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You may recognize W. Kamau Bell from his three-time Emmy Award-winning docuseries United Shades of America, or from his Substack Who's With Me, or from his commercials for the ACLU. If you're a long-time ACLU supporter, you'll know Bell has worked with us for more than a decade as our Artist Ambassador for Racial Justice. We're excited to have him as our interim host for our At Liberty podcast, where he will host conversations with leaders, legal experts, artists, and storytellers dedicated to the fight for civil rights and civil liberties. In this episode, Kamau discusses how gender-affirming health care can save lives with activist and Emmy-nominated actress Nava Mau and Dr. Susan Lacy, a board-certified gynecologist who has provided the care at her Memphis clinic for decades. They get into how the transgender community accesses this health care, why it's vital to them, the misconceptions around it, and why — on the heels of a Supreme Court case that could threaten access — we all need to get involved. The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, centers on when, where, and how the government can discriminate against transgender people and the health care they receive. Mau and Dr. Lacy, a plaintiff in the case representing herself and her patients, address what's at stake and what practical next steps we can take to help protect transgender rights from an avalanche of legal and legislative battles.
If you're to ask "Who's the greatest living American director?", I think the answers often lie in one of two camps: Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg. It's the "Beatles or Stones?" question for movie nerds. And while Scorsese has firmly wormed his way into my heart, I always respect Spielberg. Maybe it's the kind of respect that comes with making capital-C Classics: JAWS, SCHINDLER'S LIST, JURASSIC PARK, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. However, it wasn't until Susan Lacy's 2017 documentary "Spielberg" (a must-watch on HBO Max, like...right now) that I stopped seeing the director as the - director - but more as a man, riddled with the same neuroses stemming from our universal human condition. He's scared of damn near everything. His parents had a rocky marriage. Being part of one of the few, if any, Jewish families in Northern California comes with its pile of Anti-Semitism. He and his dad argued over Steven's directing ambitions. His mom struggled with mental illness. As I've read on Film Twitter, "men will make movies instead of going to therapy," which is why I can't examine THE FABELMANS for what it is on the surface - a coming-of-age drama - and instead, tack on the Spielberg connection. Sammy Fabelman's (Gabriel LaBelle) story IS Spielberg's story: the story of a kid who falls in love with movies after trying to figure out how the train crash in THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH happened. He's mesmerized by the sway of the inexplicable, the intangible but oh so very real. In that way, he's Mitzi Fabelman's (Michelle Williams) child. He's driven to precise execution, obsessive with controlling every detail, with complete understanding of how and why each piece works. If he's not Burt Fabelman's (Paul Dano) kid, I don't know whose else he could be. Dress this against the backdrop of '50s and '60s America, the deserts of Arizona and the beaches of California, the kinds of secrets that age a boy too soon and good ol'-fashioned bullying and you get a helluva breeding ground in which a promising artist carves his way. Spielberg's playful. He's mischievous. He's splaying himself wide open. It's the kind of movie that takes a 76-year-old to make because that layer of self-consciousness is flattened thin by time and its reflections. It's the story of a grieving son, his "thank-you" and "I love you" to the two pillars of his understanding, not only of film, but also the world. The dancer and the computer. --------------------------- Song of the Episode: "Passenger Seat" - Death Cab For Cutie --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/
In this super short solo episode I discuss 'Spielberg' the documentary by Susan Lacy. It occurred to me yesterday that this podcast may contain spoilers for forthcoming Steven Spielberg film 'The Fabelmans' but I don't know as I haven't seen it yet. Oh, and apologies for the singing at the start of the episode but once I came up with the tune I couldn't help myself.
The History of Rock N Roll Part XIII - Laurel Canyon & The L.A. Sound On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I go back to our never-ending examination of the History of Rock N Roll with a look at the Laurel Canyon scene of the late 60s and early 70s. Profiling The Mamas & The Papas, The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, & Nash and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, The Doors, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, LIttle Feat, Love, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and a host of others, we continue our look into the History of the American Music Scene and the era that both inspired and was affected by this music. We look at a number of documentaries to understand this music and time, including: Echo in the Canyon (Dir. Andrew Slater, 2019), The Two Part Epix Documenary - Laurel Canyon (Dir. Alison Ellwood, 2020), Joni Mithcell - A Woman of Heart and Mind (Dir. Susan Lacy, 2003), and - finally - David Crosby: Remember My Name (Dir. A.J. Eaton, 2019). Take a listen . . . it's a good conversation - Very Personal. Questions, Comments, Complaints, & Suggestions can be directed to gondoramos@yahoo.com. Many Thanks.
Do you live in a simulation? Join Luke and Sophia as they explore the possibility of that very question in the most recent episode of Off The Watchlist, about The Truman Show! -- Audio used from Susan Lacy's documentary Spielberg.
This week’s podcast is with film producer and director Susan Lacy, who created ‘American Masters’ for PBS and has produced and/or directed films featuring […] Read More
Susan Lacy is a master of the biographical documentary genre. She has created, directed and served as executive producer of the Emmy-award winning PBS series AMERICAN MASTERS -- by many considered to be the gold standard of documentary filmmaking. In this fascinating interview Susan talks about the origins of American Masters, she also shares stories and reflects on the essence of documentaries she produced at HBO about Jane Fonda and Steven Spielberg and her latest documentary called “Very Ralph”, about the iconic American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Photography by Lorella Zanetti
Academy Award-winning actress Lee Grant (“Shampoo,” “In The Heat of the Night,” “Valley of the Dolls”) sits down with American Masters creator Susan Lacy for an in-depth conversation about her upbringing, surviving years on the Hollywood blacklist during the McCarthy era, and her career as an actress and documentary filmmaker. Grant describes how key moments of difficulty in her life emboldened her toward new heights.
Beyond being, arguably, the most iconic and celebrated fashion designer in America, Ralph Lauren’s name adorns a New York Stock Exchange-listed company (NYSE: RL) with a market cap of over $8 billion. Telling his story, after 50 years in business, falls to the expert eye and cinematic mind of Susan Lacy, Director and Producer of the new documentary “Very Ralph” from HBO (NYSE: T). In our conversation, Susan reveals her passion for storytelling contained in this compelling chronicle of the American Dream. Inside the ICE House: https://www.theice.com/insights/conversations/inside-the-ice-house
Imagine pitching a documentary series and being told, “If it was a good idea it would have already been done.” How did Susan Lacy who had no producing experience successfully go through roadblocks to get her legendary series, “American Masters”, on PBS, win 14 Emmys, and pull of the impossible by getting Steve Spielberg to participate in his first and only full length documentary? You are about to find out.
Women Rule talks with actress Jane Fonda about political activism, "radical kinship" with Donald Trump and his supporters, and the latest documentary examining her extraordinary life in the public eye, HBO's "Jane Fonda in Five Acts." We also chat with Fonda and filmmaker Susan Lacy about the arc of their careers and the relationships we build with women. The HBO documentary film "Jane Fonda in Five Acts" is available on HBO Now, HBO Go and on demand.
Film veteran Susan Lacy discusses her latest documentary, Jane Fonda in Five Acts. Lacy stresses that celebrated actress and political activist Fonda has been shaped by four “acts —the four men in her life—her father and actor Henry Fonda, and husbands, film director Roger Vadim, political activist Tom Hayden and media mogul Ted Turner. The last act is Fonda's alone, on her lifelong journey to personal liberation.
Acclaimed actress Jane Fonda and filmmaker Susan Lacy talk about their teamwork on the acclaimed documentary "Jane Fonda in Five Acts": why her activism is so relevant today, the revelation that surprised them, and the scene that made them both cry.
Saving Private Ryan. Schindler's List. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Phone home: this week it's all about Spielberg. HBO turns its lens on the iconic director in Spielberg; documentary directed by 14x-Emmy winner Susan Lacy. At 16:55: This week's #ListofSix: 6 Fun Facts About (who else?) Steven Spielberg (and his movies).
The 55th New York Film Festival took place September 28th and ran through – October 15th, 2017 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Why Watch That was there to cover it. Check out "The Critics" final thoughts on the film festival and the last few films he had the opportunity to catch. Wonderstruck (Currently in theaters)Ben and Rose are children from two different eras who secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known, while Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his home and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out on quests that unfold with mesmerizing symmetry.Starring: Oakes Fegley, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Millicent SimmondsDirected by: Todd HaynesProduced by: Pamela Koffler, John Sloss, Christine VachonCinematography by: Edward LachmanDistributed by: Amazon Studios, Roadside AttractionsRuntime: 117 minutes Lady BirdIn Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig reveals herself to be a bold new cinematic voice with her directorial debut, excavating both the humor and pathos in the turbulent bond between a mother and her teenage daughter. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) fights against but is exactly like her wildly loving, deeply opinionated and strong-willed mom (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat after Lady Bird's father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. Set in Sacramento, California in 2002, amidst a rapidly shifting American economic landscape, Lady Bird is an affecting look at the relationships that shape us, the beliefs that define us, and the unmatched beauty of a place called home.Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen Henderson, Lois SmithDirected by: Greta GerwigProduced by: Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, Evelyn O'NeilCinematography by: Sam LevyDistributed by:A24 (United States) Universal Pictures (International)Runtime: 93 minutes Wonder Wheel Four peoples' lives intertwine amid the hustle and bustle of the Coney Island amusement park in the 1950s: Ginny, an emotionally volatile former actress now working as a waitress in a clam house; Humpty, Ginny's rough-hewn carousel operator husband; Mickey, a handsome young lifeguard who dreams of becoming a playwright; and Carolina, Humpty's long-estranged daughter, who is now hiding out from gangsters at her father's apartment.Starring: Jim Belushi, Juno Temple, Justin Timberlake, Kate WinsletDirected by: Woody AllenWritten by: Woddy AllenProduced by: Letty Aronson, Edward Walson, Erika AronsonCinematography by: Vittorio StoraroDistributed by: Amazon StudiosRuntime: 101 minutes Spielberg (Documentary)a documentary film directed by Susan Lacy, and is centered around the career of director Steven SpielbergStarring: Jim Belushi, Juno Temple, Justin Timberlake, Kate WinsletDirected by: Susan LacyProduced by: Susan Lacy, Jessica Levin, Emma PildesCinematography by: Ed Marritz, Samuel PainterDistributed by: HBO See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Steven Spielberg is the highest grossing directors of all time, with over 50 influential titles under his belt. And yet, do we really know Spielberg? After all, he rarely does public appearances or gives in-depth interviews. Perhaps the director was just waiting for the right moment to tell his life’s story and the right person to tell it to. Fortunately, that time has come, and that person is our guest, Susan Lacy. As executive producer of the PBS series American Masters, she produced 250 films exploring the lives of America’s most influential cultural icons. For the new HBO documentary ‘Spielberg', she turned her hand to directing. Lacy interviewed Steven Spielberg for over 30 hours collectively, skillfully pulling out threads from his own life to weave together the film’s thesis: though he’s not known as a “personal filmmaker", there’s a part of Spielberg in every film he makes. In this episode Susan Lacy joins No Film School’s Liz Nord and the film’s editor, Deborah Peretz, to discuss how they managed decades-worth of archival and new interview material, and what they learned from Spielberg and his movies in making this one.
We review BLADE RUNNER 2049, which is the latest installment in the BLADE franchise starring Wesley Snipes. I kid, obviously. Margo D. from the Book vs. Movie podcast joins us to talk about one of the long-awaited sequel to BLADE RUNNER, which is one of the most influential sci-fi movies of all time. In our second segment, Smith and I talk about the new documentary SPIELBERG, which aired on HBO Saturday night. After watching it I have a whole new appreciation for THE LOST WORLD. Not really. And finally, we end our show with our weekly roundtable discussion about Sunday night’s episode of STAR TREK DISCOVERY with Jeff Bond and Alexandra August. Topic 1: Blade Runner 2049 Review with Margo D from Book v Movie The original 1982 BLADE RUNNER directed by Ridley Scott is considered a sci-fi masterpiece. It influenced pretty much every futuristic sci-fi movie that came after it, and it was burned in the brain of a generation of visionary filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro and Christopher Nolan. Still, at the time of its release, BLADE RUNNER wasn’t a box office success. Perhaps if it had been a box office success we wouldn’t have had to wait 35 years for a sequel … but maybe that’s a good thing. BLADE RUNNER 2049 is directed by Denis Villeneuve, who directed one of my favorite recent movies ARRIVAL, and stars Ryan Gosling as a blade runner who uncovers a huge secret that would disrupt the uneasy relationship between replicants and humans, which leads him to Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard from the original. We’re going to talk about the movie spoiler free for a bit, but we will probably get into spoilers a little later. Don’t worry, though. We will give you a heads up first. Joining us to talk about BLADE RUNNER 2049 is one of my favorite podcasting people, Margo D from Book vs Movie. But before we jump into our BLADE RUNNER review, and I want to ask you both: Which one of the BLADE RUNNER cuts is your favorite? This movie has been tinkered with countless times, and there are three different versions floating around, including the original, the director’s cut and the final cut, which is the only one that Ridley Scott had complete control over. Here’s where you can find Book vs. Movie http://bookvsmovie.libsyn.com/ https://www.facebook.com/bookversusmovie/ https://twitter.com/bookversusmovie https://twitter.com/BrooklynFitChik Margo also co-hosts The Best Neighbors Podcast, which I super love https://twitter.com/bestneighbors Topic 2: SPIELBERG... the documentary and the man On Saturday night HBO premiered a Susan Lacy’s new documentary on the films and life of Steven Spielberg, who needs no introduction beyond this: He is the director of Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T: The Extra Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, AI, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, Lincoln and Bridge of Spies. Topic 3: Episode Discussion, Star Trek: Discovery Ep04 Returning today to talk about Star Trek: Discovery Ep04, "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry is my favorite living critic, Jeff Bond. He’s the author of several books, including The Music of Star Trek and The Art of Star Trek: The Kelvin Timeline, as well as a forthcoming book on Seth MacFarlane's The Orville. Also joining us is Alexandra August, one of the quickest, funniest pop culture commenters we know, Alexandra August. You may know her as the co-host for the fantastic GOT Thrones podcast, from her writing at Geek Magazine. If you don’t, well, that’s your loss dummy! Hear Alex's Star Trek: Discovery podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/got-thrones-a-game-of-thrones-podcast/id1006016678?mt=2 SyFy’s Happy Series Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eLnaLCZklo Jeff Bond's story in Backstory (it's an iPad magazine) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/backstory/id521967972?mt=8 Find The Dorking Out Show here...Dorking Out Show Bloghttp://dorkingoutshow.com/ Dorking Out Show Twitterhttps://twitter.com/dorkingoutshow Dorking Out Show YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ufLeNHiA59ANCMPlAdAOQ Dorking Out Show Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/dorkingoutshow Dorking Out Show Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/DorkingOutShow Sonia’s Twitterhttps://twitter.com/TheSoniaShow The Sonia Show Bloghttp://www.thesoniashow.com/ The Sonia Show Facebook Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/TheSoniaShow Chris’ Twitter:https://twitter.com/JettJergens The Jett Jergens Bloghttps://jettjergens.com/ Jett Jergens Facebook Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/JettJergens/
Looking ahead to the New York Film Festival premiere of Susan Lacy's documentary Spielberg, this week's Film Comment podcast considers the household-name auteur: the architect of the modern blockbuster, and a surviving (and thriving) master of the Classical Hollywood vernacular. Molly Haskell is on hand to impart wisdom from her most recent book Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films, which came out in the spring, as well as firsthand recollections of writing about Spielberg in the age of second-wave feminism. She joins Film Society of Lincoln Center Editorial Director Michael Koresky, who edited the Reverse Shot book Steven Spielberg: Nostalgia and the Light, published with Museum of the Moving Image this summer, and FC Digital Producer Violet Lucca for a discussion spanning Spielberg's big marquee titles and his less appreciated works.
Emmy-winning filmmaker Susan Lacy, and series creator and executive producer of "American Masters," joins us to chat about tonight's show/film documentary INVENTING DAVID GEFFEN, airs tonight at 8pm (eastern) on PBS. American Masters explores the highs and the lows in Geffen's professional and personal life through more than 50 new interviews with his friends, colleagues and clients, as well as other media luminaries. Irving Azoff,Jackson Browne, Cher, David Crosby, Clive Davis, Barry Diller, Maureen Dowd, Rahm Emanuel, Nora Ephron, Tom Hanks, Don Henley, Arianna Huffington, Jimmy Iovine, Elton John, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Calvin Klein, Steve Martin, Lorne Michaels, Mike Nichols, Yoko Ono, Frank Rich, Steven Spielberg, Jann Wenner, Neil Young, and many others illustrate Geffen's riveting story filled with extraordinary achievements.
No one wants to be average. But everyone wants to be normal. What's up with that? You can't imitate your way to excellence. It can be achieved only by breaking away from the pack, abandoning the status quo. But breaking away from the pack is also the way to spectacular failure. Are you beginning to understand why there is so little excellence in the world? A weird person who succeeds is called eccentric. A weird person who fails is called a loser. Most people just walk the middle path and wonder what might have been. If there is, somewhere, a Book of Days, what will be written in it about you? Will the book say you played it safe, never took a chance and were buried in such-and-such a place? I think Tom Peters gave excellent advice to managers when he said, “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” The New York Times tells us, “She embarked on a show-business career at 15 by going to Manhattan and enrolling in John Murray Anderson's dramatic school. From the first, she was repeatedly told she had no talent and should return home. She tried and failed to get into four Broadway chorus lines, so she became a model for commercial photographers. She won national attention as the Chesterfield Cigarette Girl in 1933. This got her to Hollywood as a Goldwyn chorus girl. For the next two years she played unbilled, bit roles in two dozen movies. She then spent seven years at RKO, where she got leading roles in low-budget movies. But she was wrongly cast and mostly wasted in films.” In all, Lucille Ball appeared in 72 B-movies before she became too old to be credible as a female love-interest. Her lackluster career on the silver screen ended without fanfare in 1948. So at the age of 37, Lucy left the movies, swallowed her pride and became Liz Cooper on the live radio show, My Favorite Husband. Jess Oppenheimer, her director, tells the story. “I remember telling Lucy, 'Let go. Act it out. Take your time.' But she was simply afraid to try. So one day, at rehearsal, I handed Lucy a couple of Jack Benny tickets. She looked at me blankly. 'What are these for?' 'I want you to go to school,' I told her. It did the trick. When Lucy came into the studio for the next rehearsal, I could see she was excited. 'Oh my God, Jess,' she gushed, 'I didn't realize!' She just couldn't wait to get started trying out the new, emancipated attitude she had discovered. On that week's show Lucy really hammed it up, playing it much broader than she ever had before. She coupled this with her newfound freedom of movement, and there were times I thought we'd have to catch her with a butterfly net to get her back to the microphone. The audience roared their approval, and Lucy loved it. So did I.” Released from her fear, Lucy Ricardo had been born. In 1951, a middle-aged Lucy leaped out from our black-and-white television screens into every living room in America. “To say that Lucille Ball was a phenomenon is an understatement. Through sheer determination and hard work, this one woman fundamentally changed the broadcast industry forever.” – Susan Lacy, winner of 5 Emmys as executive producer of American Masters Most people, when they finally become successful, become conservative. Fearful of losing what they've gained, they abandon the behaviors that brought them success. But not Lucy. As the fearless owner of Desilu Studios, she took two enormous chances: Star Trek and Mission: Impossible. American television would never be the same. On April 27, 1989, the New York Times ran her obituary. Its last few sentences were these: Addressing a group of would-be actors, she said the best way to get along with tough directors was “don't die when they knock you down.” She said she was very shy at the start of her career, but overcame it when “it finally occurred to me that nobody cared a damn.” Associates called Miss Ball self-reliant,...
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