The Society-Deforming Spectacle of Jubilee
On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Puck media correspondent Julia Alexander to discuss the absurdities of Jubilee. You might not recognize the name of the company but you’ve probably seen some of their clips; most recently, Mehdi Hasan went up against 20 self-described far-right conservatives that resulted in at least one of the participants losing his job after he proudly declared himself...
50m Jul 25, 2025
50m
Why Anime Is Taking Over Pop Culture
On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Crunchyroll EVP Mitchel Berger to talk about anime’s increasing popularity with those yearning for community. We reference a report on the state of anime several times; you can read it here (https://view.ceros.com/nrgmr/crunchyroll-global-state-of-anime/p/1) . The long and the short of it, though, is that anime is increasingly popular with Gen Z and Gen A...
43m Jul 18, 2025
43m
How 'Sovereign' Tackles a Cult with Compassion
On this week’s episode, I talked to Christian Swegal, the writer-director of the new film Sovereign, about his new film and its focus on the cult-like behavior of the Sovereign Citizen movement. We discussed Nick Offerman’s commanding lead performance, how you adapt a movie with an ending and setting as tragic as this one, and the difficulty of finding compassion even for those who seem to dese...
36m Jul 11, 2025
36m
Is 'F1' a Hit? How Do We Even Judge That?
Always glad to talk to the Entertainment Strategy Guy (read him here (https://entertainment.substack.com/) !) about the state of play in the world of streaming and beyond. Among the topics discussed this week: Whether or not F1: The Movie is a hit (and what being a “hit” means for a $200 million original for Apple as opposed to a different type of movie for a different type of studio); whether ...
46m Jul 03, 2025
46m
How Zombies Can Help Explain Political Theory
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Daniel Drezner—cohost of the Space the Nation (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/space-the-nation/id1712381882) podcast with Ana Marie Cox and proprietor of the Drezner’s World Substack (https://danieldrezner.substack.com/) —to discuss the eternal popularity of zombies (most recently via the hit movie 28 Years Later, which I reviewed here (https://www.t...
14m Jun 27, 2025
14m
You Can Make a Movie with Your Phone
On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Bart Weiss to discuss the evolution of the iPhone-shot movie from Tangerine to 28 Years Later and his recent book, Smartphone Cinema: Making Great Films with Your Mobile Phone. You have the power to make a movie in the palm of your hand: will you use it? If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!
43m Jun 20, 2025
43m
Why Productions Are Fleeing Los Angeles
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Lane Brown of New York magazine to discuss his feature on an increasingly rare phenomenon: the film or TV show shot in Los Angeles. From foreign tax credits to the cost of permits, Los Angeles is getting more expensive to shoot in, meaning that more productions are moving out of Los Angeles altogether. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to read Lane’s p...
39m Jun 13, 2025
39m
How the Studios Are (Quietly) Using AI
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by New York Magazine features writer Lila Shapiro to discuss her feature story on the growing utilization of generative AI by Hollywood studios to cut costs and speed up production times. From a party hosted by an AI studio to the work being done by Runway to the growing sense that, hey man, this is just The Future, it seems like AI is, as several folks in the...
46m Jun 06, 2025
46m
A Life in Music
On this week’s episode, I strayed a bit from Hollywood to talk to David C. Lowery of the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven about his new album, Fathers, Sons, and Brothers. You can check out the album here (https://davidl.lnk.to/FSB) and peruse the accompanying Substack here (https://davidclowery.substack.com/) . We had a fascinating chat about how the industry has changed over the last 40...
1hr 4m May 30, 2025
1hr 4m
Clothing 'The Last of Us'
I’m joined by Ann Foley this week to discuss her work as costume designer on the hit HBO show The Last of Us. From sourcing vintage clothes to weaving the infected’s fungal-explosions in with the clothes they were wearing when they died to her graduate school on the sets of Agents of SHIELD, Ann’s insights into translating the world of the game to the world of the screen are pretty fascinating....
29m May 23, 2025
29m
One Family's Journey Through Hollywood
I’m joined by Matthew Specktor, author of The Golden Hour: A Story of Family and Power in Hollywood (https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-golden-hour-a-story-of-family-and-power-in-hollywood-matthew-specktor/21679791?ean=9780063008335&next=t) . Part novel, part memoir, and entirely entertaining, Matthew’s book is a revealing look at life in Hollywood when you’re not on the A-list but occasionally a...
39m May 16, 2025
39m
How David Mamet Made His First Film in 12 Years
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Evan Jonigkeit, the star and producer of Henry Johnson. Based on the play of the same name by David Mamet, Henry Johnson is Mamet’s first film in a dozen years and a beguiling provocation; I greatly enjoyed discussing not only the meaning of the movie with Jonigkeit but also how difficult it is to get a picture like this—a series of Socratic dialogues, a mo...
47m May 09, 2025
47m
The Hidden Art of 'Secret Mall Apartment'
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Jeremy Workman, the director and producer of Secret Mall Apartment. We discussed the difficult process of getting your subjects to trust you, the trickiness of distributing an indie documentary in the modern cinematic landscape, and the importance of having a big star like Jesse Eisenberg willing to do a little press for you. The movie’s playing in theaters...
41m May 02, 2025
41m
Hollywood Should Rely Less on Overseas Box Office
On this week’s episode I’m rejoined by Scott Mendelson of The Outside Scoop (https://scottmendelson.substack.com/) to talk about the state of the box office thus far through 2025. It’s better than 2024—thank you, Minecraft—but not as good as 2023. Plus, we delve into some of the discussion surrounding Sinners’s box office, particularly the foreign and domestic splits. Does its strength in North...
1hr 1m Apr 25, 2025
1hr 1m
The Economics of Indie Distribution
On this week’s episode, I talked to Andrew Ortenberg of Briarcliff Entertainment about distributing tricky movies like The Apprentice and Magazine Dreams. How have the economics of cinematic distribution improved for distributors with the infrastructure in place to handle it? How have the various video-on-demand tiers shifted over the last few years? What should folks keep in mind before they d...
1hr 11m Apr 18, 2025
1hr 11m
Hollywood Imagery's Impact on Politics
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson to discuss her new book about Joan Didion, We Tell Ourselves Stories (https://bookshop.org/p/books/we-tell-ourselves-stories-joan-didion-and-the-american-dream-machine-alissa-wilkinson/21479473?ean=9781324092612&next=t) . I mentioned the book in a newsletter a couple of weeks back, but I wanted to focus on the way...
44m Apr 11, 2025
44m
Bringing Memories of 'Warfare' to Life
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Ray Mendoza, who cowrote and codirected the new A24 movie Warfare with Alex Garland (Civil War, Ex Machina). We discussed the journalistic process of rebuilding the day’s actions portrayed in the film from the memory of those who participated, Mendoza’s work with Garland on Civil War, and the cinematic experience of trying to help people understand what it’...
31m Apr 04, 2025
31m
Dystopian Mediocrity
I am pleased to be rejoined this week by Bobby Miller to discuss his new novel, Situation Nowhere (https://thebobbymiller.com/situationnowhere) . Imagine Brazil by way of Idiocracy but goopier: That’s Situation Nowhere. We talked about some of his influences, the state of our increasingly recursive culture, and why we need to bring back shaming folks for selling out. If you’re in Los Angeles, c...
35m Mar 28, 2025
35m
The Low Culture That Brought Us to Trump
On this week’s episode I’m joined by Ross Benes, the author of the forthcoming book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times (https://bookshop.org/p/books/1999-the-year-low-culture-conquered-america-and-kickstarted-our-bizarre-times-ross-benes/21667128?ean=9780700638574&next=t) . It comes out in a few weeks and I hope you take a gander at it; we spent most ...
36m Mar 21, 2025
36m
The 2000 Election That Changed America (with Jonathan Gruber)
Sonny Bunch sits down with filmmaker Jonathan Gruber to discuss his new documentary, Centered, which explores the life and legacy of Joe Lieberman. As the first Jewish Vice Presidential candidate, Lieberman made history—only to later shake up politics by breaking with his own party. With the film releasing today, they dive into his career, key political battles, and the impact of centrism in mo...
19m Mar 18, 2025
19m
How to Build Your Own Movie Library
A weird question I sometimes get is this: “I want to get into buying movies on disc, Sonny, but I don’t know where to start.” I say it’s weird because the answer seems obvious to me: just buy movies you like to watch! But there are issues I take for granted like formats and resolutions, so I thought it would be useful to talk to Aidan Ryan of the Boston Globe about his recent piece in that news...
38m Mar 15, 2025
38m
The 2025 Stunt Awards!
On this week’s episode, I’m plesaed to be rejoined by Brandon Struessnig to discuss one of my favorite packages of the year, Vulture’s annual stunt awards. Who were the big winners? What were some of the surprises? Just how long did it take George Miller to shoot that war rig sequence in Furiosa anyway? All that and more on this week’s episode. Make sure to check out the winners (https://www.vu...
38m Mar 08, 2025
38m
How to Help Veterans Returning Home
This week I was joined by Jake Rademacher, the director of Brothers After War to talk about his new documentary checking in with folks who have returned from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and how they are reintegrating into society. It’s a powerful and moving documentary, and I highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance, particularly if you have a veteran in your life. You c...
43m Mar 01, 2025
43m
SNL At 50
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by the New York Times’s James Poniewozik to discuss SNL’s (rather lengthy) 50th anniversary celebration. (Here’s a gift link to James’s piece (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/arts/television/greatest-snl-episode-ever.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yk4.vTtq.B_2kq596z5xv&smid=url-share) on his favorite episode of SNL.) We discuss the show, how it has changed, a...
44m Feb 23, 2025
44m
How to Make a Microbudget Movie
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Jake VerKesen—some of you in the comments might know him by his handle, Jake VK—on the long and winding road to turning an idea for a micro-budgeted indie movie like I Agree With You from a dream into a reality. We discuss the paperwork, the delays, the fundraising, the shooting, the food, the editing, and, finally, the showing, that goes into getting an in...
1hr 9m Feb 15, 2025
1hr 9m
Documenting Horror
On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined (https://hollywood.thebulwark.com/philip-gelatt) by writer/director Philip Gelatt and novelist Paul Tremblay (author of Horror Movie (https://www.amazon.com/Horror-Movie-Novel-Paul-Tremblay/dp/0063070014/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1735UON9TTJL7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.o_UE59GrbikOvNhrY9yyhKoGp0pLnl9quPMP79nuPjRxojJKQUVRmxeI2huscwAGnGdbnbGVMQtkUreifpfJLBZHn8WmGbREZgayonLbwoQp7...
38m Feb 08, 2025
38m
How Tariffs Will Make Movies More Expensive
On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch is rejoined by Jesse Nelson of DiabolikDVD and Cauldron Films to discuss the state of home video. We get to the tariff discussion around 32 minutes in, but before that, Jesse dispels some of the concerns about Sony’s recent announcement that they’re discontinuing recordable media like Blu-ray, what collectors are looking for from his store, and how he and his...
45m Feb 01, 2025
45m
Why Is Gaming Underperforming Expectations?
On this week’s supersized episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, I’m rejoined by Matthew Ball to discuss his epic examination (https://www.matthewball.co/all/stateofvideogaming2025) of the state of the video game industry and how its growing pains reflect what we’ve seen in other entertainment industries like film. I’d recommend at least scanning his report (you can download the pdf here (ht...
1hr 6m Jan 25, 2025
1hr 6m
Revisiting 'Inglourious Basterds'
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Bill Ryan and Dennis Cozzalio to discuss their contribution to the new Arrow Limited Edition release of Inglourious Basterds on 4K. The booklet features a blog-era (remember blogs?) conversation about the film that occurred when it was initially released, in addition to, among other things, a postcard with a recipe for apple strudel (whip cream NOT optional...
57m Jan 18, 2025
57m
Awards Season in Flux
This week I’m joined by Richard Rushfield and Katey Rich of The Ankler to discuss the state of the awards season post-Golden Globes and in the midst of the Los Angeles fires. (Indeed, Los Angeles resident Richard is in the city to give us an on-the-ground update of the state of things from his perspective. Please excuse any background noise/distortion that you may hear as a result!) We talked a...
49m Jan 11, 2025
49m
The Fascinating Legacy of 'Yacht Rock'
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Steven Hyden, who—in addition to being the author of books on Bruce Springsteen (https://www.amazon.com/There-Was-Nothing-Could-U-S/dp/0306832062/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DxCQMdN3PxateQkDDyNn_mgg6w_87lDeoS0q5-FTuOs3POmHGq-4DmnjitDLegI3Hi17-wuq2yin4chHjb7NTrrF4ZE0hODg8zt1SxSQqp4u4hqOpR01mWmYAFK2J2Zgc2c4OhYwG9L3eugvyqZbzEEoTjS0YlKFsKIBG8WEHeLWbzum4-W7N5o7o...
46m Jan 04, 2025
46m
Everything There Is to Know About Star Wars
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Brandon Wainerdi to discuss DK’s hefty and handsome new reference book, Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy (https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Encyclopedia-Definitive-Galaxy/dp/074409884X/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=BO2RW08ORU57&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.a1t5Pqqhrs3I228mr2nrGDqA3yYUxIc0qkNcwJ6bKb1rcyLfmF5Aabpu48ao9AgINgTrK3tT5H6LCqDqOjtxA...
50m Dec 21, 2024
50m
Bringing Novels Into the Internet Age
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by novelist and Broadway producer Michael Wolk to discuss his new interactive novel, Devil’s Game. You can check it out yourself here (https://try.devilsgame.com/) ; it’s an interesting mix of web-first design and apocalyptic airport thriller. We talked about what drove him to write this novel and also discussed the state of Broadway and live theater more gene...
30m Dec 14, 2024
30m
The Copyrighted Material Being Used to Train AI
On this week’s episode, I talked to Alex Reisner about his pieces in The Atlantic highlighting the copyrighted material being hoovered into large language models to help AI chatbots simulate human speech. If you’re a screenwriter and would like to see which of your work has been appropriated to aid in the effort, click here; he has assembled a searchable database (https://www.theatlantic.com/te...
40m Dec 07, 2024
40m
Comcast Is Spinning Off Its Cable Assets: What Does that Mean?
This week I’m rejoined by Sean McNulty of The Ankler’s morning roundup newsletter, The Wakeup (https://substack.com/home/post/p-151883030) , to discuss the big news in cable land: ComcastNBCUniversal’s decision to spin (most of!) their cable properties into a new, separate company, called SpinCo for now. What does this mean for MSNBC, USA, and the rest of the impacted channels? Why is Bravo sta...
40m Nov 23, 2024
40m
Melding Video Games and TV Shows
This week I’m thrilled to be joined by Jacob Navok, the CEO of Genvid Entertainment, to discuss his company’s new partnership with DC Comics, DC Heroes United. A combination mobile game and Justice League television show, DC Heroes United is a fascinating hybrid entertainment experience, one that Navok has been working on in various forms for years now. The first 20 minutes or so of the show a...
59m Nov 16, 2024
59m
The Christmas Movie Industrial Complex
This week I’m joined by Russell Hainline, the screenwriter of the forthcoming Netflix original Hot Frosty as well as a whole bunch of Hallmark original Christmas movies (including last year’s The Santa Summit and the forthcoming The Santa Class). I asked him on today to talk about the burgeoning market for Christmas movies on channels like Hallmark and streaming services like Netflix, and we ha...
53m Nov 09, 2024
53m
Alfred Hitchcock, Master of Fear and Desire
This week I’m joined by Mark Cousins, the writer and director of the new documentary, My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock. We talked about his movie’s unorthodox presentation, why Hitchcock remains eternally relevant, and how he puts together his incredible video essays. (If you’ve never seen his The Story of Film: An Odyssey, you really should.) And then he turned the tables on me with some closing qu...
34m Nov 02, 2024
34m
The Four Horsemen of the Media Apocalypse
Good show, long show today with the Entertainment Strategy Guy (subscribe to his Substack here (https://entertainment.substack.com/) ). I’m going to offer up timestamps here, which I don’t usually do, because there’s a ton of stuff covered in this podcast. Amongst the topics we discussed: Marvel vs. DC in the TV realm (:40); Tulsa King’s status as a surprise hit for Paramount+ (11:40); what th...
1hr 3m Oct 26, 2024
1hr 3m
A Second Look at 'Caligula'
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Thomas Negovan, who oversaw the reconstruction of Caligula: The Ultimate Cut. Combing through 96 hours of the original negatives, Tom rebuilt the film from the ground up in order to bring it closer in line with the vision of writer Gore Vidal, director Tinto Brass, and star Malcolm McDowell. We discussed some of the technical challenges of tracking down sou...
46m Oct 19, 2024
46m
The Movie Donald Trump Doesn't Want You to See
I’m joined by Gabriel Sherman, the writer of The Apprentice, on this week’s episode. Sebastian Stan plays Donald Trump in this movie in theaters now about the future president’s relationship with noted legal fixer and possible evil supervillain Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). The movie’s path to distribution is almost as interesting as the film itself: following production and a decent response at Ca...
42m Oct 12, 2024
42m
Why Is It So Hard to Find Something to Watch on Streaming?
On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Parrot Analytics’s Brandon Katz to discuss a vexing issues for streaming channels and audiences alike: why do the services have such a difficult time helping people find more things on the service to watch? Our chat is based in part on his column in the Observer (https://observer.com/2024/10/steaming-subscriber-acquisition-retention/) , and you should rea...
40m Oct 05, 2024
40m
Devo's Groundbreaking Work
This week I’m talking to a friend here in Dallas, Bart Weiss, about the Ernie Kovacs Award taking place this weekend at the Texas Theatre. This year’s honoree is Jerry Casale from the band Devo, and we’re discussing his work both with the band and as a pioneer of the music video artform. Check out the links above for tickets to the various events (the screening tonight is going to be pretty fun...
39m Sep 28, 2024
39m
How Social Media Is Warping Our Sense of Everything
NOTE: This is the correct audio file! Apologies, crossed my Audioboom streams the first time around. On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Jason Pargin to discuss his latest novel, I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom, a standalone comic adventure about life in the age of interconnectivity. It’s out Tuesday; you can preorder it now (https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Worry-About-T...
1hr 5m Sep 21, 2024
1hr 5m
The Death of a Community
This week I’m joined by Amy Nicholson, the director of the documentary Happy Campers, which is now available for rental or purchase (https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/happy-campers/umc.cmc.1wbry0j8sznr6amgs6s4vn24s) on VOD at Apple. We discussed the ragtag oceanside community Amy documented, how she came to find herself in a position to tell their story, and some of the stranger reactions to the fi...
55m Sep 14, 2024
55m
Will Rogers and the American Spirit
This week I talked to Steven Watts about his new book, Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers and the American People (https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Cowboy-Rogers-American-People/dp/1108495931/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9YX1A8N84YK1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tITCE7t7xH4GE8B17YzERDIyB97EH3J4pp85-1kL1zJBSma2Z9FB1xbablU2myAU.rh_LCDVJxtW61shUy3Kqb85re3sKSqoFs7SLeWd3m1E&dib_tag=se&keywords=citizen+cowboy+will+rogers+and+the+amer...
39m Sep 07, 2024
39m
John Magary on the Art of Editing
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by John Magary, editor of the new film Between the Temples. We discuss how he got into the editing business, the role of the editor in building the rhythm and flow of a picture, the aesthetic choices an editor can make in shaping the meaning of a movie, and a little about his work with the Criterion Channel. If you enjoyed this episode, try to find a theater p...
56m Aug 31, 2024
56m
The Social Media Trap for Teens
My guest this week is Valentina El Harizi, an 18-year-old first-time filmmaker who has an entry at the DIFF Shorts Film Festival. (If you get this email early enough and happen to live in the Dallas area, you can head over to the Angelika Film Center Dallas on Mockingbird Lane and catch the film; the “High School Shorts” program starts at 3PM local time. (https://diffshorts2024.eventive.org/sch...
39m Aug 24, 2024
39m
Disney's Future Is the Past
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Robbie Whelan, who covers the wide world of Disney for the Wall Street Journal. We talked about all the stuff Disney rolled out at D23 (Sequels! Theme park additions! New Cruise ships!) and discussed the ways in which the softness in Disney’s “Experiences” division (which includes, among other endeavors, the theme parks) may suggest general economic softnes...
48m Aug 17, 2024
48m
Brad Thor's World of Intrigue
This week I met with novelist (and Bulwark+ member!) Brad Thor in a shadowy location (upstairs at Dallas’s magnificent flagship Half Price Books (https://www.hpb.com/) ) to discuss his latest book of international intrigue, Shadow of Doubt (https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Doubt-Thriller-Scot-Harvath-ebook/dp/B0CL5DFTPW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3JXBEEE9AQIOZ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.c4T9OTNx2K_iV7f3GNrJOaikdZERZXJ...
53m Aug 10, 2024
53m