‘I’d lost my sense of curiosity’: Marc Fennell reveals why he ditched being triple j’s ‘movie guy’
For over a decade, Marc Fennell was widely known as “That Movie Guy” – triple j’s film critic – and interviewing some of the world’s biggest film talent. In a new interview, the acclaimed presenter has revealed why he decided to step away.
In a special episode of Mumbrella’s one-on-one series and The Plug podcast to promote the second season of ABC’s Stuff The British Stole, Fennell reflected on leaving the youth broadcaster in 2017 after 11 years, and why his subject matter has veered away from Hollywood talent – including the likes of Tom Cruise, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ryan Reynolds – to the work he’s delivered in recent years, like the new history mystery series, as well as projects such as This Is Not A Game and 2019 podcast, It Burns, about the race to grow the world’s hottest chili.
“The moment you lose your curiosity about what you’re doing, that’s the time to quit,” Fennell told host Neil Griffiths.
“That’s a big reason why I stopped being that movie guy for triple j… all told I was a film critic for 15 years. I love movies, don’t get me wrong, it’s a big part of who I am, but I’d literally run out of ways to say ‘acting good, directing bad.’
“I may go back to at some point in the future, but I was like, I’d run out of ways to do it… and I realised they weren’t going to fire me, and I turned 31 at the time and I was like, ‘this is a station for young people. I should make a choice. I should be the one to decide when to leave.’
I think the main thing was I’d lost my sense of curiosity about what I was doing.”
Listen to the full episode with Fennell here.
Season 2 of Stuff The British Stole premieres on ABC at 8pm on Monday 17 June.
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Neil Griffiths is the editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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One-on-one podcast
Stuff The British Stole
that movie guy
The Plug Podcast
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