1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 “The thing that started it all off was me saying [the character Toxie] should be a guy in a suit. In other words, let’s not do a computer-generated creature, let’s have a person in a suit and have that handmade, hand-stitched kind of quality to it where you can sort of see the seams a little bit and have that be part of the fun. I also said let’s have it be rated R. Hopefully y’all are not interested in a family-friendly PG-13 version of this movie, because that’s not what the fans of the original are going to want, so let’s keep it in the R-zone. And let’s make sure it stays very silly. That silliness is what was so appealing to me about the original, and I just wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to try and do something that was too self-serious,” says The Toxic Avenger writer/director Macon Blair about pitching Legendary Studios his version of how he would reimagine the classic black comedy splatter film for a modern audience while staying loyal to the fans of the 1984 version.&amp;nbsp; On today’s episode, we chat with writer/director/actor Macon Blair about his previous films like Blue Ruin and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, which won the Sundance Grand Jury award in 2017. His latest film is a reboot of The Toxic Avenger starring Peter Dinklage and Kevin Bacon, and is a whole lot of gory, gross-out fun. Blair talks about the need to dig into the over-the-top absurdity of the franchise while still making the modern version of the story feel authentic.&amp;nbsp; “I’m always looking for something that I can connect to on a personal level. I don’t mean autobiographical. I mean to be able to have that electrical current with what I’m typing out,” he says. Blair tells us about his on-going journey to finding his voice as a writer and what it was like waiting two years to get distribution for The Toxic Avenger. He also explains why he skewers a famous screenwriting trope in the film that involves a cat named Mr. Treats who was apparently quite the menace. To hear more insight, listen to the podcast.&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast https://www.finaldraft.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/38001330/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/item/38001330