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Actor Joel Edgerton avoids conflict in real life, but embraces it on-screen

Joel Edgerton plays a horticulturist with a secret past as a white nationalist in Master Gardener. Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Magnolia Pictures

Actor Joel Edgerton avoids conflict in real life, but embraces it on-screen

Fresh Air

Edgerton stars as a horticulturist with a secret past as a white nationalist in Master Gardener. He says director Paul Schrader challenged him be "less of an actor" in the role.

Actor Joel Edgerton avoids conflict in real life, but embraces it on-screen

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From 'Almost Famous' to definitely famous, Billy Crudup is enjoying his new TV roles

Billy Crudup plays a salesman marketing timeshares on the moon in the futuristic series Hello Tomorrow! Apple TV hide caption

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Apple TV

Television

From 'Almost Famous' to definitely famous, Billy Crudup is enjoying his new TV roles

Fresh Air

Crudup stars as a fast-talking salesman in the retro-futurist Apple TV+ series Hello Tomorrow! He won an Emmy for his role as a cynical TV executive in the series The Morning Show.

From 'Almost Famous' to definitely famous, Billy Crudup is enjoying his new TV roles

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Whose Nightmares Are We Telling? How Horror Has Evolved for People of Color

Jasmin Savoy Brown stars in Scream 6 and Yellowjackets. photo by Robb Klassen/design by NPR hide caption

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photo by Robb Klassen/design by NPR

Code Switch

Whose Nightmares Are We Telling? How Horror Has Evolved for People of Color

Host B.A. Parker talks to Jasmin Savoy Brown, of the recently-released Scream 6, about playing a queer Black girl who lives. And film critics Richard Newby and Mallory Yu discuss how horror movies can actually help us empathize with each other

Whose Nightmares Are We Telling? How Horror Has Evolved for People of Color

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'Navalny' director says Russian opposition leader's spirit is unbroken

Daniel Roher attends the Navalny New York premiere at Walter Reade Theater on April 6, 2022 in New York City. Rob Kim/Getty Images hide caption

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Rob Kim/Getty Images

'Navalny' director says Russian opposition leader's spirit is unbroken

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to film director Daniel Roher about his award winning documentary detailing the events following assassination attempt of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

'Navalny' director says Russian opposition leader's spirit is unbroken

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'Whoever holds power, it's going to corrupt them,' says 'Tár' director Todd Field

Cate Blanchett stars as Lydia Tár in director Todd Field's Tár. Focus Features hide caption

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Focus Features

'Whoever holds power, it's going to corrupt them,' says 'Tár' director Todd Field

Fresh Air

Cate Blanchett plays a charismatic conductor who uses her power to take sexual advantage of young women she's mentoring. Both Blanchett and Tár director Todd Field have been nominated for Oscars.

'Whoever holds power, it's going to corrupt them,' says 'Tár' director Todd Field

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In 'Everything Everywhere,' Ke Huy Quan found the role he'd been missing

Ke Huy Quan plays Waymond, the meta-verse traveling husband in Everything Everywhere All At Once. A24 hide caption

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A24

In 'Everything Everywhere,' Ke Huy Quan found the role he'd been missing

Fresh Air

As a kid, Quan appeared in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. But he quit acting when he couldn't land good roles. He's nominated for an Oscar for his first performance in decades.

In 'Everything Everywhere,' Ke Huy Quan found the role he'd been missing

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Watch: Jonathan Majors on his meteoric rise through Hollywood

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with actor Jonathan Majors about his meteoric rise in Hollywood. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

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Nickolai Hammar/NPR

Watch: Jonathan Majors on his meteoric rise through Hollywood

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with actor Jonathan Majors, who has been busy. He's in a superhero movie, the Creed boxing franchise, and an art film that has critics buzzing about a possible Oscar.

Watch: Jonathan Majors on his meteoric rise through Hollywood

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The science power couple behind 'Strange World' reveals its animated secrets

Ethan and Searcher Clade stare out at a strange new world. Disney hide caption

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Disney

Short Wave

The science power couple behind 'Strange World' reveals its animated secrets

In Disney's new animated feature 'Strange World,' a band of multigenerational explorers journeys to the center of their fantastical homeland. Along the way, they fend off, make friends with, and unearth secrets about the curious creatures who call this place home. There's the filterlopes, six-legged deer-forms with fan-like antennae. Or scouts, squishy blue balls with 12 elastic limbs. But as fantastical as these creatures sound, each one is grounded in the physics and biology of its real-world counterpart.

The science power couple behind 'Strange World' reveals its animated secrets

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An Oscar-winning costume designer explains how clothes 'create a mood'

Costume designer Ruth E. Carter won an Oscar in 2019 for her work on Black Panther. She's been nominated for another Academy Award for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Chronicle Books hide caption

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Chronicle Books

An Oscar-winning costume designer explains how clothes 'create a mood'

Fresh Air

In the last 30 years, Ruth E. Carter has produced some of the most iconic looks in the Black film canon and beyond. She won an Academy Award for Black Panther and is now nominated for Wakanda Forever.

An Oscar-winning costume designer explains how clothes 'create a mood'

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'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' chronicles Nan Goldin's career of art and activism

Activists hold a banner reading "Take down the Sackler name" in front of the Pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris on July 1, 2019. Stephane De Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Stephane De Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images

Shots - Health News

'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' chronicles Nan Goldin's career of art and activism

Fresh Air

Filmmaker Laura Poitras and Goldin discuss their Oscar-nominated documentary about efforts to remove the Sackler family name from prominent museums amid the opioid epidemic.

'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' chronicles Nan Goldin's career of art and activism

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Let It Be Morning shines light on Palestinians' unease with the status quo in Israel

'Let it Be Morning' is the story of Sami (Alex Bakri), a Palestinian citizen of Israel living in Jerusalem who receives an invitation to his brother's wedding forcing him to return to the village where he grew up. Cohen Media Group hide caption

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Cohen Media Group

Let It Be Morning shines light on Palestinians' unease with the status quo in Israel

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Israeli filmmaker Eran Kolirin and Palestinian actor Alex Bakri about the film 'Let it Be Morning'.

Let It Be Morning shines light on Palestinians' unease with the status quo in Israel

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As Ryuichi Sakamoto returns with '12,' fellow artists recall his impact

Japanese musician, composer, record producer, pianist, activist, writer, actor and dancer Ryuichi Sakamoto, photographed on June 30, 2016 in Paris. Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images

Music Interviews

As Ryuichi Sakamoto returns with '12,' fellow artists recall his impact

The composer has been lauded for decades over his deeply affective music; director Alejandro González Iñárritu, composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and more join us to explain why.

As Ryuichi Sakamoto returns with '12,' fellow artists recall his impact

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James Cameron wants everyone to see 'Avatar 2' in theaters

Spider and Director James Cameron behind the senses of the 20th century studio's Avatar: The Way of Water. Mark Fellman hide caption

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Mark Fellman

James Cameron wants everyone to see 'Avatar 2' in theaters

NPR's A Martinez speaks with Director James Cameron about "Avatar: The Way of Water," the long-awaited sequel to his 2009 science-fiction blockbuster, "Avatar."

James Cameron wants everyone to see 'Avatar 2' in theaters

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He's edited Caro, le Carré and 'Catch-22,' but doesn't mind if you don't know his name

Robert Gottlieb describes editing as a service job: "Our job is to serve the word, serve the author, serve the text." Thomas Victor/Courtesy of the Estate of Thomas Victor, LLC / Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Thomas Victor/Courtesy of the Estate of Thomas Victor, LLC / Sony Pictures Classics

He's edited Caro, le Carré and 'Catch-22,' but doesn't mind if you don't know his name

Fresh Air

Robert Gottlieb has been working in publishing since 1955. The documentary Turn Every Page, by daughter Lizzie Gottlieb, examines his decades-long editing relationship with author Robert Caro.

He's edited Caro, le Carré and 'Catch-22,' but doesn't mind if you don't know his name

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Alexandre Desplat scores 'joyous melancholy' in Guillermo del Toro's 'Pinocchio'

Gepetto is voiced by David Bradley and Pinocchio by Gregory Mann in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Movies

Alexandre Desplat scores 'joyous melancholy' in Guillermo del Toro's 'Pinocchio'

Guillermo del Toro's new film, Pinocchio, hovers between joy and sadness. So does the music by French composer Alexandre Desplat — performed, appropriately, entirely on wooden instruments.

Alexandre Desplat scores 'joyous melancholy' in Guillermo del Toro's 'Pinocchio'

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'Knives Out' director takes a stab at tech moguls in 'Glass Onion'

Edward Norton (left) plays a tech billionaire who hosts a murder mystery party for an assortment of guests (Madelyn Cline, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe and Daniel Craig) in Glass Onion. John Wilson/Netflix hide caption

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John Wilson/Netflix

'Knives Out' director takes a stab at tech moguls in 'Glass Onion'

Fresh Air

Rian Johnson's film centers on a billionaire who's invited an assortment of so-called "disrupters" to his private island for a long weekend getaway to play out a murder mystery game.

'Knives Out' director takes a stab at tech moguls in 'Glass Onion'

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'Framing Agnes' questions the ways trans stories are told
NPR

It's Been a Minute

'Framing Agnes' questions the ways trans stories are told

When the world never stops questioning you, do you refuse to answer... or do you play along to get what you want? These questions are at the heart of Framing Agnes, an award-winning documentary about the legacy of a young trans woman in the 1950s who was forced to choose between access and honesty. The film uses the format of a talk show to re-enact interviews with the eponymous Agnes and five other trans people – taken from case files from a decades-old gender identity clinic at UCLA. Brittany Luse chats with the film's director, Chase Joynt, and historian Jules Gill-Peterson about the ways our society tells trans stories. They also dive into the limits of representation, the power dynamics of interviews and the nature of truth itself.

'Framing Agnes' questions the ways trans stories are told

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'Weird Al' Yankovic wants to 'bring sexy back' to the accordion

"I'm by nature actually a very shy person," Al Yankovic, shown here in 2014, says. "Being somewhat famous has helped me be more social and talk to people." Casey Curry/Invision/AP hide caption

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Casey Curry/Invision/AP

Music Interviews

'Weird Al' Yankovic wants to 'bring sexy back' to the accordion

Fresh Air

It's "a very sensual instrument," the parody artists insists. A new over-the-top "biopic" tells the story of Yankovic's life — sort of.

'Weird Al' Yankovic wants to 'bring sexy back' to the accordion

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Steven Spielberg was a fearful kid who found solace in storytelling

"I was a fearful kid, and my parents didn't quite know what to do with that," Steven Spielberg says. He's pictured above in New York City in March 2017. Mike Coppola/Getty Images hide caption

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Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Steven Spielberg was a fearful kid who found solace in storytelling

Fresh Air

Spielberg's latest project, The Fabelmans, is semi-autobiographical — focused on his childhood and teen years and his parents' divorce. He jokingly refers to the film as "$40 million of therapy."

Steven Spielberg was a fearful kid who found solace in storytelling

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Venture into the 'Fresh Air' crypt for a Halloween horror fest

Hand-carved pumpkins are displayed at Van Cortlandt Manor on Oct. 8, 2022, in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

Venture into the 'Fresh Air' crypt for a Halloween horror fest

Fresh Air

Ever wonder what keeps Stephen King up at night, or which movie scenes make Jordan Peele jump? For Halloween this year, Fresh Air rebroadcasting archival interviews with masters of the horror genre.

Venture into the 'Fresh Air' crypt for a Halloween horror fest

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Filmmaker says Emmett Till's mother deserves her rightful place in history

Danielle Deadwyler stars as Emmett Till's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, in Till. Lynsey Weatherspoon/Orion Pictures hide caption

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Lynsey Weatherspoon/Orion Pictures

Filmmaker says Emmett Till's mother deserves her rightful place in history

Fresh Air

Director Chinonye Chukwu tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley, whose decision to hold an open-casket funeral for her murdered son served as a catalyst for the civil rights movement.

Filmmaker says Emmett Till's mother deserves her rightful place in history

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The story of two bird-saving brothers in India gets an Oscar nom, an HBO premiere

Injured black kites at Wildlife Rescue, a clinic run by brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Muhammad Saud in Delhi. Over the past 12 years, they've treated nearly 26,000 of the raptors. The brothers are featured in a new prize-winning documentary, All That Breathes, which was just nominated for an Oscar and is premiering on HBO on Feb. 7. Javed Dar/Xinhua via Getty Images hide caption

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Javed Dar/Xinhua via Getty Images

Goats and Soda

The story of two bird-saving brothers in India gets an Oscar nom, an HBO premiere

Nominated for an Oscar and debuting on HBO this week, All That Breathes explores the mission of two Muslim brothers: saving raptors cut down by smog and deadly kite strings.

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