‘Your Favorite Scary Movie’ and ‘Ready for My Close-Up’ are histories of iconic films

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4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

Ashley Cullins and David Lubin are out with new books that delve into the histories of iconic films. First, in 1996, the character Ghostface was introduced to audiences in the first Scream movie. Cullins has written a history of these films–which are still being made–called Your Favorite Scary Movie. In today’s episode, she joins NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe to talk about the franchise. Then, this year marks the 75th anniversary of Sunset Boulevard – and Lubin has written an anatomy of the film called Ready for My Close-Up. In today’s episode, he speaks with NPR’s Ailsa Chang about genre-jumping, comeback narratives, and elements of the film that still feel current.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. What I love about film criticism is that
0:07.4	if you look closely enough at any movie, you can see fingerprints of history. You can see what was
0:13.1	going on in Hollywood at the time, what was happening in the broader culture. You can see
0:17.7	what audiences were really responding to, but also what they weren't really
0:23.3	feeling. In a bit, we'll hear about a new book that goes deep into the creation of the classic
0:28.2	movie Sunset Boulevard. But first, entertainment reporter Ashley Cullen has a new book
0:33.2	exploring the history of the Scream franchise. It's called Your Favorite Scary Movie.
0:38.9	And this is a franchise where the main prop in the first movie's most iconic scene is a housephone,
0:45.1	multiple house phones actually.
0:46.8	And by the middle of the series, they graduated to live streamers.
0:50.9	And Cullen talks to NPR's Aisha Rosco about how technological change shaped how scream
0:56.5	how scream filmmakers decided to scare us.
0:59.2	That's ahead.
1:00.8	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
1:05.6	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.
1:12.3	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand
1:16.7	why distant events matter here at home.
1:19.5	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:25.0	It's 1996.
1:27.3	Sydney Prescott is on the front porch, wireless phone to her ear with the antenna up.
1:32.8	Nice try, Randy.
1:33.9	Tell Tate him to hurry up, okay?
	...

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