His screenplay Tex X evolved into Blazing Saddles after amiable hours writing and rewriting with Richard Pryor and Mel Brooks: workmates! He directed Marlon Brando in a rare – and terrific – comedy performance in The Freshman. Plus a childhood visit to Victor Borge’s dressing room and a chance encounter with Philip Roth. And … Continue reading »
Category Archives: Movies
Episode 109: Molly Haskell
She was a film critic for The Village Voice, New York and Vogue, and has written for the Times, the New York Review of Books and, well, everywhere. In this episode, she speaks insightfully about the tension between being an ambitious intellectual and a genteel southern gal: oh yes, she started out as a gal. … Continue reading »
Movies / Music / Nonfiction
Episode 104: Paul Williams & Tracey Jackson
He is a songwriter who’s won an Oscar, 3 Grammies and 2 Golden Globes for hits like “We’ve only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays.” Her TV and film scripts include Confessions of a Shopaholic for Jerry Bruckheimer. They are the co-authors of Gratitude and Trust: Six Affirmations that will Change Your Life. We spoke at Glenn … Continue reading »
Episode 99: A. O. Scott
He joined the Times in 2000 and is now a chief movie critic. It’s tough to write about critics; they generally do not have lives teeming with event. And movie critics? They sit in the dark and watch something then sit at a desk and write about it. And in Scott’s case, talk about it … Continue reading »
Episode 98: Hank Azaria
The voice of every Simpsons character – OK, many Simpsons characters: Moe, Apu, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Carl Carlson and more – he is admired as an actor in movies (Night at the Museum), television (Mad About You) and theater (Spamalot). PERSON: Roy London PLACE: the NICU THING: his first TV RANDY’S PLACE: concert hall, … Continue reading »
Episode 81: Terence & Rachel Winter
He is the creator of Boardwalk Empire, who this year was nominated for an Oscar for writing Wolf of Wall Street. She was Oscar-nominated for producing Dallas Buyers Club, and she won. Pretty impressive couple. Pretty good year. We spoke on Shakespeare’s birthday on stage at the JCC in Manhattan. PERSON:Barry Manilow PLACE: Mammoth, CA … Continue reading »
Episode 69: Griffin Dunne
He is the son of the the writer Dominick Dunne and the nephew of two more writers, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion. That’s not really an accomplishment; it’s an accident of birth, like being French, only better, but it would have seemed coy, somehow, not to mention it. I first became aware of him … Continue reading »
Episode 71: John Turturro
Many of us got to like him in Do the Right Thing and got to like him even more as he became part of the rep company of Spike Lee then of the Coen Brothers. And that represents just a few of his more than 60 films. His latest is Fading Gigolo: he wrote it, … Continue reading »
Episode 60: Martha Plimpton
She began by working in movies she was too young to attend then later appeared on stage in musicals (Pal Joey) and straight plays (The Coast of Utopia). Now she stars in “Raising Hope” on Fox Television. Also impressive: how she uses her copious free time. The advocacy organization “A Is For…” is an expression … Continue reading »
Episode 56: Walter Bernstein
Walter Bernstein was born in Brooklyn in 1919. For the next 94 years he wrote and co-wrote terrific movies for big stars: Fail Safe with Henry Fonda, The Train with Burt Lancaster, The Magnificent Seven with everybody—Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson. The Front, with Woody Allen and Zero Mostel, is … Continue reading »
Episode 51: Julianne Moore
Celebrated for her emotional clarity as well as her impressive range—from soap opera to Chekhov to The Kids are All Right—Julianne Moore is also the author of four children’s books, including My Mom is a Foreigner, But Not to Me, her latest. Not all actors or novelists, athletes or surgeons can speak with insight about … Continue reading »
Comedy / Movies / Television
Episode 26: Rachel Dratch
Rachel Dratch isn’t just from Massachusetts, she is the voice of Massachusetts, at least for fans of Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006. These days, she appears often on Inside Amy Schumer and Broad City. This episode, recorded in 2013, was posted as a podcast but never broadcasted. Here it is, recut and … Continue reading »