From our live show at the Toronto Film Festival, James McAvoy discusses the true story behind his directorial debut, California Schemin’. Then, Hamlet star Riz Ahmed joins us to explain why the Shakespeare drama still resonates. Recorded from the St. Regis Hotel in Toronto.

David, Richard, and Rebecca answer mailbag questions about how the Oscars have changed, the most annoying film discourses of all time, and tips for attending film festivals. They also dream-cast LGM with previous Oscar winners as the hosts. Finally, as David and Richard say farewell, they present the Little Gold Men Awards and share their favorite Oscar-watching memories.

Heading to TIFF? Join us on September 5 for a live show at the St. Regis Hotel with special guests Riz Ahmed and James McAvoy. To request a ticket, please email us: [email protected]

Ahead of the fall festivals, David, Rebecca, and Richard get wildly speculative by presenting their own predictions for which 10 movies will be nominated for the best-picture Oscar. They discuss the apparent front-runner so far, the few other apparent locks, and which winter releases appear bound to surprise. 

The actor and director, nominated in both Emmy categories, talked to Rebecca about her ambitions for writing and directing in the future, including giving a certain purple dinosaur of children’s TV the film treatment. She also shares her thoughts about fans shipping Syd and Carmy, and why being on The Bear has made her hopeful for the future of Hollywood.

This week, David, Richard, and Rebecca take a look at Warner Bros.' hot streak, which continued with the horror hit Weapons. They also each pick a couple Emmy nominees they hope get a little love from voters ahead of final voting next week. Finally, they answer some listener questions, defending the Academy's choice to open up Best Picture to 10 nominees.

Emmy nominee Michelle Williams on the role that brought her back to screen after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus, what it’s like to die over and over again onscreen, and what keeps her optimistic about the film and TV industry.

In the second installment of this summer's Little Gold Men book club series, David, Richard, and Rebecca are joined by VF's Hillary Busis to discuss Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet, which explores grief and hope from the perspective of William Shakespeare's wife. At the end of the episode, O'Farrell herself joins David and Rebecca to talk about Chloe Zhao's movie adaptation starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.

Ben Stiller joins the show and goes deep on his busy year, from filming the “daunting” new Meet the Parents movie to planning Severance season 3—right after that huge Emmy noms haul. Plus, exclusive details on the richly personal documentary he directed about his parents, coming out in October.

David, Richard, and Rebecca share their thoughts on The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and if the movie is a success as a Marvel reset. Plus, they imagine a world where Marvel never existed and what that would have meant for some of the franchise stars' careers. Then, they wrap up with a festival-related listener question.

Our next Little Gold Men book club read is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. We'll be discussing the novel and its upcoming film adaptation on our August 7 episode. We've also added one more book for this summer, the third most-popular in our listener survey: The Ballad of a Small Player by Rowan Joffé. We'll be discussing that one on our August 28 episode. Read along with us and send your questions to [email protected]. 

This week, David, Rebecca, and Richard dive into the newly announced TIFF and Venice Film Festival lineups for clues on front-runners and sleepers in the Oscar season to come—as well as a few surprising omissions. The hosts also dig into the shocking cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, and revisit Ari Aster’s Eddington after its muted opening weekend.

Our next Little Gold Men book club read is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. We'll be discussing the novel and its upcoming film adaptation on our August 14 episode. We've also added one more book for this summer, the third most-popular in our listener survey: The Ballad of a Small Player by Rowan Joffé. We'll be discussing that one on our August 28 episode. Read along with us and send your questions to [email protected].