Little Gold Men by Vanity Fair

On this week's episode, Mike, Richard, and special co-host Hillary Busis talk about Isabelle Huppert's intense performance in the Oscar-y French film ELLE. Also: a rave for Pete's Dragon and a look at the New York Film Festival lineup. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A discussion of Suicide Squad naturally leads to Woody Allen and his Café Society in this week’s Little Gold Men. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this week's episode, we look back at ComicCon, and ahead to the Toronto Film Festival, whose lineup helps clarify what this year's Oscar race might look like. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this week’s episode of Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast, Mike, Richard, and Joanna discuss Stranger Things, the new Netflix series that’s a scary, nostalgic blast. Then we’re joined by our colleague Julie Miller for a ComicCon preview. Plus: Emmys snubs and surprises, a spoiler-y chat about Ghostbusters, and a look at the 1983 best picture Oscar race. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this week’s episode of Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast, Mike, Richard, and our esteemed temporary co-host Joanna Robinson debate the merits of "Ghostbusters" and its legion of “ghostbro” haters. From there, the conversation moves to "Swiss Army Man," a controversial indie movie that Joanna loves, Richard hates, and Mike is ambivalent enough about to play referee. Plus, we offer up some Emmy nominations predictions, and then take a look at the 1985 Oscars, when "Ghostbusters" was nominated for best original song, up against some certified classics. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As AMPAS addresses its diversity problem by inducting a huge new class of voters, Mike Hogan and Richard Lawson get the inside scoop from L.A. Times reporter Rebecca Keegan - and indulge in a bit of reckless speculation regarding the 2009 race for best actress. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week we have a tale of two summer movies: one, Independence Day: Resurgence, a sequel that nobody asked for and not that many people saw either, and the other, The Lobster, a surprise arthouse hit. Even bigger surprise? We have a lot of affection for both of them. All of that plus a look at Matthew McConaughey’s would-be Oscar bid, Free State of Jones. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Cameron Crowe has had a rough go of it since winning the best original screenplay Oscar for Almost Famous, but Showtime’s Roadies could serve as something of a comeback— maybe. ON this week’s episode Joanna Robinson joins us to talk about her visit to the set of Roadies, and we also take advantage of her Game of Thrones expertise to look back at what the season has brought us, and explain a few things about what the heck the White Walkers are up to, anyway. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week we finally have an awards show to talk about— the Tonys! The Broadway awards were a bigger hit than usual this year, and had the usual expected doses of earnest enthusiasm; we debate whether any of that can actually translate to the movie-star cool of the Oscars. Plus discussion of Meryl Streep’s would-be summer hit Florence Foster Jenkins, a look at the grim state of summer box office, and a surprisingly fervent debate about the best picture of 2003. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week we’re joined by Slate’s Aisha Harris, co-author of The Black Film Canon, a piece that highlights the 50 best films by black directors - many of which you’ve probably never heard of, which is precisely why there needs to be a black film canon in the first place. From there we discuss the upcoming Tony Awards, which are not just about Hamilton, plus some pondering over the new miniseries O.J.: Made in America, which is airing on ABC but also eligible for the Oscars. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

With a special guest appearance from Decider.com's Joe Reid, we look back at Oscar history to watch what would happen if, say, you took Kathy Bates's Oscar and gave it to Julia Roberts. Plus an examination of why the Oscars seem so allergic to comedies, even very good ones like The Nice Guys. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When the Cannes Film Festival awards were announced on Sunday they were met with boos in the press room-- why? Richard Lawson explains what went down, and then three special guests and fashion experts join to discuss the other thing everybody was talking about on the Croisette: the fashion. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Richard phones in from Cannes to fill Katey and Mike in on the highlights of this year's Cannes Film Festival, from the Oscar contenders that are already emerging to the way Leonardo DiCaprio made even a room full of glamorous Cannes attendees starstruck. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

With Mike and Richard both en route to the Cannes Film Festival, Katey enlists VF.com’s Hollywood writer, and podcast expert, Joanna Robinson as co-host, as the two discuss the week in Oscar news, the careers of the actors on Game of Thrones, and get into a debate about the 1997 Oscar race. Plus, a guest appearance from Jordan Hoffman, who can tell you everything you really need to know about Cannes, from the French teenagers begging for tickets to the place that serves the best kebabs on the Croisette. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The acclaimed director of A Few Good Men, The Princess Bride, and now Being Charlie weighs in on modern politics— including Ted Cruz’s love of The Princess Bride and what Archie Bunker would think of Donald Trump— as well as what went into making his most personal film. Plus: a discussion of the week’s biggest new release,Captain America: Civil War. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The actor and director of the new indie The Family Fang joins us to talk about the start of his directing career (at the age of 18!) and what you learn about yourself when you direct Christopher Walken. Also discussed: Michael Keaton and Meryl Streep’s next Oscar bids, the new season of Game of Thrones, and a look back at the 2007 Oscar race. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week we're joined by Indiewire's film editor Kate Erbland to run down this year's TriBeCa Film Festival, and we dig into new release The Huntsman: Winter's War, which stars one Oscar winner and therefore can't be ignored. Plus chatter about the Cannes Film Festival lineup and a debate about the most controversial Best Picture win of the last decade. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We’re a quarter of the way through 2016, and are there any good movies out there at all? Yes, says our guest Matt Patches, the senior entertainment editor for Thrillist, who is keeping a running list of the year’s best movies, and is already getting hate mail for it. From there Katey, Richard, and Mike discuss Richard Linklater’s new film Everybody Wants Some, and go back in time to rewrite history and hand Linklater that Oscar he deserves. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week we welcome special guest Franklin Leonard, the founder and CEO of The Blacklist, which is the perennial answer to the question “where are all the good movies?” We ask Franklin about how he and The Blacklist dig up the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood and what’s the good stuff we should look forward to this year. From there we look at the year’s biggest, most prestigious awards: The MTV Movie Awards (OK, maybe not). But there are some surprisingly satisfying nominees this year. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Giving in to what we’ve actually been obsessed with since the Oscars, we dive into The People v. O.J. Simpson, the FX miniseries that has us and much of the country re-obsessed with a 20-year-old trial. From there we look at an accidental trilogy of music biopics arriving at an odd time of year, and then dare to re-arbitrate the 2014 Oscars: if you were in charge that year, who would have won best actor? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Joined by special guest Christine Lahti, who won an Oscar in 1996 for her short film Lieberman in Love, we look back at the ceremony that happened 20 years ago this week, from the bad fashion to Christine’s memorable competition with the likes of Jeff Goldblum. We also discuss this week’s new release Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, catch up on the latest in Oscar buzz, and make our cock-eyed predictions of who would win best supporting actor if the Oscars were held . . . tomorrow. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Oscars may be over, but the seeds of Oscar season are sown well before anybody actually starts campaigning— which is why we’re keeping Little Gold Men going through the “off-season” between now and Labor Day. To kick things off, we’re joined by Decider’s Joe Reid, who is one of those crazy people who has made his 2017 Oscar predictions, and who shares some of them with us. From there we talk about one of the most interesting movies of the spring so far, Jeff Nichols’s Mud, and make some truly insane predictions about what would win best picture if the Oscars were to happen tomorrow. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Oscar night is over, so how did it all happen, and why? Katey and Mike, still in formal wear from the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, join Richard to discuss the awards and the big, big surprise that came at the end of the night. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In this special pre-Oscars episode, we're joined by Vanity Fair's executive director of public relations Beth Kseniak to share stories from inside Vanity Fair's annual Oscar party, from attempted gate-crashers to the good old days when a wall was knocked down every year to make the party happen. From there we dive deep into the complicated math that determines best picture: what is the preferential ballot, and why does it matter? Allow us to explain. Sent from my iPhone Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

With Oscar night just days away, we welcome Deadline Hollywood’s awards expert Pete Hammond to talk about the real nitty gritty of the awards race, and how The Revenant seems to have pulled off a late-breaking surge to win the whole thing. Also this week: We did our homework and discuss all of the nominated short films, and dive into the best original song category to answer the question that’s truly on everyone’s minds this season— “Will Lady Gaga win an Oscar? " Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week we’re joined by the New York legend and awards season powerhouse Peggy Siegal, the publicist and hostess behind the New York luncheons, dinners, and cocktail parties that are crucial for anyone who wants to win an Oscar. A woman who sees plays in London with Tom Cruise and gives Leonardo DiCaprio awards season advice at Christmas parties in the Caribbean, Peggy shares her stories from the awards circuit and tells us who will win everything this year. She’s the woman who knows everything, so you should take her predictions as gospel. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Room’s best director nominee Lenny Abrahamson joins us with a dispatch from the thick of awards season, where you have to be in shape to shake all those hands and to survive the buzz that says you’re never getting nominated— having an 8-year-old accomplice definitely helps. We also look at the careers of this year’s nominees and predict who will use their nomination to make the biggest career leap. In other words, get ready to see a lot more of Alicia Vikander and Brie Larson. Finally, we go big before we go home and predict, for the final time, the best actress winner. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Two incredible guests this week: Whoopi Goldberg, a four-time Oscars host, Oscar winner, and presenter at this year’s awards, shares her stories from the stage and her thoughts on Hollywood’s ongoing push for more diversity, at the Oscars and beyond. Then we’re joined by Tom McCarthy, the Oscar-nominated director of best picture contender Spotlight. He discussed how he and his co-writer Josh Singer became journalists themselves to make the movie, and how little he expected the real-world implications the film has had. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In the wake of #OscarsSoWhite and the Academy's bold new rule changes to try to correct the problem, we talk about Hollywood's overall diversity dilemma, with some input from Spike Lee, Don Cheadle, and John Legend. From there we catch up on the biggest news from Sundance, including Nate Parker's record-busting hit The Birth of a Nation, and do our best to predict one more mysterious category, Best Director. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

With the Oscar nominations now behind us, we take a look at the closest best picture race in recent memory, and bring back Decider's Joe Reid to talk about This Had Oscar Buzz, the 2015 class. We also make bold predictions about one of the year's trickiest categories, best supporting actress, where any one of the five nominees could conceivably win. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We react to the 2016 Oscar nominations with surprise, resignation, and in the case of Mad Max: Fury Road, awe that it happened at all. From there we share our interview with Domhnall Gleeson, who stars in two best picture nominees (The Revenant and Brooklyn) as well as two more films that received multiple Oscar nominations (Ex Machina and Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Even he agrees he probably deserves a break at this point. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

While Hollywood recovers from its hangovers, we gather for a special Little Gold Men episode to digest the Golden Globes— the winners, the losers, the many surprises, and the standing ovations that tell us a lot about Oscar season. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As New York floods with awards hopefuls getting in face time before Oscar voting closes, we have two great interviews to share: first with Ridley Scott and Drew Goddard, the director and writer, respectively, of The Martian, and then with Sarah Silverman, the SAG-award nominated star of I Smile Back. We also squeeze in some discussion of the Golden Globe nominees and make our picks for who will win the best original score Oscar. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For the final episode of the year, we look back at the year in film and the wacky Oscar race that has resulted. Plus, a conversation with Elizabeth Banks, star of Love and Mercy and the final Hunger Games movie as well as director of Pitch Perfect 2. Finally, we check in on the state of the extremely competitive best actress race. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Adam McKay, director of The Big Short and a fellow podcaster, joins us to talk about the sense of anger— but also humor— that led him to make the financial crisis film The Big Short, and why he absolutely had to bring in Anthony Bourdain to help him do it. From there we’re joined by Vanity Fair’s executive West Coast editor Krista Smith to dig into Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, which is just one of two movies this Christmas about men killing each other in the snow. Finally we go big before we go home and weigh on whether Leonardo DiCaprio is a lock to win the best actor category. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We’ve finally seen the new Star Wars film, so we discuss (with minimal spoilers!) whether it lived up to the hype, and what its Oscar potential might be. From there we talk to Jennifer Jason Leigh, a Golden Globe nominee for her role in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight and one of the three voice actors in Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa. Finally we make our predictions for who will win best cinematography— and can Emmanuel Lubezki make history? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

After a crazy week of awards nominations, top ten lists, and everyone complaining about “snubs,” we sort through the SAG and Golden Globe Nominations and the critical buzz to figure what’s really happening with awards season now. Then we use all of that newfound knowledge to make our predictions, once again, of what will win the best picture Oscar. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We’ve finally seen The Revenant, so we dig into the awards potential of the grim, long Western that should finally get DiCaprio his little gold man. From there we look back at our favorite Oscar wins of the recent past, and then forward to the upcoming Golden Globe nominations. Finally, we go big before we go home and predict who we think will win best supporting actress. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Special guest Karina Longworth, host of the Hollywood history podcast You Must Remember This, joins us to explain how producer David O. Selznick bucked Hollywood tradition to put his weight behind future Oscar behemoth Gone With the Wind. We also discuss the much-loathed Oscar tradition of “category fraud” and whether or not it even matters, pick some movies we think might surprise us this year, and make our bold predictions for who will win the best supporting actor Oscar. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Vanity Fair’s executive west coast editor Krista Smith joins us to give a real insider’s look at the year’s Oscar campaigns so far, and make a bold prediction about the Best Picture hopes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And speaking of bold predictions, we close with our best guess of who will win Best Director. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Special guest Joe Reid joins us to talk about his Tumblr This Had Oscar Buzz and look back at movies that didn’t quite make it into the annual derby. Plus we discuss your choices for under-appreciated Oscar contenders of years past, ponder the awards possibilities for Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, and make our boldest predictions for who will win Best Actor. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Our special guest Jason Segel, who plays David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour, tells us what was scary about taking on the role, what it was like to attend the Oscars with The Muppets, and how the help of friends like Paul Rudd has raised the profile of this tiny— but Oscar-buzzy— indie film. Plus, we go over the highs and lows of Steve Jobs, talk about your answers to our question about which overlooked talents deserve awards attention this year, and make our bold, probably foolish picks for who will win Best Actress. This episode is sponsored by Audible.com. Get a free audiobook of your choice at www.audible.com/GOLD Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Oscars may not be until February, but awards season has already kicked off. In the first episode of Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men, Katey Rich, Mike Hogan, and Richard Lawson discuss the two buzziest titles from the Toronto Film Festival, Room and Spotlight, and then look at two A-list actors— Johnny Depp and Matt Damon— who are making a run for best actor. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices