Photo by Stephanie Kleinman
Producer/director and all-around nice guy Brian Volk-Weiss.
The latest episode of “Navel Gazing: The Valley Indy Podcast” is something completely different. Press play to listen.
The background:
I jumped at the chance to interview Brian Volk-Weiss because he’s the guy behind “The Movies That Made Us,” “The Holiday Movies That Made Us,” and “The Toys That Made Us,” three documentary series on Netflix that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The shows have a breezy, tongue-in-cheek vibe, but many episodes pack a surprising emotional punch. I challenge you not to be close to tears after watching the making of “Elf.”
Volk-Weiss and his crew at The Nacelle Company have a knack for finding compelling human interest stories by interviewing behind-the-camera people and lesser-known actors from famous movies. Click here for a complete list of the company’s productions.
Volk-Weiss and his team are back with their most ambitious project yet — “Icons Unearthed: Star Wars,” a docuseries that premiered last Tuesday (July 12) on VICE-TV.
The first six episodes are a deep dive into arguably the most talked about movie franchise of all time: “Star Wars.“
The second episode will air on VICE-TV Tuesday (July 19) at 10 p.m. Click here for the VICE-TV schedule.
Volk-Weiss managed to convince “Star Wars”/“Return of the Jedi” editor Marcia Lucas to do her first on-camera TV interview to talk about her experiences and influence on the first batch of “Star Wars movies.” Lucas, as you might’ve guessed, was once married to George Lucas, a name second only to his pal Steven Spielberg in terms of popcorn movie living legends.
In the podcast episode above, Volk-Weiss talks to me about how he landed that interview with Marcia Lucas — in Hawaii, no less.
We also chat about whether he feels any pressure to satisfy the “Star Wars” fanbase, and whether George Lucas has ever watched any of his stuff.
Volk-Weiss also has a deep connection to the standup comedy world, so we talk about how he parlayed a job managing comedians into a production company that worked with every big name in standup comedy of the past decade: Dave Chappelle, Dane Cook, Eddie Griffin, Nick DiPaolo, Jim Gaffigan, Aziz Ansari, Jim Norton and Bill Burr, to name a few.
The Nacelle Company, of which he’s the founder and CEO, also recently launched a book division, and a podcast division.
Photo courtesy of VICE-TV.
