The Business

<p><span>Sir Ridley Scott just pulled off a one-of-a-kind filmmaking feat--cutting Kevin Spacey out of his new film and reshooting with Christopher Plummer in the role--all in just six weeks. Scott tells us about his mad dash to refilm 22 scenes of the Getty family kidnapping drama <em>All the Money in the World</em>.</span></p>

<p><span>It's time for that annual tradition--the year-end mega-banter! Kim Masters, Matthew Belloni and Michael Schneider take stock of the year that was in Hollywood.</span></p>

<p>Guillermo del Toro's new film, <em>The Shape of Water</em>, is a visually stunning love story between a mute cleaning woman and an exotic sea creature. It looks expensive, but del Toro actually came in under his modest budget. He tells us about the creative ways he stretched a dollar making his awards contender.</p>

<p>For his new series <em>Wormwood</em>, documentarian Errol Morris used interviews and archival footage to tell the story of Frank Olson, an Army scientist who died a mysterious death in 1953. But he also cast Peter Sarsgaard to play Olson in scripted sequences. Netflix footed the bill, though no one quite knew what they were getting themselves into when they first took on the project.</p>

<p>Documentary filmmaker Neil Berkeley desperately wanted to make a movie about the screeching comedian Gilbert Gottfried. But when he started spending time with Gottfried and his wife Dara, he found someone who was much different from -- and quieter than -- his onstage persona. Berkeley tells us about getting to know the real Gottfried and following him on the road, where he is shockingly frugal.</p>

<p>We revisit our conversation with actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish, who had a star-is-born moment earlier this summer with the raunchy comedy <em>Girls Trip</em>. Haddish says the movie has already changed her life, and she has big plans for where her career goes from here. Haddish and <em>Girls Trip</em> director Malcolm D. Lee tell us about filming during the actual Essence Festival and yes, a certain scene involving a grapefruit.</p>

<p>For the new movie <em>Call Me By Your Name,</em> Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino started as a consultant but ended up as the director. He tells us about the decade-long journey making the film and how he convinced Armie Hammer to take the part of Oliver, a closeted graduate student who finds a passionate romance one summer in 1980s Italy.</p>

<p><em>Better Things</em> co-creator Pamela Adlon tells us about learning to stop second guessing herself and embracing many roles -- writer, director, producer and actor. And yes, we ask her about Louis C.K. We spoke to Adlon just days before the New York Times published a story alleging that C.K., her long-time collaborator, had a history of sexual misconduct.</p>

<p>Hollywood chased after Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund following his well-received 2014 film <em>Force Majeure</em>. But Östlund isn't so sure he wants to be caught. He tells KCRW's Matt Holzman about staying in Scandinavia and his new movie <em>The Square, a satirical dramedy that is his second film selected as Sweden's foreign language submission to the Oscars. </em></p>

<p>Two women who have carved out great careers in Hollywood share their stories of sexual harassment. Comedy writer Janis Hirsch and <em>Grey's Anatomy</em> showrunner Krista Vernoff talk about what they've had to put up with and their hope that the culture will finally change.</p>

<p>Actor Andy Serkis is best known for his pioneering motion capture work. Now Serkis has stepped behind the camera to direct the new movie <em>Breathe.</em> The film is a very personal one for producer Jonathan Cavendish; it tells the true story of his remarkable parents. Serkis and Cavendish tell us why they wanted to make an old-fashioned love story like <em>Breathe,</em> give a <em>Jungle Book</em> update and talk about some of the new projects in the works at their performance capture studio Imaginarium.</p>

<p>First, a news banter checking in on the Harvey Weinstein saga. Then, filmmaker Sean Baker, known for shooting movies on the iPhone, tells us why he went old school 35mm with <em>The Florida Project</em>, and how the discipline required when using real film actually helped him work with five- and six-year-old actors.</p>

<p>We have interesting guests on <em>The Business</em>, and sometimes our conversations are too long to fit into one show. This week we give you stories that were too good to leave on the cutting room floor, including some sharp insights on making it in the industry from David Mandel, David Simon, Shawn Levy and Matt Reeves.</p>

<p>Filmmakers and married couple Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton planned to release their film about the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs before the 2016 presidential election. Then their star, Emma Stone, signed on to make <em>La La Land</em> and <em>Battle of the Sexes</em> got pushed back. Now their film -- about a battle against misogyny, gender discrimination and homophobia both on the tennis court and off -- suddenly has more resonance than they expected.</p>

<p>When <em>Will & Grace</em> co-creator Max Mutchnick went to his long-time writing partner David Kohan with the idea of reuniting the cast for a one-off web video, Kohan humored him. Little did he know the reunion would end up going far beyond that one short video. Will, Grace, Karen and of course, just Jack -- are now coming back to NBC for two new seasons.</p>

<p>In writer-director Mike White's new movie <em>Brad's Status</em>, Ben Stiller plays a man consumed with jealousy of friends from college, based on their social media. White tells us why he wanted to make a movie about ambition in the age of Instagram, and the challenge of making humanist movies when the studios only want the next superhero franchise.</p>

<p><span>When David Simon started shopping his new show <em>The Deuce</em>--about the rise and legalization of the porn industry--he quickly realized a lot of networks didn’t quite grasp his seriousness of purpose. The creator of<em> The Wire</em> and <em>Treme</em> tells us how <em>The Deuce</em> ended up back at his longtime TV home, HBO, and why he ended up making a show about porn in the first place.</span></p>

<p>Director Shawn Levy built a career on the <em>Night at the Museum</em> franchise, but wanted to break out of his box. He set out to produce, and this past year scored with the Netflix mega-hit <em>Stranger Things,</em> now up for 18 Emmys. He tells us how he went about getting the industry to reconsider him.</p>

<p>TV writer-producer Chuck Lorre has created some of the most successful multi-camera broadcast sitcoms ever, including <em>Two and a Half Men,</em> and <em>The Big Bang Theory.</em> Now he's entering a new stage in his career with two projects -- the Netflix pot comedy <em>Disjointed</em> and the single camera show <em>Young Sheldon</em> for CBS--that are pushing him outside his previous purview.</p>

<p>Billy Eichner has had recent roles in Hulu's <em>Difficult People,</em> Netflix's <em>Friends from College,</em> and in the upcoming season of <em>American Horror Story</em> on FX. But it's through his truTV game show, <em>Billy on the Street,</em> that he's in the Emmy race. He tells us about the evolution of his person-on-the-street antics and why not every celebrity is a good fit for the show.</p>

<p>Gigi Pritzker didn't plunge headlong into the movie business -- her original life plan was to run an NGO in Nepal. An accidental journey to film school set her on a path to producing lots of films, including the Oscar-nominated <em>Hell or High Water</em>. But she'd never done television until <em>Genius,</em> on the life of Albert Einstein, demanded to be made as a series. The first season of the National Geographic anthology series is now up for 10 Emmys.</p>

<p>Bryan Fogel's original plan for his documentary <em>Icarus</em> was to investigate pervasive doping in cycling by becoming a human guinea pig. He recruited chemist Grigory Rodchenkov in Moscow to guide him. Then Rodchenkov was revealed as the architect of Russia's state-run doping program -- and he was ready to blow the whistle. Fogel helped Rodchenkov flee, and then things got really scary.</p>

<p>Actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish is having a star-is-born moment with the raunchy comedy <em>Girls Trip</em>. Haddish says the movie has already changed her life, and she has big plans for where her career goes from here. Haddish and <em>Girls Trip</em> director Malcolm D. Lee tell us about filming during the actual Essence Festival and yes, a certain scene involving a grapefruit.</p>

<p>Character actor Curtis Armstrong auditioned for the 1984 comedy <em>Revenge of the Nerds,</em> hoping to play the lead. The filmmakers saw him in the lesser role of Booger. At first, Armstrong told his agent, no way. But that role became a standout in Armstrong's long career as a character actor in film and TV. He shares stories of Booger and beyond in his new memoir.</p>

<p>Filmmaker Matt Reeves knew his new film, <em>War for the Planet of the Apes</em>, had to work even without any help from computer-generated effects. He tells us about shooting whole film first with his actors in special motion capture suits, and shares early thoughts on his next project, <em>The Batman</em>.</p>

<p>Filmmaker Allen Hughes has been friends with music moguls Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine for years. But when he set out to make the new HBO documentary series <em>The Defiant Ones </em>-- about their careers -- Hughes found that getting them to open up on camera wasn't easy.</p>

<p>When Norman Lear decided to reboot the classic sitcom <em>One Day at a Time</em>, this time with a Latino family, he wanted a writer-producer who could offer an authentic voice to the project. He found that person in Gloria Calderón Kellett, who incorporated much of her own background into the show, including making the family Cuban.</p>

<p>As a Muslim comedian, <em>Daily Show</em> correspondent Hasan Minhaj found he could relate to political reporters when he agreed to the daunting challenge of doing the first White House Correspondents' Dinner of the Trump administration. Minhaj tells us about crafting his routine in just three weeks, and the far slower process of creating his new and very personal Netflix special, <em>Homecoming King</em>.</p>

<p>For the past two seasons, former <em>Seinfeld</em> and <em>Curb Your Enthusiasm</em> writer David Mandel has been showrunning HBO's <em>Veep.</em> And while the show can have eerie parallels to reality, Mandel tells us that more often than not, it's real life that ends up imitating <em>Veep.</em></p>

<p>Director Shawn Levy built a career on the ‘Night at the Museum’ franchise, but wanted to break out of his box. He set out to produce, and this past year scored with the Oscar-nominated movie ‘Arrival’ and the Netflix megahit ‘Stranger Things.’ He tells us how he went about getting the industry to reconsider him.</p>

<p>Scott Silveri has written and produced sitcoms for more than 20 years. In all that time, he never encountered a TV family that looked anything like the one he grew up in -- with a mom, a dad...and a brother with cerebral palsy. He changed that with his show <em>Speechless</em> on ABC. Silveri tells us about looking to his own past for stories, and why he was determined to make a family comedy and not just a "disability show."</p>

<p>Steven Bochco, the writer-producer behind record-breaking Emmy winners <em>Hill Street Blues, LA Law</em> and <em>NYPD Blue</em>, fought battles with everyone from out-of-control actors to network censors in his long career. He isn’t afraid to tell those tales in his memoir, <em>Truth Is a Total Defense</em>. This week we revisit the conversation where he shared some of his favorite stories with us.</p>

<p>The novel <em>American Gods</em> features countless mythological characters gearing up to fight an epic battle. The writer-producers of the new adaptation on Starz were determined to do justice to the book -- even if that meant constantly moving production and pushing the budget. Showrunners Michael Green and Bryan Fuller tell us why they're not worried about critics who say the show is confusing, and go into the thinking behind an especially memorable, explicit sex scene.</p>

<p>After selling out stadiums in India, comedian and actor Vir Das is looking to break through in the US with his new Netflix special, <em>Vir Das: Abroad Understanding</em>. He tells us about making the jump from Bollywood to Hollywood and how he hopes his pointed humor can redefine expectations in India and America.</p>

<p>Author Margaret Atwood realizes that Hulu's adaptation of her Dystopian 1985 novel <em>The Handmaid's Tale</em> has gotten a huge PR boost, thanks to a turn of events that hardly seemed possible when work on the series was underway. Atwood and showrunner Bruce Miller talk about adapting the story for television and the eerie timeliness of the new series. </p>

<p>Kitty Green's new film, <em>Casting JonBenet</em>, is an experiment in nonfiction storytelling. The documentary shows a series of people from Boulder, Colorado, auditioning for roles in a movie about the infamous 1996 murder. Green never really intended to film a reenactment of the crime, but it was hard to explain to the actors what she did intend. She tells us how she got people on board and speculates on the reasons behind the country's continued fascination with the still unsolved murder.</p>

<p>British filmmaker Ben Wheatley has built up a cult following with his hyper-violent, darkly funny movies. His newest film <em>Free Fire</em> is an action comedy starring Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, and a whole lot of guns. The movie has the broadest commercial appeal of any of his work to date, but it's still a Ben Wheatley film, which means, spoiler alert...a lot of people die.</p>

<p>Known as the "Jon Stewart of Egypt," Bassem Youssef hosted a satirical news show that was the first of its kind in the Middle East. The show was immensely popular, until the military-backed government forced Youssef off the air and out of the country. Youssef and director Sara Taksler tell us about their documentary <em>Tickling Giants</em>, which profiles Youssef’s leap from heart surgeon to super star satirist. </p>

<p>Writer-producer Damon Lindelof wrapped up the hit series <em>Lost</em> in 2010, and he still gets lashed by fans who hated the ambiguous ending. Now as Lindelof launches the final season of <em>The Leftovers</em> on HBO -- another series that revolves around a mystery -- he still cares what people think of his work, but this time, he's stay far away from Twitter.</p>

<p>TV writer-producer Rob Long was brought in on short notice to run the faltering CBS sitcom <em>Kevin Can Wait</em>. Long talks about getting the sitcom back on track, why he hopes there's not a writers' strike, and what itPs like to be one of the few outspoken conservatives in Hollywood.</p>

<p><em>Beauty and the Beast</em> director Bill Condon is no stranger to musicals -- he wrote the screenplay for movie versions of <em>Chicago</em> and <em>Dreamgirls</em> -- the latter of which he directed as well. But when Disney approached him about making a live-action adaptation of its famous animated classic he was initially hesitant to take it on. He talks about what changed his mind and how he set about making the movie his own.</p>

<p>Filmmaker James Mangold has been making character-driven dramas for more than 20 years, but lately, he's been in the X-Men superhero business. In his latest film, <em>Logan</em>, Hugh Jackman plays the slashing Marvel mutant one last time, so Mangold wanted to make something more nuanced than the usual comic-book movie. </p>

<p>Ryan Murphy oversees a small TV empire on FX, with series including <em>American Horror Story, American Crime Story</em> and his latest effort, <em>Feud</em>. The first cycle of that show focuses on the rivalry between movie icons Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. On all his shows, Murphy now has a strict rule: at least half of the directors and crew members must be women or minorities.</p>

<p>In an exclusive interview with <em>The Business</em>, Oscars producer Michael De Luca remembers the night that culminated with the biggest flub in Academy Awards show history. De Luca tells us what happened in the moments following that epic blunder and what he thinks should have happened instead.</p>

<p>After an investigation by reporter Gary Baum, the LA city attorney has filed charges against more than two dozen people involved with casting workshops that are allegedly paid auditions for minor roles. Baum tells us how these workshops became so prevalent, and casting director Billy DaMota explains his longstanding opposition to the practice. Plus, one last look at the major Oscar races.</p>

<p>Production was well under way on Disney's <em>Zootopia</em> when directors Rich Moore and Byron Howard concluded the film needed a major do-over. Breaking the news to animators was not easy. But the move paid off, and <em>Zootopia</em> is now Oscar-nominated for best animated feature. </p>

<p>How busy is filmmaker Ava DuVernay? Well, between directing Disney's '<em> Wrinkle in Time</em>, executive producing <em>Queen Sugar</em> on OWN and working the awards circuit for her Oscar-nominated doc <em>13th</em>...really busy. She tells us why she's taken it all on, and how <em>13th</em> is resonating with audiences post-election in ways she never could have predicted.</p>

<p>Director Raoul Peck's film about the essayist and activist James Baldwin was a decade in the making. Now, <em>I Am Not Your Negro</em> is Oscar-nominated for best documentary. Peck tells us how he got access to Baldwin's archives and why right now is the perfect time to learn about the late writer. </p>

<p>Writer-director Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz have been friends and collaborators since first meeting at Harvard. Together, they struggled for years to make an original movie-musical. Now, their film <em>La La Land</em> is up for a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations.</p>

<p>When Norman Lear decided to reboot the classic sitcom <em>One Day at a Time</em>, this time with a Latino family, he wanted a writer-producer who could offer an authentic voice to the project. He found that person in Gloria Calderón Kellett, who incorporated much of her own background into the show, including making the family Cuban.</p>