Maltin on Movies

Alexander Payne is one of the brightest lights in American filmmaking, a brilliant social satirist and observer with Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants , Nebraska and Downsizing among his credits as director and writer (usually with his longtime collaborator Jim Taylor). He started, as Leonard did, by collecting 8mm prints of silent comedies with Charlie Chaplin, and...

Jeff Ross is best known as the Roastmaster General, reigning king of insult humor, but there's much more to this talented comedian. Leonard and Jessie met him in 2005 when he made a terrific documentary called Patriot Act: A Jeffrey Ross Home Movie about entertaining our troops in Iraq. Now he's acting on the new season of Sneaky Pete and using his producing skills—and sense of showmanship—to intr...

Americans first became aware of Jacki Weaver when she played the matriarch of a crime family in the Aussie import Animal Kingdom in 2010. Her chilling performance earned her an Oscar nomination and "overnight" recognition outside her homeland, where she's been working on stage, screen and television for decades. She nabbed another Academy Award nomination as Robert De Niro's wife in Silver Linings...

Had Don Hahn just produced Disney's Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King he'd have earned a place in movie history—and our hearts. But over several decades he's done so much more: writing books (like Before Ever After and Yesterday's Tomorrow: Disney's Magical Mid-Century ), directing documentaries (like Waking Sleeping Beauty ) and keeping Disney history alive. Not bad for a guy who started out...

Angie Dickinson has lived an amazing life--and she's far from done. Knowing and working with the likes of Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, and John F. Kennedy is just a starting point for our candid, wide-ranging discussion with the ageless actress. From a beauty pageant winner she worked her way up to leading lady and never missed a beat. Leonard and Jessie sat, wide-eyed, at her well-worn professional...

Dave Foley is a busy comedic actor and stand-up performer, but even after thirty years is still cherished as one of the Kids in the Hall. That rowdy comedy troupe made a lasting impression, as did Dave's five-year stint on the much-loved TV series, Newsradio . Our guest has yet another indelible claim to fame as the voice of Flik in Pixar's A Bug's Life . Leonard and Jessie were delighted to learn...

Kevin Brownlow is the superhero of film historians, with an Oscar to prove it. Now you can hear his "origin story." Fifty years ago his book The Parade's Gone By offered a vivid portrait of the silent film era and its glories, influencing a generation of movie buffs and scholars (including Leonard). He held Leonard and Jessie spellbound as he recalled his first encounters with this medium and how...

You probably know Kate Flannery as Meredith, the resident drunk who made a lasting impression over nine seasons on The Office , but she's had the show-business bug all her life. She now tours the country with Jane Lynch, singing her heart out, and keeps her comedy chops honed in an act called The Lampshades. Leonard and Jessie were among the people she waited on at a popular Beverly Hills restaura...

Paula Poundstone is one of the funniest women on the planet, and a longtime favorite of Leonard's. She's heard regularly as a panelist on the popular NPR show Wait…Wait, Don't Tell Me and now presides over her own very funny podcast quixotically called Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone (co-hosted by Adam Felber). Join us as she expounds on everyday matters, the wide net she casts on her new "come...

Heyyyy… it's Henry Winkler, the nicest man in show business. He'll always be remembered as the Fonz but he has a new feather in his cap: an Emmy Award (his first!) for playing Bill Hader's acting teacher on the delightfully dark HBO comedy series Barry . Henry is also a masterful storyteller and held Leonard and Jessie in rapt attention, recalling early days working with Sylvester Stallone in The...

Winnie Holzman and Paul Dooley are an amazing show-business couple. She created the TV series My So-Called Life and wrote the book for the Broadway musical Wicked, just for starters. He's acted in every medium known to mankind, was a favorite of director Robert Altman, created The Electric Company and is currently playing James Brolin's "father from Hell" on the TV series Life in Pieces—in his 90t...

Marc Maron has nothing to prove as a stand-up comic or as a podcaster, but he's still stretching his wings as an actor. He's terrific in director Lynn Shelton's entertaining new movie Sword of Trust, which just debuted at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. That's where Leonard and Jessie talked to them both before an enthusiastic audience at Esther's Follies. Lynn explains how she combines scrip...

Harvey Guillen is about to make waves! He's one of the stars of What We do in the Shadows , the new FX series based on the hilarious Kiwi movie that debuts this weekend at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Jessie has known Harvey since they were teenagers. She and Leonard have watched with awe as he has built a solid career by a combination of talent and hard work. Hearing his story of starting...

You probably know him best as the star of TV's  Psych , or you're watching him on the new series  A Million Little Things . But James Roday has a solid background in theater and has earned his wings as a writer and director. His newest project is called Treehouse , a segment of Hulu's horror anthology  Into the Dark  that debuts tonight. Leonard and Jessie were charmed by this quietly funny guy wh...

This fast-paced episode might be titled "The Young Brad Bird Chronicles," as the director of The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Oscar nominee for The Incredibles II tells us about his first visit to the Disney studio—at the age of 11. He returned three years later with a home-made animated cartoon, and eventually he was mentored there by legendary animator Milt Kahl. He wound up pitc...

She is an actor, artist, writer and animator. He is an actor, comedian and writer. You may recognize Jonah Ray and Deanna Rooney from the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 revival. Los Angeles residents may know Jonah best as the longtime host (with Kumail Nanjiani) of The Meltdown, a weekly showcase that was home to every top stand up comedian in the country (and eventually became a tv show that aired...

Dale Dickey is another of those valuable character actresses who makes every film and TV show better—like Leave No Trace , which reunited her with director Debra Granik, who cast her so memorably in Winter's Bone opposite Jennifer Lawrence. You've seen her in Hell or High Water, Breaking Bad, True Blood, I Am the Night —any film or TV show that needs someone unquestionably real. Leonard and Jessie...

Mitzi Gaynor was just a teenager when she came to Hollywood. She wound up starring with Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, dancing with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor, and headlining The Ed Sullivan Show with The Beatles. Her movies include There's No Business Like Show Business, Les Girls and South Pacific —and that's just a fraction of her career. How many people can say they worked with Irving B...

He's one of those actors you know and value even if you don't know his name. Shea Whigham is an asset to every film and TV show he's in, from Boardwalk Empire to True Detective, American Hustle to The Wolf of Wall Street . He's not accustomed to talking about himself, but Leonard and Jessie are longtime fans and he obliged us with perceptive stories about breaking into show business and working wi...

Phil Lord and Chris Miller are the hottest team in Hollywood  with Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse earning awards, box-office bucks and rave reviews. There's even Oscar buzz surrounding their ground-breaking animated feature. But these longtime best friends have never rested on their laurels, from the moment they made their first short subjects in college through their baptism of fire as sitcom...

Willem Dafoe is that rare actor who can appear in a blockbuster like Aquaman at the same time he's starring in a cerebral biopic about Vincent Van Gogh, At Eternity's Edge. He's open to all kinds of experiences, contributing voices to Finding Nemo and The Fantastic Mr. Fox and working with a cast of first-time actors in last year's knockout The Florida Project , which earned him his third Oscar no...

Creating, executive producing, and writing The Big Bang Theory would be enough for most people's résumés, but Bill Prady is not a one-hit wonder. He spent many years working with the Muppets, and wrote their unforgettable Disney theme park attractions Muppet*Vision 3D and Honey I Shrunk the Audience. He also spent years writing and producing such shows as Caroline in the City, Dharma & Greg and Gi...

Most Americans encountered British actor Ben Barnes for the first time as Prince   Caspian in the Chronicles of Narnia series. He's been working ever since, as viewers of The Punisher and Westworld can attest. What Leonard and Jessie didn't know was that he's a talented musician, which he tries to incorporate into his roles, and that he loves doing accents—rarely playing an Englishman. He's intell...

He gained fame for his stunt casting as the Winklevoss Twins in The Social Network , but he's earned respect for his talent in such films as Nocturnal Animals, Call Me By Your Name, and Sorry to Bother You. He can currently be seen opposite Felicity Jones in On the Basis of Sex. But with all that, and a notable family history, Armie Hammer is charming, articulate, and cheerfully self-deprecating....

At the age of 21, Chloe Grace Moretz is a show-business veteran, having worked professionally since the age of 5. When she was 19, she lost her sense of identity and walked away from her career, with the blessings of her business manager (who happens to be her brother). She is incredibly articulate, and doesn't take herself or her profession too seriously… yet she can wax poetic about the many cha...