Writer/Director Tim Blake Nelson brings his film “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd” to the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival, after its premiere in Toronto. The film promises to set off an overdue debate on the death penalty as state-sanctioned punishment. Versatile actor Scoot McNairy gives the performance of his career as Wilson Shedd and Amanda Seyfried expertly plays the creative writing instructor who is hired to work at Oklahoma’s largest maximum security prison and becomes involved in a relationship with the convicted murderer. Karen’s (Seyfried’s) life is bleak, leading to this summation, “We’ve done what we done and we have what we have.” Is Wilson Shedd a way out?
THE LOVE STORY
Writer/Director/Actor Tim Blake Nelson.
An accomplished actor and a classics scholar who has written five plays, Nelson spent a year and a half to two years writing the screenplay, but the project itself has been an obsession of his for a dozen years. It was only recently that funding for the indie film could be secured. In an interview, Nelson gave credit to Seyfried for helping facilitate the backing for this thought-provoking film that refuses to paint the criminal Wilson Shedd as one-dimensional.
There have been many films about the execution of prisoners on Death Row. “Clemency,” starring Alfre Woodard as the warden of a prison, who is wrestling with the concept of crime and appropriate punishment, played at the Chicago Film Festival in 2019 and was a powerful examination of some of the same issues as this film. But the story on the surface is about a couple—prisoner and prison worker— who fall in love through writing.
We learn that creative writing teacher Karen (Seyfried) needs money to support her elderly father in a nursing home, so she takes the job teaching creative writing to prisoners at the local prison. Her friend Gladys (an under-utilized Waughan) helps her get the job.
Some of the class members, like Vaughn (Craig Dane) and James (Tobias Segal) are probably just there to ogle the pretty blonde. But Wilson Shedd seems to have genuine feelings for his instructor. Or does he? Yes, he writes (via his journal) “Love will break us through,” but is he sincere or simply seeing an opportunity for escape? Wilson’s protestations of true love might collapse if put to the test.
Circumstances intervene to prevent the pair from ever truly being physically “together.” The poems of Emily Dickinson and the short stories of Flannery O’Connor are infused into the script. It appears that Karen—who is trapped in a loveless marriage with physically abusive husband Kenneth (Grant Harvey)—engages in the ill-fated relationship with the convict through appreciating the writing he does in her class. His writing to her is all that keeps her going, emotionally. She ultimately writes “Save me” to the prisoner. Wilson Shedd says, “I live in hell, which is where I should be.” The film does not play the usual “he’s innocent” card, however, but considers the factors that have led to his life of Hell on Earth.
THE DEBATE OVER FORGIVENESS
A Black family, the Lawsons, is depicted as the nearly perfect family, with vocally gifted children. Eric Blount plays George Lawson, the young boy, and his sister, Stacey Lawson, is portrayed by Xuri Selah. The parents (William Jackson Harper and Devyn Tyler) are ministers.
To me, the use of the Black family, (who fall into the hands of the escaped trio of prisoners because of a pet cat escaping from their van in the woods and running directly to Wilson Shedd), was a somewhat contrived round-about way of making sure that Wilson is not viewed as a supremely romantic hero. One review called the Black family’s presence in the plot “exploitative, but essential.” Their involvement seemed less natural to the film’s structure. It is worth mentioning that it is Wilson’s fellow escapee who is told to “take the kids for a walk” and mis-interprets the message. Wilson confronts the prisoner, asking him whether he is more evil or more stupid? A move to shift blame from the central character and the mastermind of the escape?
Wilson Shedd s guilty, In the course of the film, he murders at least eight people. The Black family must fall into Wilson’s hands in order to balance the sympathy for him that we feel after we see young Wilson as a squirrel hunter and learn of Wilson’s hard-luck life growing up in a suburb outside Tulsa ( Writer/Director Nelson’s hometown). Benjamin Brown portrays the young Wilson Shedd, seen shooting a poor squirrel over and over and over, while the animal, rather than fleeing, seems to adopt the attitude that he must suffer and endure whatever cruelty is meted out. The squirrel must go down fighting, and it does. The script says, “Part of the boy died, too, for the rest of his life.” It was a powerful metaphor. But, in this country at this time, will the presence of the scene be condemned as too “woke” and used to provide an excuse for inexcusable criminal behavior?
TIME: FLASHING FORWARD & BACKWARD
After 100 minutes dealing with the theme of Karen and Wilson falling in love via writing in the creative writing class journals, the physical abuse of Karen by her husband, forgiveness as a concept, and a true prison escape story that reminded of Patricia Arquette’s lead role in Showtime’s 2018 television miniseries (directed by Ben Stiller and co-starring Benicio del Toro and Paul Dano) “Escape at Dannemora,” we get to the real soul of the film: the death penalty and its use as a punishment.
After his appearance in “The Grey Zone” (2001) about the Holocaust, Tim Blake Nelson, Jewish by birth, said the film’s examination of how the Holocaust could have happened was “exactly the type of story to which we should gravitate in a responsible and sensitive way.” So is this film. “The Grey Zone” pointed out, as the New York Times put it, that while Hitler was evil, the genocide of a country working to establish efficient concentration camps designed to indiscriminately kill human beings required “the casual complicity of millions of others.” Much evil does. That thought is worth mentioning in a debate over the humanity of capital punishment.
Throughout the two hour and one minute movie there were flash forwards and looks back at Wilson Shedd’s childhood, a tough life that molded the child into the man. Some found this technique intrusive. I marveled that Nelson could pull it off as well as he did. It’s not easy to do sequencing of time well in a play, a novel or a screenplay. I did not see the jumping ahead and then looking back as a way to de-sensitize the audience or influence our judgment of the central character. I saw a talented filmmaker and Julliard graduate who has starred in and written entire plays and novels displaying mastery of his craft.
If I had a negative remark to make about the execution of the film it would be that the musical background was not melodic but very monotonous and clunky. At times it sounded like a novice piano player simply pounding on the keys. That detracted from the film, rather than enhancing it. The expert cinematography of Benoit Soler, however, more than offset the sound design.
THE EXECUTION SCENE
After relating a familiar story about a woman falling for a prisoner and helping him to escape, the authorities apprehend Wilson Shedd and the audience is subjected to one of the most grueling execution scenes in recent memory. I still remember Susan Hayward’s Oscar-winning gas chamber execution in the 1958 film “I Want to Live.” It burned its way into my then-young brain. I have never forgotten it.
We could turn to the more recent (1999) electrocution scene in “The Green Mile” and rewatch that five minutes of pure torture, but I’d rather not. Also in the “No seconds for me, please” category of execution-scenes-I-have- seen-but-don’t-want-to-see-again would be “Dead Man Walking” (1995, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn), “The Life of David Gale” (2003, Kevin Spacey) or Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning turn (2003’s “Monster.”) I do not want to see the last 40 minutes of this film again, but it is an important film because of the truth it treats so sensitively. I applaud Tim Blake Nelson for his decades-long quest to bring the story to the public forum for debate.
I did want to know if this execution scene was based on a real execution (it was) and whether it was accurately portrayed. The issues it raises are timely and important and deserve a public debate and full disclosure of issues that the authorities have sought to obscure following each botched execution attempt in more than one state.
The answer to whether this film is based on a real execution is yes.
The Oklahoma execution of Clayton Lockett on April 29, 2014, was thoroughly botched and was halted 43 minutes into the proceedings at McAlester Prison. Like the recent botched execution of Krista Pike in Nashville on September 30, 2026, this film brings to the forefront questions about the death penalty. If you approve of the death penalty for heinous crimes, it at least raises the issue of how well such executions are being carried out nationwide.
Recently the Trump administration announced plans to attempt to live stream an execution on December 3rd, by firing squad. Is this really a good idea? What IS the most humane way to kill an animal, in this case, a human being? Whether you think capital punishment is good or bad, a closer look at how effectively it is being carried out is warranted. Is capital punishment humane? Are we a nation of “barbarians at the gate,” as we were portrayed worldwide for many decades? Are we returning to that self-portrait voluntarily, when we embrace it with open arms complete with testosterone tests for our military and macho posturing? Note: no one, including Tim Blake Nelson, is suggesting that crime should not be punished and the debate over capital punishment has raged for generations.
As one death penalty opponent put it, “State-sanctioned death rarely provides the ‘closure’ it promotes.” I was in Nashville at the time of the failed execution there on September 30th. The words of Clayton Pike’s attorney, Dean Sanderford apply to the Nashville situation. After the execution of Clayton Lockett was called off 43 minutes in, at 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29th, his attorney said, “My God. They’re going to try to save this poor guy so they can kill him later.” That very statement could be made about Krista Pike. She is the only person to have survived two doses of pentobarbital during a botched execution. As of now, her future in prison is unclear, although the executions scheduled in Tennessee for the rest of the year have been canceled, resignations have occurred, and an investigation panel Is being appointed. Meanwhile, many details of “botched” executions are concealed from the public; they seem to continue to happen with increasing frequency. Shouldn’t we at least find out why?
“We have a fundamental standard in this country that even when the death penalty is justified, it must be carried out humanely,” said Jay Carney, President Obama’s press secretary, in regards to the execution of Clayton Lockett. “And I think everyone would recognize that this case fell short of that standard.” The 8th amendment to the Constitution forbids “cruel and unusual punishment.” The recent spate of botched executions brings home those concerns and the final scene in this film makes the problems impossible to ignore . In Tennessee, the mother of the victim was extremely upset that she had raised the funds to travel from Florida to Tennessee via a Go-Fund-Me campaign and she was not being served her pound of flesh. Her adamant demands for justice for her daughter (the victim of Krista Pike’s jealousy when Pike was 18) remain. She sounds like she will be suing the state for financial restitution, predicated on her unrequited desire for revenge.
It is a “China Syndrome” coincidence that Tim Blake Nelson’s film is seeking distribution in the immediate wake of Krista Pike’s failed execution, but it may help bring these facts regarding lethal injection deaths in general out into the open, especially since both Oklahoma and Tennessee have been far from transparent about what went wrong. For example,
- A spate of executions that have gone awry since states began experimenting with different drug combinations after being unable to obtain more standard lethal injection drugs.
- On Jan. 9, Michael Lee Wilson, who was convicted of murdering a convenience store clerk, declared he “felt his whole body burning” after Oklahoma administered a combination of pentobarbital, vecuronium bromide to stop respiration and potassium chloride to stop the heart.
- A week later, Dennis McGuire, who was sentenced to die for raping and killing a 22-year-old pregnant woman, thrashed and snorted before finally succumbing after about 25 minutes following Ohio’s use of a new lethal drug mix. McGuire’s family is now suing Hospira, a pharmaceutical company, for providing the state with execution drugs.
- Numerous states have passed laws as a way to protect drug suppliers from boycotts and other political backlash. As commercial pharmaceutical companies increasingly refuse to allow their products to be used in executions, states have turned to compounding pharmacies for their supply. These pharmacies, which mix drugs to order, are not regulated by the federal government.
Scoot McNairy as Wilson Shedd.
One line from the script, spoken by the warden who has witnessed 112 executions during her tenure: “It isn’t something you can choose to forget. It’s going to be with you always.” My father, then a deputy sheriff in Buchanan County, Iowa, was sent to Des Moines to witness a double hanging. I remember him recounting the horror of the moment, which made him physically ill. We see the “first-timer” in the room struggling. The indignity and horror of the execution protocol process in “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd” will stay with me a long time. It is an important film and one that imparts valuable information to citizens, but if you are attending the showing on Saturday, October 17th in Chicago, be warned that the accurate portrayal of an execution is not for the faint of heart.
As one Toronto critic wrote, “The film is poised to become a touchstone in the ongoing American debate over the death penalty. In a political climate where capital punishment remains a polarizing issue, Nelson’s unflinching focus on the humanity of the guilty may prove to be the most provocative cinematic statement of the year.”
Circa’ 21 is embarking on its 50th season, having started in 1977 under the tutelage of Dennis Hitchcock, its Executive Producer and longtime President. Vice-President and Director of Audience Development is Brett Hitchcock.
Late-night writer that I am, I happened to be up working in the early morning hours writing a review of “Being Heumann” (from the Nashville Film Festival) when one of the leads of Circa’s current show, “Rock of Ages,” was interviewed (with others) on Channel 6’s interview show. After his appearance, I wanted to see Bear Manescalchi in the show to check out the charisma factor in “Rock of Ages.” Also, my dress wanted a second outing after I wore it as the Mother of the Bride on September 28th in Nashville. [ I was there for the 57th Nashville Film Festival, but it also was Stacey’s wedding day. ]
In Nashville, I listened to Premiere Hollywood Casting Director John Papsidera (printed in its entirety a few entries back on WeeklyWilson). Papsidera explained the current casting process in Hollywood.He has cast every Christopher Nolan film back to “Memento” (including “The Odyssey” and “Oppenheimer.”) When asked to give his best piece of advice to young actors, he said “Confidence.” [Check out his remarks if you’re an actor reading this.]
Bear Manescalchi, Hanna Marie Felver, and Chase Austin (L to R) of “Rock of Ages.”
The narrator of “Rock of Ages”—the character of Lonny Barnett, played by Bear Manescalchi—was one of those talking about the current Circa show. You could tell Bear had “it:”—call it confidence. Call it whatever you want—charisma? Papsidera couldn’t really define it well, either, referencing it as some sort of chemistry that comes through in the 600 or so videotapes he routinely views to cast one single role . To me, the Bear interview subject seemed to have that quality. So I set aside my “Being Heumann” work and listened to Bear’s pitch to come see “Rock of Ages” at Circa 21.
Bear mentioned the Flashdance Special, available only on Wednesday or Friday nights if you booked by Tuesday. It was a very good deal, [probably gone now.] I had not been in town for a Circa show in some time. PLUS I was looking for somewhere to wear the Mother of the Bride dress from my daughter’s September 28th wedding one additional time.
I’m gone to review the Chicago International Film Festival as of Sunday. I hadn’t been to a Circa show since “Menopause, the Musical.” It was time. If I were here year-round, I’d be a regular subscriber. I’m certainly in the age range. I am a regular subscriber to The Last Picture House, even though I am in Texas sitting out Midwestern winters.
Play prop, dropped on our ringside table at “Rock of Ages.”
In my defense, I spend much of my time watching films: HollyShorts (437 of them recently!), Nashville’s Film Festival in September, Chicago’s Film Festival in October, Sundance in the winter, SXSW in the spring, etc. Plus Texas in the winter.
Bear appeared on what used to be Paula Sands Live, which is now Quad City Live.When I saw this young man and the co-hosts talking about “Rock ofAges,” I decided I needed to wear my Mother-of-the-Bride dress one more time, and where would that be? Probably not while dragging myself around Chicago for movies between October 12th and October 25th. The three people on the show talked about their birth years: 1987 for two of them and 1985 for the third, meaning that the songs they are singing from the 80s are for those of us who are “mature.” (In my case, my first ‘live” concert was the Beatles in 1965 and my last was Bruno Mars on May 27th in Chicago, so draw your own conclusions.)
So, I promoted the idea of going to Circa to see Bear in action. All in the cast acquitted themselves well. The leads were Tate Milton as Drew Boley and Avery Gallagher as Sherrie Christian.There are many other truly great voices in the cast and, just as importantly, the food was very good. (I had the pork chop). All were reasonably priced. Somehow we ended up with a table for 6 that only had 4 (when one of our normal party bailed for cataract surgery). It was the best table in the house.
I hope the other couple (Hafners of the venerable tavern on Moline’s Avenue of the Cities) enjoyed the evening as much as I did. Our table was primo, the show was good, the food was even better, and the hardworking Bootleggers not only sang their fannies off, but also did a great job serving. We even made it home in time to see the end of the Iowa football game against Washington!
Cast members of “Rock of Ages” and me on October 9, 2026, at Circa ’21 Dinner Theater in Rock Island, Illinois.
Except for my need to visit the rest room seemingly every hour on the hour (courtesy of diabetes & old age), which is in the basement, things went off without a hitch. Fourteen steps, if you’re counting.Did not fall down,which was a major achievement. Remembered that the aisle can be tricky. Once watched a sweet young teenager we had taken to a play fall flat on her face while returning from the rest room, since she had not scoped out the strange top-of-the-aisle hidden V-level bump under-the-carpeting.
Three people I did not know complimented me on my September 28th wedding finery, which inspired this trip to Circa. (That and the Bear interview) [Thank you, anonymous Bootlegger and ladies in the rest room line!] And, since I remember having to try to “track” whether advertising worked for my Bettendorf Sylvan Learning Center #3301 and my Prometric Testing Center, the Channel 6 interview brought the event to the top of my consciousness.
The 2026 Circa season will be offering a “Salute to the Rat Pack & Friends” on New Year’s Eve 2026. If I weren’t enjoying much warmer weather in Austin, Texas, then, I’d be hitting that one. If you’re a Garth Brooks fan, you might consider the October 29th show.
Circa ’21 is one of only two dinner theaters in the country where the wait staff also perform a pre-show prelude. The lead actress this night(Sherri, played by Avery Gallagher of Philadelphia) was playing Sherrie for the second time. The lead actor (besides Bear the narrator), portraying Drew, is a recent graduate of Kansas State University who was making his Circa ’21 debut. The Black actress playing Momma had a powerhouse voice. With a voice like hers, I could see her doing well on shows like “The Voice” or “American Idol.” (Sorry about the lack of more information on this vocally talented troupe member; I was there to enjoy myself, not review, so I failed to take my reporter’s notebook. Take this as a recommendation rather than a classic review.)
With daughter Stacey Wilson Allison on her wedding day in Nashville, September 28, 2026..
Support Circa’ 21 as it heads into its 50th year. I had 2 businesses that almost made it to 20, so celebrating 50 is quite the legacy. Long may it rave.
My dress enjoyed its second chance to be worn in public, after the daughter’s wedding in Nashville on September 28th.(*Check out Wild Bill & the Bruisers on YouTube for film of my new son-in-law at work.)
“Being Heumann”was the closing film of the 57th Nashville Film Festival, the story of Judy Heumann (Ruth Madeley), the iconic mother of the disability movement. In 1977 Judy, who dubbed herself a “radical crip,” spearheaded the 28-day occupation of the San Francisco Federal Building. The film was the opening night film at the Toronto International Film Festival, closed Nashville, and will play in Chicago on Sunday, October 18th, at noon and on Wednesday, October 21st at 8 p.m. at the Chicago International Film Festival before it releases on November 13th, following a short appearance in select cinemas on November 6th, 2026.
APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS
The film is directed by Sian Heder and was written by Heder, Judith Heumann, and Kristen Joiner. At TIFF, the film was second runner-up for the People’s Choice Award, anchored by the strong performances of Ruth Madeley as Judy and Mark Ruffalo as Joseph Califano.
“Being Heumann” marks the second collaboration between Apple Original Films and Heder. The director previously directed the multi-Academy Award-winning film CODA, which made history as the first movie with a predominantly deaf cast to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
JOSEPH CALIFANO
Califano was the twelfth U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1977 to 1979 under Jimmy Carter. Much of the film casts Califano, portrayed by Mark Ruffalo, as the bad guy, as he wrestled with the large cost ($2.4 billion) of implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act and delayed signing Proposition 504. With 36 million handicapped people in the United States, the cost of making curbs and buildings accessible if Califano signed 504 was likely to lead to Califano’s dismissal, since his relationship with President Clinton’s administration was not without friction.
The occupation of the San Francisco Federal Building was but one of 12 such occupations planned by Judy Heumann, but only the San Francisco sit-in endured. The difficulty of handicapped people sleeping in offices and on the floor, being fed by the Black Panthers and supported by unions like the machinists union, brought the fight for disabled Americans everywhere to the forefront. The rallying cry was “Sign 504” often followed by “sign or resign,” directed at Califano. . The TV newsman Evan White of KGO TV is well-played by Ryan O’Brien.
THE GOAL
As Judy Heumann articulated the group’s concerns, “We believed if we played by the rules we’d be included in the American dream. We have waited too long and been too patient.Nobody cares about us we’’re so easily ignored.” The determined woman in the wheelchair told her followers, “Stop feeling like you deserve to be invisible.”
Michael Patrick Thornton (Ed Roberts) tried to stick out the entire 28-day occupation in San Francisco but he, like many of the seriously disabled who participated, said, by way of explanation and excuse for leaving the building, “I sleep in an 800 pound iron lung.”
As one of the original occupiers put it,“We had shown ourselves and the country through network TV that we—the most hidden, impoverished, pitied group of people in the nation were capable of waging a deadly serious struggle that brought abut profound social change.For the first time, many of us felt proud of who we were”
CONCLUSION
“Being Heumann” at the 57th Nashville Film Festival was an object lesson in how slowly our Congress acts, just as the 57th Nashville Film Festival Award Winner for Documentary (4000 Days) was an agonizing slog through Congress towards what one hopes will be justice in the future for parents who lost their children because of fraternity hazing. “Being Humann” is a film that will resurface during awards season and resonate with audiences, as “Coda” did. It carried a hopeful message, conveyed well by authentically disabled actors and actresses, in a story that deserves to be told.
The Shudder feature “Breeder” written and directed by Alex Goyette was that welcome discovery: a horror movie with an original message that posed some interesting questions. I also liked the fact that it did not go overboard on the gore. From the same people that gave us “The Babadook,” that was perhaps not so surprising. It is Goyette’s feature debut with IFC and Shudder; “Breeder” is very good. The movie treated the entire subject of eugenics in a thought-provoking way.
So, what is eugenics, you may say?
Eugenics is the theory and practice of attempting to improve the genetic composition of a human population through selective breeding. Eugenics was described as scientifically discredited and a morally discredited theory.
Core Definition & Etymology
- Origin: The term was coined in 1883 by British explorer and statistician Sir Francis Galton, derived from Greek roots meaning “well born”.
- Premise: Early proponents believed that human traits—including intelligence, poverty, criminality, and mental illness—were entirely hereditary and could be controlled to “perfect” humankind.
“Breeder” LOG-LINE: “An eccentric poodle breeder lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with the promise of research funding. But, as he soon learns, there’s a catch.”
“Breeder” at the Nashville Film Festival from IFC and Shudder.
PATTI KOLB
The eccentric poodle breeder is portrayed by Dot-Marie Jones as Patti Kolb, a wounded woman whose lack of a loving attentive mother to give her the attention she craved has given her some serious psychological problems. Patti has taken poodle breeding all the way to the top of that game, but Mommy didn’t wait around to validate her daughter’s success. Dot-Marie Jones as a screwed-up matriarch with barely disguised homicidal tendencies gives Kathy Bates a run for her money. In all fairness, Jones is a three-time Emmy nominee from her days on “Glee” as Shannon Beiste back in 2010.
Now, Patti has adopted a bevy of daughters, researching the potential daughters to find the very best breeders in the bunch. She wants to create perfect people, mimicing her efforts to create perfect poodles. We meet her daughters Ainsley, Celeste, Yara, Angela, Cindy and Manon around the dining room table and one reassures the out-of-his-element Russell “We are not a cult.”
The most important members of the daughter group will be Ainsley (Tanaya Beatty), Yara (Lillian Doucet-Roche) and Manon (Isla Spencer). Ainsley has an I.Q. of 160 and is the daughter who gets closest to Russell.
Yara turns out to be a less-than-successful warden for poor Russell.
Manon is the smallest of the litter, who is not totally down with the program their “Chief” has laid out. When she disobeys, she is forced to wear a large black poodle head and sometimes physically carted from the room by her cowed sisters.
Patti is intent on breeding perfect human life, but she needs a male stud.
Will Russell go along with this plan, before, during or after? You’ll need to see the film when it releases to find out and then we can talk.
RUSSELL BURR
Russell has been working for four years on improving colonies of bees, using eugenics. He is deeply in debt to the tune of $200,000. When he pitches his impressive research, they fault him for dropping out of MIT to concentrate on the bees. This means that Russell does not have the PhD he needs to “sell” his work. Russell, too, has anxiety issues and a supportive fiancée who tries to talk him through various tough moments.
Daniel Doheny was impressive in bringing Russell to life as a character. Filmed in Canada, Doheny was named the Best Actor in a Canadian film for 2022’s “Drinkwater” by the Vancouver Film Critics ,and was Best Actor in 2024’s “Scared Shitless,” also from the Vancouver.
CREW
The cinematographer, Jaryl Lim, filmed the perfectly spooky production design of Skye Dyken, aided immeasurably by composer Hannah Parrott and, above all, by the great casting of Casting Directors Candice Elzinja and Thomas Sullivan. The acting in this one, dealing with a truly fascinating and debatable topic, was top-notch and the film was a true treat at the 57th Nashville Film Festival.
The documentary “4000 Days” by Daniel E. Catullo II was the Audience Award Winner for documentaries at the 57th Nashville Film Festival. The 110 minute film, which had its Southwest Premiere in Nashville, chronicled the 17-year-fight by parents Julie and Gary DeVercelly to seek reform of the Greek system, whose hazing of their 17-year-old son Gary DeVercelly, Jr,, led to his death from hazing during his freshman year.
THE FAMILIES PROFILED
The film focuses on three families and shows the unrelenting effort put forth by the DeVercellys and others to bring something good out of the tragic and senseless death of their son. To quote Julie DeVercelly, “We have to make some good come out of the tragedy.”
Two other families who joined in the struggle are highlighted, the families of Adam Oakes (Oct. 6, 2001-Feb. 27, 2021) and Nolan Burch. The film is a terrific look at true dedication and perseverance.Gary DeVercelly is the chief spokesperson and the voice of reason articulating what the rest of us can see for ourselves: the Greek system is in the wrong and it needs to change.
Many other families affected by the deaths of fraternity members who died during hazing rituals join the campaign as it drags on seemingly forever. It is difficult to understand why there is such resistance to saving the lives of young people by protecting them from the demands of a hazing system that is perilously out-of-touch with reality.
FAMOUS NAMES
The DeVercelly family executive produced the film, as did famous name Paris Hilton. The other famous names and faces that float through the documentary are Congressmen and women, some of whom seem sympathetic and all of whom seem trapped in a system that appears particularly ineffectual when it drags on for decades and more and more young lives are lost.
Among the famous legislative cameos by our elected representatives are those by Amy Klubachar (D, MN), who seems a voice of sanity crying in the wilderness, and Ted Cruz (R, TX), who does not. Dick Durbin is seen drifting by, as is the now deceased Lindsay Graham
ERIC & LINDA OAKES
The Oakes family mourn the death of their only child to such an extent that Linda literally cannot appear onscreen even to hold up a picture of her murdered son. It is very late in the documentary that we learn that young Eric was targeted for especially unkind and brutal treatment because he was overweight, with epiphets of “Fatty” and particularly cruel and unusual hazing treatment. It is clear that her son’s death has literally destroyed Linda Oakes, which is not to minimize the grief and rage of the other grieving mothers. It is just that Linda literally cannot stop crying in every scene and the couple present as a throbbing open would of grief that cannot be assuaged.
The family of Nolan Burch (1996-2014), T.J. and Kim Burch, also are focused on. They help drive home the message, over and over, that these hazings are senseless tragedies that proper supervision by the national fraternity/sorority system could have averted with appropriate supervision and more than a slap-on-the-wrist approach to the misdeeds ongoing nationwide.
WHY?
An explanation of the way money paid by pledges went to the national organizations and was used by them as a sort of gigantic money-making scheme to insure against the inevitable deaths that could and would occur with such lax enforcement and supervision.
It is pointed out that influential alums of the various fraternal bodies were in some ways culpable, also. A Who’s Who of Famous Fraternity Members scrolls by and the implication is that the long-running attempts to stop hazing abuse were often sidelined in favor of the sweep-it-under-the-rug school of dealing with unpleasant reality.
Daniel E.Catullo II, who directed and is founder of 10 Lives Films has fashioned a powerful, intense film that played at Tribeca and has excellent sound design from Dominic Bartolini, with Richard Patrick’s original compositions also adding immeasurably. Cinematographer Michael Candolori and Editor Russell Greene have created a truly impressive film, which led, quite naturally, into the closing film of the Nashville Film Festival, for me, which was “Being Heumann,” which also showed the snail’s pace at which our legislative bodies work.
“Songs from the Circle” Director David Freid at the 57th Nashville Film Festival on Saturday, September 26, 2026.
“Songs from the Circle” was a documentary about the Grand Ole Opry crossing the Atlantic to play at the Royal Albert Hall on its 100th anniversary. The film showed Saturday night at the 57th Nashville Film Festival.
One hundred years after its founding, the Grand Ole Opry took with it the storied wood circle that country performers stand on when performing. Director David Freid attended the sold out North American Premiere. Also present was a longtime (34 years) employee of the Grand Ole Opry and a sold-out crowd.
The film featured Luke Combs, Mumford & Sons, Darius Rucker, Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, Marty Stuart and the Scottish band Breabach.
Following the showing of “Songs from the Circle” Director/Songwriter Richiourse James Follin appeared with “Crystal Cross,” his directorial premiere.
The quirky comedy featured a suicidal father (played by Follin himself) who picks up a Christian evangelical blonde on the lam from her boyfriend (RubyRose Hill) and accompanies her to California. Follin, who has written music for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”,plays James, a suicidal dad whose drunk driving caused his young daughter’s death. The pair begin to bond on the long road trip, which features many of the sites where Follin and his band used to perform.
Cinematographer Mauro Fernandez deserves special mention, as some of the footage of the ocean and fields of flowers were breathtaking. The footage was woven into a loose story of a friendship that slowly blossoms into something more.
Following the screening, Follet shared how he found his leading lady (she was serving ice cream in L.A. at the shop he took his daughter for a cone), and how Editor Peter CabadaHagan trimmed the footage (which initially was four hours long) and turned it into a respectable first directorial effort.
Director/Songwriter Richie James Follin at the showing of “Crystal Cross” at the 57th Nashville Film Festival on Saturday, September 26, 2026.
The song sung by RubyRose Hill (“I’m in love with a suicidal Jesus. God only knows where this road leads us”) was catchy. Follet’s remarks in the Q&A after the film stressed calling in favors to finish the film. Follett took advantage of the opportunity to use many out-of-work professional filmmakers during the Writers’ Strike.
Follet’s work with music videos (including on “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) gave him film experience, which he described as “my film school.” Follett composed the score. He also thanked Director Nick Simon, an AFI film school grad mentored by Wes Craven, who was in the audience Saturday night at the 57th Nashville Film Festival.
John Papsidera, Connie Wilson and Director Jason Reitman after the “SNL” Premiere in 2024,
After a thrilling film introduction with scenes from many of the 240+ films that John Papsidera cast, the Nashville and L.A. based casting director talked about his switch from acting, which he had studied, to casting movies instead of acting in them.
Papsidera remembered a long-ago casting call for a Pepsi commercial based on the original “Top Gun” and becoming aware, as he left the casting site, “I can’t do this, I didn’t have the confidence or the wherewithal to allow a camera to study me, to peer into my soul.That takes a huge amount of courage and guts to do that. And I didn’t have it, And I reaiized that.”
So, I ran restaurants for a bunch of years in New York and then moved to Los Angeles and got into casting, “
He went on to say that casting is about saying yes.
Moderator question Q1: “You got your start in casting huge action pictures like ‘Clear and Present Danger.’ What did casting movies like that teach you about story versus star power?”
A1: “Did it teach me anything?” (laughter) “Those were films that were very much centered on star power and very much centered around the stars. Now, Harrison Ford, I have to say, was very interested in the rest of the cast and the story of “Clear and Present Danger.” Other stars and directors, not as much. So, it gave me an insight into the politics more than anything else. It gave me an insight into how the business works, how the studio works in the nineties and the early two thousands, to a great degree.”
Q2: “In speaking of those time periods, I have to bring up ‘Austin Powers.’ Austin Powers became one of the defining comedies of its time. At the time, did it feel like you were working on something this special, or did its success surprise everyone?”
A2: “Nobody wanted to do ‘Austin Powers.’ (audience laughter) Mike had just done ‘So I Married An Axe Murderer.’ It failed and this was his next movie after that and literally it was begging people to do the movie in a lot of ways. So, no, it wasn’t that way and then—it irritates me—the movie was a big hit and everybody signs up for two…there’s Tom Cruise and there’s Nicole Kidman—and it was slogging the first movie to really get it cast, but it was Will Ferell’s first movie and it was a lot of people’s first film that came out of SNL and came out of the improv and Groundlings and places like that.”
Q3: “That must have been a really fun casting experience, I would imagine.
A3: “It was fun. It was. Mike was heavily involved. Jay Roach directed that movie. And, yes, it was a very fun movie to cast, and it was also the very first film that I cast by myself. It was a unique experience.”
Q4: In 2000, you launched your own company, Automatic Sweat. What convinced you it was time to build your own company?
A4: I’d never been more broke. I was partners with another casting director. She deemed it not worth her time to do Austin. She was spending all of her time on another movie that we were doing together and so I went off and did it myself. Subsequently, we then started on “Face-Off” right after that, the John Woo movie, and she came to me and said—wait a minute—well, I know why she said it, it was John Travolta and Nick Cage and she said, ‘I think I want to do this one on my own.’ I’m like, ‘That’s not how it works when you’re partners.’ So I was forced—it really forced my hand—to go and start my own company.”
Q5: ‘Is there a story behind the name Automatic Sweat?”
John Papsidera, casting director par excellence, speaking at the 57th Nashville Film Festival on September 25, 2026,
A5: “A homeless man said it to me. He used to hang out around my offices. He said, ‘Life ain’t anything but an automatic sweat.’ And I thought, truer words were never spoken.”
Q6: “You’ve cast nearly every Christopher Nolan film since Memento in 2000, including ‘The Odyssey’ that many people have probably seen recently. What did that first collaboration look like?”
A6: “I’ve said this before. It’s probably one of the easiest films I’ve ever cast. Because Chris didn’t know anybody. This is how relationships work..the same producers called me and said we have this little movie, Would you be interested? And I said I was, so they sent me the script and I had to read it three times before I understood it (laughter from the audience) And he said to me, ‘Bring me your favorite actors,” and so I did. And it was incredibly easy. Maybe 3 weeks. Incredibly fast and thrilling.”
Q7: Nolan is known for building a repertory of people across films?
A7: We do talk about that at times. There’s a couple things that play into that. Early on in our relationship we’d talk about this and he’d say, ‘Well, we have Michael Caine.’ It kind of came out of that. As the years have passed, I’ve kind of had a different window into Chris’s mind. He is a control freak and he wants to know exactly what people are going to do, He’s not looking for people to create. He’s trying to fit the piece in the Swiss clock that is already in his head. He just wants you to be a little cog in the machine. He doesn’t want you to re-invent the machine. And so it’s a very different way of casting, So, it’s a very different type of casting than of me doing a search and a hunt and going in search of the perfect pieces just for him that will line up with how his vision is, as opposed to a Jason Reitman, who is much more exploratory , much more of “Let’s try this; let’s improv that,” Chris’s much more of a control freak And so, over the years, I think it becomes an easier thing for him to say, ‘Oh, yes, I can see this person doing that.”
Q8: Over the years, have you ever seen a shift away from that, where you can see it going a different way?
A8: Going back to ‘Inception,’ Chris had not known of Marion Cotillard, and I knew her and loved her. Rebecca Hall is another one. She had done very little. She went on tape and she had done a lot. I saw Rebecca’s tape and sent it to Chris and it really started her career in a big way. We didn’t know what she would do with it. We sent it to DeCaprio and never heard back. We sent it to Joaquin (Phoenix) and he met and explained how he didn’t like, nor did he want, to make big movies. It’s ironic, because he was in one and won the Academy Award for playing the Joker. We met with Heath (Ledger). It was exhilarating and exciting and he understood that it wasn’t about trying to fill the comedic shoes of Jack Nicholson, but that the Joker was an anarchist and that he just wanted to tear it all down. And that was his take on the Joker. So, yes, there have been some examples that are exciting to me that were not in the usual way”
Q9: You said something about when you were meeting with him it was exhilarating,
A9: It’s hard to describe. I truly believe that it’s a magic that if you believe in the process it shows up in different ways. I’m just in the process right now, I was in L.A. this past Monday for screen tests for a huge show for Amazon and we had screen tests for the lead female. And one of them is just electric. You feel it. There’s something palpable. It’s chemical. It is the thing that keeps me coming back. I play golf—badly—and people will say, ‘Oh, that shot will keep you coming back for 6 months.’ The idea of being in a room with the artist, those moments when you feel it, it’s indescribable and exciting. It’s a little bit about where magic meets practicality.
Q10: With having such a long relationship with Christopher Nolan, what has that taught you about the trust that is necessary between a director and a casting director?
A10: I think there’s always a question mark as to how much someone trusts you or not, It depends on how much you go out of the guidelines. Chris still will not forgive me for bringing in, on “Memento, Crispin Glover. I love Crispin Glover. I think he’s an amazing unpredictable actor, exactly the type of guy that Christopher Nolan does not like. Unpredictabiility not wanted, I’ve learned that. So it kind of depends on what you’re looking for, how you go down that road with directors, but the game is to gain their trust—at least as their confidante and they trust your opinion. I’m blessed, at this stage in my career, that I have it with many directors and I’ve done it long enough so that people will say, “What’s John think?” But that’s the job. You want them to seek your counsel.And you want them to know that you’re not just telling them what they want to hear, that you are not just being a cheerleader or a yes-man, but you are telling them the truth. Does that answer that question?
Q11: Walk me through your process. What happens from the time you get a script until you cast a character?
A11: It’s much like being an independent casting director, I’ll read a script, I’ll see what I think about it. I’ll have a meeting with the actor or producer and talk about who I see in those roles or why. And if they get the job and if they are available, we then start a process. We’’ll start to get reads in. We funnel that to the producers and directors. And then we negotiate a deal.
Q12: How do you judge rapport among actors, especially when you’re building an ensemble?
A12: I think mostly this is world creation. And, in a movie, you want it to be grounded in a real world. So you want actors with like minds in that they can put ‘em together. I liken it to a painter painting a picture. Certain colors need an accent next to it, It’s really about creating a world with a certain soul.
John Papsidera interviewed onstage at the national Museum of African American Music at the 57th Nashville Film Festiva on September 25, 2026.
Q13: How much do you push back against a director?
A13: You weigh all these variables, A studio, a director, television director has a page. I could call an executive director and say, “You’re wrong. That kid is amazing” in Scooby Doo,, It depends on relationships. Had I not done Wednesday with that director I probably wouldn’t have called. You only have so much creative freedom.
Q14: The difference between an in-person read and a taped read?
A14: It’s a really divided thing. I’ll start with the pros: it has opened the door to casting much more than anything else in my career. In the old format, casting calls had to get the job done and you would have a group of 40 or 5o or 100 actors and you knew they would be good. Those are the actors who have been displaced most and you hear them complain about it a lot. It’s those people who were in the small, select group and now you can look at a much broader group. We will go back and ask them to re-do, re-tape. We have years of relationships. (Richie Montgomery in Carnivale and Kingfish stands up in the audience to testify to working with Papsidera early on, ) Really having personal connections and insights into an actor in a personal way helps, but more people get seen and you have control in a taped session. You as the actor get to do it a hundred times till you get it the way you want it, so embrace the power of having it, because actors do not get the chance to be powerful often enough.
Q15: How many of these auditions are you watching?
A15: Fourth Wing project. We’ve seen hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of actresses and actors for the 2 lead roles. For Scooby Doo, we probably saw 600 kids. I’m working on a Christie McQuorry film that will be a smaller process. For Oppenheimer I saw a large number of people. For a Taylor Sheridan movie we see hundreds of men. They don’t build men the way they used to build men.
Q16: Iconic ensembles…The Dark Knight…Batman Begins….Inception….
A16: I was looking through breakdowns today and I get to select actors who I like who I think are good actors. The common thread that runs through it is my taste. At the end of the day, it’s the smartest and the brightest actors who are available (and the budget).
Q17: How do you balance known versus unknowns?
A17: In “The Odyssey” those characters going in lived in people’s minds for a long time. They were next to God. So we wanted the super heroes of our time. So, to do that we intentionally went with the known stars. There are plenty of times when I look at movies and I look at the names to remember and there was no need for a name to be changing a wagon wheel by the side of the road. It felt like it was important in “The Odyssey”.
Q18: Do you have a philosophy about when to cast an unknown versus these veterans?
A18: It sort of depends on budgets, and things way out of my control. Casting a budget is the first thing we do on every project. They will just take the money, so we’ll find somebody who will do it for that. It’s a battle to try to find enough money. You try and find interesting people. So many of the Dunkirk actors have now gone on. We had so many amazing guys who have had amazing careers. It is a hugely satisfying part of the job. It take so many people to find them. That story of Lana Turner being discovered at Schwabb’s. That happens so rarely, if ever. It usually is a manager calling me and saying “I saw somebody in a play, etc.” Yes, it’s true that I put Charlize in “Two Days in the Valley” and it was her first job, but it’s because a manager called me up saying, “You’re looking for a 6 foot Scandinavian girl. I was behind one in the bank line. Would you meet her?” And I said yes. I believe in saying yes and great people come from all kinds of places.
Q19: How do you stay confident in your choices, even when you have seen so many actors>
A19: I don’t know. It’s really not based on ego.It’s based on a lot of different things. Honestly, now that I’m thinking about that question, it’s probably because I’ve looked at the 600 other people that aren’t getting it. When you’ve looked at so many other things that aren’t it, you have an incredible amount of faith that that IS iit. And so I think that’s probably where that passion comes from. I don’t know how to do it, other than being passionate about it, So, I say to people all the time, if you want an opinion, ask me, because I’ll give you one.I’ve got plenty of opinions, but I think that is my job. To not have an opinion and to not help guide and create you’re abdicating your job I you don’t have an opinion and if you don’t take a position, you don’t campaign for what’s best.
Q20: You’ve had such an amazing career, over 240 films, I’m curious if you have one that sticks out to you because it was an amazing experience, or that sticks out to you for reasons that might not be so obvious?
A20: I mention ‘Dunkirk,’ I love Dunkirk, if only because of finding so many guys and it was very un-Chris-like, even though it was told in 3 different time frames, because he can’t help himself. I read it, and the process with Chris is that I’m one of the first people to read the script when he finishes. He’ll call and tell me to come over and read the script, I do, and then he comes in afterwards and says, ‘What do you think?’and “Who do you think?’ And when he walked in after ‘Dunkirk’ I said to him, ‘It’s a sweet love letter to England,’ and he said, ‘Yeah. It is.’ It’s a very different emotional thing for Chris to write that. “Inception’ I love. I love ‘The Offer.” I’m really proud of ‘The Offer, ‘ the mini-series that he did about the making of ‘The Godfather.’ I think it’s cast really, really well, and we tried not to just do ‘The Sopranos’ casting, So, we worked a lot of different ways to do that. Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” I’d known all those guys since college. They called me and said, “We shot this little thing on a video and we’re going to try to make a pilot. Will you help us?” I said, ‘Yeah, Sure.” So I was in the first season of “Sunny.” I love “The Madison,” something very emotional that Taylor doesn’t really write all the time. He’s a very masculine writer, not necessarily writing women. In fact, when you ask Taylor Sheridan how he writes women, he’ll say, ‘I write them just like men.’ And I think “The Madison” is very different, and I love it. Because I’m proud of all of those casts. I had a different relationship with each of them. “Life Itself” is another movie that nobody talks about—a Dan Fogelman movie—I thought it was very beautiful, and it got no love. But that having been said, my relationship with all of my movies is to employ actors and watch them do what they do. And helping a director create art.
Q21: This is really my last actor question: Are there one or two pieces of advice you could offer for the actors here who are doing those self-tapes?
A21: At Florida State I taught a class about acting for the camera and after the semester was over and I thought about it, I thought, ‘If there was one thing I could give those student actors, it would be confidence.’ It’s telling that I started this interview with a story about how I didn’t have confidence, myself,as an actor, but if there’s one thing, it truly is confidence: it separates the wheat from the chaff. You feel it in the room. I used to tell my students that, before an audition, they ought to go in the bathroom and do a Superman pose in the mirror: whatever it takes for you to feel confident when you walk in the room. Producers feel it. Directors feel it. They don’t want Nervous Nelly on the set with them.And it doesn’t mean being cocky. It means finding that peace within you that you’re confident. If it’s something that you love to do, take any opportunity to do it. I think that’s it. Certainly be smart about choices; certainly make choices. Certainly have multiple choices in your head. I’ve always found it alarming that actors will come in and they’ll be given the grace to do it again and they’ll do it exactly the same way. It’s not about doing it differently from A to Z. It’s not about being a weirdo. It’s about being smart and a professional. Choices and confidence is what I would give everybody as advice.
Q22: Beyond casting, you’ve created an art facility, The Salon at Automatic Sweat, I’m curious if collecting art and curating art is sort of curatorial.
A22: I think so. I guess so. I think back to where that even came from, It’s fascinating to me. Most of my collection, if they are portraits, the faces blur and I think it is an off-shoot of seeing so many tapes all day long. I love the idea of it. In my collection, it’s like the memory of a face, but the faces are almost eradicated. (His wife pointed it out.) I think it speaks to so much of my inner life. So much of what I do all day long is judge, judge, judge. It’s very hard to turn it off and a piece of art that I love, I don’t have to judge it, I can enjoy it. And I think that’s the same when I show artists, which is seeking out stuff that I enjoy,
Q23:You split your time between Nashville and L.A. Do you find that splitting your time that way gives you a different perspective, and what do you make of Nashville’s growth in those areas?
A23: It certainly has changed my perspective of the business. Again, they might like to hear it; they might not. The rest of the world does not care about the things that L.A. and the business, per se, has prioritized. And that is hard to break through, to get them to hear that, because they are surrounded by it. When I live here, they hear Chris Nolan’s name and they don’t care. They hear Taylor Sheridan and they say, “You do what?” I think that’s the reality of the world, and you are creating entertainment for everybody and the demographics of ‘you gotta have this’ and “you gotta have that’ (in a movie) and I say, “Guys: the rest of the world doesn’t give a shit about this.” And so it’s changed my perspective a lot about that. I’m thrilled for Nashville trying to embrace the business and grow, I think it’s a sad reality that California has lost so much of the entertainment business. I’d rather see business go just around the United States and not to Canada or England just because of tax credits and opportunities.
Q24 (Audience): In the casting of Elliot Page in “The Odyssey” was it you or was it Christopher Nolan saw something there that would benefit the movie?
A24: I’m glad that you thought it was a positive…I’m assuming that. It’s sad to me that this world is in a place where it’s at where an artist gets attacked, and not only Elliot, or Lupita, but Chris as a filmmaker. We’re making art. We’re making paintings, We’re not making political statements. The nonsense that it should have been this or it should have been that. Are you going to walk by the Mona Lisa and say, “Oh! She should have been smiling.” It’s insane, and I think it’s a divisive statement of our times which is not fair to anybody. Elliot came up—I’ll give credit where it’s due—Kelly Bush is his publicist and she asked, ‘Is there anything for Elliot in the movie?’ And we all thought about it for a minute and then it struck us that Sinon was the weakest among the characters in the story, and that he didn’t want to go to war. (I’m going to get emotional about this) And he went.And we thought there was something really special about Elliot playing that role. I said a couple of weeks ago, ‘I wish it were a tad more emotional. I wish he were screaming in pain outside of that Trojan Horse, but I thought it was a lovely moment and I just cast it,
A.I.
The last audience question was about the use of A.I. in movies. Papsidera came out in favor of live characters, saying “It’s innate.” He added “I think that replacing human beings with computer images mimicking human beings is not something I want to see. But, then, I’m not a big cartoon guy, I’m a grown ass man. “ He admitted that he didn’t know enough about it. “It’s a horror in some ways. It’s a horror in a lot of ways. It started at camp fires with cavemen telling stories. It’s why we go into a dark hall with flickering images telling stories.” Papsidera did acknowledge that there might be budgetary advantages.
MOST HOPEFUL ABOUT THE INDUSTRY?
Audience question: What are you feeling most hopeful about?
Answer: “Do you know me? I tend to be a half glass guy. I am hopeful that maybe stories break through and people return to personal stories in independent films and that we see the last of…I don’t want numbered films…I don’t watch a lot of 2’s, 3’s and 4’s. (sequels). I hope that it turns to storytelling and less product being made, but they’ve opened the gates to the guys who care about data and algorithms and not really telling stories that shape your lives. I hope that people will return to telling stories that matter and thatshape our lives. Those are things that shape human beings. I don’t find that in Avengers #6.”
Peter Frampton and Director (and fellow musician) Rob Arthur kicked off the 57th Nashville Film Festival on Thursday, September 24, 2026, showing their documentary “Frampton” to two theaters packed with film and music lovers.
A local resident since 2014, Frampton and Arthur stopped in each theater prior to the showing of the 104 minute documentary and delivered remarks.
Frampton acknowledged that the film would be “the entire story—-the good and the not-so-good.” It was not quite everything that has happened in his amazing life, but the bio-pic covered a lot of ground.It seemed long at 104 minutes, but the audience, now exposed to films that routinely run 3 hours, seemed okay with its length.
Now 76 and afflicted with a degenerative muscle condition known as Body Myositis that has him using a cane, the accomplished musician who literally owned 1976 after “Frampton Comes Alive,” his breakthrough album was released, made remarks to the assembled audience that urged perseverance. A Frampton quote “You have to accept the things you cannot change. I learned that in AA (2002) and in many other places What I have is not life-threatening, but it is life-changing, and I’m going with the flow.” “Frampton Comes Alive” stayed on the Billboard ranks for 97 weeks, 10 of them at Number One and spent 55 weeks in the Top 40. It was the third-best selling album of 1976.
DOWNFALLS
Peter Frampton in the 1970s.
After tremendous success, a cover photo (shirtless) by fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo caused Frampton to be viewed less seriously as a musician. It was a miscue akin to Burt Reynolds’ centerfold appearance when his “Deliverance” appearance had critics mentioning Oscar nods. Director Cameron Crowe, who gave Frampton a job as technical advisor for his 2000 film about the rock life, “Almost Famous,” agreed that that photo, plus Frampton’s appearance in the turkey “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” with the BeeGees, a Robert Stigwood production, were missteps that led to Frampton’s downfall after huge success. For “Almost Famous” Frampton had to teach lead actor Billy Crudup to play guitar in just 6 weeks. (Frampton also had a small role as a tour manager,) Crowe gave much credit to Frampton for nailing the film’s 1973 authenticity,
INTERVIEW SUBJECTS
Connie Wilson at work covering the 57th Nashville Film Festival on September 24, 2026.
Frampton’s first wife, Mary Lovett (1972-1976) spoke. She alluded to Frampton’s leaving her for J. “Penny” McCall, but spoke of him in a friendly fashion, with references to Penny’s drug use and dalliances with other men, which was discovered by Frampton upon his return to his small Bahamas house. Wikipedia put that second relationship this way: “Frampton was sued by J. “Penny” McCall in 1978 for palimony. McCall asked for Frampton’s earnings during the five years that they were together. According to McCall, she left her husband and gave up her job as a rock promoter and devoted herself full-time to Frampton, just as he achieved superstar status. A New York judge ruled that Frampton and McCall never intended to marry each other and “never held themselves out to the public as husband and wife” and dismissed her complaint because to act otherwise would condone adultery. The case set precedent in New York, “All three of Frampton’s kids, Jade, Julian and Mia appear and speak of his recent fragility due to his health issues. Peter has performed with his son, Julian.
INTERVIEW SUBJECTS
Those featured on the documentary, talking about Frampton’s prowess as a musician from an early age included Ringo Starr, Roger Daltrey, Alice Cooper, Bill Wyman, Kate Hudson, Cameron Crowe, Sheryl Crow, Matt Pinfield and Tom Morello—as well as archival footage of David Bowie. Bowie (then David Jones) was a student in Beckenham, Kent at the Bromley Technical School where Frampton’s father was head of the art department and taught Bowie (who used to spend lunch hours with Frampton playing Everly Brothers songs.) Bowie reached out in 1987 and invited Frampton to join him on his Glass Spider tour, which helped revitalize Frampton’s career. Another good friend (who wrote him a check for $100,000 when Frampton found out he was penniless because his manager had stolen from him) was Music Producer Ahmet Ertegan, co-founder and president of Atlantic Records.
PERSONAL LIFE
Married three times with three children, Frampton and others mused on life at the top and the demands of fame. Also, the pressure of always striving to “best” one’s previous highs was tremendous.These remarks echoed some by Mick Jagger in a recent New York Times interview.Today, Frampton acknowledges the importance of family, but, at the peak of his fame, he was touring nearly all of the time. After the Bahamas incident, Frampton got drunk and crashed his car, almost losing his arm.
Still, Frampton has a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2024, introduced by old friend Roger Daltrey, who wondered why it took so long to vote him in. Daltrey said that there weren’t many people he’d fly all the way to Cleveland in January to introduce, [which caused me to laugh out loud.] Sheryl Crow performed “Every Day Is A Winding Road” at the January, 2024, induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Crow shared a touching story of attending a Frampton concert “live” at the age of 14, her first, that made her think she would like to do that for a living.
TRUE FRIENDS
David Bowie, who was taught art by Frampton’s father, the head of the art department at Bromley Technical Schoot in Beckenham, Kent was an old school classmate who helped him when he was down and out. Another old friend who appears on the documentary was former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, who met the young Peter Frampton at age 14 and was amazed by his talent. Wyman used the young man in a group when Frampton was just a teenager.
PITFALLS OF FAME
The familiar saga of a manager ripping off the star and the star’s struggles with substance abuse featured in the documentary, which was well-received by the crowd and opens a week of films in a year with quite a few fewer major studios release on the festival circuit —a trend started by “One Battle After Another” last year, which skipped the festival circuit and went directly to theaters.
Peter Frampton at the 57th Nashville Film Festival from September 24-30, 2026.
Archival footage from the UK (Susanne Salvati) and the U.S. (Paul Cain) were edited into an entertaining look at much of the career of the musical master of whom Ron Wyman (a Rolling Stone for 30 years) said, meeting him in 1965 at the tender age of 14, “God Almighty! This kid is amazing!” Daniel E. Atullo was thanked specifically by the documentary’s star and director for shepherding the film through to completion.It is a tribute to an indomitable spirit, a true talent and a man who refuses to give up. “I am stronger than I thought.”
As we filed out of the theater on this opening night, the song Peter Frampton was playing onstage, as the film’s credits rolled, was “My guitar gently weeps.”
Acclaimed casting director John Papsidera has shaped some of Hollywood’s most memorable films through the art of casting and its essential role in storytelling. With six Artios Awards for outstanding casting, as well as six nominations and two Emmy Awards for his work in television, his credits span more than 250 film and television projects—including Austin Powers, Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, Zombieland, Interstellar, Oppenheimer, The Odyssey, HBO’s Westworld, Paramount’s Yellowstone and many more. He’ll share insights into discovering talent, building iconic ensembles, and bringing unforgettable characters and stories to life.
PANELIST
John Papsidera (L), Connie Wilson (Center) and Director Jason Reitman (R) after the showing in Nashville of “Saturday Night Live” on September 21, 2025. Papsidera will present on a panel at the 57th Nashville International Film Festival, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at the National Museum of African American Music on Friday, September 25, 2026. Come back for my report on his remarks. [Should be an interesting discussion of the casting choices in the recent “The Odyssey.”]
BACKGROUND
John Papsidera started his professional career as a trained actor graduating from Florida State University with a BFA degree and attending post-Graduate studies at Circle in the Square in New York City. Starting as a casting assistant at The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, John moved into feature film casting and worked on such big budget action films as Clear and Present Danger, The Net, Anaconda and Cutthroat Island.
Starting in 1997, Papsidera embarked on forming his own casting company and over the past 27 years has been the Casting Director for over 250 films and television projects. His film credits include, the original Austin Powers, Boiler Room, Memento, Batman: Begins, The Longest Yard, The Prestige, Enchanted, The Dark Knight, Zombieland and Zombieland: Double Tap, Inception, The Grey, The Dark Knight Rises, Oz: The Great and Powerful, Gangster Squad, Men Women and Children, Interstellar, Venom,Uncharted, Dunkirk, Tenet, Honey Boy, The Suicide Squad, Ghostbusters; Afterlife, Ghostbusters; Frozen Empire, Twisters, Oppenheimer, Saturday Night, James Gunn’s Superman and The Odyssey. Television credits include, HBO’s If These Walls Could Talk, Live from Baghdad, Carnivale, Lackawanna Blues, Prison Break, Showtime’s Ray Donovan, Hulu’s Casual, Netflix’s Lost In Space, HBO’s Westworld, HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant, Paramount’s Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Lioness, Lawman: Bass Reeves, The Offer, Land Man, The Madison, Netflix’s Wednesday and The Night Agent, Amazon’s Fallout and Mob Land for Paramount+.
AWARDS
His achievements in the field of casting include 35nominations and six prestigious Artios Awards for outstanding casting and six nominations and two Emmys for his work in television. In 2025, John was also awarded the Hoyt Bowers Award for excellence in casting and his body of work and outstanding contribution to the casting profession. Papsidera formed his entertainment company, Automatic Sweat, in the fall of 2000.
PERSONAL