The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood

Latest Episodes:

'Sirāt' and Finding Community in the End of the World Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

We have a special bonus episode this week: I’m joined by Óliver Laxe, the director of the Oscar-nominated Sirāt, to discuss his film about a rave at the end of the world and how we can find community in an age of dislocation and isolation. I wanted to get this out now because a.) the film is expanding this weekend, b.) Laxe himself will be in attendance at a handful of shows across the country over the next week or two here, and c.) it really is the sort of movie you need to see in a theater. For the sound system and the big picture, yes, but also the sense of community a packed theatrical showing can generate. You’ll want to experience it with other people, believe me.

How Three Friends Saved, and Destroyed, Hollywood Feb 27, 2026

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I’m joined by Paul Fischer on this week’s episode to discuss his new book, The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg—and the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema. It’s a fascinating look at a pivotal moment in film history, when the breakdown of the studio system gave rise to the auteurist 1970s, the first half of which was dominated by Francis Ford Coppola, only to cede the landscape to the blockbuster entertainments that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg mastered in the back half of the decade and beyond.

Oscar-Nominated Doc Exposes Alabama's Brutal Prisons Feb 20, 2026

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This week, I’m joined by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman to discuss their Oscar-nominated documentary, The Alabama Solution. Currently streaming on HBO, their documentary combines interviews, investigative journalism, and footage from within the prisons themselves obtained via contraband cellphones to reveal the horrible and dangerous living conditions of those serving time in the Alabama correctional system. It’s a documentary primed to shock the conscience, and I hope everyone out there watches it.

You can also go to the documentary’s website, TheAlabamaSolution.com, to learn more about the deaths inside Alabama’s prisons. And if you think this is an important film and an important issue, please share it with a friend.

Read All About 'The Late, Great Hannibal Lecter' Feb 13, 2026

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Remember that weird moment in the 2024 campaign cycle where Donald Trump started referring to how much he loved and identified with “the late, great Hannibal Lecter”? That was odd, right? I discussed that and more with Brian Raftery, whose new book Hannibal Lecter: A Life is both the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for the love consuming your heart and a fascinating portrait of a bizarre creation from a reclusive writer. Indeed, the most interesting part of the book is the early deep dive into the life and writing of Thomas Harris, who has given just a handful of interviews over his nearly 50-year career.

'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die' Screenwriter on Our Desolate AI Future Feb 06, 2026

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I’m very pleased to be joined this week by Matthew Robinson, who is the screenwriter of the new film, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. It is the rarest of things: a mid-budget, high-concept, sci-fi action-comedy. Starring Sam Rockwell as a time-traveler from a ruined future (or possibly just a bum with a fake bomb strapped to his chest), Robinson and director Gore Verbinski (The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean) have crafted a piercingly satirical take on our obsession with screens, our inability to deal with the tragedy of modern living, and the creeping fire that all-powerful AI will wind up killing half of us and enslaving the rest.

It’s opening wide on February 13, and I really hope you check it out. I may write a hair more about it in my newsletter though I probably won’t review it properly as I try not to review movies made by people I’ve interviewed so as to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. (Ethics, baby!) That said, I strongly recommend going to see it in a movie theater if for no other reason then to demonstrate that there is an audience for original films with a clear point of view and something to say about our world and our moment.

The Last Action Director Jan 29, 2026

Show notes

On this week’s episode, I’m very pleased to be joined by Ric Roman Waugh, the director of the new film Shelter, starring Jason Statham. We talked a lot about making that movie and how he best utilized Statham’s skills as opposed to Dwayne Johnson’s in the movie Snitch or Gerard Butler’s in the Greenland films, Kandahar, and Angel Has Fallen. Shelter, which is in theaters now, is a little more meditative than some of Statham’s recent work, though no less effective for it. We discussed why Statham was attracted to the part and how his fatherhood helped inform his role as the protector of an orphaned young girl.

Then we discussed making the transition from stuntman to director: Waugh worked with Tony Scott on a number of pictures, and had some interesting insights into the methods of the great action director. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have to practically restrain myself from just doing 30 minutes on Waugh’s Shot Caller, a gritty prison drama.oo

2026 Oscar Nominations: A 'Sinners' Paradise? Jan 23, 2026

Show notes

The Oscar nominations dropped yesterday morning and I grabbed our favorite Oscar prognosticators, Katey Rich and Christopher Rosen of The Ankler’s Prestige Junkie, to chat about what it all means. Does Sinners’s 16 nominations mean it could upset One Battle After Another for best picture? What does it mean that Wicked: For Good took home zero nods? Perhaps most importantly: Will Delroy Lindo get his dang Oscar, as we demanded back in October? All that and more on this week’s episode, including a SHOCKING prediction by Christopher at the end of this podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out their podcast. And please share this one with a friend! (And Delroy Lindo’s agent, we gotta get him on this show to talk about his career, amirite?)

Chuck Klosterman on his new book, 'Football.' Jan 16, 2026

Show notes

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Chuck Klosterman to discuss all things football and his new book, aptly titled Football. (Please buy a copy for yourself and your friends; you’ll thank me, and then your friends will thank you.) We hit on an array of topics, including but not limited to the potential demise of the sport, the ways in which television and football are a perfect match, why streaming services are spending billions to acquire the rights to NFL and NCAA games, how gambling and fantasy football have fundamentally changed our relationship to the sport, and trying to think through how we think about football and why it matters.

An Age of Cultural Stagnation Jan 09, 2026

Show notes

On this week’s episode, I’m pleased to be joined by W. David Marx, author of the new book Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century. Alongside Marx’s Status and Culture, this book is one of the key texts to understanding how and why the culture has shifted so radically so quickly: the combination of “poptimism” (we discuss what, precisely, this is early on) and cultural omnivorism (the merging of all genres and all forms into a sort of equally viable mass entertainment) and the internet’s flattening of culture have led to a stagnant culture and a revanchist counter-counterculture eager to exact revenge and facing no real opposition in that effort.

If you enjoyed our conversation, or simply want to understand how we wound up in the world we wake up to every morning, I strongly recommend picking up Marx’s book. And if anything was unclear from our chat, drop me a line in the comments and hopefully I can help clear things up!

Sitting Shiva for Rob Reiner Dec 19, 2025

Show notes

On Monday, Sam Stein DMed me and asked if we could put together a little livestream event celebrating the work of Rob Reiner; he described it as sitting shiva, and I was happy to take the lead on putting this group of mourners together. I was joined by my colleague Bill Kristol, The Ankler’s Richard Rushfield (whose great column on Reiner you can read here), and Semafor’s Dave Weigel (whose book on prog rock is a must-read for fans of the genre).

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