Nathaniel Rich is a writer-at-large for the New York Times Magazine whose latest piece, "Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change", is a landmark investigation into our current climate crisis. We discuss the 18 month process of writing this story, the moral obligation we have to preserve the world around us, what the planet may look like in 30-40 years, and how he believes we can combat the terrifying future ahead. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnet...
Oct 08, 2018•56 min
Multi-talented jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington stopped by this week to discuss growing up as a "closeted nerd" in South Central Los Angeles, playing gigs at bars and clubs as a teenager, touring with Snoop Dogg at 18, his new record, Heaven and Earth, and the pressure he feels once he steps into the studio. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Oct 01, 2018•59 min
Judy Greer! You’ve seen her in...everything? Her directorial debut, “A happening of monumental proportions”, is out in theaters now. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 24, 2018•1 hr 19 min
Amma Asante stopped by this week to discuss her latest film Where Hands Touch, her immersive life as a young actress, writing and selling her first script, how she dealt with "looking different" than everyone else in Hollywood, and what she hopes to be doing (and making) in the years to come. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Sep 17, 2018•53 min
Today is my birthday friends. To celebrate I've put together a collection of excerpts from some of my favorite episodes of the show. Each of these tidbits contain some piece of advice or wisdom that I try to keep near. In order of appearance: Alan Alda (5:13), Lena Waithe (9:43), Dad (15:50), Norman Lear (18:07), Chloe Zhao (24:30), Sherman Alexie (28:08), Mom (35:11), Philip Baker Hall (41:10), John Cho (45:40), and Lois Smith (53:46). We'll go back to our regularly scheduled programming next S...
Sep 09, 2018•1 hr 6 min
This week Sam talks to multi-hyphenate talent Colman Domingo about his family values growing up, his entry point into acting, his experience coming out to his family, his early acting days in San Francisco, pivoting from theater to film, collaborating with Spike Lee, and how he envisions his career unfolding. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Sep 03, 2018•1 hr 19 min
Ione Skye needs no introduction. She's Ione Skye. You've seen her in plenty of film and television. Like many, I first saw her as Valedictorian Diane Court in Cameron Crowe's iconic Say Anything . We talk about her winding career, unorthodox family, falling in and out of love, and how she's managed to stay positive in a city and system that often feels bleak. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystud...
Aug 27, 2018•1 hr 13 min
This week, Jerrika Hinton stopped by to talk about growing up in Texas, actors supporting themselves through "parallel careers", when she felt she had made it as an actor, her experience on Grey's Anatomy, and the next steps in both her career and her life. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Aug 20, 2018•1 hr 21 min
Sheila Vand joined us this week to talk about her California childhood(1:57), how she got her start as a performer(6:46), her continued growth as a person in the world (15:59), her relationship with "acting" in Hollywood (25:27), her experience working with Robin Williams on Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (47:10), and the current state of contemporary film (51:50). For more episodes visit www.talkeasypod.com Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio...
Aug 06, 2018•1 hr 10 min
For the past 15 years Lauren Miller Rogen has had one dream: to write and direct a movie. With Like Father out this Friday (August 5th) on Netflix, she's done it. We run through her journey from Lakeland, Florida to Los Angeles, and her many creative pitstops along the way. The show is produced by Dylan Peck. Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi. Our show-notes can be found at www.talkeasypod.com Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for ...
Jul 30, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Alan Alda ladies and gentleman. We talk M*A*S*H, joke thievery, his childhood in Burlesque, his ongoing battle with face blindness (that's not a joke), and how a brush with death gave him a new lease on life. His latest project is a podcast of his own, Clear+Vivid, and you can find out more at www.alanalda.com. For more info about Alan visit our show notes: www.talkeasypod/alan-alda Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...
Jul 22, 2018•56 min
Legendary writer/director/actor Rob Reiner joins us on the show this week. You remember his American staples: This is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men. Then there's his performance as "Meathead" from Norman Lear's landmark show, All in the Family. And then there's...we could do this forever. Reiner has been an integral part of the American consciousness for over half-a-century, which makes him an especially challenging subject to spend *on...
Jul 15, 2018•1 hr 7 min
For our special 100th episode, Sam’s Dad reluctantly comes on the show. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 02, 2018•2 hr 33 min
John Cho's career has undergone several transformations in the past two decades, each of them more interesting and impressive than the last. John appeared in several roles in smaller films before breaking through in the 2004 stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Since then, he's made waves in blockbuster movies like the Star Trek reboot and Harold and Kumar sequels, underrated TV shows including Selfie and The Exorcist, and buzzed-about indies like Columbus, Gemini, and the upcomi...
Jun 24, 2018•1 hr 12 min
Six years out of prison, Chas Allen joins the show to talk about the time him and his three college friends attempted to steal 12 million dollars worth of rare artwork from their campus library.(Yes, this really happened.)Since then, the incident - later dubbed the "Transylvania book heist" - has been transformed into a film called "American Animals", now out in theaters across the country. While it captures much of what unfolded in Lexington, Kentucky, 2004, there's more to the story. To Chas' ...
Jun 17, 2018•1 hr 23 min
Lawyer-turned-documentarian Dawn Porter has a lot on her mind. From the cultural and professional impact of the #MeToo movement, to her late father's habit of handing her cameras starting at the age of three, to her most recent documentary subject--the Kennedy family--she lays it all out for Sam in this episode. A nonfiction storyteller whose work, Sam points out, "describes something that's bigger than movies," Dawn has made serious, in-depth films covering topics that include abortion access (...
Jun 11, 2018•49 min
Two interviewers walk into a podcast recording session, and this unmissable episode is the result. Easily the most meta outing in Talk Easy history, this conversation between Sam and writer and cultural critic Touré is better heard than read about, but we'll try to explain anyway. Touré has authored five books and his work has appeared in publications including Rolling Stone, Time, and The New Yorker. He has also appeared as an onscreen journalist for BET, Fuse, and MSNBC. When the two aren't ve...
Jun 04, 2018•1 hr 19 min
Sam's car was broken into and his laptop was stolen... so here we are, two days late. This week on the show is Nina Lorez Collins, who is most recently the author "What Would Virginia Woolf Do?". She also talks about a memoir she's writing on her late mother, filmmaker/poet Kathleen Collins. Over the course of the hour, she and Sam get into the details of both, while Nina also sheds light on often-undiscussed topics including aging as a women, relating to one's own body and the bodies of others,...
May 23, 2018•1 hr 4 min
Episode 94 - Gillian Jacobs by Sam Fragoso Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 14, 2018•51 min
This week, Sam sits down with Spanish actress Laia Costa, star of several indie films including the tech-based love story Newness and Victoria, which earned her a BAFTA nomination. Laia has four movies coming out this year, and can currently be seen in theaters in the Miguel Arteta-directed romance Duck Butter, which she shot opposite Alia Shawkat over the course of just 24 hours. Listen as Laia and Sam discuss her childhood spent getting in fights while playing basketball, the busy and varied c...
May 07, 2018•51 min
This week iconic filmmaker Julie Dash joins Sam from Ebertfest! The pioneering director entered the public consciousness in 1991, when her debut film - "Daughters of the Dust" - became the first feature by an African-American woman to receive a nation-wide theatrical release. Over the course of a winding conversation, Julie and Sam get into her upbringing in New York City, the difficulties of receiving financing in Hollywood, and why, these days, she simply creates for herself. http://talkeasypo...
Apr 30, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Profound and formally audacious, Kogonada’s feature debut Columbus captured the eyes and hearts of countless indie film fans upon its premiere last year. The former video essayist’s story of life, death, and architecture in Indiana immediately drew comparisons to Ozu and Linklater, solidifying him as a talented director to watch. This week at Ebertfest, Sam sits down with Kogonada, and--when the two aren’t thoroughly deconstructing the concept of interviews as self-expression--they cover the fil...
Apr 22, 2018•1 hr 4 min
After making the rounds on the festival circuit for nearly a year, director Chloé Zhao's sophomore feature, The Rider, is finally in theaters. Shot on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the film follows a cowboy who, after a serious injury, is forced to reconcile with a future that might not involve horseback riding. According to Chloé, a Chinese filmmaker who attended NYU before debuting with Songs My Brother Taught Me, the film is a meditation during a time when audiences have trouble...
Apr 16, 2018•58 min
So look: I lost an interview. This doesn't normally happen. In fact, in my nine years of recording conversations...it never has. The talk in question with the wonderful Heather Christian, a musician and composer based out of New York. But it's vanished. So instead of having no show, we're doing this show: an entire program dedicated to losing things with Heather, my father, and my best friend. It's unusual, but then again what isn't on this show? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.i...
Apr 09, 2018•58 min
According to Michael Imperioli, acting is all about showing up prepared and positive. Lucky for us, that's something he's been doing on-screen for close to thirty years. Raised in New York by supportive, hardworking parents who also doubled as local actors, Michael broke out on the film scene in 1990 with a role in Martin Scorsese's classic, GoodFellas. He appeared in many memorable films of the '90s, but would ultimately become most known for his career-making role as Christopher Moltisanti on ...
Apr 03, 2018•58 min
Jay Duplass is a busy guy. Often alongside his younger brother Mark, Jay has left his distinct signature on dozens of projects over the past two decades, proving through his prolific yet singular work that the indie film spirit is still alive and well in America. Whether he’s acting, directing, writing, or producing, Jay is always creating art that’s imbued with a sense of unvarnished honesty. Movie fans since childhood, the Duplass brothers created a handful of short films before breaking onto ...
Mar 26, 2018•55 min
Unless you've lived without a TV for the past decade or so, you probably recognize Josh Radnor. The actor--who is also a skilled writer, director, and musician--has been immortalized in the eyes of the public as Ted Mosby, the goofy and hyper-romantic protagonist of the hit series How I Met Your Mother, which ran on CBS from 2005 to 2014. In real life, though, Josh will be the first to tell you that in many ways, he and his fictional counterpart are worlds apart. When Josh sits down with Sam to ...
Mar 19, 2018•1 hr 18 min
Talk Easy returns! Actress Alia Shawkat is on the show this week. We talk growing up on the television, the success of Search Party, and how the #MeToo movement is getting increasingly complex. http://talkeasypod.com/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Mar 12, 2018•2 hr 32 min
With the year coming to a close, Sam (literally) calls on past guests of the show to deliver some hope. Including: Janicza Bravo talking Kahlil Joseph’s Shadow Play at the New Museum; Jon Daly wishing to be friends with the Obamas; Lena Waithe getting engaged; Anna Sale adoring Search Party; Martin Starr being proud of his “Big Sick” friends; Noel Wells falling in love with Lady Bird; AO Scott delivering a Paul Thomas Anderson symposium; Jelani Cobb unable to get Jordan Peele out of his mind. Oh...
Dec 24, 2017•1 hr 26 min
Sean Baker is a writer/director known primarily for the Prince of Broadway, Tangerine, and, most recently, The Florida Project. In this week’s episode, Sam and Sean dive into his upbringing in New Jersey, the difficulty of making movies on a low-budget, and why he stands by the heavily debated ending of his latest project. http://talkeasypod.com/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listen...
Dec 18, 2017•1 hr 15 min
