Explore every episode of the podcast The Academy Museum Podcast

So far in this season of the Academy Museum Podcast we've heard a lot about casting a lead or finding the right star for a project. What goes into piecing together a group with incredible chemistry? Everything Everywhere All At Once was originally written for Jackie Chan and Awkwafina, but it’s now impossible to imagine without Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu. In this season finale, we hear from the film’s casting director Sarah Finn who breaks down the art of casting an ensemble.

Guests: Sarah Finn, casting director

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

How do you cast an iconic character like Batman for the screen, especially for the third or fourth or tenth time?

Guests: Lora Kennedy, casting director; John Papsidera, casting director

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

In this season of The Academy Museum Podcast, we’ll explore the history of the job of “casting director”: one of the most essential and under-appreciated roles in filmmaking.

The biggest question around casting is: Who gets to play what role? 

It’s a question that has a huge influence - not just on a single film, but on actors’ career trajectories and on audiences’ ideas of who can be and do what.

And while casting directors are gatekeepers, they are also people who can open a director’s eyes to a possibility they hadn’t considered before, or help an actor realize their potential in a way they wouldn’t have on their own.

Throughout this season we’ll explore how casting directors have answered the question of who gets to play what role in different ways over time.

This episode will look at the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast, and how we honor animation at the Oscars today.

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Academy Museum Podcast listeners, there's no new episode this week, but tune back into the feed on August 26th for our season finale and bonus episodes to follow. And as we get to work on our second season, we'd love to hear from you, our listeners. Please leave us a comment with your thoughts - and thanks for listening and subscribing! 

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

This episode will explore the evolution of #OscarsSoWhite, the ways the Academy continues to respond, and what this meant for the show's producers.

Guests: Cheryl Boone Isaacs, former President of the Academy; writer/producer/director Reginald Hudlin, who co-produced the 2016 Oscars®; April Reign, creator of #OscarsSoWhite and Senior Advisor for Entertainment and Media at Gauge.

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

The episode will look at the history of broadcasting the Oscars®, from radio to television, the rituals fans have created around the broadcast, and a discussion of the future of presenting the Academy Awards in the age of social media.

Guests: Academy president David Rubin, ABC executive Rob Mills, comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, TCM host and entertainment expert Dave Karger

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

This ceremony celebrated two films that captured the complexities of show business and its impact on women: All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard.

Guests: Laura Dern, actress; Nancy Olson, actress; Matt Severson, director of the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library; Cari Beauchamp, author/historian/documentary filmmaker

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

This episode will revisit the speech actor Sacheen Littlefeather delivered on Marlon Brando's behalf to explore Native American representation in cinema and controversies about using the Oscars stage as a platform for activism.

Guests: Sacheen Littlefeather, activist/actress; Buffy Sainte-Marie, singer/songwriter

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.
This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

This episode will explore the double-edged experience of Hattie McDaniel on the night she became the first Black Oscar® winner for Gone with the Wind.

Guests: Mo’Nique, actress/comedian; Whoopi Goldberg, actress/comedian; Jill Watts, historian; Kevin John Goff, Hattie McDaniel’s great grand nephew

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.
This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

This episode will examine the history of blacklisting in Hollywood, looking at the treatment of writers including Dalton Trumbo (“Roman Holiday,” “The Brave One”) and Walter Bernstein (“The Front”).

Guests: Mitzi Trumbo, daughter of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo; Howard Rodman, screenwriter, former president of the Writers Guild of America West; Randy Haberkamp, the Academy’s senior vice president of preservation and foundation programs; Irwin Winkler, film producer

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

This episode will look at the success of Mexican film artists at the Oscars―Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro Gonzalez lfiarritu, Guillermo del Toro, and Emmanuel Lubezki and why US Latinx filmmakers and films are far less prevalent in the industry overall.

Guests: America Ferrera, actress/producer; Patssi Valdez, artist and founding member of the Chicano artist collective ASCO; Vanessa Erazo, entertainment journalist/critic/film curator; Carlos Aguilar, journalist/film critic; Gregory Nava, filmmaker

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

The casting of Robin Williams as The Genie in Aladdin (1992) is often talked about as a turning point — when animated films began to focus on casting big-name actors. But is that true? This episode looks at the history of casting for animation.  What’s the role of a casting director for finding the right voices? And how is it different from casting for live action?

Guests: Eric Goldberg, animator, director and voice actor; Mary Hidalgo, casting director

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

This episode will look at how campaigning changed the Oscars game at the turn of the century and the long history of campaigning dating back to Louis B. Mayer.

Guests: Mo’Nique, actress/comedian; Scott Feinberg, columnist, The Hollywood Reporter; Donna Gigliotti, film producer; Randy Haberkamp, the Academy’s senior vice president of preservation and foundation programs

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

The first episode for this season, “2002: This Door Has Been Opened,” revisits the historic night when Halle Berry became the first Black woman to win the Academy Award® for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Monster’s Ball (2001). Her emotional speech closed out a night that was marked by a celebration of Black excellence: Sidney Poitier received a lifetime achievement award and Denzel Washington won the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Training Day (2001). But while the night seemed to signal a historic shift, Berry now calls her historic win "one of my biggest heartbreaks." Berry reveals to Stewart how the night felt from her perspective and the ways in which the win impacted her career.

Guests: Halle Berry, actress; Whoopi Goldberg, actress/comedian; Sydney Poitier Heartsong, daughter of Sidney Poitier

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

What does it mean when an actor is cast to play a person from a marginalized group that in real life they’re not a part of? This episode delves into the casting process and legacy of a groundbreaking film exploring the complexities of gender and sexual identities.

Guests: Dara Jaffe, Associate Curator at the Academy Museum; Kimberly Peirce, writer-director-producer; Kerry Barden, casting director

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

A look at contemporary typecasting, and the potential audience backlash to an actor taking on a new kind of role, through the lens of Jane Campion’s 2003 erotic thriller In the Cut, starring rom-com queen Meg Ryan.

Guests: David Rubin, casting director and former Academy President; Laurie Parker, film producer

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

From this point forward in the season, we are going to talk about different practices in modern day casting, starting with casting “unknowns” and the 2001 John Singleton film Baby Boy. 

Guests: Kim Taylor-Coleman, casting director; Kimberly Hardin, casting director

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

A conversation with Reuben Cannon, the first Black casting director. How he got his start in casting, brought now-iconic talents to the screen, broke boundaries in the industry, and why he ultimately decided to shift into producing.

Guests: Kim Taylor-Coleman, casting director; Reuben Cannon, casting director and producer.

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

How the fall of the studio system led to the creation of the role of casting director as we know it today, and how Lynn Stalmaster and Marion Dougherty defined the profession.

Guests: Dara Jaffe, Associate Curator at the Academy Museum; casting directors Kim Taylor-Coleman, former Academy President David Rubin, and Lora Kennedy.

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

How the first African American movie star created roles for himself in some of the earliest Black-produced films made for Black audiences. But he rose to mainstream notoriety playing characters of nearly every race but his own. 

Guests: Dara Jaffe, Associate Curator at the Academy Museum; Cara Caddoo, Associate Professor, Department of History and Media School, Indiana University Bloomington.

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

We're starting in the year 1940 with the Alfred Hitchcock film, Rebecca. We’ll dive into Rebecca’s casting history, and how life on set for its lead actress imitated art.

Guests: Dara Jaffe, Associate Curator at the Academy Museum; Patricia White, Professor of Film and Media Studies and Coordinator of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Swarthmore College

Academy Museum digital engagement platforms, including this podcast, are sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.