Episode 020: I Wish My Brother George Was Here

This week, I'm sharing the audio of an interview I did with my friend and mentor, George Toles. Those of you familiar with the structure and style of my interviews will notice that this one is different. George invited me to record a conversation for his Hitchcock class about two of my favourite Hitchcock films, The 39 Steps and North By Northwest. So he's interviewing me. It’s a huge honour to have been asked. and it was a delightful conversation. We talked for almost three hours - only an hour of which we recorded. I'm grateful he's allowed me to use the audio for Geek 4.

George is an academic, a teacher, a screenwriter, director, actor. He is Distinguished Professor in the English, Theatre, Film and Media Department at the University of Manitoba. To some, people he’s best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Guy Maddin. George wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for such films as Archangel (1990), Careful (1992), Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997), The Saddest Music in the World (2003), and Keyhole (2011). He also wrote the dialogue for Guy’s docu-fantasy, My Winnipeg (2007). He wrote the screenplay for Neil Burns’ stop motion film, Edison and Leo (2008). He’s published dozens of scholarly essay and two books on film, A House Made of Light and the book on Paul Thomas Anderson for The University of Illinois Press’s director series.

George Toles as Countess Knotkers In Guy Maddin’s Careful (1992)