Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso – Details, episodes & analysis

This week, our guest is trailblazing filmmaker Lee Daniels.

At the top, we discuss his fifteen-year journey to the new Netflix film The Deliverance (5:00), Daniels’ relationship to spirituality (9:16), and his memories of directing theatre at eight-years-old (14:55). Then, we dive into the therapeutic quality of filmmaking (17:14), his work as a casting director at Warner Brothers in the 80s (19:48), and what it meant for Daniels to manage young performers like Morgan Freeman and Loretta Devine (23:38).

On the back-half, he unpacks the tumultuous process of making his award-winning film Precious (32:00), the projects that followed in The Paperboy and The Butler (39:30), the rise of Empire and his paradigm-shifting work in Hollywood (41:10), the peace that guided him to make his new film (46:10), and what motivates him to keep working (50:31).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since 1989 (Sex, Lies, and Videotape), filmmaker Steven Soderbergh has been a pioneering voice in American cinema. Part free-wheeling iconoclast, part exacting technician.

Today, we return to our conversation with the legendary artist. First, Soderbergh describes his process making No Sudden Move amid the pandemic (8:38), his ability to push past creative blocks (14:34), the importance of 1998’s Out of Sight (31:00), the seismic impact of his late mentor, Mike Nichols (27:28), and how a formative moviegoing memory (28:48) informed his ideas on the role of storytelling (32:43). Before we go– Steven speaks candidly on the future of movies (39:20) and his role in them (41:13).

This episode originally aired June 27th, 2021. To hear our latest talk with Sean Fennessey, listen here. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the heels of his first Emmy win, actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach joins us on the show to unpack the return of The Bear.

At the top, we dive into the making of the hit series (9:22), a powerful scene with co-star Jeremy Allen White (11:20), and how Moss-Bachrach manages to keep adding layers to his portrayal of Cousin Richie (14:26). Then, he describes the mounting pressures around this new season (19:23), the day he knew he wanted to be an actor in Williamstown, Massachusetts (27:35), and the early days of his collaboration with actor Jon Bernthal (30:26).

On the back-half, Ebon reflects on a formative role as a jazz musician in Warren Leight’s play Side Man (35:34), his ideas about success and living a more balanced life (38:19), his experience playing Desi in Girls (43:33), a philosophy depicted in The Bear (47:35), and the work he hopes to continue making in years to come (50:38).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, we sit with actor Ke Huy Quan! At the top, he reflects on the making of A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once (5:40), growing up in Vietnam (9:10), and his family’s perilous journey to Los Angeles in the late seventies (11:20). Then, we walk through Ke’s breakout role in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (15:35), his pivot from acting to stunt choreography (22:26), and working under the tutelage of director Wong Kar-wai (27:12).

On the back half, Ke describes how Crazy Rich Asians reawakened a childhood dream (35:12) leading to both his momentous return to the screen (37:08) and a full circle moment on the set of Everything Everywhere All At Once (41:42). To close, we discuss Ke’s remarkable second act and what’s to come (50:27).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we’re joined by actor Claire Foy! We discuss her compelling performance in Sarah Polley’s Women Talking (5:10), the painful journey of her character, Salome (7:50), and a pivotal scene from the film (11:50). [To skip ahead, the conversation around Women Talking ends at 15:10.] Then, Foy describes growing up in England (16:08), her path to drama school in Liverpool (21:49), and her on-screen debut in the BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit (26:24).

On the back-half, she describes working with Nicolas Cage (31:00), balancing motherhood and her starring role in The Crown (33:57), the evolution she’s witnessed in the film industry (39:12), and her lifelong appreciation of ordinary lives (44:47).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy holidays! For our sixth annual Talk Easy holiday special, we've partnered with the Audre Lorde Project to celebrate.

Named after the titular feminist, poet, and activist, the Audre Lorde Project is an NYC-based community organizing center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, Trans and Gender Non Conforming (LGBTSTGNC) people of color.

Through the end of December, we're donating 100% of the proceeds from our shop to their services. These programs include educational events, social justice activism, and wellness and healing workshops. To learn more about their invaluable work, visit alp.org.

After an introduction from Sam (0:44), writer and director Lena Dunham describes an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (3:41) and poet Rupi Kaur shares a tribute to the women of Iran (5:46). Then, a wide-ranging phone call with culture critic Margo Jefferson (7:30), Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan on Matisse (33:28), and director Hiro Murai on Writing Los Angeles and George Saunders (35:50).

On the back-half, a state of the union with NYT political reporter Astead Herndon (37:40), a heartfelt voicemail from Dr. James Whitfield (56:20), and special guest to close 2022 (1:00:26).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we near the end of 2022, we sit with trailblazing journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa. We begin by unpacking the fragmenting effects of social media (5:08), how the Internet is giving power to authoritarian regimes around the globe (7:49), and Ressa’s past five years uncovering those operations (8:20). Then, we walk through her early years: moving from the Philippines to suburban New Jersey at age ten (13:08), three lessons from childhood (15:52), and the books that impacted her at Princeton (21:10).

On the back-half, we discuss Ressa’s serendipitous entry to the newsroom (30:18), why she founded Rappler in 2012 (33:12), and her critical reportage on President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war (34:52), which led to her arrest by the Filipino government in 2019 (39:22). Now, she’s charted this fight in her new book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator (45:12). To close, we honor her continuous pursuit of the truth (48:03), her recognition as a 2021 Nobel Laureate (50:37), and the words of a lifelong friend (54:11).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, we sit with actor, writer, and director Lake Bell! With the release of the her new audiobook (“Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound”) we pinpoint the origin of this passion: growing up in Manhattan in the 1980s (8:10), being drawn to actor Lauren Bacall’s register at age six (11:18), and capturing an array of voices via tape recorder at age fifteen (15:25) before writing/directing her debut film on the subject, “In a World,” in 2013 (22:05).

On the back-half, we chart the changes in Lake’s voice over a decade (23:22), the traumatic effects of psychogenic dysphonia (25:22), the ephemerality of a child’s speech (31:15), the unnerving phenomenon of the “sexy baby” affectation (37:27), and the privilege (and reward) of aging into your voice (43:50).

To listen to “Inside Voice”, visit https://www.pushkin.fm/audiobooks/inside-voice.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, we sit with musician Dev Hynes (Blood Orange)! We start by discussing his new EP (3:15), performing at Madison Square Garden with Harry Styles this fall (4:40), and the process that guides much of his music (6:39). Then, Dev describes growing up in Essex, England (7:04), falling in love with music at his sister’s piano lessons (11:00), his dreams of entering the New York punk culture of Please Kill Me (20:30), early performances with the band Test Icicles (22:08), and how he’s been inspired by the late Octavia Saint Laurent (30:10).

In the back half, we unpack Dev’s gift for collaboration (34:22), the 2013 night that changed everything (38:50), a surreal, full-circle performance of Delancey at the Apollo Theater (46:17), music’s unique ability to express emotions (49:50), and where he hopes to go in his art next (54:20).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, we’re joined by actor, writer, and comedian, Kumail Nanjiani! We discuss his new series, Welcome to Chippendales, playing real-life entrepreneur Steve Banerjee (4:39), his fascination with American culture growing up in Pakistan (11:45), moving to America as a teenager (17:23), and performing standup as a college student in Des Moines (22:21).

On the back-half, Nanjiani describes performing in Chicago in 2006 (26:17), his family-inspired solo act, Unpronounceable (31:46), and how he and Emily Gordon captured their personal events in the acclaimed film, The Big Sick (35:12). To close, we walk through his dramatic pivot in films like Eternals and Obi-Wan Kenobi (41:55), the aftermath of that transformation (45:58), and how he continues to tell rich and complex immigrant stories through Little America and now, Welcome to Chippendales (53:37).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.