Pop Culture Confidential

Our guest this week is journalist and Columbia Journalism School Professor Jessica Bruder. She is the author of ‘Nomadland’, now a major motion picture and Oscar frontrunner starring Frances McDormand, directed by Chloé Zhao. The book, and the movie, explores the subculture of older American workers, many priced out of their middle class life and with no pensions, who have given up traditional housing and are living in their RVs, trucks and campers. Modern nomads  searching for temporary employment. Jessica Bruder spent three years on the project and 15,000 miles of driving — from coast to coast—following the community. 'Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century' is available on Amazon The movie ‘Nomadland’ will premiere in the US on Feb 19th 2021 on Hulu and in selected theaters. In other territories in March. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for an intimate conversation with this seasons' breakout star Paul Raci. Mr Raci is already garnering awards buzz for his role as Joe, a deaf Vietnam veteran and leader of a rehab for the deaf, in the critical acclaimed feature SOUND OF METAL. Mr Raci talks to us about how the role in many ways mirrors his own life, a Vietnam veteran and recovering addict himself. About his identity as a CODA, a Child of Deaf Adults. About growing up as a hearing child with two deaf parents and how he in many ways was a conduit for them in the hearing world. His Black Sabbath cover band where he performs entire concerts in ASL, American Sign Language. Working with actor Riz Ahmed and why director Darius Marder thought he was perfect for the role. Plus much more A full, written transcript of this interview (provided by https://www.scriptme.io) is available @ www.popcultureconfidential.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Epi 206 Happy New Year! Christina & Erik's/AwardsWatch most anticipated 2021 films/shows/award news. by Pop Culture Confidential Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Holidays listeners! Such a great Christmas special for you this week. A conversation with Pixar’s Pete Docter (co-writer, co-director & Pixar Chief Creative Officer) and Dana Murray (Producer) about SOUL, the new critically acclaimed feature starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey. We talk about the ‘Pixar brain trust’, the incredible animation and music of Soul, the first black lead in Pixar history, the heartbreak of not being able to release the film in theatres and much more, Very Happy Holidays to you all! SOUL premieres on Disney+ on December 25th Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iconic, Emmy winning actor Glynn Turman (Cooley High, The Wire, In Treatment, Fargo) joins us this week! We talk about his role as Toledo in the new Netflix movie ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’, working with Chadwick Boseman on his last film, Ingmar Bergman, Aretha Franklin and how this movie resonates so incredibly in 2020. ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ premieres on Netflix on December 18th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s time for one of our regular chats with the great Erik Anderson, editor in chief at AwardsWatch.com. We give you our thoughts on some of the upcoming, HUGE releases: from Fincher’s ‘Mank’ to Chadwick Boseman’s incredible last performance in ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’. Plus industry news and an awards season update! #wonderwoman84 #mank #thefather #nomadland #hillbillyelegy #maraineysblackbottom #soundofmetal #supernova Twitter @awards_watch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don’t miss this exclusive and compelling conversation with actor/writer/director Arliss Howard (Full Metal Jacket, Natural Born Killers, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Amistad, Moneyball, Manhunt) A journey into his process, his brilliant performance as MGM’s Louis B Mayer in David Fincher’s new epic feature ‘Mank’, working with Fincher, Kubrick, Spielberg and Stone and so much more! ‘Mank’ premieres theatrically in some territories on Nov 13th. On Netflix Dec 4. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest this week is the multi-talented Emerald Fennell (actor, novelist, writer and director). She stars in Netflix ‘The Crown’ as Camilla Shand, one part of what might be the worlds most famous ménage-à-trois. Fennell has starred in the BBC series ‘Call the Midwife’. She took over the reins from Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the head writer for season two of ‘Killing Eve’ and her directorial debut is the fantastic film ‘Promising Young Woman´ starring Carey Mulligan (premiering later this winter) Season 4 of ‘The Crown’ premieres on Netflix November 15th Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the 200th episode of Pop Culture Confidential and we are thrilled to have actor/writer/director Viggo Mortensen with us! The Danish/American, three time Oscar nominee is known from such diverse films as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, A History Of Violence, The Road and Green Book and more. He joins us to talk about his directorial debut, Falling (which he also wrote and stars in). The movie stars the legendary actor Lance Henriksen (Aliens) as the conservative and homophobic father Willis who starts to exhibit symptoms of dementia, forcing him to sell the family farm and relocate to Los Angeles to stay with his son John (Mortensen) and his husband Eric (Terry Chen). The film also stars Sverrir Gudnason as the younger version of Willis, Laura Linney, David Cronenberg and Hannah Gross. “Falling” is premiering at the Stockholm Film Festival in November. In theatres December 4th (Sweden/UK) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a difficult year at the movies but also full of great films! Erik Anderson of AwardsWatch joins us to talk about the state of the industry: Disney is focusing on streaming, blockbusters are being pushed to next year. Will movie theaters survive the pandemic? It’s not looking good. But still, difficult year or not, it’s shaping up to be an excellent year in film: we talk Nine Days, The Father, Mank and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Litt, former speechwriter to President Obama, is our guest this week. The author of the book ‘Democracy in One Book or Less’ talks to us about the 2020 election, Trumps messaging these last 20 days, the Amy Coney Barrett hearings, threats to the democracy, voter suppression and more. In 2011, at age 24, ,David Litt was hired as a White House speechwriter and for almost 5 years, he wrote speeches for President Obama. In 2017 he wrote  the book "Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years",  which became a New York Times bestseller. And now he is out with his excellent , new book ‘Democracy in One Book or Less’ Twitter @davidlitt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our favorite! Director, filmmaker and cinematographer Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson) joins Pop Culture Confidential again to talk about her brilliant new documentary ‘Dick Johnson is Dead’ (Netflix). The very personal, funny and thought-provoking film is about coping with her fathers dementia and his inevitable death. I laughed and cried watching her film, we laughed and cried talking about it! Don’t miss! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I thought a lot about growing up, about finding your own voice, who you are, what you want to do and the struggle of getting there!” We are replaying our interview with actor Alicia Vikander, from this spring, ahead of the premiere of her new film ‘The Glorias’ on Sep 30th (Amazon Prime) We are thrilled to bring you this special and personal conversation with actor Alicia Vikander! She talks to us about starring as feminist icon Gloria Steinem in the upcoming film ‘The Glorias’ (directed by Julie Taymor), about how she has has found her voice and what she wants to do with her Hollywood power! After more than a decade in the industry, and post Oscar-win, Alicia Vikander speaks to Christina about how she is learning to take small breaks and how cooking helps! About her focus and how she and Steinem connected in personal ways. How, early in her Hollywood career, an actress spoke up for her in an uncomfortable, sexist situation and how much that taught her. And how she wants to use her voice and her power to

Erik Anderson of AwardsWatch.com is back to fill us in on all the movie news! What do we know about Madonna’s biopic? Venice just pulled off the first in-person festival of the season and ‘Nomadland’, ‘One Night in Miami’ and ‘Ammonite’ were the talk of the fest! Netflix has major Oscar buzz with movies like Fincher’s ‘Mank’ and Sorkins ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7” + the Academy’s new inclusivity rules! All you need to know on Pop Culture Confidential! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Critic Thelma Adams (The NY Times, Variety, expert at Gold Derby) joins us to help you get your ballots ready! It’s our ultimate Emmy predictions show 2020! Who will take the gold? Will Succession win Drama? Will Schitt’s Creek sweep Comedy? Is it the watchmen’s night? Plus what can we expect from the telecast itself during these Corona times? A huge live show with a tremendously ambitious plan. Join us! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So happy to have actor and activist Cynthia Nixon back with us on Pop Culture Confidential! Since we last spoke Ms Nixon has run for Governor of New York and is now starring in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming Netflix show ‘Ratched’. Here Nixon plays opposite Sarah Paulson in the series which tells the origin story of asylum nurse Mildred Ratched, the iconic character we know from “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. We got the chance to talk to Nixon about how this series shows women's power in an era where that was not always granted, how interesting and rewarding it is to play a queer character from that era, what she learned from being on the campaign trail, how women are still immensely scrutinized  and much more. Ratched premieres on Netflix on September 18th, 2020 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Film writer and critic John Bleasdale (The Guardian, The Independent, Sight & Sound) joins us for an in-depth, funny, surprising, analysing discussion on Christopher Nolans ‘Tenet’. With SPOILERS!! ‘Tenet’ is finally being released (in some territories) to theatres this week, after months of speculation as to what was possible during the pandemic. The industry has been asking, can Nolan save cinema? Let’s see. Join us as we enter the time bending world of Christopher Nolan! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I want to be the last voice in the room” A partnership, is what Senator Kamala Harris told Joe Biden that she wanted before he announced her as his choice for Vice Presidential running mate. Professor Lilly Goren joins us to talk about Sen Kamala Harris, some history of the vice presidency and a look at this pop cultural moment in politics. And Maya Rudolph as Senator Harris, of course! Dr Goren is a professor of political science and global studies at Carroll University. Her research includes American government, the presidency and she often integrates popular culture film, TV and literature, as a means to understanding politics. Dr. Goren is the co-author of the books ‘Women and the White House’ and ‘Mad Men and Politics’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erik Anderson, editor-in-chief at AwardsWatch joins us with the latest and best industry news: Mulan’s move to Disney+, Venice film festivals excellent line up of female directors, is Netflix leading the Oscar race? and more! Plus Christina is loving HBO’s upcoming Lovecraft Country and we’re both so excited for Judas and the Black Messiah. Listen now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DANNY TREJO, the legend, on Pop Culture Confidential! Mr Trejo talks to us about his story, from a life of crime to hard prison time at San Quentin and Folsom prisons. How he turned his life around and how a promise to always help others led him to his massive Hollywood career with over 350 credits to his name! His films include ‘Heat’, ‘Machete’, ‘Desperado’, ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Spy Kids’. The new documentary “Inmate #1, The Rise of Danny Trejo’ is streaming now. His new cookbook is “Trejos Tacos: Recipes and Stories from LA" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices