Episodes

More than a music supervisor Mary Ramos is a detective, a negotiator and a fixer when it comes to suggesting and securing the perfect music for her directors. If you have been to the cinema in the last twenty years - you already know her work! Her credits include over 100 films from Reality Bites to Spotlight, and the many iconic Quentin Tarantino soundtracks. At this year’s Göteborg Film Festival Mary Ramos joined for a Master Class, moderated by our podcast host Christina Jeurling Birro, to share her process. This episode was recorded live during this Master Class and we were excited to have the opportunity to ask her: What does her work as a Music Supervisor entail? How does she select music? What lengths will she go to to secure song rights? How does the process differ when working with composers? And MUCH more!

Welcome to this very special episode of Pop Culture Confidential that we recorded live in London where we interviewed several of the greats, in and around, this year’s most talk about films – ‘Spotlight’. The film won ‘Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture” at the SAG Awards, and is a definite Oscar contender for Best Picture. We sit down with Mark Ruffalo and the Pulitzer Prize journalist for the Boston Globe he portrays in the film, Mike Rezendes. As well as Walter Robinson, the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter for the Boston Globe who was portrayed in the film by Michael Keaton, and writer and director Tom McCarthy. We ask – What shocked them most during the original investigation? Has the Catholic Church done enough to stop the cycle of abuse? What was it like bringing the story to the screen? And MUCH more! In 2001 the Boston Globe’s investigation team, called Spotlight, was responsible for exposing the systematic cover up of sexual abuse towards children by…

On this weeks episode we are honored to talk to Susan Sarandon - Oscar winning actress, producer, Ping-Pong enthusiast, social and political activist, and passionately committed to human rights. Together with her production company Reframed Pictures; Susan Sarandon now embarks on a documentary project about one of her real inspirations, actress Hedy Lamarr! Lamarr was a Hollywood superstar know as the “the most beautiful woman in the world” but she had a secret life – as a brilliant inventor. Lamarr’s World War II invention changed history and our lives, and today is a technology that we use in cellphones, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi communication, but Hedy Lamarr would not get the recognition she deserved. Because of her storied career, Sarandon was in a unique position to understand what it was like for Hedy Lamarr to fight hard for roles on screen while fighting harder to change the world off screen. In this week’s episode we talk to Susan Sarandon about her new documentary but also why He…

The King’s Speech, Juno, American Hustle, Argo, a…

This weeks guests Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi…

full frenzy and what better way to start the year…

Steinem has been an outspoken champion of women’s rights since the 1970s and has just released her new memoir ‘My Life of The Road’. Her work has been an inspiration to us personally and to a whole generation of women in pop culture – from comedian Amy Schumer to actress Lena Dunham, both of who are highlighting how society looks at women today with their work. As a columnist for New York magazine and a founder of Ms. Magazine Steinem has published seminal articles, including one that detailed her stint as a Playboy bunny to highlight the sexist treatment of women at Playboy Clubs, and a pioneering work in 1969, titled “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation.” Which brought her to national fame. More recently she has written about importance of Hillary Clinton’s run for President and what it means for society. Throughout her life she has battled for reproductive rights and has been vocal about her own abortion when she was 22. This book is in fact dedicated to “the doctor that changed …

Gorgeous, moving and subtle – ‘Carol’ is a beauti…

From Citizen Kane, All The Presidents Men, Anchor…

We are thrilled to speak with Roger Christian who…

This weeks guests have created some of the most i…

Marlon Brando was one of the most acclaimed and i…

Carrie Coon burst onto the scene in 2014 with two remarkable performances in David Fincher’s Gone Girl and HBO’s The Leftovers. We are honored to speak with her! How would you react if 2% of the world’s population suddenly disappeared, including your husband and two children? This is the premise for Carrie Coon’s character Nora Durst on the hit HBO show The Leftovers, now in its second season. The show is co-created by Lost’s Damon Lindelof and the author of the novel, Tom Perrotta. We speak to actress Carrie Coon about her work on The Leftovers and what season two will bring for her character, what it was like to work with David Fincher on the psychological thriller Gone Girl and how the roles for women on television are evolving. Then we ask the question – can watching television increase your emotional intelligence? New research shows that watching award-winning television shows, such as Mad Men, Lost, The Good Wife or The West Wing, can increase our ability to read emotion and to …

By 1982, cocaine made up 30% of all Colombian exp…

Twenty-five years ago Buzz Bissinger went in sear…

Guest: Priyanka Chopra This week we interview one of the world’s biggest movie stars. She acts, she sings, she dances, and as an FBI agent in the new ABC drama “Quantico” she kicks some serious butt! Priyanka Chopra, the Bollywood superstar has over 50 films on her resume, and is now taking Hollywood by storm – and making history by being the first South Asian woman to headline a US network drama. Priyanka Chopra was born in Jamshedpur India, but as a teenager she lived for some years with her aunt in the United States. She returned to India in her late teens and at 18 she won the Miss World Title, an event that helped start her film career. Today Chopra is one of Bollywood's highest-paid actresses and a vocal advocate for women’s rights. She has shown herself to be extremely versatile by playing a range of unconventional characters, including a serial killer, a glamorous femme fatal, India’s real-life boxing champion Mary Kom and an autistic woman in the internationally acclaimed rom…

Guest: Kevin Baillie Even a death-defying high-wi…

In the 1970s, there wasn’t a Hollywood agent more…

Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp and directed by …

Guest: Debra Birnbaum, Variety With the Emmy’s ju…

Guest: Jenny Jaffe Funny, fearless and passionate…

Guest: Ellen Lewis The iconic performances in Goodfellas, Scent of a Woman, Forrest Gump, The Devil Wears Prada, Wolf of Wall Street and close to 70 other films have one thing in common - renowned casting director Ellen Lewis. While the director and screenwriter create a films world, it is the casting directors job to fill this world with just the right mix of actors to create exhilarating onscreen chemistry. Lewis has been doing just that for directors such as Mike Nichols, Jim Jarmusch, and Martin Scorsese. In fact her IMDB page looks like a list of the best films from the past two decades. In this exclusive interview with Ellen Lewis we discuss her career changing films, tricks of the trade, why there is still no Oscar given for casting, and her recent work which includes the upcoming Steven Spielberg feature Bridge of Spies, and highly anticipated new HBO series Vinyl, produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger.

Guest: Lisa Belkin Race, community and politics –…

As correspondent on The Daily Show or on HBOs hit…