The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood

How the Screen Has Changed Us

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by renowned critic and film historian David Thomson to discuss his new book, A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies. It’s a bracing tome, given...

2026-07-10

Download

Comcast and NBC Universal Are Breaking Up: What Does That Mean?

This week I’m joined by CNN’s media analyst Brian Stelter to discuss the big news of the week, Comcast’s decision to spin NBC Universal off into a separate company. What will happen to the broadcast n...

2026-07-03

Download

The Increasing Entanglements of Hollywood and AI

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Ben Fritz of the Wall Street Journal to discuss his exclusive on the partnership between Google and A24 and what it portends for the rest of the studios who are e...

2026-06-26

Download

The Mount Rushmore of TV

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by my first guest, the great Richard Rushfield, to talk all things TV. What’s the deal with Fox buying Roku? What does the post-peak-TV era look like? And, perhaps...

2026-06-19

Download

The Wild West of 1980s Movie Financing

I’m joined by Peter M. Hoffman this week to discuss his new memoir, Karmic Winds, about his time in Hollywood as the tax lawyer who could figure out how to get movies financed and get people paid. Fan...

2026-06-12

Download

Bringing 'Day of the Dead' Back to Life

I’m super-excited about this week’s episode, as I’m getting to talk about one of my favorite zombie movies (Day of the Dead) with one of the creators of that film (John Harrison, the first assistant d...

2026-06-05

Download

Three Movies to Prep For Our Viral Apocalypse

Just as a heads up: This episode was posted on the Takes feed over the weekend, but I wanted to make sure and share it with y’all because a.) it was a lot of fun and b.) I did a weirdly large amount o...

2026-05-29

Download

Turning Sex and Dragons Into Streaming Money

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Julia Alexander to discuss her latest piece for Puck on why romantasy—the subgenre of fine literature dedicated to dragons and sex—has had a hard time gaining a...

2026-05-22

Download

The Top Ten War Movies

Hey everyone, so: This posted in the Takes feed over the weekend. (You can watch the video on Substack here or YouTube here.) I Just wanted to make sure this episode got into the Bulwark Goes to Holly...

2026-05-15

Download

Summer Movie Preview!

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Scott Mendelson of The Outside Scoop to preview the summer movie season and address some of the hottest questions in the biz. Why did Netflix push Greta Gerwig’...

2026-05-08

Download

The Fan-Driven Distribution Company

Occasionally, someone will ask me if I think they should invest in a movie. My answer is, invariably, the same: you should only invest in movies you really believe in; you should understand that even ...

2026-05-01

Download

Lou Diamond Phillips's Riveting New Film

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Lou Diamond Phillips, who you know from … well, tons of stuff. La Bamba, Young Guns, Longmire, and last year’s best new TV show, The Chair Company. He’s on the sh...

2026-04-24

Download

What America Loses if WB and Paramount Merge

Special two-part episode of the podcast this week! The big news in Hollywood this week has been the burgeoning effort by Hollywood creatives to fight the purchase of Warner Bros. by Paramount Skydance...

2026-04-17

Download

'The Christophers': Emotionally Authentic Art

I’m joined on this week’s episode by Ed Solomon, the writer of the new Steven Soderbergh feature, The Christophers, which is in limited release this weekend and going wider next. It’s the story of an ...

2026-04-10

Download

The Cross-Country Making of 'Forrest Gump'

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Steve Starkey to discuss his new book, On the Set of Forrest Gump. Steve won an Oscar for best picture as producer on that film, but he has a career that, as I to...

2026-04-03

Download

How America Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Gambling

On this week’s episode, I’m very pleased to be joined by McKay Coppins, author of April’s cover story in The Atlantic: “Sucker: My Year as a Degenerate Gambler.” We discussed the rise of sports bettin...

2026-03-27

Download

Can Every Movie Make Money?

I’m very pleased to be rejoined by Kevin Goetz, who is the guru of movie testing to discuss his latest book, How to Score in Hollywood. When you spend nine figures on a film and another eight figures ...

2026-03-23

Download

Larry McMurtry: Man of the West

On this week’s episode, I’m very pleased to be joined by David Streitfeld to discuss his new book, Western Star: The Life and Legends of Larry McMurtry. Amongst the topics discussed: McMurtry’s obsess...

2026-03-20

Download

Ethan Suplee and the Challenge of Getting Nasty

On this week’s episode, I’m very pleased to be rejoined by Rod Blackhurst (we had him on a couple of years back to discuss his indie crime drama Blood for Dust) and joined for the first time by Ethan ...

2026-03-06

Download

'Sirāt' and Finding Community in the End of the World

We have a special bonus episode this week: I’m joined by Óliver Laxe, the director of the Oscar-nominated Sirāt, to discuss his film about a rave at the end of the world and how we can find community ...

2026-03-04

Download

The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood

Episodes (292 episodes)

Related Podcasts