9: The Astrologer (with Peter Kuplowsky)

Toronto-based film producer and TIFF Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky comes on the pod to talk about The Astrologer (1975), a one of a kind vanity production / ego trip by first time filmmaker (and con artist) Craig Denney, briefly screened after being rediscovered decades later but then pulled from circulation over music licensing issues too complex to untangle. But before the clampdown it did play theatrically in Toronto, thanks to Peter Kuplowsky. And I got to see it. 

This episode goes down the rabbit hole: what The Astrologer is, how it was made, and why you currently can’t see it. Don’t worry that you need to see this film before you listen to the show because it could be a long time before it is seen again, and besides this crazy film is impossible to ruin and just part of an incredible overall story. Our conversation also covers vanity films, the numerous comparisons that can be made between The Astrologer and Citizen Kane, the horseshoe theory of when incompetence becomes genius, and the mysteries around director Craig Denney, who disappeared from the world in the years following the film’s completion and near-erasure.

Plus Peter and I chat about how George Lucas could be the subject of the next Citizen Kane remake, and Peter recommends a newly rediscovered vanity film you CAN see right now.

Follow Peter Kuplowsky on Twitter.

The Astrologer - “re-release” trailer

"Who Is The Astrologer?” - the most comprehensive article on Craig Denney & the film, by Sean Welsh for Matchbox Cine Club

The American Genre Film Archive rescued The Astrologer and does great work restoring and scanning rare film prints, find out more at their website.

Peter Kuplowsky produced two films that will be available in January 2021:

Climate of the Hunter

Psycho Goreman