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Welcome to Kicking the Seat!

Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).

The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar NoéRachel BrosnahanAmy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.

Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.

Ep365: RENDEZVOUS on Harms

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast and Keeping it Reel's David Fowlie travel back in time to early May, when they visited the set of Michael Glover Smith's latest film, Rendezvous in Chicago! The writer/director returns with the conclusion to his stellar Chicago Relationships Trilogy, and invited the guys to watch the second half of a two-night shoot at Hackney's on Harms in Glenview, IL.

In between filming and setups, Ian and David interviewed Smith and stars Claire Cooney and Kevin Wehby about all aspects of making an independent movie--from location scouting, to creating characters, to questioning one's calling as a performer, and getting awkwardly star-struck.

You can catch a special screening of Rendezvous in Chicagotoday at the fifth-annual Oakton Pop Up Film Festival (which runs through tomorrow at the Footlik theatre). The event is free to the public, and includes a Q&A with Michael, Claire, Kevin, and others involved in the production!

Episode 365 was (mostly) quiet on the set!

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Ep366: Lord Bunnington

Ep364: Scuola Argento: Inga to the Rescue!