A Piece of Pie: The Queer Film Podcast

Brian welcomes filmmaker Sav Rodgers to discuss his documentary Chasing Chasing Amy. The documentary investigates his own complicated feelings with Kevin Smith's 1997 hit, Chasing Amy in which Ben Affleck falls for a lesbian. Revolutionary at the time, its now seen as a problematic attempt from a straight white guy to tell a queer story. Or maybe it's an empathetic queer coming of age ta...

With Disclosure Day , legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg returns to the alien invasion genre he's defined for generations. So this week we took a look back at where he started, with just his third theatrical release, Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977.  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

After 5 and half years, Brian and Max finally wrap up their series on filmmakers Quentin Tarantino & Paul Thomas Anderson. Since mid-2020 they’ve been pairing off the works of the two Gen X auteurs. Chris joins them to discuss Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood , his favorite Tarantino, paired off with PTA’s own Los Angeles love letter, Licorice Pizza.  Questions or comments about what we talked ab...

This week we're taking a look at one of the year's biggest movies, and one of its gayest, The Devil Wears Prada 2 . And we take a look back at the 2006 original, discussing it's status in the queer canon.  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

This week Brian and Keegon take a look at two tales of the search for eternal youth. A campy, laugh filled  Death Becomes Her and the dark body horror Oscar nominated  The Substance.  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

Paul and Chris return to the pod to bring their expertise on classic Hollywood. In 1934, Will Hays, then the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, began strenuously enforcing the Production Code. This code was a guideline used to determine what films could depict on screen and the behavior of characters. These included drug use, promiscuity, and yes, homosexuality....

Brian welcomes back Keegon and Chris as they discuss this year's Oscar night.  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

We’re continuing our series examining the films of 90’s auteurs, Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson! This time Brian and Max are joined by playwright and our newest contributor, Keegon Schuett. We discuss the legacy of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams’ questionable handjobs and, as always, the problematic behavior of Quentin Tarantino. Is this his most relaxed film, or his most baldly dep...

This week, Raina Deerwater from GLAAD returns to the pod to discuss two nominees of the 2026 GLAAD Media Awards. On Swift Horses and Hedda were nominated for Outstanding Film (Wide release). Each film tackles queer characters in mid-century America. On Swift Horses is about a war veteran returning to the states where he reunites with his brother, while Hedda is a queer adaptation of the play, &quo...

For our 150th Episode, Brian decided to highlight one of his favorite films, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

This week our friend Keegon Schuett returns to the show to continue gushing about Diane Keaton as a mother to queer people. In The First Wives Club it’s a token lesbian, while she’s best friends with fellow icons Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler. We paired it with the modern classic Bridesmaids and spend more time quoting it than discussing it.  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click...

We're commemorating the Christmas season by taking a look at two Nicole Kidman films. First up, the final film from Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut, co-starring her then-husband Tom Cruise. And we pair it with Babygirl, co-starring Harris Dickinson and Antonio Banderas. We're joined once again by Alonso Duralde, writer of the recently revised Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas. He br...

This week we're celebrating the late, great Diane Keaton. Contributor and playwright Keegon Schuett returns to the pod with one of his favorite warm blanket movies, Something's Gotta Give co-starring Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves. And tis the season for Holiday movies, so we pair it with Keaton's turn as the matriarch of a chaotic family Christmas in The Family Stone. For details...

With Paul Thomas Anderson's newest One Battle After Another in theaters and heavily favored in the Awards conversation, Brian and Max return to their project pairing off his films with the work of fellow American master, Quentin Tarantino. This time it's a bloody revenge fantasy paired with an Altman-esque stoner comedy that refuses to be understood. Give a listen as we continue to exami...

This week we're discussing two of cinema's most celebrated queer filmmakers, Luca Guadagnino and Andrew Haigh. Within the last few years, they've each given us deeply personal stories about love, loneliness, grief and the disconnect of growing up queer in a straight world. Through different eras and wildly different tones, each film grapples with queer life in stunning and heart wre...

Just in time for Halloween, we're revisiting two of our favorite classic 90's horror flicks. Fresh off an Academy Award for Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino teamed with director Robert Rodriguez for From Dusk Till Dawn, starring Tarantino and George Clooney. Rodriguez would follow that up with The Faculty , from writer Kevin Williamson. With sprawling casts and self-referential scripts, t...

This week we’re joined by Raina Deerwater, Associate Director and Research Analysis at GLAAD! She joins to discuss their Studio Responsibility Index, and recent findings that LBGTQIA+ representation in film is on the decline. We discuss what that means, and what can be done about it. And then we talk about the sapphic crime drama, Love Lies Bleeding starring Kristen Stewart one of a few queer cent...

This week we're finally discussing Tony Kushner's masterpiece, Angels in America. As Chicago's own Invictus Theater Company stages a new production, we welcome two actors from the show, Miguel Long and Ryan Hake, to discuss the 2004 HBO adaptation. They offer insight into playing these challenging roles, as we discuss the differences between the play and the movie, and how the play...

This week, Brian is joined by writer Sezin Devi Koehler, who quite literally wrote the book on Keanu Reeves. Her book, Much Ado About Keanu: A Critical Reeves Theory highlights the actor’s legendary career. We take a specific look at The Matrix , a franchise created by trans women, and John Wick, an iconic character that, according to Sezin’s theory, is very likely transgender himself.  You can fi...

Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

This week we’re taking a look at two very different queer icons. Musical geniuses Freddie Mercury and Liberace each got the biopic treatment in the 2010’s, and they each got very different movies. Behind the Candelabra starred Oscar winners Michael Douglas and Matt Damon and was directed by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh. Despite the pedigree, only HBO would release it. Bohemian Rhapsody , by cont...

This week we’re joined by film scholar Syd Wrigley, who joins the podcast to discuss Gregg Araki’s famed Teen Apocalypse Trilogy. Starting with Totally Fucked Up in 1993, he followed it with The Doom Generation in 1995 and finally Nowhere in 1997, the trilogy that would define a generation and stands at the center of the New Queer Cinema movement. Recently re-released via Criterion, these films ar...

This week we have an interview with director Dana Flor discussing her new documentary, 1-800-ON-HER-OWN, an intimate look at singer songwriter Ani DiFranco ! And we’re excited to announce a partnership with the filmmakers to bring the movie to Chicago! On April 13 at the #Music Box Chicago to catch the Chicago premiere in person!  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let...

This week we're joined by writer Alonso Duralde, author of Hollywood Pride to discuss Barbra Streisand's directorial debut, Yentl. The story of a young woman who bucked convention, and gender norms, to follow her dreams. Progressive for 1983, the film was ahead of it's time, and is undergoing a queer reappraisal.  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let u...

We only have one tradition here at Piece of Pie, and that's our annual Oscar episode. We started this little podcast discussing the Oscars, and ever since we've made sure to cover them. This year Paul Klein and Chris Alexander join Brian to discuss queer representation at the yearly show, Conan O'Brien and more! Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us...