PODCAST: Wayne Kramer

Writer-director Wayne Kramer won high praise for his debut feature, The Cooler, and his exhilarating follow-up, Running Scared, counts this film blogger among its cult following. As a South African native who became a naturalized American citizen the year before 9/11, it makes sense why Kramer's third film, Crossing Over, would tackle a hot-button issue he relates to: immigration. Starring an ensemble cast which includes Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta, Towelhead's Summer Bishil -- and one of my favorite character actors working today, Cliff Curtis -- the film is summarized by the filmmaker himself on IMDb:

"Crossing Over is a multi-character canvas about immigrants of different nationalities struggling to achieve legal status in Los Angeles. The film deals with the border, document fraud, the asylum and green card process, work-site enforcement, naturalization, the office of counter terrorism and the clash of cultures."

Kramer called me a few hours ago to chat about Crossing Over, the true stories he based it on, why he feels it's unfair to compare the film to Crash, and his personal reaction to some of the negative critics' reviews (spoiler alert: he wholeheartedly disagrees).

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Crossing Over opens today in theaters everywhere. For more info, visit the official (but temporary) site.

Posted by ahillis at February 26, 2009 7:39 PM