Leonard and Jessie Catching Up

Outlander fans have been cheering Caitriona Balfe for years, and she’s made a strong impression on film buffs who have seen her in Belfast and Ford v. Ferrari as well. The Irish-born actress is now appearing opposite Orlando Bloom in a raw, extremely tough movie called The Cut that is now playing in  theaters. In real life she is charming and easy to talk to. It turns out she and Jessie are raising toddlers of the same age, which of course worked its way into our lively conversation.

It’s not just a compliment, it’s a fact: Bob Gurr is a bona fide Disney Legend and at age 93 he shows little sign of slowing down. With a background in automobile design, Walt Disney sought him out in 1954 and immediately put him to work. For the next twenty years he had a hand in almost every major attraction in Disneyland, beginning with Autopia. He then opened his own shop and worked for theme parks around the globe. Jessie has vivid memories of the 30-foot King Kong he built for Universal. She and Leonard were delighted to spend an hour with such an inspiring man.     

If you’re wondering why we’ve been revisiting so many programs instead of posting new interviews, there is a reason: Leonard did himself one heck of a mischief. But now he’s back, and he and Jessie thought it was a good time to take stock of what’s been going on in the worlds of movies and television.  That’s the purpose of this catch-up episode and we hope you enjoy it. The occasional howling of our two dogs are included at no additional charge.

The meanest-looking man on screen, the star of Robert Rodriguez’s Machete and its sequels, is perhaps better known Trejo’s Cantina and other food emporiums have revealed the truth: despite his violent background he has reinvented himself as a good guy and plays that role extremely well, onscreen and off. (He also headlines a new streaming movie, Seven Cemeteries.) Leonard and Jessie enjoyed meeting him (via Zoom) and hearing the story of how he accidentally broke into movies and wound up working with some of the biggest names in the business.    

He’s been a familiar face on television for years, on the long-running comedy Wings and the current Chicago Med. He grew up in a show-business family so it shouldn’t be surprising that he loves to perform. His range is limitless and his credits attest to that: everything from Mel Brooks’ stage musical The Producers to the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining. He and Leonard enjoy exchanging old show-business trivia, and never seem to run out of material. Steven is an articulate connoisseur of comedy…and then some.  

Dan is what Hollywood used to call a multi-hyphenate. He’s an actor (with an Emmy to prove it), producer, director, and writer, and successful in each arena. As Lisa Kudrow’s longtime partner he produced her forward-thinking web series Web Therapy as well as the savvy sitcom The Comeback. Most recently he worked on the hilarious comedy series Hacks and Mid-Century Modern. He shares some of his hard-earned wisdom with Leonard and Jessie.

As diehard fans of Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Leonard and Jessie are always rooting for writer-director Eli Craig, whose latest blood-stained outing is called Clown in a Cornfield. It's very different in tone, and its satiric point is muted until the climax. You can see it now in theaters. We also spoke to Eli about his unusual upbringing, living mostly with his brother and dad in Oregon, but casting an eye on the fight for success that made his mother, Sally Field, an enduring star.

As the longtime senior editor of Los Angeles magazine, Chris Nichols has accumulated more knowledge about this city than anyone else we know. As an author and frequent tour guide, he loves sharing his discoveries, which is why his newest book BowlaRama (Angel City Press, written with Adriene Biondo) is so much fun. Leonard and Jessie enjoy diving into the fad-like growth of bowling alleys in the Baby Boom years of the 1950s and early 1960s. (Leonard is still mourning the loss of his Pepsi Cola bowling team shirt.) Chris’s enthusiasm for everything he does is positively infectious.

Avy Kaufman’s name should be familiar to anyone who reads credits, as we do. She has cast scores of films and television series, from The Ice Storm to Succession, and launched many a career along the way. You can hear the pride in her voice when she recounts how she brought young Haley Joel Osment to meet the star and director of The Sixth Sense. Recent credits include some of the most talked-about television shows of our time: Mare of Easttown, Under the Banner of Heaven, Billions, and Fellow Travelers, which could earn her a fourth Emmy Award. (She has three: one for Damages and two for Succession). Avy wears her passion on her sleeve and that makes for great conversation.