THE HOLLYWOOD PODCAST

Award-winning producer Matthew Perniciaro is making his directorial debut with the Amazon Studios/IMDBtv original docuseries MOMENT OF TRUTH: THE KILLING OF JAMES JORDAN. The series tells the never-before-seen story behind the murder of Michael Jordan’s father, James Jordan, in 1993. Fans of last year’s THE LAST DANCE may recall the horrible story of Jordan’s murder, but MOMENT OF TRUTH explores the circumstances surrounding the murder further by exposing the rampant corruption in the small North Carolina town where the heinous crime and subsequent trial occurred.

Perniciaro's previous producing credits include Madeline's Madeline, Her Smell, Native Son, The Fight, Disclosure, The Truffle Hunters, and the HBO series Betty. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Max chats with TCM hosts Alicia Malone, Dave Karger, Jacqueline Stewart, and Eddie Muller on what we can expect from this year's TCM Classic Film Festival; Golden Globe winning actress Jacqueline Bisset on one of her earliest films Bullitt, which is featured in the festival; and the Oscar winning actor George Chakiris and Oscar nominated actor Russ Tamblyn on commemorating the 60th anniversary of West Side Story with TCM and offers their thoughts on the upcoming Steven Spielberg remake.

Max also chats with the TCM staff on the decision to have the festival this year go fully virtual and the collaboration with HBO Max.

Order of interviews:

West Side Story stars Russ Tamblyn and George Chakiris – TCM Host Ben Mankiewicz

Bullit star Jacqueline Bisset – TCM Host Eddie Muller – TCM Host Alicia Malone

TCM Host Jacqueline Stewart – TCM Host Dave Karger

TCM General Manager Pola Changnon, Festival Director Genevieve McGillicuddy, SVP of Programming Charlie Tabesh

Anne Thompson, editor-at-large of IndieWire, chats with Max on her final predictions for the 93rd Academy Awards. Anne is one of the most well-known & -respected awards prognosticators in film journalism today. Before writing for IndieWire, her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Observer, Wired, Film Comment, and the LA Weekly. She's also the creator of her blog Thompson on Hollywood, which can be read on IndieWire.

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 Oldman, and Best Supporting Actress for Amanda Seyfried.

Burt and Pascale are both nominated for Best Production Design for their work in the film. This is each of their second nominations for an Academy Award. Burt's first nomination was for a previous David Fincher film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2009, which he went on to win. Mank is Burt's sixth film collaboration with Fincher, having previously worked with him on Zodiac, Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and The Social Network. Other credits include Donnie Brasco and The Joy Luck Club.

Pascale was previously nominated for another black-and-white film; the George Clooney-directed Good Night, and Good Luck in 2006. Her previous credits include Training Day, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Argo, Sicario, and Vice. Her work can next be seen in the upcoming Tom Cruise-led Top Gun: Maverick.

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 - relationship with Rory as he begins to question his sexual identity.

Sweeney has been nominated for Best First Screenplay for Straight Up at this year's Film Independent Spirit Awards. Past recipients of this award have included David O. Russell, Darren Aronofsky, Charlie Kaufman, Tom McCarthy, Diablo Cody, Dustin Lance Black, Lena Dunham, and Bo Burnham. Although not an original on the streamer, Straight Up is now available to stream on Netflix.

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 prior work has garnered him three Grammy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination.

Now, Kotecha is nominated for his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for the song "Husavik (My Hometown)" from the Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. Koetcha spoke with Max on the process for writing "Husavik", his collaborations with director David Dobkin & screenwriters Will Ferrell and Andrew Steele, and what the Oscar nomination for the song means to him and the people of Husavik.

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 with Ryan Murphy on his celebrated television shows. Some of her credits include Nip/Tuck, Scream Queens, Glee, Feud: Bette and Joan, American Crime Story, 9-1-1, Hollywood, and American Horror Story. She also serves as a producer on several of these shows, along with Ratched and The Politician. Mekash is the recipient of 11 Make-Up Artist and Hairstylists Guild Awards, eight Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Producers Guild Award. Her Oscar nomination this year for Hillbilly Elegy is her first.

Mungle is one of the most celebrated make-up artists in film and television today. In a career spanning over four decades and 250 credits, Mungle has been nominated for 26 Emmys (winning 6), 5 Make-Up Artist and Hairstylist Guild Awards (winning 3), 3 BAFTA nominations, and 5 Oscar nominations (winning one for 1992's Dracula). Some of his most celebrated work includes Schindler's List, Ghosts of Mississippi, Albert Nobbs, Frida, Red Dragon, Edward Scissorhands, The Polar Express, W., August: Osage County, Lee Daniels' The Butler, and The Irishman. His Oscar nomination for Hillbilly Elegy is his fifth.

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 into one overall sound category.

This is Borders' second nomination, following 2013's Lone Survivor. His previous credits include The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Transformers, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Foxcatcher.

This is both Wyman and Shaw's first nomination apiece. Wyman's previous credits include Grown Ups, X-Men: First Class, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Big Short, and Deepwater Horizon. Shaw's previous credits include The Hours, Revolutionary Road, Young Adult, Beauty and the Beast, and Uncut Gems.

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 Screenplay also for Fennell, and Best Editing. Willis recently recieved a BAFTA nomination for Best Original Music for his work on "Promising Young Woman".

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 entitled Crewelwork, by Justin Torres (the author of We The Animals) that illustrates the story of a young artist. Wilson also chatted with Max about currently filming season 4 of Paramount+'s "Star Trek: Discovery", the launch of "My So-Called Life" on Hulu, and his thoughts on doing a revival of the 90's teen drama.