Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

For 20 years Paul Dano has been a revelation in front of the camera. He began in L.I.E., evolved in Little Miss Sunshine, emerged in There Will be Blood, and transmuted in 12 Years a Slave. (There are others, but the list is too long for a podcast description.) Most recently, he's moved behind the camera with "Wildlife", a searing portrait of a fractured family set in 1960s' America. He talks to S...

Nathaniel Rich is a writer-at-large for the New York Times Magazine whose latest piece, "Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change", is a landmark investigation into our current climate crisis. We discuss the 18 month process of writing this story, the moral obligation we have to preserve the world around us, what the planet may look like in 30-40 years, and how he believes we can...

Multi-talented jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington stopped by this week to discuss growing up as a "closeted nerd" in South Central Los Angeles, playing gigs at bars and clubs as a teenager, touring with Snoop Dogg at 18, his new record, Heaven and Earth, and the pressure he feels once he steps into the studio.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio...

Judy Greer! You’ve seen her in...everything? Her directorial debut, “A happening of monumental proportions”, is out in theaters now.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https:...

Amma Asante stopped by this week to discuss her latest film Where Hands Touch, her immersive life as a young actress, writing and selling her first script, how she dealt with "looking different" than everyone else in Hollywood, and what she hopes to be doing (and making) in the years to come.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Today is my birthday friends. To celebrate I've put together a collection of excerpts from some of my favorite episodes of the show. Each of these tidbits contain some piece of advice or wisdom that I try to keep near. In order of appearance: Alan Alda (5:13), Lena Waithe (9:43), Dad (15:50), Norman Lear (18:07), Chloe Zhao (24:30), Sherman Alexie (28:08), Mom (35:11), Philip Baker Hall (41:10), J...

This week Sam talks to multi-hyphenate talent Colman Domingo about his family values growing up, his entry point into acting, his experience coming out to his family, his early acting days in San Francisco, pivoting from theater to film, collaborating with Spike Lee, and how he envisions his career unfolding.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio....

Ione Skye needs no introduction. She's Ione Skye. You've seen her in plenty of film and television. Like many, I first saw her as Valedictorian Diane Court in Cameron Crowe's iconic Say Anything . We talk about her winding career, unorthodox family, falling in and out of love, and how she's managed to stay positive in a city and system that often feels bleak.  Learn more about your ad-choices at h...

This week, Jerrika Hinton stopped by to talk about growing up in Texas, actors supporting themselves through "parallel careers", when she felt she had made it as an actor, her experience on Grey's Anatomy, and the next steps in both her career and her life.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio....

Sheila Vand joined us this week to talk about her California childhood(1:57), how she got her start as a performer(6:46), her continued growth as a person in the world (15:59), her relationship with "acting" in Hollywood (25:27), her experience working with Robin Williams on Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (47:10), and the current state of contemporary film (51:50). For more episodes visit www.tal...

For the past 15 years Lauren Miller Rogen has had one dream: to write and direct a movie. With Like Father out this Friday (August 5th) on Netflix, she's done it. We run through her journey from Lakeland, Florida to Los Angeles, and her many creative pitstops along the way. The show is produced by Dylan Peck. Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi. Our show-notes can be found at www.talkeasypod.com  Lear...

Alan Alda ladies and gentleman. We talk M*A*S*H, joke thievery, his childhood in Burlesque, his ongoing battle with face blindness (that's not a joke), and how a brush with death gave him a new lease on life. His latest project is a podcast of his own, Clear+Vivid, and you can find out more at www.alanalda.com. For more info about Alan visit our show notes: www.talkeasypod/alan-alda  Learn more ab...

Legendary writer/director/actor Rob Reiner joins us on the show this week. You remember his American staples: This is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men. Then there's his performance as "Meathead" from Norman Lear's landmark show, All in the Family. And then there's...we could do this forever. Reiner has been an integral part of the American c...

For our special 100th episode, Sam’s Dad reluctantly comes on the show.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

John Cho's career has undergone several transformations in the past two decades, each of them more interesting and impressive than the last. John appeared in several roles in smaller films before breaking through in the 2004 stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Since then, he's made waves in blockbuster movies like the Star Trek reboot and Harold and Kumar sequels, underrated TV sh...

Six years out of prison, Chas Allen joins the show to talk about the time him and his three college friends attempted to steal 12 million dollars worth of rare artwork from their campus library.(Yes, this really happened.)Since then, the incident - later dubbed the "Transylvania book heist" - has been transformed into a film called "American Animals", now out in theaters across the country. While...

Lawyer-turned-documentarian Dawn Porter has a lot on her mind. From the cultural and professional impact of the #MeToo movement, to her late father's habit of handing her cameras starting at the age of three, to her most recent documentary subject--the Kennedy family--she lays it all out for Sam in this episode. A nonfiction storyteller whose work, Sam points out, "describes something that's bigge...

Two interviewers walk into a podcast recording session, and this unmissable episode is the result. Easily the most meta outing in Talk Easy  history, this conversation between Sam and writer and cultural critic Touré is better heard than read about, but we'll try to explain anyway. Touré has authored five books and his work has appeared in publications including  Rolling Stone, Time, and The New Y...

Sam's car was broken into and his laptop was stolen... so here we are, two days late. This week on the show is Nina Lorez Collins, who is most recently the author "What Would Virginia Woolf Do?". She also talks about a memoir she's writing on her late mother, filmmaker/poet Kathleen Collins. Over the course of the hour, she and Sam get into the details of both, while Nina also sheds light on often...

Episode 94 - Gillian Jacobs by Sam Fragoso  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

This week, Sam sits down with Spanish actress Laia Costa, star of several indie films including the tech-based love story Newness and Victoria, which earned her a BAFTA nomination. Laia has four movies coming out this year, and can currently be seen in theaters in the Miguel Arteta-directed romance Duck Butter, which she shot opposite Alia Shawkat over the course of just 24 hours. Listen as Laia a...

This week iconic filmmaker Julie Dash joins Sam from Ebertfest! The pioneering director entered the public consciousness in 1991, when her debut film - "Daughters of the Dust" - became the first feature by an African-American woman to receive a nation-wide theatrical release. Over the course of a winding conversation, Julie and Sam get into her upbringing in New York City, the difficulties of rece...

Profound and formally audacious, Kogonada’s feature debut Columbus captured the eyes and hearts of countless indie film fans upon its premiere last year. The former video essayist’s story of life, death, and architecture in Indiana immediately drew comparisons to Ozu and Linklater, solidifying him as a talented director to watch. This week at Ebertfest, Sam sits down with Kogonada, and--when the t...

After making the rounds on the festival circuit for nearly a year, director Chloé Zhao's sophomore feature, The Rider, is finally in theaters. Shot on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the film follows a cowboy who, after a serious injury, is forced to reconcile with a future that might not involve horseback riding. According to Chloé, a Chinese filmmaker who attended NYU before debuting...

So look: I lost an interview. This doesn't normally happen. In fact, in my nine years of recording conversations...it never has. The talk in question with the wonderful Heather Christian, a musician and composer based out of New York. But it's vanished. So instead of having no show, we're doing this show: an entire program dedicated to losing things with Heather, my father, and my best friend. It'...