The A24 Podcast

Topics covered include: Car rides to and from set, Emily’s special nickname for Dwayne Johnson, performing with a camera inches from your face, delicately handling playing a real person, Wonderbras, The Rock as the most patient man on Earth, not being concerned with being likable, Mary Bronstein’s intimate rehearsal process, audiences inherent distrust of a woman misbehaving, Emily reconnecting Dwayne and Benny on set of Oppenheimer, wanting to feel terror when choosing projects, and being hyper aware of the ocean.

Topics covered include: Getting comfortable in the chaos, moments of brevity, John writing his directorial debut on set of Eternity, double-fisting at TIFF, attending Interlochen at the exact same time, training in opera, Da’Vine’s stint as a camp counselor for child prodigies, ill-informed southern accents for The Laramie Project, witnessing the greatness of Audra McDonald in Gypsy, a shared love of Company, John’s huge plans for Da’Vine’s career, vocal tics, Da’Vine losing her voice on Broadway after she got nominated for a Tony, choosing to be the clown, and the great problem with contemporary musicals.

Topics covered include: Martini celebrations, hydration regimens, learning the true meaning of the word ‘release,’ feeling visible but not seen, the special privacy of making a debut film, bringing your whole humanity to the words on a page, sharing an editor with Terrence Malick, being moved by how little you know, the Mother/Sister/Daughter theory, the subtle differences between Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans and Dakota Johnson, alleviating grief by thinking about The Next Thing, desperately needing sleep, Celine going straight from the Oscars to the first Materialists scout, Eva’s intricate process directing a movie they also acted in, sparring of ideas, committing to subjectivity, and having bangs.

Topics covered include: Steven Soderbergh’s greatest commentary tracks, the first Mission Impossible as a perfect film, writing movies for actors not executives, Ari telling Bill the idea for Eddington outside of an Italian restaurant, Bill laughing at the sound of Toni Collette’s head falling off in Hereditary, being intuitive and impulsive, David Lynch as a great spiritual teacher, using genre film as a shield, Ari’s deep research process in New Mexico before making Eddington, the genius comedy of Christopher Morris, walking into the meat grinder, unmade horror scripts, Bill’s cameo in Beau is Afraid, going beyond the breaking point, Steven Spielberg as the king of shot sequencing, childhood obsession with screenplays, Sturges on Sturges, Bill filming shorts as a kid with his sister in Tulsa, meeting Scorsese at SNL, and 50+ films that shaped them.

Topics covered include: True artists, Kyle meeting David Lynch for the first time on the Universal lot, getting Invisalign for the bit, Benito's world getting rocked by Blue Velvet in high school, saliva overproduction, going blonde, Overcompensating' s origin story on the New York standup circuit, finding the laughter and heart in coming out, new perspectives in watching your old work, Kardashian skits with stakes, college as an epicenter of comedy and heartbreak, pledging Beta, Kyle's first job working at a lumber mill in Yakima, dad's loving Pride merch, Tom Hanks’ sage auditioning advice, college golfer siblings, being fluent in the "Apple" dance, Kyle's first introduction to Sex and the City's Trey MacDougal, and being all up for the craziness.

Topics covered include: Success giving you brain damage, Andy’s lifelong love of Jackass as a “silly, honest, and ancient” art, squirming to hide the truth, Turkish hair transplants, the influence of The King of Comedy on Friendship, the psychedelic experience of seeing your movie with a crowd, knowing enough to know that you’re wrong, wall-to-wall c*cks in Jackass Forever, beating fear spirals, and why it's absolutely essential to see Friendship in a movie theater.

Topics covered include: Jane Goodall as Isaiah’s lifelong Patron Saint, a very cheap edition of Tarzan of the Apes that changed a young Jane’s entire world, supportive mothers, The Legend of Ochi as a critique of anthropocentrism, Jane’s first experience watching one of the famed Gombe chimps David Greybeard use a tool for the first time, stewardship versus dominion, controversy around Jane’s first National Geographic cover, using empathy in the scientific method, the importance of anecdotes, inventing a fictional primate for the Ochi, filmmaking’s parallels to science, the possibilities of nonverbal communication between man and animal, a quest to understand if adult male chimps like rock and roll music, the size of a dog’s heart knowing no bounds, Jane experiencing the effects of USAID defunding, a shared determination to heal the world by reaching hearts and enacting change, and the aquatic ape hypothesis.

Topics covered include: Charles connecting with his dad through his role in Warfare, total immersion, knowing your castmates' meal requests by heart (Noah Centineo: 3 burger patties), sage advice from Alex Garland to “never say yes to anything before you read it,” pinch me moments, impersonating Will's American accent, Charles working with fellow Garland alum Cailee Spaeny on the newest season of Beef, feeling out of continuity with your own life, playing many rounds of Mafia after hours, wild peacocks, Will having an absolute blast with Jenna and Richard E. Grant on set of Death of a Unicorn, Michael Gandolfini as the worlds best storyteller, and Warfare as the most transformative and meaningful experience of their lives.

Topics covered include: Halina learning about ASMR, Pedro’s obsession with travel and sleep schedules, watching The Social Network for the 600th time, anticipating your fears, a discomfort with nesting, Pedro feeling torn open after seeing Babygirl, doorways to vulnerability, refusing to be a moralist, real intimacy as the most frightening thing, traumatic early viewings of Watership Down, wanting to be a miracle child, Pedro lying about starring in Twin Peaks as a kid, unconventional artist parents, playing all of the greatest characters of theatre history around the world simultaneously while writing a movie being a total control freak Scorpio, and Halina’s exes calling her to ask how Pedro dances that well.

Topics covered include: The strength and fragility of László Toth, chunky old tape recorders, Adrien’s Hungarian grandfather, heavy accents, giant dictionaries, descending from immigrants, the photography of André Kertész, 3-4 hours of prosthetics for Queer, the transformative experience of making The Darjeeling Limited, emotional truths paired with broad f*cking comedy, walking all over India barefoot, digital and analog instruments, loving gear too much, and Jason telling his 10 year-old she can’t come to The Brutalist because she could barely get through Wild Robot.

Topics covered include: Spotting a five month old baby at a screening of Heretic, hitting a wall of cries when filming horror, being film bros, craving lightness, jinxing projects, being a superstitious child, watching a DVD of Bergman's Seventh Seal at age 11, Sophie's (still active) shoegaze Tumblr, having a twin with superior taste, meeting your idols, going to “the evil place” aka Silver Lake Erewhon, Lizzie Grant era Lana, Chloe's dream double feature of Heretic and First Reformed, Mormon pretzel jello salad, and a shared devotion to Taco Bell.

Topics covered include: Harris’s longing to be 40, finding security in insecurity, eternal things, having an allergic response to fame, unsolicited wisdom from Tom Cruise, giving bite-sized chunks of yourself, murky waters, I Heart Huckabees healing a broken heart, wounded bits, embracing scary material, matching Florence’s courage in We Live in Time, soothing the nervous system, avoiding cliché, interrogating performance and desire in Babygirl, Andrew’s memories of shooting the iconic laptop smashing scene in The Social Network with Fincher, Ben Affleck’s actor’s commentary on Armageddon, having trust problems with directors, breaking bones skating and surfing, playing with Tech Decks at home, Harris’s childhood sketch comedy YouTube show, being a chubby boi, basketball as poetry, and Andrew honoring his own grief through We Live in Time.

Topics covered include: Sebastian’s early childhood in Romania, being a reformed introvert, obstacles as a good thing, past lives as Law & Order day players, a certain tenderness that runs thru Sing Sing, the risk and reward in playing real people, Colman being “knocked out by” A Different Man, motherly advice to “get some moisturizer,” living like a monk while filming, 9pm bedtimes, the pains of early 2000s pilot season, a shared stint at an NYC catering company, and dreams of DJ-ing.

Topics covered include: The script as a spell to perform, sneaking around your parents house, career ending movie ideas, the inaugural podcast compliment break, work and savoring as the only true constants, riding the Spook-A-Rama under the influence at Coney Island, the G word, so many boring people, finding equilibrium after a film, Jane’s favorite now defunct Epcot ride that featured Bill Nye and Ellen Degeneres, listening to Elliott Smith on set of I Saw the TV Glow, being a Weird Little Creature, Jack's advice on how to always prioritize play, becoming a punk singer, and taking time to heal.

Topics covered include: Wrinkly passports, being unable to operate any form of transportation, the Kim’s Video of 90s El Salvador, changelings, teenage obsessions with Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, scholarships for congeniality, night terrors, Julio’s short stint handing out chocolate samples at Fairway supermarkets, never-aired SNL sketches, the true joy of filming Problemista, gravitating towards green, favorite childhood toys, and questioning whether chaos is essential for good art.

Topics covered include: seeing your first movie at the neighborhood theater, the pressures of live performance, the animal that is the audience, parallels between directing and motherhood, abandoning the miracle, autobiographical filmmaking, feeling like broccoli, the Pacific Ocean as the villain in Past Lives, Harry Styles fan-fiction, writing on planes, revisiting The Artist’s Way, avoiding the sophomore slump, Francis Ford Coppola’s directing advice, a shared love of Barry Lyndon and Miyazaki, taking the audience to Mars, and what genre they would like to explore next (sci-fi, westerns, horror!)

Topics covered include: Nathan and Patti acting together off-Broadway in the mid-80s, herbal inspiration, learning on the job, sense memory, the brutality of Julliard, putting in the work, the dumbing down of America, witty alcoholics, the Alogonquin Round Table, Nathan falling in love with Dicks: The Musical, becoming A24 repertoire players, feeding ham to puppets, adoring Megan Thee Stallion, Patti’s deep hatred of ABBA, Broadway as a shopping mall, art as an essential human right, getting dual-citizenship ‘just in case,’ and Patti’s bootlegger grandmother.

Topics covered include: The Sopranos cast being sore losers at their first Emmy Awards, hyperbolic reviews, the extremes of Hollywood, getting recognized in Best Buy, only eating Subway sandwiches the entire time Steven shot Burning in Korea, long lost aunts, Michael experiencing an emotional pasta sauce on his first trip to Rome at 25, sprezzatura, the parallels between Christopher Moltisanti and Danny Cho, searching for meaning, breaking generational patterns, playing unlikeable characters with a profound sense of vulnerability, the realities of road rage, and Italian Korean fusion food.

Topics covered include: Nicole Holofcener’s genius, the vulnerability of writing a book, June brides, parenting adult children, Julia and J.’s mutual love of YHMF/Succession co-stars Jeannie Berlin and Arian Moayed, Gerri’s best moments that didn’t make the final cut of Succession S4, alternate endings, baby men, J.’s internalized bias against celebrities, not being able to log in to Uber, hyphenated last names, the potential for a Veep/Succession mashup, wanting to ride exquisite trains, learning Antonin Scalia was a Veep fan, keeping cherished pieces from Selina Meyer’s wardrobe, wishing she could re-do Elaine's signature hair, and slow-reading The Years of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Topics covered include: struggling to take a compliment, the pressure of the clock, unorthodox techniques for playing a character in physical pain, worst days on set, resisting comfort, Ari’s snappy attitude, Joaquin fainting mid-take with Patti Lupone, the experience of brutal humiliation, old school SFX makeup tricks, crying in front of the crew while filming Midsommar, doing weird shit in attics, and getting each other through moments when you don’t know what the f-ck to do.