TRAINSUBSTANTIATION: Join me and screenwriter Jordan Trippeer as we discuss two movies that take place on trains, Bullet Train and TransSiberian.

“You’re a diesel.” Oh, for the days when people traveled by train. The scenery, the comfort, the luxury, the smuggling, the murders, the crashes.…Sounds like it’s time for Episode 96 of Pop Art, where we find the pop culture in art and the art in pop culture. It’s the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture, and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic/indie side of cinema with a connection to it. For this episode, I am happy to welcome back as my guest, screenwriter Jordan Trippeer, who has chosen as her film the action packed Brad Pitt led comedy Bullet Train, while I have chosen the more indie Woody Harrelson/Emily Mortimer crime drama, TransSiberian, both films about criminal goings on a train.

And in this episode we answer such questions as:  What’s so great about train movies anyway? What are the different moral universes the two movies take place in? Why was Bullet Train accused of whitewashing? Why did a sign in TransSiberian read All Abroad? What is the character of Hello Kitty? What are the McGuffin in both films? Why was Bullet Train filmed on studio sound stages? What are some differences between the book and screenplay of Bullet Train?