THE HOLLYWOOD PODCAST

Production designer Donald Graham Burt and set decorator Jan Pascale spoke with Max on their work in the Oscar-nominated biographical drama Mank, directed by David Fincher and starring Gary Oldman as the titular lead of famed Hollywood screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. Mank is nominated for 10 Oscars - the most of any film this year - including Best Picture, Best Director for Fincher, Best Actor for...

Breakout writer/director James Sweeney chats with Max about his new indie comedy Straight Up. The film, inspired by personal experiences, is about a young gay brainiac with OCD named Todd (played by Sweeney) who fears loneliness and, while trying to leave his ghosts behind, he meets Rory, a young woman with insecurities, fears and frustrations. He enters a romantic - yet non-physical - relationshi...

Oscar-nominated songwriter Savan Kotecha is known for writing some of the most popular songs of the century so far including Ariana Grande's "God is a Woman", "Love Me Harder", "Problem", The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face", and One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful". Other notable collaborations with music superstars include Demi Lovato, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding, Britney Spears, and more. His...

Eryn Kreuger Mekash and Matthew Mungle are make-up artists nominated at this year's Oscars for Best Make-Up and Hairstyling for their work in the Ron Howard-directed Netflix film "Hillbilly Elegy" starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close. Mekash was the makeup department head of the film while Mungle was the prosthetic designer for Close. Aside from Hillbilly Elegy, Mekash is a frequent collaborator wit...

Sound mixers Beau Borders & David Wyman and sound editor Warren Shaw are nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound on behalf of the AppleTV+ original film "Greyhound" starring Tom Hanks. The Oscar-nominated sound team is being recognized in a historic year at the Academy Awards in which the typically separate sound categories of Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing are now combined in...

BAFTA-nominee Anthony Willis is the composer of the five-time Academy Award nominated film "Promising Young Woman". The film is actress-turned-filmmaker Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut, starring Oscar-nominated actress Carey Mulligan and Bo Burnham. The film's six Oscar nominations include Best Picture, Best Director for Fennell, Best Actress for Mulligan, Best Original Screenpl...

Actor Wilson Cruz's latest special project is his participation in Amazon Original Stories, Currency Collection which is a series of digital books where he narrates one of the stories in the collection by a prominent gay author. Wilson is one of the eight prominent people narrating fictional stories for Amazon in their new digital platform. Wilson was asked to audio narrate a powerful short story...

Academy Award nominated actor Damián Bichir (A Better Life) is set to star in the upcoming monster film "Godzilla vs Kong". The film's release follows a recent string of major film releases in the last several weeks including the George Clooney-directed space film "The Midnight Sky", the Robin Wright directorial debut of the intimate indie drama "Land", and the Tom Holland/Daisy Ridley dystopian f...

Ilya Naishuller is the director of the upcoming action-thriller film "Nobody" starring Bob Odenkirk. Odenkirk plays Hutch Mansell, a suburban dad, overlooked husband and neighbor, who feels like he's "nobody." When two thieves break into his home one night, all the rage he's kept pent up inside emerges and propels him on a brutal path that will uncover dark secrets he fought to leave behind....

Bryan Fogel is an Academy Award-winning documentarian, producer and human rights activist. In 2018, Fogel received the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for the Netflix film Icarus. In his follow-up to Icarus, Fogel decided to take on the 2018 assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khasshogi and the effort on the part of Saudi Arabia to control dissenting speech with his new film The D...

Bina Daigeler is a German costume designer for film and television. Recently, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design for her work in the film "Mulan". She has also received a Critics' Choice Award nomination and Costume Designers' Guild nomination for her work on the Disney film. Last year, Daigeler contributed her costuming talents to the FX series "Mrs. America" for whi...

Fernando Frias is a Mexican documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, and director. His latest film, I’m No Longer Here, became the official Mexican entry for Best Foreign Language Film for this year’s Oscars. Recently, I’m No Longer Here was announced as one of the 15 films Oscar-shortlisted for Foreign Language Film. Additionally, Frias received a Directors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Dire...

Andrew Dunn is the cinematographer of the new Hulu Original film The United States vs. Billie Holiday, which recently won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Drama for Andra Day. Dunn’s previous credits include The Bodyguard, Practical Magic, Gosford Park, Sweet Home Alabama, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. He also worked with director Lee Daniels previously on Precious and The Butler....

For nearly his entire career, Frank Stallone has nearly always been known as one thing: Rocky’s brother. However, a brand new documentary seeks to uncover why one of the “least known famous faces in Hollywood” – with his multi talented range in music, acting, and boxing – never seemed to climb to the top of the mountain peak in reaching ultimate Hollywood stardom. From his breakout song Take You B...

Cheryl Guerriero is the writer and executive producer of the new AppleTV+ Original Film "Palmer", directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Fisher Stevens and starring Justin Timberlake. Cheryl chats with Max on the inspiration behind writing the story of Palmer, casting Justin Timberlake, and discovering breakout star Ryder Allen. She also discusses upcoming projects she's currently working on.

AwardsRadar's Joey Magidson chats with Max about creating his new awards predictions website "Awards Radar", what it's like covering Oscar season during the pandemic, and offers his take on the state of the Oscar race after the Golden Globe, SAG, and Critics' Choice nominations were announced.

The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Columnist Scott Feinberg chats with Max on his career in entertainment journalism and covering awards seasons over the last several years while providing his thoughts on this year's Oscars race.

Lorenzo Yearby can be seen as ‘Lucky’ in Vertical Entertainment’s newest film, The 24th, available to stream VOD on August 21st. The film tells the true story of the Houston Riot of 1924, and stars Trai Byers, Aja Naomi King, Mo McRae and Thomas Haden Church. Producer Alexandra Milchan says Lorenzo is “the heart of the film” and this breakout role has been compared to that of Lupita Nyong’o’s in 1...

Gerald Isaac Waters began his career in acting first on the stage at Los Angeles City College’s theater academy. While working as a theater actor, he also appeared in roles for the NoHo Theatre and Fringe Festival. Gerald has also modeled in campaigns with Target, Zappos, Bank of America, and participated in the New York Fashion Week.  In 2018, Gerald made his television debut with a guest sp...

Patrick Dougall is a Los Angeles based freelance, Theme Park, Entertainment, Travel and Food Blogger. Although, he considers himself more of an interactive storyteller - combining his passion for Pop Culture & Entertainment with his various skills of writing, photography, & videography into an informative yet engaging format. Patrick has over 200,000 TikTok followers, over 53,000 Instagram...

Ben Milliken executive produced and stars in Paramount’s "Mighty Oak", alongside Janel Parish, Raven-Symoné, Alexa PenaVega, and Carlos PenaVega. It was the first original film to hit theaters during the pandemic, and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Ben can also be seen in "Sonora: The Devil's Highway" which was recently nominated for 10 Ariel Awards (Mexico’s equivalent to the Academy Awa...

Two-time Screen Actors Guild Award winner Caroline Aaron currently stars as Shirley Maisel in the Emmy-winning comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime Video). Before Mrs. Maisel, Caroline has appeared in over 100 films and television shows stretching over a nearly forty year-long career in the entertainment industry. She is best known for her performances in films such as Heartburn, Crimes...

Elex Michaelson co-anchors FOX 11 News weeknights at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. with Christine Devine. He co-hosts the "FOX 11 Special Report" on the COVID-19 pandemic with Dr. Drew Pinsky weeknights at 7 p.m. He also hosts and produces the political talk show The Issue Is, which airs on stations throughout the state of California. Elex is an Agoura Hills native and his first job in broadcasting w...

Our second episode features my guest co-host, fellow entertainment lover and best friend Ayesha Rahman! We discuss how film drew us together, some of our favorite movies, and offer our first take on this year's Primetime Emmy Awards!

For THE HOLLYWOOD PODCAST's inaugural episode, Max interviews social media content creator Markian Benhamou. Markian is a third culture kid and aspiring entrepreneur. He’s the creator of the Smile Squad which brings together other talented young digital creators in putting on comedy sketch videos across social media platforms that highlight relatable scenarios centering on cultures, personality tr...