Awards Chatter

One of Hollywood's most dependable filmmakers — always good for an entertaining and solid, if not showy, film, with great performances, regardless of genre — reflects on how, at 21, his career took off like a rocket, then crashed, and then was rebuilt; how he learned to work with actors, including the biggest names in the biz (among them Stallone, Cruise and Chalamet), and guided two (Jolie and Witherspoon) to performances for which they won Oscars; and what it meant to him to personally land three Oscar noms — for producing, writing and, for the first time in his career, directing — for his new film about Bob Dylan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In front of an audience at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the revered English stage and screen actor reflects on how Shakespeare led him to his path; what he learned from collaborators like Steven Spielberg ('Schindler's List'), Robert Redford ('Quiz Show'), Anthony Minghella ('The English Patient') and Kathryn Bigelow ('Strange Days' and 'The Hurt Locker'); and what went into his latest — and, some believe, greatest — perfromance, as the dean of the College of Cardinals overseeing the election of a new Pope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the biggest pop stars on the planet, who is now an Oscar-nominated actress, reflects on how she broke into showbiz as a kid, each of her studio albums, how music has helped her through tough times, why she yearned for years to play Glinda, how her fame helped her to understand the pros and cons of being "Popular," plus much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The actor/writer/director reflects on why he, a socially-awkward kid, became a child actor, how the explosion of his acting profile (he was Oscar-nominated for 'The Social Network') coincided with his increased interest in writing and why, for his second outing as a director, he cast Kieran Culkin in the role that he originally intended to play himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The thrice Oscar-nominated actor, who is widely regarded as among the best of his generation, reflects on the explosive start to his screen career, collaborations with his era's greatest auteurs and why he was so impressed with his latest film's helmer, James Mangold, and star, Timothée Chalamet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The enigmatic Scottish Oscar winner, who doesn't consider herself an actress, reflects on her formative collaborations with Derek Jarman, how she wound up juggling the artiest of art house films with the biggest of big studio films and why she was so drawn to working with Pedro Almodóvar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The legendary English filmmaker reflects on the origins and specifics of his mysterious method of writing and directing; why he was forced to spend 17 years between his first and second theatrical features working in television, and the pros and cons of that; and how it feels to see his latest film, which was rejected by the Cannes, Venice and Telluride film fests, being so well received. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a conversation that was both epic and emotional, like his best films, the 51-year-old American actor — who at 29 became, and remains to this day, the youngest-ever best actor Oscar winner, for 'The Pianist,' and who on Sunday won a best drama actor Golden Globe for his latest film — looks back on an odds-defying, rollercoaster of a life and career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The master of family-friendly fare — he wrote 'Gremlins' and 'The Goonies' and directed two 'Home Alone' and two 'Harry Potter' films — reflects on working with Steven Spielberg in his twenties, how Chevy Chase driving him to quit 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' proved to be one of the best things that ever happened to him and why, in recent years, he and his daughter, Eleanor, began producing films by rising directors including Robert Eggers, whose latest opens on Christmas Day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The iconic actress reflects on growing up the daughter of Oscar-winning actor Joel Grey, the making of 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' and 'Dirty Dancing,' challenges that followed, and now, at 64, getting to be a part of a third instant-classic, Jesse Eisenberg's new dramedy about a group touring Holocaust sites in Poland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Englishman, who has been one of our finest screen actors for some 30 years — he was twice Oscar-nominated before he was even 30 — reflects on his special relationship with director Anthony Minghella, the sorts of roles that he deliberately avoided and why he has done some of his best work in recent years, including as an FBI agent pursuing white nationalists in Justin Kurzel's new film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The legendary singer/songwriter reflects on his path from small-town Alabama to the biggest stages in the world, first with the Commodores and then as a solo artist; the hits on which he worked along the way, and why so many of them center on love; and why “We are the World,” in particular — the subject of an Emmy- and Grammy-nominated and Oscar-eligible Netflix documentary — means so much to him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the great leading men of the last 50 years — think about his work in 'Days of Heaven,' 'American Gigolo,' 'An Officer and a Gentleman,' 'Pretty Woman' and 'Chicago' — reflects on how gymnastics and music helped to make him a better actor; how, over the decades, the sort of projects to which he's been drawn hasn't changed, but the industry's desire for them has; and what it was like reuniting with Paul Schrader, 44 years after their first collaboration, on his latest film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The iconic Playboy model and 'Baywatch' babe, who is now a Golden Globe-nominated actress thanks to her performance in Gia Coppola's new film, reflects on the odds-defying way in which she was discovered, how the infamous sex tape derailed her career for decades and what sparked the 'Pamaissance' of the last two years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 40-year veteran of movie stardom reflects on her difficult childhood and path to acting, the backlashes that she faced after her pregnant Vanity Fair cover and becoming the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, and what it's like aging in Hollywood, both in her hit new film and in real life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In front of an audience at Chapman University, the British A-lister reflects on how his background in theater has helped him in film, his 15-year run as James Bond and playing, in Luca Guadagnino's new adaptation of William S. Burroughs' semi-autobiographical novella, a gay American living in 1950s Mexico City who is addicted to booze, drugs and sex. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In front of an audience at Chapman University, the actress, singer, songwriter, businesswoman and philanthropist reflects on child stardom, the hurdles of transitioning to an adult career and her 2024 acting gigs, which have brought her, respectively, a piece of the Cannes Film Festival's best actress prize, the first acting Emmy nom of her career and the opportunity to return to the world of the show that put her on the map in the first place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In front of an audience at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Scotsman, who burst on to the scene in 1995's 'Trainspotting,' reflects on his early collaborations with Danny Boyle, his uncertainty about committing to do George Lucas' second 'Star Wars' trilogy and why, in recent years, he has increasingly gravitated toward TV limited series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The legendary Aardman animator and filmmaker best known for creating Wallace and Gromit reflects on his path to animation, what inspired his most famous plasticine characters and why — in his latest project, for Netflix, and for only the second time ever — he decided to feature them in a feature-length film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In front of an audience at the Miami Film Festival's GEMS event, the star of two of 2024's most widely discussed and debated films reflects on his journey from Romania to America, how he landed the part of Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and what it was like to play — and what he really thinks about — Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices