Episode 57 – Catching The “Fever” With Director John Badham - Part 1

On this episode of Hollywood Obsessed, host Tony Miros speaks with legendary director JOHN BADHAM who is best known for directing the iconic 1977 classic disco film “Saturday Night Fever”!

During their fascinating two-part conversation John tells Tony all about growing up in Birmingham Alabama with his sister, Mary Badham, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as "Scout" Finch in the film “To Kill a Mockingbird”, working with the larger-than-life director William Castle on his film “Let's Kill Uncle”, starting his own extraordinary career directing episodes of Rod Serling’s “Night Gallery” for television, his memories of interacting with Oscar-winning actress Joan Crawford who was filming the pilot episode of the series with a very young Steven Spielberg, his experience directing his first feature film “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” starring Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor, how his breakthrough film “Saturday Night Fever” landed in his lap when he replaced John G. Avildsen as the director of the film, his memories of meeting then TV sitcom star John Travolta (“Welcome Back Kotter”) for the first time at the Beverly Hills Hotel, how leading lady Karen Lynn Gorney came to the project and the great chemistry she and Travolta had on screen.

JOHN BADHAM

John Badham, BA, MFA Yale University, PHD (hon) Columbia College, is a Director and Producer of Theatrical Films and Television.

Badham worked in television for years, on Universal TV series like “Cannon” and “The Bold Ones”. He then directed several acclaimed TV movies, including “Isn't It Shocking?” (1973) and “The Law” (1974). His first feature film was “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” in 1976.

His breakthrough came in 1977 when he replaced John G. Avildsen as the director of “Saturday Night Fever”, a massive worldwide hit starring John Travolta. His choices after that film were wildly eclectic, ranging from the action thriller “Blue Thunder” (1983) to the comedy-drama “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” (1981) to the comedy thriller “Stakeout” (1987) & its sequel “Another Stakeout” (1993). “WarGames” (1983), starring Matthew Broderick, is his other signature film, renowned for its take on popular Cold War fears of nuclear terror as well as being one of the first films to deal with the subculture of amateur hacking. Another sizable hit was “Short Circuit” (1986), a comedy about a robot who comes to life.

In addition to his numerous film credits, he has also continued to direct and produce for TV, including credits for Rod Serling's “Night Gallery”, the A&E television series “The Beast”, TV movies like HBO's “The Jack Bull” (1999), and episodes of series including “Crossing Jordan” & “Criminal Minds”. He has also contributed commentary to the web series “Trailers from Hell”.

His books “I’ll Be In My Trailer, the Creative Wars Between Directors and Actors”, and "John Badham on Directing" are used as text books in film schools worldwide. His films have been nominated for five Academy awards and two Emmy awards. He has won three Saturn Awards from the Academy of Science fiction and Fantasy and the Grand Prize from the Paris International Science Fiction Festival.

For the past 20 years he has been the Dodge Professor of Film and Media at Chapman University where he teaches beginning, intermediate and advanced directing and production to both undergraduate and graduate students.

John Badham website - https://www.johnbadham.com

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