Awards Chatter

The 31-year-old Brit, best known as the male star of the fantasy 'Twilight' franchise, reflects on sudden celebrity, 'Twihard' fanatics and their strong feelings about his former relationship with Kristen Stewart and how his 10-year career-reinvention plan is operating right on schedule.

Credits:
Hosted by Scott Feinberg
Produced and Recorded by Matthew Whitehurst

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The first openly trans person ever to receive an acting Emmy nom — now two — or to appear on the cover of 'Time' reflects on a lifetime of discovering herself, fending off bigots and blazing a trail for others.

Credits:
Hosted by Scott Feinberg
Produced by Matthew Whitehurst
Recorded by Dennis Schweitzer

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The 61-year-old mother of six and grandmother of six — among the most powerful and controversial people working in TV today, as an EP and star of the E! reality series and its spinoffs and "Momager" of her costars — opens up about O.J. (Nicole was one of her best friends), her ex Bruce (who had $200 when they married), "haters" and why her family and shows are actually good for America.

Credits:
Hosted by Scott Feinberg
Produced and Recorded by Matthew Whitehurst

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The big-chinned legend of late-night — who hosted 'The Tonight Show' for 23 years — opens up about his unlikely ascent from vagrant to Johnny Carson's successor, the truth about his friendships-turned-feuds with Dave and Conan and why he now hosts a show about cars for CNBC.

Credits:
Hosted by Scott Feinberg
Produced and Recorded by Matthew Whitehurst

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The force behind two of TV's edgiest shows and winner of the last two comedy direction Emmys, who recently transitioned from female to non-binary, opens up about their bumpy climb from writer to showrunner, the gamble that changed their career and how they are trying to "topple the patriarchy" on screen and off.

Credits:
Hosted by Scott Feinberg
Produced and Recorded by Matthew Whitehurst

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The Golden Globe-winning actor and Oscar-winning screenwriter opens up about his unlikely breakthrough with 'Sling Blade' during the 1990s indie boom, his brief marriage to Angelina Jolie (and their matching blood vials) and the appeal of doing TV, like his current Amazon series, versus films.

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The Emmy-winning co-creator of 'Friends' opens up about the sitcom's real-life inspirations, why she and David Crane creatively split and she avoided TV for 11 years and why she finally returned not with another multi-camera broadcast show about young people but with a single-cam streaming show about older women.

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2016's Emmy winner for best actor in a drama series — an Egyptian-American who was that category's first non-white honoree in 18 years — reflects on early stereotypical casting, great collaborators who helped him break out of it and the prescience of his current show about a disturbed hacker hiding beneath his hoodie.

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The seven-time Emmy winner reflects on how theater led to some of her greatest film and TV opportunities, walking and talking through eight years on 'The West Wing' and why she feels so personally connected to Chuck Lorre's "other" multicam sitcom.

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The legendary child star turned adult actor turned Oscar-winning director, who has been known to the public for almost all of his 63 years and still is creating top-notch entertainment, reflects on his one-of-a-kind journey.

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One of the all-time most prolific and accomplished directors/producers of live TV events — awards shows, Super Bowl halftime shows, Olympics opening ceremonies, political conventions and music/variety specials — looks back on a half-century in the control room.

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The South African comedian, who is the youngest person and only person of color currently hosting a late-night show, discusses his childhood under Apartheid, lessons learned from Jon Stewart, why Donald Trump is like an African dictator and his plans for the future.

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In her first wide-ranging podcast interview, the trailblazing legend opens up about her horrific childhood, finding her calling, what made her successful on TV, why her fame causes her to hesitate before taking acting jobs and what she thinks her legacy will be.

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The two-time Tony winner reflects on her early desire to be a rock 'n roll singer, her rollercoaster of a career ("I am not anybody's first choice"), why she hates the word 'diva,' what she'd do if Donald Trump came to one of her shows and why she dreams of ending her career on a sitcom.

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Five Broadway standouts — nominated for 'The Price,' 'Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,' 'Six Degrees of Separation,' 'Groundhog Day' and 'Dear Evan Hansen,' respectively — discuss the challenges and rewards of working on the Great White Way.

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5 Broadway standouts — nominated for 'Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,' 'War Paint,' 'Oslo,' 'The Glass Menagerie' and 'The Little Foxes,' respectively — discuss the challenges and rewards of working on the Great White Way.

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The 40-year-old Swede, currently in serious contention for his first Emmy nom, reflects on attaining and then fleeing from child stardom, his breakthrough in 'Generation Kill' and 'True Blood' and his intense scenes of sex and violence with Nicole Kidman in HBO's provocative limited series.

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One of this year's biggest breakout stars — she won Golden Globe and SAG awards for her portrayal of young Queen Elizabeth II in the most expensive TV series ever made (Netflix allocated $100 million for its first two seasons) — reflects on auditioning while pregnant, playing a woman famous for hiding her emotions and growing as an actress.

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The first openly gay host of a late-night talk show opens up about helping to create the reality TV era at Bravo, the positive and negative impact of the 'Real Housewives' franchise that he EPs and making the jump from suit to on-air personality.

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The irreverent British comedy genius behind ‘The Office’ and ‘Extras’ explains how his life informs his work, what it would take for him to host the Oscars (he’s hosted four unforgettable Golden Globes) and what it was like to revisit his most iconic character — who, he believes, paved the way for Pres. Trump — 15 years after he last brought him to life.

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Recently hailed by New York magazine as “the funniest woman alive,” the two-time Tony and Emmy winner reflects on being part of the landmark sketch comedy series 'SCTV,' why she feels much more at home on Broadway than doing improv and discovering that she helped to inspire the likes of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

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The fast-rising stage and screen star reflects on entering showbiz as an out gay man, how his Tony-nominated 'Book of Mormon' perf led Lena Dunham to hire him for her groundbreaking HBO series and why he'll always return to Broadway (where he's also starred in 'Hamilton').

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On the heels of his third Tony nom in four years, the Broadway star reflects on his journey from dinner theater to the Great White Way, where he's starred in movie adaptations ('Saturday Night Fever,' 'Legally Blonde,' 'Rocky' and 'Groundhog Day') and theater phenomena ('Wicked' and 'Jersey Boys') and now is doing eight shows a week with a fully-torn ACL.

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The Oscar, Emmy and Tony winner reflects on defying the odds and finding fame after 40, jumping between art-house fare (including two best picture Oscar winners) and blockbusters (five 'Pirates' films) and starring in National Geographic's first scripted series.

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America's favorite astrophysicist, who splits his time between running a planetarium and hosting the first-ever TV talk show about science, shares how he learned to be media-savvy, what he makes of the anti-science Trump Administration and why he remains optimistic about the future.

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The man who ran NBC during the 'Must See TV' era of the 1990s and then became one of TV's most successful producers discusses the secrets of programming a broadcast network, why his own shows go out via cable and streaming and what the future of TV will look like.

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The pop star turned Golden Globe-nominated actress reflects on her early music (she wishes she could refund everyone who bought it), personal and professional struggles that followed (she almost quit showbiz as recently as two years ago) and the "reboot" made possible by the success of NBC's top-rated series.

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Best known for 'The Last Picture Show' and 'Paper Moon,' one of the 'New Hollywood' filmmakers at the vanguard of '70s cinema discusses rubbing shoulders with legends, the murder of his actress-girlfriend and why TV is now better than movies.

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The 80-year-old late-night legend on his journey from the Corn Belt to ABC, why the label "intellectual" did his career no favors and which of today's talk show hosts he admires most.

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The 95-year-old actor/writer/director reflects on being a part of Sid Caesar's legendary 'Your Show of Shows' writers' room, how he and Mel Brooks created '2,000-Year-Old Man,' how a failed pilot came back to life as 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' and what keeps him writing, tweeting and laughing.

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No person in Oscar history has received more nominations without a win than this sound mixer, whose 21 noms span 33 years, and who explains how he does what he does and why the Academy's voting process has room for improvement. (2/26/17 update: O'Connell finally won!)

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The 32-year-old, who already has directed two best picture Oscar nominees and is poised to become the youngest best director Oscar winner ever, reflects on the roots of his passion for music and movies, the Harvard pal who became his closest collaborator and the rollercoaster of a journey to realizing his dream of making an original movie musical.

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The 37-year-old who could become the first black person ever to win the best director Oscar reflects on how his tumultuous childhood has informed his work, the film school pals who have been by his side ever since and the causes and effects of the eight-year gap between his debut feature and his taboo-busting masterpiece.

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The 'Meryl Streep of France,' finally an Oscar nominee at the age of 63, discusses her close collaborations with Claude Chabrol and Michael Haneke, her attraction to "perverse, manipulative, icy" characters and the controversial new film for which she's received the best notices of her career.

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Poised to become, at 36, the youngest EGOT in history, the creator of 'Hamilton' reflects on that groundbreaking musical's origins and success, realizing his lifelong dream of writing music for a Disney movie while at the center of his show's "wonderful tsunami," the roots of his love of music and theater and the ambitions he has not yet fulfilled. (And yes, there will be a 'Hamilton' movie.)

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The 28-year-old critics' darling and fan favorite opens up about overcoming "debilitating" childhood anxiety through acting, moving to Hollywood at 15 (and changing her name and dyeing her hair), finding magical chemistry with Ryan Gosling in three films and, under the oversight of Damien Chazelle, breathing new life into the American movie musical.

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The 26-year-old Brit reflects on the life-changing impact of 'Slumdog Millionaire' — good and bad ("It was like being in a gold-plated cage") — and why he so aggressively pursued and transformed himself for the film for which he just became only the third person of Indian descent ever to receive an acting Oscar nom: "A script like this — a journey like this — is never gonna come around again."

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The dashing star reflects on the ups and downs of 25-plus years in the biz, from the indie he calls "one of my favorite movies" to the studio bomb that "just never really understood what it was" to one of 2016's biggest blockbusters ("I was born to play this guy"), which could even land Oscar love ("I can certainly promise one fucking crazy reaction video").

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The fan favorite on breaking through in 'Swingers,' not being seen as funny until after 'Old School' and 'Dodgeball,' the intention of 'The Break-Up' ("I really designed it to go from comedy to drama"), his decade in the cold ("I didn't follow through") and his career-reboot in Mel Gibson's acclaimed war film.

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The Oscar-nominated veteran reflects on his early years of struggle as an actor, the tumultuous 'Lord of the Rings' production ("I don't think anybody knew it was gonna be the huge success it became"), turning down an invitation to join the Academy ("I've changed my mind since then") and the odds-defying success of the film for which he's received best actor Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Spirit noms.

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The legendary songwriter/composer behind 48 top 10 hits, including nine that topped the charts, opens up about the inspirations for his most beloved music, what caused his breakup with longtime collaborator Hal David and how his late daughter, who was afflicted with Asperger Syndrome, inspired him to write his first film score and song in years.

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The trailblazing two-time Oscar winner dishes on the advice Sidney Poitier gave him early in his career, his "formula" for whether or not to make a movie, the #OscarsSoWhite controversy ("You don't want to be nominated just because you're black") and why he agreed to direct and star in a big screen adaptation of the play for which he won a 2010 Tony.

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The star of the last two best picture Oscar winners reflects on his groundbreaking pair of 'Batman' films ("If it went down, we were going down in a big way"), walking away from a third ("It sucked"), his years in the cold ("Not a whole lot of folks were knocking on my door"), almost starring in 'Lost' and his great run over the last three years ('Birdman,' 'Spotlight' and now a Ray Kroc biopic).

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Only one person ever has been Oscar-nominated for multiple songs featured in documentaries: this 41-year-old former prodigy with a social conscience second-to-none.

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The 33-year-old discusses life pre-stardom ('I worked as a barista at Starbucks... and then I was fired'), 'The Social Network' (he originally was to play Mark Zuckerberg), his 'Spider-Man' films ("I didn't feel like that was my work up there") and his experiences with Mel Gibson and Martin Scorsese.

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The 49-year-old Oscar winner reflects on her roots in Australia, her marriage to Tom Cruise, why her career flourished after their divorce and the personal reasons why she was so drawn to playing the adoptive mother of two Indian children in fellow Aussie Garth Davis' directorial debut.

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25 years after her debut solo album 'Little Earthquakes' made her a star, the singer-songwriter reflects on her unusual upbringing, clashes with record industry execs and why she wrote the Oscar-contending song 'Flicker' for a Netflix doc about the sexual assault of young women.

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The newly-minted Golden Globe nominee discusses growing up as Phil Collins' daughter, her distinct look (eyebrows!), early auditions (she lost parts in 'Twilight' and 'Snow White and the Huntsman' to Kristen Stewart) and proving her chops opposite Oscar winners (Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts and this year, in his first film in decades, Warren Beatty).

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The consummate entertainer reflects on his early appearances on 'Star Search' and 'Mickey Mouse Club,' the evolution and dissolution of N Sync ("I had something that I wanted to do that, quite honestly, I didn't think any of them would be interested in"), his pivot to acting and the creation of the biggest single of 2016, Oscar contender "Can't Stop the Feeling!"

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The Critics' Choice Award nominee on why she hates the term 'mumblecore' ("I'm just waiting for the day that I never have to hear it again"), rejects the 'hipster' label ("I've never been cool enough to be a hipster") and agreed, to the surprise of many, to do 'How I Met Your Dad' ("Those guys saved my life").

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