Episodes

  • How Zombies Can Help Explain Political Theory

    How Zombies Can Help Explain Political Theory
    Jun 27 2025
    On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Daniel Drezner—cohost of the Space the Nation podcast with Ana Marie Cox and proprietor of the Drezner’s World Substack—to discuss the eternal popularity of zombies (most recently via the hit movie 28 Years Later, which I reviewed here) and the continued relevance of his book, Theories of International Politics and Zombies, which is now in its third edition. We chatted about the ways different political theories might confront waves of the undead and discussed how this book can help explain basic problems of international relations to even lay audiences. If you enjoyed this episode, I hope you share it with a friend!

    (And, as a bonus, here’s a link to a video starring Dan, me, and Across the Movie Aisle’s Alyssa Rosenberg that asked what Star Wars would have looked like if it had been shot in the style of Ken Burns’s Civil War. Enjoy!)
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    14 mins
  • You Can Make a Movie with Your Phone

    You Can Make a Movie with Your Phone
    Jun 20 2025
    On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Bart Weiss to discuss the evolution of the iPhone-shot movie from Tangerine to 28 Years Later and his recent book, Smartphone Cinema: Making Great Films with Your Mobile Phone. You have the power to make a movie in the palm of your hand: will you use it? If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!
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    43 mins
  • Why Productions Are Fleeing Los Angeles

    Why Productions Are Fleeing Los Angeles
    Jun 13 2025
    On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Lane Brown of New York magazine to discuss his feature on an increasingly rare phenomenon: the film or TV show shot in Los Angeles. From foreign tax credits to the cost of permits, Los Angeles is getting more expensive to shoot in, meaning that more productions are moving out of Los Angeles altogether. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to read Lane’s piece. And please, share this with a friend!
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    39 mins
  • How the Studios Are (Quietly) Using AI

    How the Studios Are (Quietly) Using AI
    Jun 6 2025
    On this week’s episode, I’m joined by New York Magazine features writer Lila Shapiro to discuss her feature story on the growing utilization of generative AI by Hollywood studios to cut costs and speed up production times. From a party hosted by an AI studio to the work being done by Runway to the growing sense that, hey man, this is just The Future, it seems like AI is, as several folks in the piece put it, “inevitable.” If you enjoyed this episode or learned something in it, please share it with a friend!
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    46 mins
  • A Life in Music

    A Life in Music
    May 30 2025
    On this week’s episode, I strayed a bit from Hollywood to talk to David C. Lowery of the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven about his new album, Fathers, Sons, and Brothers. You can check out the album here and peruse the accompanying Substack here. We had a fascinating chat about how the industry has changed over the last 40 years (for better and worse), how folks discover new music, and how his experiences growing up helped shape his musical tastes and self-conception as an American. If you enjoyed the episode, I hope you check out his album and his Substack. And please share this with a friend!
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Clothing 'The Last of Us'

    Clothing 'The Last of Us'
    May 23 2025
    I’m joined by Ann Foley this week to discuss her work as costume designer on the hit HBO show The Last of Us. From sourcing vintage clothes to weaving the infected’s fungal-explosions in with the clothes they were wearing when they died to her graduate school on the sets of Agents of SHIELD, Ann’s insights into translating the world of the game to the world of the screen are pretty fascinating. At the end of the episode, Ann mentions Ellie’s Converse sneakers; you can see what Bella Ramsey scribbled on them here. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!
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    29 mins
  • One Family's Journey Through Hollywood

    One Family's Journey Through Hollywood
    May 16 2025
    I’m joined by Matthew Specktor, author of The Golden Hour: A Story of Family and Power in Hollywood. Part novel, part memoir, and entirely entertaining, Matthew’s book is a revealing look at life in Hollywood when you’re not on the A-list but occasionally adjacent to it. In addition to relating the drama that makes any family intriguing, Matthew’s book is a keen look at Hollywood in a time of flux, as the rise of the super agencies and the internationalization of the Hollywood studios radically altered the American cinematic landscape. If you enjoyed the episode, I hope you check out his book. And please, share this with a friend!
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    39 mins
  • How David Mamet Made His First Film in 12 Years

    How David Mamet Made His First Film in 12 Years
    May 9 2025
    On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Evan Jonigkeit, the star and producer of Henry Johnson. Based on the play of the same name by David Mamet, Henry Johnson is Mamet’s first film in a dozen years and a beguiling provocation; I greatly enjoyed discussing not only the meaning of the movie with Jonigkeit but also how difficult it is to get a picture like this—a series of Socratic dialogues, a movie of complex ideas made for adults—in front of audiences.

    Henry Johnson is available to rent now from the film’s website and is playing in a handful of locations (including a one-night stop at the Aero in Los Angeles and a residency at Bryn Mawr). I hope you check it out. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!
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    47 mins