David Rosen is excited to talk to you about the last movie you saw. The Vegas-based film, television and commercial composer hosts a weekly podcast, Piecing It Together, that breaks down new and classic films by the works that inspired them—in essence, figuring out where their “puzzle pieces” may lie. (For example: The weird, kinky bricolage that is Poor Things is likely inspired by The Wizard of Oz, The Island of Dr. Moreau and the 1990 cult classic Frankenhooker.)

Recently, Rosen has taken the podcast itself to the movies. He’s begun recording live episodes of Piecing It Together immediately after screenings at Maya Cinemas and other Valley theaters, widening his detective search from his panel of guests to the audience at large. He chatted with the Weekly about spreading the thrill of moviegoing to new converts.

I just listened to the episode about Mike Cheslik’s wild comedy Hundreds of Beavers and had my own puzzle piece to throw in: It reminded me of Kerry Conran’s Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, in the sense that both used their low-budget approach to a stylistic advantage.

I like that. I mean, that’s definitely a movie where it all comes together in post. I don’t know if you heard the interview I did with [Cheslik], but that movie was all storyboards; there wasn’t even really a script. And everything was just like edit, edit, edit, then shoot some more, then edit, edit, edit. Yeah, just like Sky Captain; that’s pure post-production.

Are we getting you on an episode one of these days? The invitation’s open.

Maybe, if I can overcome my fear of audiences. How are the live episodes of Piecing It Together coming along? What’s next?

We have one announced show coming up at Maya Cinemas on May 23, on Furiosa. And I’ve already scheduled four more with Maya Cinemas. They’ve been an awesome partner in doing these live shows. And I’ve also had a great collaboration with Downtown Cinemas; we have one booked over there as well, which we’ll be announcing soon enough.

Thankfully these last three or four live episodes—I’ve done 15 of them now; Furiosa will be number 16—have finally started to break over 20 people sticking around after the movie to listen to us talk about it. And the audience participation has been great. I feel like we’re finally starting to really grow it to the point where we’ll get a good crowd out and get people to stick around … even the people who just happen to be at a Thursday night showing of the movie and didn’t even know there was a podcast happening.

I imagine sitting in a theater watching a movie, then talking about it in the same theater, makes the episodes feel more spontaneous.

Absolutely. You have to think on your toes, which is exciting. When I do the podcast online—I have 370 episodes now— it’s usually just one-on-one, whereas this is always a panel of four. That makes the whole thing a little bit livelier, and then getting that audience participation is something that I’m just super excited about. I always ask the people who listen to the regular podcast to send in their puzzle pieces, but I’m getting them right there in the theater. … It just makes the whole thing more exciting and gives it more of a community-type aspect.

Have you personally made surprising discoveries in making Piecing It Together, in terms of classic movies you’d never seen before?

Last year, my big discovery was [British director] Ken Russell. I dove deep into Ken Russell and found out, “Oh, wow, this dude is for me.” I love every single one of his movies that I’ve watched so far.

But I mean, the main thing I find by doing this show, and by producing [the Josh Bell/Jason Harris podcast] Awesome Movie Year, is just how much is out there. I’m a big, big proponent of the theatrical experience and I love new movies, but there’s just so much out there, going back into cinema history. We just did Awesome Movie Year 1939, which was the furthest back we’ve ever gone on that show, and there’s a lot of great stuff there that I might not have gotten to if I wasn’t doing a podcast. It’s exciting to push myself towards different years, different filmmakers and all this stuff that you don’t see if you’re just going to the movies on a Friday night … though going to the movies on a Friday night is the best.

Truth. Was there a moment after COVID, when streaming was ramping up, when you worried that moviegoing might not bounce back?

I definitely had worries. The pandemic was a big part of it, but also shifting attitudes and the economy. There’s no denying how expensive it’s gotten to go out to the movies—but the streaming companies also keep raising their prices, so it’s not like it’s getting cheaper at home.

I don’t blame people when they don’t want to go out to the movies, but the theatrical experience is still so much fun. I think it’s by far the best way to see a movie, whether it’s a new movie or an old movie. It really makes me happy when something like Dune, or last year’s whole “Barbenheimer” thing, really captures the imagination and people actually start showing up for these movies.

That’s also a big part of why I’m doing the live shows—getting people excited about going out and watching a movie together. … I want the people that show up at my screenings to see, like, “Oh, it is fun to watch movies with other people.”

PIECING IT TOGETHER piecingpod.com

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