Novelist and screenwriter of David Cronenberg's new film Maps to the Stars (Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha from the LA Times)
Howdy folks, our last interview from our time at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival was with screenwriter Bruce Wagner, who was up in SB to talk after a screening of "Maps to the Stars," the new David Cronenberg film.
Icy and disturbing (but also with a hilarious audacity), the film stars John Cusack, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, and Robert Pattison in a story of troubled and famous families in Hollywood. And it all comes from a script Mr. Wagner wrote many years ago.
Bruce Wagner has written novels, directed films, and was responsible for the ABC series "Wild Palms," but as you'll hear, he calls this film the apotheosis of everything he's done. The film comes out February 27, so ya better go check it. Here's a trailer:

Topics discussed include: Maps to the Stars festival path Bruce's relationship with David Cronenberg How the movie is not a satire on Hollywood Fire and water as symbols in the film "My books are all about extremes." Looking for love in all the wrong places Buddhism and the problem of fame Amending Andy Warhol's "15 minutes" quote ISIS, pride and terrorism How Cronenberg is a "writer's dream" What Cronenberg added to the script and the amazing casting The history of the Paul Eluard poem used in the film How writers can't escape certain ideas through their career
The film has an unofficial website. (I could not find an official one.)