlining an ensemble cast; and the dance-expanse, The Severing, in 2022. His latest book, The Visualist, is an essential memoir surveying 40 years of shape-shifting filmmaking experiences. In our conversation, we discussed his approach towards film and music videos; his journey to New York City; the significance of archive; and his recent Director’s cut release of Going All the Way.
Opening Credits: M33 Project - On y va I CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International; Jangwa - Losing Ground I CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. Closing Credits: M33 Project - Orange Blues I CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International.