ROGUE COMMENTARY

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the exclusive audio commentary podcast hosted by David Hughes.

For this episode, I’m joined by Damien Lewis, author of the non-fiction book The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, the first third of which is now a major motion picture directed by Guy Ritchie.

I read – no, devoured the book before I saw the film, but if I hadn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered how many ‘based on a true story’ captions came up before the film started, I wouldn’t have believed a word of it – the story was just too deliciously outrageous to be true. But it is. Surely no human could possibly be as larger-than-life as Anders Lassen? Surely Operation Pitchfork, the truth about which was only declassified in 2016, couldn’t possibly have happened? It was like something out of James Bond, except Churchill was behind it, with both M and Ian Fleming in the room.

It took me a minute to vibe with the Commando comic/boys’ own adventure tone of the film, but once I’d tuned in to its wavelength, I had what can only be described as an outrageously good time with the film, and I’m sure, if you’re listening, you did too. Thanks to Damien’s page-burner – a page-turner where you turn the pages so fast they risk igniting – I already knew the background of the story, but I still wanted to dig deeper, and although time constraints meant Damien couldn’t go the full two-hour film commentary, much less what would have been a reductive and redundant scene-by-scene breakdown, he did give us 90 minutes of gold, smuggled out not of Fernando Po or even Lisbon – that’ll make sense when you listen to the commentary – but from his study in Dorset, where he’s working on a new book, based – if you can believe this – on an even more unbelievable yet true story from the Second World War.

Enormous thanks to Damien, of course, but also Sophie Ransom and Poppy Delingpole for helping to set it up.

Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com or send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tweet⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so if you like what you hear – or just the idea – please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and/or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.

Thanks for listening!

A ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Synchronicity⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ production, conceived and presented by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠David Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Produced by Sam Ibrahim. Music by Olli Oja.

All content © 2024 Synchronicity II Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the exclusive audio commentary podcast hosted by me, David Hughes.

For this episode, I’m delighted to welcome back my screenwriting hero and mentor Steven de Souza, who not only wrote some of our all-time favourite action movies – Die Hard, 48 Hours, Commando and, yes, The Running Man – but also several early, formative drafts of the infamous 1991 action-romantic-comedy-trainwreck Hudson Hawk, subsequently rewritten by Daniel Waters and an ad-libbing Bruce Willis.

It's well known that Hudson Hawk went wildly off the rails during production, but whether you love it or loathe it – for me it’s a little from column 'A', a little from column 'B' – it’s fascinating to unpick the story of how Steven’s drafts devolved into the film that crash-landed in cinemas in the summer of 1991.

Steven was an early guest on Rogue Commentary, for our Die Hard episode back in Christmas 2021, and it remains, as you’d expect, our biggest hit. I’m thrilled that he’s come back to join me for a walk through one of cinema’s greatest examples of a curate’s egg.

Thanks to Paul Randles for dedicated research!

Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com or send us a tweet.

We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so if you like what you hear – or just the idea – please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on Twitter and/or Instagram to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.

Thanks for listening!

A Synchronicity production. Conceived, written and presented by David Hughes. Produced by Sam Ibrahim. Music by Olli Oja.

All content © 2023 Synchronicity II Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hello! Welcome to the latest – as in very late – edition of the exclusive audio commentary podcast hosted by me, David Hughes.

On this episode, I'm delighted to welcome writer-director John Hancock – 82 years of age and still going strong – for an exclusive Zoom-enabled dive into one of my all-time favourite horror films, Let's Scare Jessica to Death, to celebrate its 50th anniversary. For best results, cue it up to the film, which is available to watch in the UK here and in the US here. My intro to the podcast will tell you when to press play. Apologies that the audio quality is not optimal; I promise I will figure out how to use my microphone properly and not rely on shouting at the screen in future.

Huge thanks to Mr. Hancock himself, of course, for inviting me to sit down and talk about one of my favourite films. John has asked me to give a shout out to Michael Doyle, author of Hancock on Hancock, which is available on Kindle here and in hardcover from all book retailers, so don't just automatically check Amazon.

Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com or send us a tweet.

We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so if you like what you hear – or just the idea – please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on Twitter and/or Instagram to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.

Thanks for listening!

A Synchronicity production. Conceived, written and presented by David Hughes. Produced by Sam Ibrahim. Music by Olli Oja.

All content © 2021 Synchronicity II Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the exclusive audio commentary podcast hosted by me, ⁠⁠⁠David Hughes.⁠⁠⁠

For this episode, I’m delighted to welcome Gonzalo López-Gallego and José David Montero, director and cinematographer respectively of the terrific neo-noir American Star, in which Ian McShane plays an ex-soldier-turned-hitman who travels to Fuertaventura, one of the Canary Islands, to do a job, and finds himself on a journey into his soul.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, we’re doing a second episode covering the splendid neo-noir American Star, in which Ian McShane plays an ex-soldier-turned-hitman who travels to Fuertaventura, one of the Canary Islands, to do a job, and finds himself on a journey into his soul.

This time, our guest is screenwriter Nacho Faerna, and not just because he wasn’t able to make the first recording we did for this film, but also because he really gave birth to the story, and I thought his insights into the development of the film could offer a broader inspiration for aspiring screenwriters.

Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com or send us a ⁠⁠⁠tweet⁠⁠⁠.

We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so if you like what you hear – or just the idea – please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on ⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠ and/or ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.

Thanks for listening!

A ⁠⁠⁠Synchronicity⁠⁠⁠ production. Conceived, written and presented by ⁠⁠⁠David Hughes⁠⁠⁠. Produced by Sam Ibrahim. Music by Olli Oja.

All content © 2024 Synchronicity II Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the exclusive audio commentary podcast hosted by me, David Hughes.

For this episode, I’m thrilled to welcome Jen Johans, award-winning writer, film critics, essayist and historian, and host of the excellent Watch With Jen podcast. Now, that has really good guests, but Jen must be short for Jenerous because she always gives her guests more of the floor than she uses herself, so I thought it’d be perfect to invite her to record a solo commentary, and choose any film she wanted, and I’m super excited she chose Norman Jewison's timeless 1987 romantic comedy-drama Moonstruck, starring Cher and Olympia Dukakis – both of whom won Oscars for their performances – Nicolas Cage and Danny Aiello, from an Oscar-winning original screenplay by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley.

I’m a huge fan of Moonstruck, and I’m really excited to bring you this exclusive audio commentary, which I’m sure you’re going to love. Even though, as we all know, "love don’t make things nice. It ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess.”

Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com or send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠tweet⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so if you like what you hear – or just the idea – please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ and/or ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.

Thanks for listening!

A ⁠⁠⁠⁠Synchronicity⁠⁠⁠⁠ production, conceived and presented by ⁠⁠⁠⁠David Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠. Produced by Sam Ibrahim. Music by Olli Oja.

All content © 2024 Synchronicity II Ltd. All rights reserved.