The Real Charlie Chaplin / Film School Radio interview with Co-directors James Spinney and Peter Middleton

Charlie Chaplin’s iconic Tramp character made him the most famous person in the world. But who was THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN? From the award-winning creative team behind NOTES ON BLINDNESS and LISTEN TO ME, MARLON comes an innovative portrait of a complex figure whose life was as extraordinary as his art. It traces Chaplin’s journey from the slums of late-Victorian London to the bright lights of Hollywood at the dawn of cinema. Movies that transcended language brought him unparalleled fame and fortune, a studio empire to enact his obsessive creative vision, before political controversies and personal scandals threatened his ascendancy. With unprecedented access to the Chaplin archives, the film combines dramatic reconstructions with previously unheard recordings, intimate home movies and behind-the-scenes material, interwoven with his newly restored classics. It explores how - as the Little Tramp - Chaplin’s pioneering movie comedy finds new depths, replaying childhood traumas in THE KID and THE GOLD RUSH, spiraling into creative obsession in the making of CITY LIGHTS, protesting inequality in MODERN TIMES, before confronting the rise of fascism in THE GREAT DICTATOR. The film reveals a figure whose creative passion was mirrored by a turbulent personal life. And the climactic re-staging of an infamous press conference reveals how the killing of his beloved Tramp character threatens his standing with the American public, as the Hollywood press and the F.B.I. conspire to exile him from the country where he made his name. Co-directors James Spinney and Peter Middleton join us for a conversation on their revelatory and compelling look into the life and times of an immensely talented artist / comedian / writer / director / businessman who instantaneously connected with people from around the world, propelling his Tramp persona to a level of fame seldom seen. The Real Charlie Chaplin available starting 12/11 on SHOWTIME