All The President's Minutes - Minute 126 with Alicia Malone
All the President's Minutes is a podcast where conversations about movies, journalism, politics and history meet. Each show we use the seminal and increasingly prescient 1976 film All The President's Men as a portal, to engage with the themes and the warnings of the film resonating since its release. For minute 126, I join film reporter, broadcaster, historian, author with almost two decades of experience working in television, Alicia Malone. Alicia and I talk about picking the "great ass" minute on her previous appearance, discuss what makes a classic in the traditional sense, beautifully written cursive notes and Pakula's hesitation in casting Robards as Bradlee.
About Alicia Malone (via aliciamalone.com)
Alicia Malone is a film reporter, broadcaster, historian, author and self-confessed movie geek, with almost two decades of experience working in television.
She was born in Canberra, Australia, with a love of cinema… and horses. Her weekdays were spent trying to convince fellow high school students to join her film club, and weekends were reserved for horse-riding and self-study: making her way through film books and visiting her local video store with her never-ending watchlist of classic and foreign films, taking advantage of their seven films for seven days for seven dollars deal.
The day after graduating from high school, Alicia moved to “the big smoke” of Sydney, deciding not to go to University, but to try and get work in film or television. She immediately got a job working at a video store, where she took her “staff picks” list a little too seriously, and annoyed customers by suggesting alternative films to the ones they had chosen. Not long after, at the age of 18, Alicia began to work at the national television station, Channel Seven. Her TV career began as a teleprompter operator for the Australian broadcast of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, plus the breakfast show “Sunrise” and the national news. Alicia stayed at Channel Seven for six years, trying out a variety of behind-the-scenes production roles - from graphics to director’s assistant to continuity on “Home and Away.” Then, she answered an ad for a producer, writer and editor for the cable network Movie Network - a place where she could finally put her film expertise to work.
Never afraid to go after her dreams, in 2007, Alicia pitched an original show for Movie Network called “Trailer Park,” where she would serve as the producer, editor and… host. It was green-lit, and Alicia’s hosting career began, soon adding film reporter to her title after being sent to interview the stars on the red carpet and at press junkets. Over the next three years Alicia gained notice hosting more movie-centric shows for Movie Network, and working as a film critic for “FilmInk” magazine, “Triple M” radio and “The Morning Show” on national television. And then, at the end of 2010, Alicia decided to go after her dreams once more - quitting all her jobs, saying goodbye to her friends and family… and moving to Hollywood with two suitcases to her name.
Since then, Alicia has appeared on the Today show, NPR, MSNBC, ABC’s Academy Awards Red Carpet Pre-show, CNN’s “The Movies” docu-series and many more as a film expert. She has also worked as a correspondent for “Fandango,” where she created the show “Indie Movie Guide,” which she hosted, produced, filmed and edited. From 2016 until its end in 2018, Alicia was hired as the host of “FilmStruck.” the streaming service for Turner Classic Movies and Criterion, and also hosted and produced “The FilmStruck Podcast.”
In 2018, Alicia achieved another of her dreams, by becoming a host on Turner Classic Movies. She can currently be seen introducing the films on Sundays and Tuesdays, and hosting “TCM Imports” on Sunday nights. Alicia is also an interviewer for “Adventures in Movie Going” on the Criterion Channel, and the host of “Reel Destinations” for Focus Features.
Alicia is passionate about preserving film history and encouraging new viewers to watch classic films, foreign cinema and arthouse movies. She believes in using her voice to do what she can to keep classic cinema alive, and to support women in film. In 2015, Alicia gave a TEDx talk about gender inequality in the film industry and why that needs to change. In 2017, she was invited to give a second TEDx talk, expanding on the subject further and delving into the early history of women in cinema.
Alicia has also spoken about women in film at festivals and conferences around America, and was named of one the 100 #WorthyWomen of 2016 and one of LA Weekly’s People of 2019. Her first book “Backwards and in Heels” about the history of women in Hollywood was published in 2017, and her second book “The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women” was released in 2018.
Alicia has traveled the world to cover the BAFTAs, the Academy Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival and SXSW. She has been on the juries of the AFI Film Festival, the Overlook Film Festival, HollyShorts and the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, and has moderated hundreds of film Q&As and panels. Alicia is also a member of the Hollywood Critics Association and over the years has interviewed almost every movie star and filmmaker you can name.
She also wrote this bio, but knew it would sound much less egotistical if written in third person.
Website: https://aliciamalone.com/
