Episode 815: The Salton Sea (2002)

Rob St. Mary and Jedidiah Ayres join Mike for The Salton Sea (2002), D.J. Caruso's meth-fueled noir starring Val Kilmer in a dual role: junkie informant Danny Parker, who's secretly Tom Van Allen, a grieving trumpet player hunting the corrupt cops who murdered his wife. Chasing them drags Danny deep into the orbit of Pooh-Bear (Vincent D'Onofrio), a nose-less speed freak who'll snort anything, and Jimmy the Finn (Peter Sarsgaard), closing in as his double life unravels.

Screenwriter Tony Gayton and director D.J. Caruso join Mike to talk making the film — Gayton on writing the script and his run-ins with John Milius, Caruso on landing D'Onofrio for Pooh-Bear and his kinetic, music-video style. Rob and Jed dig into Amir Mokri's cinematography, Thomas Newman's score, and how the real, decaying Salton Sea — once California's desert Riviera, now a toxic ghost resort — becomes the film's rotting metaphor. Part of our Val Kilmer retrospective.

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