New York-based musician and America's Sweetheart Nick Miller joins to discuss the underseen 150-minute Extended Cut of Tom Hanks's directorial debut, 'That Thing You Do!'. It's a meandering, expansive version of the film that takes the original cut's effervescent (if slight) shot of pop nostalgia and, at its best, aims for comparisons to great surveyors of cinematic Americana like Robert Altman & Jonathan Demme (who serves as producer on this film).
We discuss the two versions of the film, their differences, and how the Extended Cut showcases even further Tom Hanks's singular knowledge of the era and its musical landscape. Then, we talk about the eponymous tune, an infectious earworm written by the late Adam Schlesinger which took on a life of its own as a charting hit single and was nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar in 1997. We also discuss the film as part and parcel with Tom Hanks's decade-long fixation with postwar America and the Greatest Generation's sense of national purpose, how the movie gets right many of the intricacies of songwriting and band dynamics, and make a plea to the 300+ artists (including Squeeze and They Might Be Giants) who submitted versions of "That Thing You Do!" to finally release their recordings.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by
Chris Fish.