Bob Balaban

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q621490: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: Midnight Cowboy (1969); Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984); Lady in the Water (2006).

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): 5 lines

  1. lineage (sequel) · through 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), which they acted in: 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read). The film has a sequel, and Clarke wrote three sequel novels.
    “Obviously, the sequel exists.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey with Jordan Hoffman (Ad-Free) · 0:11:43 · Jordan Hoffman (0.70 sure it was them)
  2. contrast (contrast) · through 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), which they acted in: 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read). 2010 tries to answer Kubrick's questions and is more loyal to Arthur C. Clarke's ideas.
    “it's much more... As I remember loyal to Arthur C. Clark's science fiction ideas”
    The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 1:26:18 · Chris Ryan (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (lineage) · through 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), which they acted in: 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read). 2010 was made because the novel sequel existed, a movie made just because they had to.
    “Because Arthur C. Clark had come out with a 2010 novel.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:54:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. lineage (sequel) · through 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), which they acted in: 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read). 2010 is the sequel to 2001; the speaker's reaction to the Kubrick film is the benchmark throughout.
    “And I said, oh, you know, 2010, the sequel to 2001 and they were like, the what?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:02:34 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. craft (borrowed music) · through 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), which they acted in: 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read). The only thing 2010 borrows from 2001, apart from plotting, is the music, including the Zarathustra drop at the end.
    “Yeah, is the music.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:07:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

2010: Odyssey Two (novel) (1982): 3 lines

  1. unmapped (changes from the book) · through 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), which they acted in: 2010: Odyssey Two (novel) ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the maker said so). Hyams demanded changes to play up US-Soviet politics, which the novel does not treat as a source of tension.
    “Two, there's changes I want to make to play up the politics of the movie because in the novel, the U.S. Soviet thing is not like a source of tension.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:21:36 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. theme (changed character nationality) · through 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), which they acted in: 2010: Odyssey Two (novel) ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the maker said so). Dr. Chandra is Indian in the book; the film made him American, per Balaban.
    “Bob Balaban said they changed his nationalities from Indian to American because they thought it would be confusing to have another nationality who've got the Russians and the Americans up there.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:28:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (adaptation) · through 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), which they acted in: 2010: Odyssey Two (novel) ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read). The film exists because Clarke published the sequel novel.
    “Arthur C. Clark, of course, did publish a sequel to 2001 called 2010.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:17:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977): 1 line, within their own work

  1. unmapped (tip of the hat) · through 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), which they acted in: Close Encounters of the Third Kind ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read). Casting Balaban reads as a nod to Close Encounters; the speaker finds 2010 more in its shadow than 2001's.
    “And the Balaban casting feels like a real tip of the hat to that.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:28:46 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984): 1 line, within their own work

  1. unmapped (tip of the hat) · through Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), which they acted in: Close Encounters of the Third Kind ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read). Casting Balaban reads as a nod to Close Encounters; the speaker finds 2010 more in its shadow than 2001's.
    “And the Balaban casting feels like a real tip of the hat to that.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:28:46 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982): 1 line

  1. theme (theme) · through Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), which they acted in: Close Encounters of the Third Kind ⇒ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (the host's read). Close Encounters sets a template for science fiction and for stories about families and divorce.
    “It sets a different kind of template for science fiction storytelling, for stories about families, for stories about obsession, for stories about divorce”
    The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan | The Big Picture (Ep. 57) · 0:19:05 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)

Nope (2022): 1 line

  1. lineage (influence) · through Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), which they acted in: Close Encounters of the Third Kind ⇒ Nope (the host's read). Sean says Nope is as much a Spielberg movie as any he has seen in a long time, with Close Encounters the usual touchstone, and notes the shared theme of looking up and trying to see.
    “nope is as much a Spielberg movie as any movie I've seen in a long, long time.”
    The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 1:31:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Acting (4) everyone in acting

Other (1) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

people (1)

  1. people (critic casting irony): Bob Balaban → M. Night Shyamalan. A filmmaker getting back at critics casts Balaban, the actor critics love as their on-screen surrogate.
    “Bob Bellaman is like the ultimate film critics actor.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Lady in the Water with Richard Lawson · 1:21:19 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

unmapped (1)

  1. unmapped (before the type): Midnight Cowboy → Bob Balaban. Balaban was in Midnight Cowboy before Close Encounters synthesized his 'guy who explains' type.
    “But it's before they figured out the type, the shorthand you can use Balaban for, where it's like, close encounters just like kind of synthesizes it.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:37:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Bob Balaban: Balaban's film critic is called the least sympathetic character ever put on film, with Nazis portrayed more even-handedly.
    “I've seen Nazis who are portrayed on film in a more even-handed manner than this character.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Lady in the Water with Richard Lawson · 0:26:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Bob Balaban: Balaban's critic, the next victim, delivers a meta monologue noting that in a movie with no explicit content they will not actually show someone murdered on camera.
    “They will not actually let someone be murdered on camera.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Lady in the Water with Richard Lawson · 1:24:51 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Bob Balaban: Dr. Chandra is Indian in the book; Balaban says the filmmakers made him American to avoid a third nationality alongside the Russians and Americans.
    “Bob Balaban said they changed his nationalities from Indian to American because they thought it would be confusing to have another nationality who've got the Russians and the Americans up there.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:28:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Bob Balaban: Balaban writes a middle-grade series about a bionic talking dog named McGrowl, with about seven books.
    “Not just a talking dog, often, but a bionic dog called McGrowl.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:32:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)