John Pizzarelli

Our guest is a five-time Oscar nominee for Best Costumes—most recently for Killers of the Flower Moon, although she is equally lauded for her work on Dune, parts 1 and 2. Her background in the fashion world, and as an art history major, gives her unique credentials for someone who provides costumes for movies. She also has world-class stories to share about her collaborations with such major directors as Philip Kaufman, Terence Malick, and David Fincher. Leonard and Jessie had a blast mining that treasure chest of memories and observations. The making of The Revenant could fill a one-hour podcast all by itself!  

Internationally renowned actress, model, and individualist Isabella Rossellini is charm personified. She has a supporting role in Alice Rohrwacher’s new import La Chimera,which opens in theaters March 29, and recently completed two seasons of Julia, playing Julia Child’s longtime friend and cooking colleague. She also carries with her the torch lit by her famous parents, Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini and does so with grace and ease. Leonard and Jessie only had a half-hour with her but were happy to have had the opportunity.

  His alter egos are world-renowned, but Leonard and Jessie didn’t focus on Miss Piggy or Yoda in this conversation, recorded in front of a live audience at Esther’s Follies in Austin. The main topic was directing movies, which Oz has done so well for so many years: The Muppets Take Manhattan, Little Shop of Horrors, In & Out, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Bowfinger, and What About Bob? are just a few of his credits. What is the through-line, if any, from puppetry to filmmaking? Listen and hear what the amazing Oz has to say.

In honor of the Academy Awards, we’re revisiting our 2017 interview with Keith Carradine, who won his Oscar for writing and performing the song “I’m Easy” in Robert Altman’s masterpiece Nashville (1975). Since we spoke, the actor has remained a familiar face on television as he and his siblings carry on the acting tradition that began with his prolific papa John Carradine. Like his dad, he eased into the niche of a “working actor,” starring on Broadway, logging 105 episodes of Madam Secretary—as the President of the United States—and even turning up in Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning The Power of the Dog. He’s a laid-back charmer who makes what he does look easy.  

Originally published Jun 10, 2021 From The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi to such movies as Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and As Good as It Gets, writer-director-producer James L. Brooks has created quality entertainment for decades and has no intention of slowing down. He has served as mentor to the likes of Cameron Crowe and Wes Anderson and continues to work with young talents behind the camera. Oh yes—he’s also produced The Simpsons for the past 30 years. Leonard and Jessie were honored to talk to this multi-award-winning talent about his remarkable career.

Cord Jefferson is riding high as the Oscar-nominated writer and director of American Fiction, which has widely and properly been acclaimed as one of the best films of the past year. Even more exciting is the fact that Jefferson has never made a movie before. Leonard and Jessie enjoyed exploring the building blocks of his career that led to this achievement. He was on the writing staff of Larry Wilmore’s Late Night comedy show and Aziz Ansari’s Master of None, among others, when a series of events pointed him toward filmmaking. Step One was finding a property he cared enough about to adapt and then direct. Unlike other neophytes who get their first break right out of film school, Cord had traveled the world and worked as a journalist before he ever stepped foot on a movie set. We are eager to see what comes next.

As editor of Empire, Nick de Semlyen presides over the best film and television magazine in the English language: Empire. Every issue is jam-packed with deep-dive articles, interviews, set visits, and fun facts for both the fan and the aficionado. Nick has also written two excellent books examining American films of the 1980s: Wild and Crazy Guys and The Last Action Heroes. Leonard and Jessie got to meet him on their last trip to London which cemented a friendship that grew out of their admiration for his work. This episode affirms the belief that the only thing better than watching movies is talking about them with a fellow enthusiast. 

The senior film critic for the Los Angeles Times, Justin Chang is also a graduate of USC and took Leonard’s class—three times. Leonard takes no credit for Justin’s brilliance as an essayist or as a world-class punster. Jessie has known him her whole life and is also an unabashed fan. Just back from the Sundance Film Festival, Justin made time for us to talk about his career and some of the nuts and bolts of being a daily newspaper’s leading critic.

Our guest this week is now appearing on movie theater screens in The Color Purple, recreating the role of Sofia that she originated in the Broadway revival. But as you’ll hear, that is just her latest achievement in an ever-growing body of work on stage, screen and television. Fans of Orange is the New Black knew her as Taystee, and followers of the recent series Peacemaker could see yet another facet of her boundless talent. A graduate of Juilliard, she is riding high during this awards season but Leonard and Jessie agree that we’ll be watching her in every medium imaginable for years to come.

Sam Wasson has become one of the finest Hollywood historians of our time, and also one of the most productive. His newest book, The Path to Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story is not a conventional biography but an insightful analysis of the formidable filmmaker. It joins Sam’s earlier books on Blake Edwards, Paul Mazursky, and the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Chinatown as essential reading. He also coauthored with Jeanine Basinger a hefty new volume called Hollywood: the Oral History. He and Leonard maintain a mutual admiration society and Jessie is its newest recruit.