Awards Chatter

Latest Episodes:

Mikey Madison - 'Anora' [LIVE] Feb 18, 2025

Show notes

In front of an audience at Chapman University, one of the most exciting young actresses in the business — a newly-minted best actress Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner — reflects on her decision to abandon competitive horseriding for acting, breakthrough roles on 'Better Things' and in 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' and bringing to life the character of a sex worker in Sean Baker's latest film.

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Guy Pearce - 'The Brutalist' Feb 15, 2025

Show notes

The veteran Aussie actor and first-time Oscar nominee reflects on how a childhood tragedy may have set him on the path to becoming an actor; how his experience with early TV stardom influenced the sorts of projects that he did and didn't pursue after he established himself internationally via 'L.A. Confidential' and 'Memento'; and why he’s as proud of his latest film as any he has been a part of.

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James Mangold - 'A Complete Unknown' Feb 15, 2025

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One of Hollywood's most dependable filmmakers — always good for an entertaining and solid, if not showy, film, with great performances, regardless of genre — reflects on how, at 21, his career took off like a rocket, then crashed, and then was rebuilt; how he learned to work with actors, including the biggest names in the biz (among them Stallone, Cruise and Chalamet), and guided two (Jolie and Witherspoon) to performances for which they won Oscars; and what it meant to him to personally land three Oscar noms — for producing, writing and, for the first time in his career, directing — for his new film about Bob Dylan.

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Ralph Fiennes - 'Conclave' [LIVE] Feb 12, 2025

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In front of an audience at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the revered English stage and screen actor reflects on how Shakespeare led him to his path; what he learned from collaborators like Steven Spielberg ('Schindler's List'), Robert Redford ('Quiz Show'), Anthony Minghella ('The English Patient') and Kathryn Bigelow ('Strange Days' and 'The Hurt Locker'); and what went into his latest — and, some believe, greatest — perfromance, as the dean of the College of Cardinals overseeing the election of a new Pope.

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Ariana Grande - 'Wicked' Feb 03, 2025

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One of the biggest pop stars on the planet, who is now an Oscar-nominated actress, reflects on how she broke into showbiz as a kid, each of her studio albums, how music has helped her through tough times, why she yearned for years to play Glinda, how her fame helped her to understand the pros and cons of being "Popular," plus much more.

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Jesse Eisenberg - 'A Real Pain' Jan 28, 2025

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The actor/writer/director reflects on why he, a socially-awkward kid, became a child actor, how the explosion of his acting profile (he was Oscar-nominated for 'The Social Network') coincided with his increased interest in writing and why, for his second outing as a director, he cast Kieran Culkin in the role that he originally intended to play himself.

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Edward Norton - 'A Complete Unknown' Jan 10, 2025

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The thrice Oscar-nominated actor, who is widely regarded as among the best of his generation, reflects on the explosive start to his screen career, collaborations with his era's greatest auteurs and why he was so impressed with his latest film's helmer, James Mangold, and star, Timothée Chalamet.

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Tilda Swinton - 'The Room Next Door' Jan 09, 2025

Show notes

The enigmatic Scottish Oscar winner, who doesn't consider herself an actress, reflects on her formative collaborations with Derek Jarman, how she wound up juggling the artiest of art house films with the biggest of big studio films and why she was so drawn to working with Pedro Almodóvar.

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Mike Leigh - 'Hard Truths' Jan 08, 2025

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The legendary English filmmaker reflects on the origins and specifics of his mysterious method of writing and directing; why he was forced to spend 17 years between his first and second theatrical features working in television, and the pros and cons of that; and how it feels to see his latest film, which was rejected by the Cannes, Venice and Telluride film fests, being so well received.

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Adrien Brody - 'The Brutalist' Jan 07, 2025

Show notes

In a conversation that was both epic and emotional, like his best films, the 51-year-old American actor — who at 29 became, and remains to this day, the youngest-ever best actor Oscar winner, for 'The Pianist,' and who on Sunday won a best drama actor Golden Globe for his latest film — looks back on an odds-defying, rollercoaster of a life and career.

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