The Playlist Podcast Network

This week on the Deep Focus podcast we have the great and legendary Abel Ferrara , the director of “ The Bad Lieutenant ,” “ The Addiction ,” “ The King Of New York, ” and his most recent film, “ Siberia ” with Willem Dafoe. The 69-year-old director is a quintessential New York filmmaker, but he left the U.S. for Italy almost 20 years ago. In this career-spanning conversation, Ferrara talks about...

Comedian Iliza Shlesinger had a weird thing happen to her some years back: she basically got fooled into a relationship with a complete fraud. Now, while most people would crawl into a hole and have a good cry, Shlesinger did that but also decided to turn her shocking situation into a feature film, “ Good On Paper ,” which she discusses on this episode of The Playlist Podcast.

Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock, you’re probably well aware of the name Billie Eilish. The young singer has become one of the biggest names in the music industry and has a legion of devoted fans around the world. But even if you’re completely unfamiliar with the work of Eilish, you’ll still probably really enjoy the recent documentary, “Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry....

With his latest film, “ False Positive ,” director John Lee takes the always thrilling genre of psychological horror and combines it with his signature dark comedy to construct a commentary on pregnancy, and a woman’s right to her own bodily autonomy. Written by Lee, Ilana Glazer , and Alissa Nutting , “False Positive” stars Glazer as Lucy, who - along with her husband Adrian ( Justin Theroux ) -...

In honor of the recent Season 4 finale of “Snowfall,” the series’ creator/showrunner Dave Andron and writer/producer Leonard Chang join The Playlist Podcast to talk about the incredible drama series, “Snowfall,” and how it seems to keep getting bigger and bigger each season, thanks to people (like us) finding it on FX on Hulu. Plus, we discuss that in-development "Justified" spinoff that sees Timo...

Indie filmmaker Hannah Fidell is circling back to her roots. While she has made relationship dramas like " 6 Years ," the Netflix comedy, " The Long Dumb Road ," and directed TV (" Casual," "Sorry For Your Loss "), her latest project is the most ambitious of her career.  It’s a remake and reimagining of her own work, her 2013 directorial debut “ A Teacher ,” about a female teacher who has an...

If you’re a regular reader of The Playlist, then it’s likely you’re a fan of Luke Wilson . From his debut in the incredible film, “Bottle Rocket,” to his later collaborations with Wes Anderson, to his highly underrated and sadly prescient “Idiocracy,” Wilson is an actor that has been in a number of iconic films over the past three decades. And in honor of his new film, the feel-good drama, “12 Mig...

Rob McElhenney is one of the hardest-working guys in TV right now. Not only is he one of the main stars of the history-making FX sitcom, “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,” which is about to begin production on episodes for Season 15, but he’s also the co-creator, co-writer, director, and star of the Apple TV+ series, “Mythic Quest.” And on top of that, he took the time out of his busy day in the...

Kate Herron isn’t quite a household name when it comes to filmmaking. And as she discusses in the new episode of The Playlist Podcast, it’s that reality that drove her to create a 60-page pitch document that helped her land the biggest gig of her career, “Loki.” She also talks about her influences in this sci-fi love letter and why she has her eye on Spider-Man as a dream project. 

In this episode of The Playlist Podcast, Dane DeHaan joins us to talk about his new Apple TV+ series, “Lisey’s Story.” He goes deep about getting into the mindset of a dark character and how he honed those amazing yo-yo skills. In addition, he explains why he's not interested in returning to the Marvel film world in a new 'Spider-Man' film. 

Somewhat shockingly, it appears that 2021 will actually have a summer filled with big franchises, surprising indies, and original films. And on this episode of The Playlist Podcast, we break down the summer films including "Black Widow," "F9," "Candyman," and many, many more. 

With theaters around the U.S. either open or on that path, today's BE REEL explores films that hinge on the theatrical experience, narratively speaking. From “The Last Action Hero” (1993) to “The Majestic” (2001) to “The Blob” (1958), today's episode pays tribute to how films depict movie houses for magical purposes, nostalgic ambiance and self-aware carnage. See you back at the theater soon. We'l...

Whether you love his films or not, there's no denying that Zack Snyder is one of the boldest, most unashamedly stylistic filmmakers of all time. His resume speaks for itself. From “ Dawn of the Dead ,” to “ Watchmen ,” to “ 300 ,” to “ Batman v Superman ,” Snyder has spent over 15 years bringing audiences some of what they crave most: genre thrills coated in glorious slow-motion and served with a...

Timur Bekmambetov joins The Playlist Podcast to talk about “Profile” and how he utilized Screenlife to tell a story that he feels could only be told this way. He also discusses the possibility of making a "Wanted" sequel and why Mark Millar has to get involved. 

When it began its run a few years ago, “Mayans MC” was “Sons of Anarchy” with a Latino flair. Sure, the cast was all new and the story didn’t pick up where ‘Sons’ left off, but with Kurt Sutter at the helm, “Mayans MC” felt like “Sons 2.0.” Well, with Sutter gone and Elgin James the sole showrunner, the FX drama moves further away from its ‘Sons’ past in Season 3, and it’s actually much, much bett...

Elgin James recently sat down for an extended interview on The Playlist Podcast, where he talked about the massive changes that happened in Season 3 of “Mayans MC” and goes deep into his overall goals for the series now that co-creator Kurt Sutter is no longer involved. And since we also share a common love of punk, hardcore, and the straight edge movement, we also talk quite a bit about how that...

In this May the Fourth episode of The Playlist Podcast, Charles, Mike, and Brian are once again joined by The Playlist Editor-in-Chief Rodrigo Perez to talk about “Star Wars.” More specifically, the guys talk about where the franchise is right now (seemingly at a crossroads) and what this means for the future. 

John Woo’s unparalleled directing career is best known for blazing barrels, shadow selves and slow-motion “heroic bloodshed.” To celebrate the Hong Kong legend’s 75th birthday, we talk Woo's full arc with University of Houston film scholar Karen Fang . From there, we focus on a sweet spot in Woo’s oeuvre, when he maxed out his Hong Kong street operas with "Hard Boiled"(1992) and transitioned to in...

In this interview, we speak with Stefano Sollima, who is probably best known as the director of “Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado,” about his work on “Without Remorse,” what he prefers realistic action to "John Wick"-style gun-fu, and the possibility of a greater Amazon Tom Clancyverse, with a potential John Krasinski appearance down the line. 

In this spoiler-filled episode of The Playlist Podcast, director Kari Skogland talks about "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," that new role for Anthony Mackie, the importance of Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier in Sam’s story, the political themes that are present, and of course, the recent news about “Captain America 4.”

“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” has ended its six-episode run, crowning a new Captain America and drastically changing the status quo for a number of Marvel characters. And in a new episode of The Playlist Podcast, we’re finally discussing Marvel Studios' latest Disney+ series, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” 

In this episode of The Playlist Podcast, we got a chance to speak with Eric Heisserer, the man behind Netflix's “Shadow & Bone,” as well as someone that has had his hands in a number of cinematic universes, including the failed Dark Universe and the current Valiant superhero film universe. And believe us, he knows a thing or two about quality world-building in cinema and TV.

For action film fans, the name Joe Taslim is already iconic. In “Mortal Kombat,” Taslim brings his action movie skills to a highly anticipated, big-budget video game adaptation. In this episode of The Playlist Podcast, we speak to none other than Joe Taslim about “Mortal Kombat,” “The Raid” ten years later, and why he’s not quite sure a Hollywood remake of Gareth Evans’ classic can actually be any...

Video games are incredibly difficult to adapt into films and TV series. So, with the latest attempt by a major studio to break the video game film curse coming next week, “Mortal Kombat,” this episode of The Playlist Podcast offers up some ideas for adaptations that should actually get made, including a “Grand Theft Auto” anthology series, a “Dick Tracy”-esque “Punch-Out!!” and a hard-R “Super Mar...

On this episode of The Playlist Podcast, Charles, Mike, and Brian spend some time talking films with Ben Wheatley, the writer-director of the new horror film, “In the Earth.” He talks about making a horror film during lockdown, why he thinks "The Meg 2" is going to be great, and what forced him to step away from the upcoming "Tomb Raider 2."