Movie Interviews

Jessica Chastain says her grandmother has played a key role in her career. "I've taken her to the Oscars both years," Chastain says. "She's really a special lady and has helped me in more ways than I could ever explain."

Arts

'I Was A Dramatic Kid': For Jessica Chastain, Acting Came Naturally

5:06pm January 12, 2015

by NPR Staff

Chastain started her own theater company at age 10. As the first in her family to go to college, she says attending Juilliard was scary, but her grandmother helped her through it.

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Royal Robbins climbs El Capitan's North American Wall in Yosemite National Park in 1964. Robbins is a climbing purist whose ideas helped shape the sport.

A Half-Century Of Battles For The Biggest Rock Walls

10:00pm January 11, 2015

by Rebecca Hersher

As two climbers attempt Yosemite's most daunting cliff face, documentarian Nick Rosen, co-writer and co-director of Valley Uprising, explains the park's history of climbs and culture clashes.

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Arts

Ellar Coltrane, Taking Notes On Life And Girls For 'Boyhood'

11:26am January 11, 2015

NPR's Tamara Keith spoke with the star of the film, Ellar Coltrane, who spent more than a decade shooting the movie. This story first aired on July 12 on Weekend Edition Saturday.

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Science
Arts

'Theory Of Everything' Probes Stephen Hawkings' Love, Not Theory

11:31am January 10, 2015

The Theory of Everything actor Eddie Redmayne tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer about the challenges of portraying a genius. This story originally Nov. 8 on Weekend Edition Saturday.

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Selma portrays a period of history when Martin Luther King Jr. led marches to demand rights for black people who were systematically prevented from registering to vote in the South. Coleman Domingo (from left) plays Ralph Abernathy, David Oyelowo plays Dr

Arts

The Sounds, Space And Spirit Of 'Selma': A Director's Take

5:21pm January 09, 2015

Ava DuVernay's new film dramatizes a turning point in civil rights history. She says she wanted to "elevate [Selma] from a page in your history book and really just get it ... into your DNA."

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Scoring The Screen: Thomas Newman And the Music Of 'Shawshank'

7:33pm January 06, 2015

Oscar-nominated composer Thomas Newman — whose credits include animated films like Finding Nemo and Wall-E to The Shawshank Redemption — kicks off our "Scoring the Screen" series with Robert Siegel.

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Arts

'I Was So Grateful For My Body': Jennifer Aniston Portrays Chronic Pain

2:14pm January 05, 2015

by NPR Staff

In Cake, Aniston plays a haunted woman who is suffering from debilitating pain. While Aniston is not actively looking for dramatic roles, she says "comedy and drama go hand in hand."

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Books
Arts

How Tinseltown Got Tipsy: A Boozy Taste Of Hollywood History

4:59pm January 04, 2015

by NPR Staff

Mark Bailey, who detailed old Hollywood's legendary love affair with liquor in his book Of All the Gin Joints, shares stories from a bygone era over cocktails at a legendary Hollywood bar.

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Arts

'Life Itself': An Unflinching Documentary Of Roger Ebert's Life And Death

4:12pm January 02, 2015

In late 2012, filmmaker Steve James and Roger Ebert began talking about filming a documentary based on Ebert's memoir. Ebert's wife, Chaz, agreed. They didn't know that he would die within months.

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Arts

Meryl Streep: The Fresh Air Interview

2:44pm December 29, 2014

Meryl Streep won a Golden Globe for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. She talks about preparing for that role and how her perceptions of herself have changed over the years.

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