Terry Gross

South African journalists Mondli Makhanya talk about race and racism in their country in light of the upcoming U.N. conference on World Racism, which will be held in South Africa. Barrell is editor of Johannesburg Daily Mail & Guardian. Until his appointment as editor last year he was political editor of the M&G. Mondli Makhanya is the Political Editor of the Sunday Times.

Filmmaker Joseph McCarthy. His new short is “The Brave Man.” It’s a retelling of the Battle of Brooklyn set in modern times. Sixteen red cars (mostly Ford Tauruses) represent the British. The actions of one man, General William Alexander, prevented a British victory that day in 1776. The film stars Graeme Malcolm as Alexander. The low-budget short is still not fully funded. McCarthy is also a creator of corporate promotional films.

Cancer researcher John Mendelsohn, M.D. is the president of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas. We will talk about new developments in cancer treatment. Mendelsohn created a new cancer drug, known as C225. The drug shows great promise in treating a number of cancers by halting the growth of cancer cells. There has been an explosion in the number of cancer drugs in recent years.

Writer Simon Winchester wrote the best seller The Professor and the Madman. His new book is The Map That Changed the World (HarperCollins) about William Smith, an obscure British 19th century engineer obsessed with creating the first geological map. His map, hand-painted in 1815, paved the way for modern geology, but Smith was swindled out of the recognition and profits due him until a nobleman intervened.

An interview with film director Francis Ford Coppola, recorded at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Film critic Roger Ebert talks with Coppola about the re-edited version of his 1979 epic Apocalypse Now. The new cut includes an additional 49 minutes of material. It is currently showing in New York and L.A., and opens in other cities over the next couple of weeks.

Director, writer, and producer Francis Ford Coppola talks with Terry Gross about wine making. He and his wife bought and restored the Inglenook wine estate in Napa Valley.

Actor Robert Duvall played a crazy colonel in Apocalypse Now. His other roles include his film debut as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, counsel to the mob in Godfather I and II, and a country singer in Tender Mercies (for which he won a Oscar). In all he's acted in more than 50 films.

Actor Laurence Fishburne was 15 when he played a young G.I. in Apocalpyse Now. He was also Cowboy Curtis on Pee-wee's Playhouse. His films include Boyz N the Hood, Deep Cover, Searching for Bobby Fisher, What Love Got to Do With It, and The Matrix.

Film editor and sound designer Walter Murch won an Academy Award for sound design for Apocalypse Now. Some of the films he's edited and/or mixed are The Conversation, American Graffiti, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather II, and III and Crumb. He wrote a book about his work, In the Blink of An Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing.

Eleanor Coppola is the wife of Francis Ford Coppola. She filmed a behind-the scenes documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now. It called Hearts of Darkness.