Following Films Podcast

Forty years ago this November, one of the most innovative horror movies in Hollywood history hit theaters and set the box office on fire. Based on a then up-and-coming writer named Stephen King, Carrie crystallized all the agonies of adolescence into the story of a shy, sheltered girl with telekinetic powers. Director Brian De Palma had been working in the independent field since the 1960s, but this film was his first box office hit and put him on the map as one of the major auteurs of the New Hollywood. De Palma filled the cast with many talented young actors making their first important features, including John Travolta, Nancy Allen, Amy Irving, William Katt, P.J. Soles, and Betty Buckley. For the leading role, he chose relative newcomer Sissy Spacek, who received her first Oscar nomination for the film, and to play her religious fanatic mother, De Palma cast Piper Laurie in her first film since The Hustler 15 years earlier. (She received her second Oscar nomination for her performance.) Today's my guest i