Talking Pictures

Oscar-winning director Ron Howard tells host Ben Mankiewicz that he feared being “branded” a supernatural comedy director following the success of “Splash” and “Cocoon.” After tapping guidance from his “Happy Days” boss, Garry Marshall, and insight from Frank Capra’s biography, Howard set forth to explore the medium of film in all its genres as a director. He tells Ben about being mesmerized by “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate” and learning how to work with stars when acting in “The Shootist” with John Wayne directed by Don Siegel. Ron Howard’s Super 8 answers run the gamut from nods to “Project Hail Mary.” and “Eastern Promises,” to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and “Blazing Saddles.”

Films Mentioned:

Night Shift

Splash

Cocoon

Grand Theft Auto

It Happened One Night

Brian’s Song

Boys in the Band

The Wild Bunch

The Graduate

Bonnie and Clyde

White Heat

The Shootist

Charley Varrick

Skyward

Eden

The Paper

The Missing

Backdraft

Frontier Woman

The Journey

Around the World in 80 Days

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Project Hail Mary

Eastern Promises

Unforgiven

A Face in the Crowd

Gone with the Wind

Matilda

High Noon

Arrival

Something About Mary

Terms of Endearment

As Good as it Gets

Young Frankenstein

Blazing Saddles

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Actor-Director Tony Goldwyn talks with host Ben Mankiewicz about breaking into Hollywood where his family roots run deep and the Goldwyn name looms large. Tony looks back on the ups and downs of his acting career from Ghost to One Battle After Another and explains that directing became a way to get some control in a largely unpredictable business. He also admits that he nearly passed on Scandal– a role that revitalized his career. In the Super 8, he shares his most memorable movie watching experience: being absolutely terrified by The Exorcist.

Films Mentioned:

Ghost

Ezra

One Battle After Another

Dodsworth

Saturday Night Fever

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

Gaby: A True Story

Blood Simple

A Walk On The Moon

Someone Like You

Conviction

The Exorcist

The Godfather Part II

Howard’s End

The Maltese Falcon

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

The Best Years of Our Lives

The Madness of King George

When Harry Met Sally

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Director/Producer Hiro Murai whose new show is Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay,” joins host Ben Mankiewicz. They discuss why he and Donald Glover collaborate so well and how their initial approach to making “Atlanta” was unsustainable. Murai and Ben debate the value of surrealism in art and Murai reveals that he once pitched himself to direct a Beyonce video but completely understands why he didn’t get the gig. His answers to the Super 8 span Japanese films like Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro” and Takeshi Kitano’s “Sonatine” to the Albert Brooks comedy “Modern Romance” and Kubrick’s “The Shining.”

Films Mentioned:

Rosemary’s Baby

Eraserhead

Cool Runnings

The Shining

Terminator 2: Judgement Day AKA T2

Elevator To The Gallows

Boogie Nights

No Country For Old Men

Jurassic Park

Modern Romance

La Chimera

2001: A Space Odyssey

Ran

My Neighbor Totoro

Tampopo

The Sound of Music

Reds

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Oscar-winning actress Sally Field gets real with Ben Mankiewicz. Drawing on her memoir In Pieces, she discusses her fraught relationship with ex-boyfriend/Smokey and the Bandit co-star Burt Reynolds and his similarity to her abusive step-father. During The Flying Nun she was introduced to the Actors Studio where she transformed from a sitcom actress Hollywood had written off into someone who could fight for Norma Rae, fight Spielberg twice for Lincoln, and win both battles. In the Super 8 she praises the work of Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and reveals she rarely cries at movies.

Films Mentioned:

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Smokey and the Bandit

Sybil

Norma Rae

The Way West

Places in the Heart

Lincoln

Gone with the Wind

Them!

The Searchers

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Charade

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

The Enchanted Cottage

A Letter to Three Wives

Hooper

Absence of Malice

Steel Magnolias

Forrest Gump

Hud

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Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon joins Ben Mankiewicz to share unvarnished stories of a life in films– from making Rocky Horror Picture Show, Bull Durham, Witches of Eastwick, and Pretty Baby to navigating the cynical world of showbiz. She argues that every film is political– either challenging the status quo or enforcing it– and reveals her input into the iconic ending of Thelma & Louise which turns 35 this year.

Films Mentioned:

The Nutty Professor

The Accompanist

Dead Man Walking

Joe

Atlantic City

Pretty Baby

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Witches of Eastwick

Bull Durham

Sirat

Afterlife

Grapes of Wrath

Lord of the Rings

Bambi

Waiting for Guffman

Best in Show

Thelma & Louise

Being There

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

The Front Page, 1974

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