Movie Interviews

In Coco, young Miguel's love of music ultimately leads him to the Land of the Dead where he teams up with charming trickster Hector.

Arts

Mexico, Music And Family Take Center Stage In 'Coco'

5:04am November 20, 2017

by Mandalit del Barco

Pixar's newest movie is meant to be a love letter to Mexico. Coco has an all-Latino cast, it's packed with references to Mexican culture, and it went right to No. 1 at the Mexican box office.

Hari Kondabolu is the writer and star of the new documentary "The Problem With Apu."

Arts

A New Documentary Calls Into Question The Simpson's 'Apu'

6:00am November 19, 2017

by Eric Deggans

Comedian Hari Kondabolu's new documentary, The Problem with Apu, unearths an essential truth about Hollywood: "Success justifies everything." Even racism.

Sam Rockwell (left) and Caleb Landry Jones feature heavily in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which is open now in theaters.

Arts

Caleb Landry Jones, 'Three Billboards' Salesman, Sees His 'Fat Face' On Screen

7:27am November 18, 2017

by Scott Simon

The modest young Texan — prominent in the new film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and other 2017 movies -- contemplates on his improvement as an actor.

Music In 'Mudbound' Intended To Evoke Earth, Dirt And Mud

5:14pm November 17, 2017

by Tim Greiving

Afro-punk artist, Tamar-kali, makes her debut as a film composer in Mudbound, the new movie from director Dee Rees. Her background includes running a five-piece rock combo and a string sextet that fuses classical music and post-punk.

Arts

In 'The Problem With Apu,' Hari Kondabolu Discusses South Asian Representation

5:14pm November 17, 2017

Hari Kondabolu is a Brooklyn-based stand-up comedian, the child of Indian immigrants, and a big fan of The Simpsons. NPR's Elise Hu talks Kondabolu, whose new film The Problem With Apu delves into issues of South Asian representation.

Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf play a daughter and mother who clash and connect in Lady Bird.

Arts

Greta Gerwig Explores Mother-Daughter Love (And Angst) In 'Lady Bird'

2:05pm November 16, 2017

by Terry Gross

"I don't know any woman who has a simple relationship with their mother or with their daughter," Gerwig says. Her new film tells the story of a teenager preparing to leave home for the first time.

Arts

Director Dee Rees Explores Racism In Post-War Mississippi In 'Mudbound'

3:03pm November 14, 2017

Mudbound follows two families — one white and one black — just before, during and after World War II. Rees says her experiences growing up in Nashville, Tenn., in the 1980s informed her new film.

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In New Film, 'My Friend Dahmer' Author Portrays Serial Killer As Sympathetic Outcast

6:16pm November 12, 2017

by David Barnett

My Friend Dahmer, based on the best-selling graphic novel by John Backderf, tells a story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's high school years and the kids who knew him, including Backderf.

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Julia Roberts plays Isabel, the mother of Auggie Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), in the new movie Wonder.

Arts

Julia Roberts Is Mom In 'Wonder,' And In Life

7:52am November 12, 2017

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

In a new movie, Roberts plays mother to a child with facial differences about to enter fifth grade in a new school. She took the role in part because her family loved the book it's based on.

Arts

Kenneth Branagh On His Meticulous Master Detective Role In 'Murder On The Orient Express'

5:33pm November 10, 2017

Actor Kenneth Branagh has been Henry the Fifth, Iago in Othello, Victor Frankenstein, and now he's taken on another famous literary character, Agatha Christie's meticulous master detective, Hercule Poirot. Branagh both stars and directs the latest version of Murder on the Orient Express and talks with NPR's Kelly McEvers about the project.