A UW-Madison math professor shares his experiences working on the current film “Gifted.” A large collection of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus memorabilia is going up for auction. We talk with the collector, whose ties with the circus span several decades. And we take a look at President Trump’s plans to terminate or re-negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and what it could mean for the U.S. economy.
Featured in this Show
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UW Math Professor Consults For Hollywood Film
We hear from a UW-Madison math professor who worked as a consultant on the film, Gifted.
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UW-Madison Professor Part Of Formula For 'Gifted'
A tiny, blonde 7-year-old girl stands in front of a chalkboard, hand whirring away at a complicated math formula in a scene from the new movie, “Gifted,” starring Chris Evans, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer.
Math jargon is sprinkled throughout the movie telling the story of a single man named Frank Adler (Chris Evans) raising his niece, Mary (McKenna Grace), who is a child prodigy. And the math, and relationships, get complicated as the uncle and grandmother enter a custody battle over Mary.
The complexity of the math was possible with the help of University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Jordan Ellenberg, who worked as a math consultant on the film.
“The director and the producer … wanted to feel like there was gonna be somebody in the room who could grasp what was written on the board,” Ellenberg said. “I was … the math security blanket for the production.”
Ellenberg joined the film as a former child prodigy himself. He was first contacted by the film’s director, Marc Webb, during the film’s research stage to talk about Ellenberg’s experience. As a child, he competed three times for the United States in the International Mathematical Olympiad, a world championship math competition for high school students.
The film’s main character, Mary, faces conflict between her normal life and her life as an extremely intelligent child. Ellenberg said he was lucky to not have that same struggle growing up.
“For me, the experience was wholly a positive,” he said. “And I never experienced that conflict between wanting to follow my math dreams wherever they led … and like being a regular kid.”
He went from just part of the research team to becoming a math consultant for the movie. But by the time filming started, he had also been asked to play a small part in the movie as a math professor.
Ellenberg said much of the math in the film was thoroughly researched. But when he made a correction to a line in the script, he was shocked by how reactive the cast and crew were.
“As soon as I brought this up, everything stopped,” he said. “They were like, ‘We’re not going on, we’re gonna learn a new line and we’re gonna shoot this again’… You respect when they make the effort to have everything visible be correct.”
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Ringling Bros. Circus Memorabilia Up For Auction
A personal friend of the Ringling family is putting some valuable pieces of his circus memorabilia collection up for auction. We’ll find out why his collection has such value today and what Baraboo was like in the golden age of the circus.
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Trump On NAFTA: Re-negotiate Or Terminate
President Trump has called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) “the single worst trade deal.” Yesterday, he tweeted that he spoke to Canadian and Mexican leaders about the deal and said he wouldn’t terminate it if it could be re-negotiated. An expert tells us what a modified or terminated deal could mean for the U.S. economy.
Episode Credits
- Rob Ferrett Host
- Veronica Rueckert Host
- Karl Christenson Producer
- Veronica Rueckert Producer
- Haleema Shah Producer
- Jordan Ellenberg Guest
- Richard Bennett Guest
- Edward Alden Guest
- Veronica Rueckert Interviewer
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