James Kniest on The Devil's Mouth and Tess & The Details Cover of Scattered by Green Day

<p>On today&#39;s episode, I&#39;m chatting with cinematographer James Kniest about his work on the upcoming Amazon original film, <a href="https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0STZE8PTP4X3KY6LTBU93B8OE1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><em>The Devil&#39;s Mouth</em></a>. The setup is classic survival horror: a group of college friends on a Thailand trip end up trapped in submerged caves. There&#39;s a dangerous predator in the water with them, and all their ugly personal baggage and past conflicts start bubbling up while they try not to die. What makes or breaks a movie like this usually comes down to how real that claustrophobia feels, so James and I talk about what it actually takes to shoot in dark, wet, cramped spaces without it looking like a soundstage.</p><p>Before we get to that interview, I want to talk about a fantastic new track from the San Francisco punk band <a href="https://tessandthedetails.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Tess &amp; The Details</a>. They just released a cover of Green Day&#39;s &quot;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/3WbXOUMrFsCgJnBnypV3Ql" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Scattered</a>,&quot; which is featured on a new Green Day tribute compilation out from Coffin Curse Records and Punk Rock Radar. Even better, all the proceeds from the compilation go straight to no-kill animal shelters.</p><p>Rather than just doing a carbon copy of the original <em>Nimrod</em> track, they completely made it their own. Frontwoman Tess Stevens directed the music video as a bit of a love letter to the Bay Area, shooting at places like an old BART station payphone and the legendary San Francisco venue Bottom of the Hill, which is unfortunately closing down at the end of 2026. I&#39;m going to play a quick snippet of the song right now, and then I&#39;ll play the full track at the very end of the episode after the interview.</p><p>Ok lets get into my conversation with James. In addition to <a href="https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0STZE8PTP4X3KY6LTBU93B8OE1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">The Devil’s Mouth</a>, we chat about our shared love of music, the current state of the film industry, and what it was like working with Mike Flanagan. The Devil&#39;s Mouth will be available to stream on Amazon Prime on 7/29. I hope you enjoy the show</p><p><br></p>