Award winning costume designer Ane Crabtree (Sopranos, Westworld) speaks about her powerful designs for The Handmaid’s Tale, that have also become an important symbol of protest worldwide. She also discusses her creations for the much awaited second season, how she finds inspiration, her upcoming projects, and much more. In 1955, Jim Henson created the The Muppets, and by the late 70’s more than 235 million people were watching worldwide. We are joined by veteran puppeteer/director Bill Barretta...
Jun 06, 2018•37 min
Actor Michael Kenneth Williams, of The Wire and The Night Of, takes a very personal journey with a new documentary, and Joy Press speaks about how women are revolutionizing television and her new book “Stealing the Show”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 06, 2018•41 min
On this week’s episode host Christina Jeurling Birro speaks with geneticist, and host of the BBC Radio show Inside Science, Dr. Adam Rutherford. He has been the science advisor on 'World War Z', 'Ex Machina', and 'Annihilation', one of the most talked about films this Spring. She is also joined by bestselling author Jonathan Abrams, who wrote “All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of the Wire”, the definitive oral history of David Simons groundbreaking show 'The Wire'. Learn more about your a...
Jun 06, 2018•37 min
Host Christina Jeurling Birro is joined by actor Gustaf Skarsgård for an exclusive conversation about taking on Hollywood after his successes in Sweden, competition, rejection, advice from his father Stellan, stepping into the much anticipated upcoming season of Westworld, and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 06, 2018•50 min
This week host Christina Jeurling Birro is joined by legendary costume designer Ruth E. Carter, who designed the stunning costumes of the blockbuster hit ‘Black Panther’, then we get the lowdown on the Spring TV season with IndieWire’s Liz Shannon Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 06, 2018•43 min
William Jackson Harper talks about his breakout role as Professor Chidi Anagonye on the brilliant hit comedy 'The Good Place', and a real Professor analyzes the philosophy of the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 16, 2018•32 min
On Oscar Sunday, Jimmy Kimmel will take the stage to host the 90th Academy Awards and Pop Culture Confidential has you covered. Senior Editor at New York Magazine/Vulture, Kyle Buchanan guides us through this particularly exciting and difficult to predict Oscar year! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 01, 2018•41 min
He's one of the stars of the "Queer Eye" reboot on Netflix, as part of the new Fab Five - Karamo Brown is making the audience laugh, cry and contemplate some very important topics. The original "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" premiered on Bravo in 2003, a makeover show that delivered a whole new format. Five gay men brought their expertise to help straight men find their best selves. The show and the original cast broke barriers and the show was a runaway hit! The new cast are taking the show o...
Feb 22, 2018•28 min
This year's Oscar frontrunner, with 13 nominations including Best Director (Guillermo del Toro) and Best Picture, is The Shape of Water. This week's guest, Doug Jones, is an integral part of the film, playing a nameless amphibian fish man captured at a military lab in Cold War era Baltimore. He becomes the love interest of a mute cleaning lady Elisa, played by Sally Hawkins. It's a romance like nothing we've seen before! Jones is an actor, former mime, and contortionist, with over 160 acting cre...
Feb 13, 2018•40 min
From his Emmy award-winning electronic score for "Mr. Robot", to the old Hollywood feel of the FX show "Feud: Bette and Joan", to "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story". On this week's show - genre defying composer Mac Quayle. From his early career as a producer and music re-mixer, Quayle worked with Madonna, Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, Beyoncé, and many more. After moving to Los Angeles, his work expanded to composing for television and film and in 2015 he became the com...
Feb 04, 2018•32 min
Episode 94: Oscar nominations with Sasha Stone, Awards Daily Awards expert, founder and editor of Awards Daily Sasha Stone joins us to discuss this years Oscar nominations: surprises, upsets and predictions ahead of the Academy Awards on March 4th, 2018! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 23, 2018•24 min
Our guest Ellen Lewis is the legendary casting director behind movies such as Goodfellas, Forrest Gump and The Wolf of Wall Street. She joins host Christina Jeurling Birro to share the unique process that went into casting Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed film The Post. With Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks already attached, Lewis set about to cast the large cast to play the real-life journalists and political figures in the script. The stellar ensemble includes Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, B...
Jan 18, 2018•57 min
Our guest, former FBI agent and criminal profiler, James "Fitz" Fitzgerald was one of the agents who brought down Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber. The critically acclaimed Discovery series “Manhunt: Unabomber” captures the gripping true story of mail-bomber Ted Kaczynski, his ability to elude the FBI for 18 years, and efforts made to bring him to justice. The series, now available on Netflix, stars Paul Bettany as Ted Kaczynski and Sam Worthington as our guest, FBI profiler James ‘Fit...
Jan 09, 2018•41 min
Award’s season is upon us and the Golden Globes nominees have been announced, including our guest from this Fall - Sterling K. Brown for his role on 'This Is Us'. Brown has had a long acting career with success on both stage and television but his role as Randall on 'This Is Us' seems to have propelled him to the next level. His characters’ emotional journey and struggles have had audiences really connecting with the universal themes of family, joy and loss. The show ended the Spring season as t...
Dec 29, 2017•23 min
As the Oscar race heats up, we look back over our guests of 2017 to see which fan favorites are in the running, including cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema for his work on the epic film Dunkirk. Shot on large format film, Hoytema and his team worked with director Christopher Nolan to create the stunning camera shots – from the visually stunning dogfights to the challenging water shots. We speak to Hoytema about the creative technical solutions his team used on Dunkirk, the industries’ return to ...
Dec 21, 2017•53 min
With awards season in full swing – we speak to Senior Contributor at Awardscircuit.com – Mark Johnson, to get all of his insights as we head into the Oscar race. We spoke to Mr Johnson in September about what he had seen at Telluride – an early award season predictor. On this episode, host Christina Jeurling Birro asks about the films we have discussed before, such as Dunkirk – but also the less talked about films like Lady Bird, Get Out, The Florida Project and many more. We speak to Mr Johnson...
Dec 11, 2017•49 min
Thrilling, dark, gripping and tense are just some of the words used to describe the hit Nexflix series Mindhunter. Playwright Jennifer Haley is a writer and co-producer on the series, and joins us this week to share her experience getting into the minds of FBI agents and serial killers. Mindhunter is a meticulously paced crime drama based on the writings of the pioneering serial killer profiler John E Douglas. Along with his team, they interviewed the likes of Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Ed K...
Nov 29, 2017•51 min
In light of the perpetually expanding list of people accused of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, we speak to journalist Amanda Hess about her New York Times article “How the Myth of the Artistic Genius Excuses the Abuse of Women”. Host Christina Jeurling Birro speaks to Hess about separating the art from the artist, an industry in denial, why the myth of the artistic genius has been used to excuse abusive behavior, Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K., the power of journalism, how we should c...
Nov 20, 2017•41 min
On this week’s episode, we are joined by writer and TV critic Alan Sepinwall to discuss his new book Breaking Bad 101: The Complete Critical Companion, an unrivalled guide to one of television’s most important shows. Sepinwall is a TV critic at Uproxx, He is also the author of the book The Revolution Was Televised, which is a favorite. Sepinwall is also co-author of TV The Book with another great critic Matt Zoller Seitz, who has been a guest on the podcast multiple times. Sepinwall’s latest boo...
Nov 02, 2017•24 min
On this week’s episode, we speak to Kasper Collin who directed the critically acclaimed music documentary I Called Him Morgan. Collin’s documentary accounts the life and musical legacy of jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan and the life of his common-law wife Helen Morgan, who would first save his life, then kill him. The documentary premiered at the Venice Film Festival and Metacritic announced the film as the best reviewed movie of the first half of 2017. We also speak to Sasha Stone of Awardsdaily.com ...
Oct 25, 2017•48 min
After a six-year hiatus – Curb Your Enthusiasm is back! On this week’s episode, we speak to executive producer, writer and director Jeff Schaffer who takes us behind the scenes of the latest season with all of its awkwardness, insensitivity and laugh-out-loud comedy. Mr. Schaffer also speaks with host Christina Jeurling Birro about working with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld on 'Seinfeld', what he learned writing for the Harvard Lampoon, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...
Oct 05, 2017•34 min
On this episode of Pop Culture Confidential, Pamela Adlon speaks about life, parenting, and her jewel of a show – Better Things. After a fantastic, Emmy nominated first season of her semi-autobiographical series, Adlon is back with an already critically acclaimed Season 2 of Better Things. Pamela Adlon directs, produces, co-writes and stars in the show, which has given us some of the most touching and relatable comedy about a single working mother of three. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...
Sep 18, 2017•21 min
Last week we covered 2017’s Fall TV and Emmy awards, but September also marks the start of Oscar season and the big Fall movie releases. There are also the major film festivals like Venice, Toronto, and probably most important in terms of Oscar predictions – the Telluride Film Festival. In the last decade, eight Best Picture Oscar winners, including 12 Years a Slave, Argo, Birdman and Moonlight made their North American debut at Telluride. You could say that the festival has become something of ...
Sep 14, 2017•43 min
It’s here! The annual Pop Culture Confidential Fall TV preview and Emmy awards prediction special. We take a look at the Fall TV season, what shows and trends are we most looking forward too, and we share our 2017 Emmy predictions! Guiding us through all of this - critic Jazz Tangcay, lead writer at Awardsdaily.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 07, 2017•42 min
Our guest, Swedish director/writer Ruben Östlund, is the newly crowned winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or for his latest film "The Square", which is described as a poignant satirical drama reflecting our times. The suspenseful satire tackles the Swedish art scene, politics, media, community and national identity. The film stars Danish actor Claes Bang, Elizabeth Moss, Dominic West and motion capture artist Terry Notary, who gives a mesmerizing performance as the “ape-man” during a black-tie museum ...
Aug 25, 2017•46 min
An Emmy winner in 2016 for The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, and Emmy nominee this year for this role on the massive NBC hit This Is Us, Sterling K. Brown has had quite a year. Last year we were captivated by the excellent FX drama The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, starring this week’s guest along with Sara Paulson and John Travolta, just to name a few. Brown portrayed prosecutor Christopher Darden with a performance that was complex, nerve wrecking and critically...
Aug 17, 2017•23 min
Our guest this week is Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times. During his career he has covered four presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and now the Trump administration. Mr. Baker joined The Times in 2008 after 20 years at The Washington Post, including four years as Moscow bureau chief. His wife Susan Glasser is the chief international affairs columnist Politico. Mr. Baker has authored multiple books and his latest title is “Obama: The Call of Hi...
Aug 09, 2017•31 min
Spectacular, jaw-dropping, sweeping and intimate - Dunkirk marks the return of director Christopher Nolan and our guest cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. The World War ll drama is a different type of war story, about bravery and survival. It focuses on the days when 400,000 British and Allied troops were trapped by the Germans on the beaches of Dunkirk, seemingly doomed to die there. Shot on large format film, Hoytema and his team worked with Nolan to create the stunning camera shots – from the...
Aug 02, 2017•53 min
Just in time for Summer we round up our best pop culture tips to enjoy – including the book from our guest Anne Helen Petersen who writes about culture, celebrity, and feminism in 'Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman'. We have long been reading Petersen’s work and we can highly recommend her previous book 'Scandals of Classic Hollywood'. She has a PhD in media studies and is a Senior Culture Writer for BuzzFeed. Her latest book examines a group of iconic, brave ...
Jun 27, 2017•56 min
It’s a real joy to welcome this week’s guest – television legend Chuck Lorre who has been a juggernaut, a sitcom comedy mastermind creating shows such as The Big Bang Theory, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly, and Mom. Lorre has carried on the sitcom tradition in the footsteps of Norman Lear, who brought modern family dynamics to popular television with shows such as All in the Family and The Jefferson’s. His upcoming shows include Young Sheldon, a prequel storyline for She...
Jun 07, 2017•41 min
