{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Write On: 'The Toxic Avenger' Writer\/Director Macon Blair","description":"\u201cThe thing that started it all off was me saying [the character Toxie] should be a guy in a suit. In other words, let\u2019s not do a computer-generated creature, let\u2019s 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\u2019s have it be rated R. Hopefully y\u2019all are not interested in a family-friendly PG-13 version of this movie, because that\u2019s not what the fans of the original are going to want, so let\u2019s keep it in the R-zone. And let\u2019s 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\u2019t going to try and do something that was too self-serious,\u201d 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.  On today\u2019s episode, we chat with writer\/director\/actor Macon Blair about his previous films like Blue Ruin and I Don\u2019t 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.  \u201cI\u2019m always looking for something that I can connect to on a personal level. I don\u2019t mean autobiographical. I mean to be able to have that electrical current with what I\u2019m typing out,\u201d 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.    ","author_name":"Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/www.finaldraft.com","html":"