THE HOLLYWOOD PODCAST

Kristian Sensini is the composer of the award-winning independent animated film My Love Affair with Marriage. The film follows Zelma on her 23-year quest for perfect love and lasting marriage set against a backdrop of historic events in Eastern Europe. Told from a woman’s point of view, the film blends historical, biological, societal, and emotional arcs with a lively sense of humor and musical numbers. This animated film for adults tackles the issues of love, gender norms, domestic violence, fantasies and toxic relationships to propel a woman's journey toward independence and liberation.

DUE JUSTICE, a heart pounding thriller, is about a former marine Max (Kellan Lutz) who experiences a devastating loss when his beloved wife and daughter are brutally murdered in a cold blooded act of violence. Consumed by grief and driven by revenge, Max embarks on a relentless mission to hunt down those responsible.

Max discusses with Kellan how this project came to him, what gravitated him to wanting to play Max, and the preparation he underwent in portraying a former marine experiencing tragedy who's driven by revenge.

Later, Max chats with Efren on portraying the detective character of Santiago, how the role is against the typical comedic performances we're used to seeing from him, and his thoughts on an upcoming Napoleon Dynamite sequel.

Giovanni Lipari is the costume designer of the new AppleTV+ series The Buccaneers. The series tells the story of a group of American women who arrive in 1870s London society resulting in a cultural clash where centuries of tradition is being threatened.

Giovanni's past credits include the AMC series Into the Badlands, Paramount+ series Halo, and the recent Netflix film Love in the Villa.

Dominic Sessa is making his feature film debut in THE HOLDOVERS, directed by Oscar winning filmmaker Alexander Payne.

THE HOLDOVERS follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them -- a damaged, brainy troublemaker (Sessa) -- and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

Lesli Margherita (Broadway’s Matilda the Musical, You I Like at Pasadena Playhouse) and George Salazar (Broadway’s Be More Chill, Head Over Heels and Little Shop of Horrors at Pasadena Playhouse) are performing in the Pasadena Playhouse Holiday Spectacular, a new Playhouse tradition co-created by Head Over Heels co-director Sam Pinkleton and Randy Blair, playing December 14 through December 23. 

A Christmas Story, The Musical, based on the 1983 movie, is playing at the Ahmanson Theatre in a newly expanded production mounted for Los Angeles. It runs until December 31.

The musical, which is about young Ralphie Parker’s childhood in 1940s Indiana as he tries to get an official Red Ryder toy BB gun for Christmas, opened on Broadway in 2012. It has a score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Tony- and Oscar-winning songwriting team of Dear Evan Hansen and La La Land, and a book by Joseph Robinette.

Chris Carsten, who has previously toured in musicals such as Legally Blonde and My Fair Lady, plays Jean Shepard in A Christmas Story.

The American Contemporary Ballet's artistic director/choreographer Lincoln Jones and performer

Powell Robinson is a cinematographer whose known for shooting music videos for major artists such as Doja Cat, The Weeknd, Kelsea Ballerini, OneRepublic, Youngblud and many others. Outside of music videos, he’s known for his passion for dark, genre films with his latest one, APPENDAGE, streaming now on Hulu. The film premiered at this year’s SXSW and is about a young fashion designer with debilitating self-doubt that sprouts into a ferocious demon-like creature growing on her body.

Emmy & DGA nominated and BAFTA winning filmmaker Sean McNamara is known for his years as a filmmaker with a keen eye for family film and television entertainment. You can just look to the commercially successful film Soul Surfer, or his work on several shows on Disney Channel including Even Stevens, That’s So Raven and several others. He's widely credited with discovering now-household names including Shia LaBeouf, Hilary Duff, and Jessica Alba.

His latest directorial project marks a tone shift in what we’re used to seeing from him. The new edge-of-your seat horror film Vindicta, now streaming on Paramount+, is about a city that is terrorized by a sadistic serial killer. As a result, a seasoned detective and a newly recruited paramedic discover the key to stopping the bloodshed lies in unlocking the truth of their own haunted pasts.

The film stars Elena Kampouris known for the My Big Fat Greek Wedding films and the Netflix series Jupiter’s Legacy, Emmy winner Jeremy Piven of Entourage fame, and Sean Astin from Stranger Things and The Lord of the Rings films.