Cable network El Rey announced Thursday that filmmaker Michael Mann will be featured on the Aug. 9 episode of “The Director’s Chair.” George Miller, creator of the “Mad Max” films, will also appear on the Aug. 30 episode. Rodriguez recently finished shooting an episode with Sylvester Stallone.
The Michael Mann episode will be broadcast at 9 p.m., and will be preceded by four episodes of Mann’s classic television series “Miami Vice.” It will be followed by Mann’s 1986 film “Manhunter.”
“The Director’s Chair” is an hour-long intimate conversation between Rodriguez (“Sin City”) and another top director, which has the two sitting in chairs and talking about directing, obviously. Prior guests have included Guillermo del Toro (“Pacific Rim”), Francis Ford Coppola and Quentin Tarantino, his friend and frequent collaborator.
Rodriguez, who hosts the show and is the founder of El Rey, talked during his presentation Thursday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour about whether he worries about the violence in his films being emulated in real life.
“I remember there was a time when someone had been pulled over and had a guitar case with a gun in it and I thought, ‘Oh, he only could have gotten that from my movie,’” Rodriguez said. But, he added, in part to disconnect the violence in his movies from real life, “I always made my movies as over the top and cartoon-like and Bugs Bunny-like as possible.”
“The Director’s Chair” is produced by Troublemaker Studios and Skip Film in association with FactoryMade Ventures. Rodriguez, Skip Chaisson, John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa serve as executive producers.