Blank Check with Griffin & David

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Blank Check Productions

Not just another bad movie podcast, Blank Check reviews directors' complete filmographies episode to episode. Specifically, the auteurs whose early successes afforded them the rare ‘blank check’ from Hollywood to produce passion projects. Each new miniseries, hosts Griffin Newman and David Sims delve into the works of film’s most outsized personalities in painstakingly hilarious detail. Produced by Ben Hosley.

Recent Episodes

20 episodes

The Eleventh Annual Blank Check Awards with Joe Reid

Live from our windowless studio in Downtown Brooklyn, it's the 11th Annual Blankies! Joe Reid joins us once again to give out golden Wattos to our favorite films, performances, and craftspeople of the year. Some of our picks are certainly part of the greater award season conversation. Others are Materialists. Join us as we honor the best Putters and Murmurs, the Wettest flicks of the year, and as Griffin debuts his latest Billy Crystal opening showtune. Listen to This Had Oscar Buzz Watch Igby Goes Down Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
15h ago3:03:43

Critical Darlings: Sentimental Value and Belated Oscar Breakthroughs with Joe Reid

This week we’re in hygge mode, uncovering traumas in our generational home with the host of This Had Oscar Buzz, Joe Reid! One of the breakout Oscar films of the year is Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a warm, realist Norwegian film about a difficult but brilliant director (Stellan Skarsgard), his two daughters (Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), and an American actress cast in the auteur’s new film (Elle Fanning). All four performances earned Oscar nominations, along with nominations for Best Picture, Best International Feature, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Screenplay. Sentimental Value also highlights a recurring phenomenon in Hollywood, wherein the Academy will pass over a director’s breakout film but shower the follow-up with nominations. In Trier’s case, his previous film The Worst Person in the World received nominations for Best International Film and Original Screenplay but, in our opinion, deserved many more. We try to break down how and why this happens, whether films about filmmaking have an innate appeal to Oscar voters, how Fanning’s star power helps bridge the international gap for voters, and the film itself, including its deft intermingling of artistic expression and sublimated generational trauma.  With Joe's guidance, we also check in on some of the Oscar-buzziest films of the year that didn't pan out, check in on the state of the acting category race and some potential upsets, and celebrate The Secret Agent's breakout star Tânia Maria and her new role as Burger King spokeswoman. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
3d ago1:19:14

Die My Love with Alison Willmore

Our Lynne Ramsay series comes to a close with last year's Die My Love, which brings us to the realization - damn, have we really never talked about Jennifer Lawrence before? Join us and Vulture's Alison Willmore as we do a full career deep-dive on J.Law, and grapple with this film and Mubi's decision to purchase it out of Cannes for a buttload of money. Read the NY Mag profile of Darren Aronofsky from 2017 Read Alison's work at Vulture Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
7d ago2:59:34

Critical Darlings: The Secret Agent And The Increasingly International Academy

Viva Brazil! Today we discuss Best Picture nominee The Secret Agent, the simmering, colorful Brazilian thriller about a man on the run, starring the dreamy Wagner Moura and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho. The story, about retaining personal and political memory under authoritarianism, has proven resonant with an international audience and awards bodies, garnering three additional Oscar nominations for Best International Feature, Best Casting, and Best Actor for Moura. On this episode, we discuss The Secret Agent itself, how it fits into and subverts the tropes of international films at the Oscars, the Eurovision-like process for international nominations, check in on the Berlin Film Festival, and do a very special Il Postino corner. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
10d ago1:33:18

You Were Never Really Here with Sean Clements

In 2018, Lynne Ramsay released You Were Never Really Here, a film about a completely implausible scenario...a townhouse on the East side of Manhattan houses a sex trafficking operation that implicates high-level government officials in its web of depravity???? Could you even imagine?!! Hollywood Handbook's Sean Clements joins us to chat about this eerily relevant film, the literary career of Jonathan Ames, Joaquin Phoenix's screen persona, and Joseph Gordon Levitt's recently announced follow-up to Don Jon. Listen to Hayes Davenport's (not a guest on this episode) episode of High & Mighty where he talks about newspaper comics. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
14d ago2:43:33

Critical Darlings: Frankenstein And The Craft Category Juggernauts with Bilge Ebiri

This week we’re brooding, Victorian style, with Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri! Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a Best Picture nominee and is well represented in the craft categories, but it has only one acting nomination, for Jacob Elordi’s hulking monster. It’s of a piece with past craft-heavy Oscar contenders like Dune or The Lord of the Rings, but does Frankenstein actually stand a chance? We discuss the film itself, its lavish sets and costumes, del Toro’s choice to center the monster as the hero, and how that decision reshapes the monster’s opposite, Victor, played by Oscar Isaac. We also touch on the new Wuthering Heights, also starring Jacob Elordi, the history of Wuthering Heights adaptations, the shameless state of celebrity Super Bowl ads, and finally atone for our past sins, as Bilge defends previous subjects Train Dreams and Hamnet against our critiques. As it turns out, we were the monster all along. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17d ago1:28:24

We Need To Talk About Kevin with Jia Tolentino

The time has come for us to talk about Kevin. The New Yorker's Jia Tolentino joins us to talk about Lynne Ramsay's depiction of every parent's worst nightmare - 2011's We Need To Talk About Kevin. We need to talk about how Griffin grew up with Ezra Miller, and even auditioned against them to play Kevin. We need to talk about Lionel Shriver's awful politics. We need to talk about Tilda Swinton comparing her performance here to Buster Keaton. And we need to again explain the whole Fantastic Beasts franchise to another guest who is blissfully unaware of Credence Barebone. Read Jia's Profile of Jennifer Lawrence and her other work at the New Yorker. Check out the r/HowIsLivingThere Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21d ago2:48:55

Critical Darlings: Bugonia And The (Oscar) Favourites with Marie Bardi-Salinas

Honey, we’re buzzing about Bugonia with Marie Bardi-Salinas! The movie surprised us with its appeal to Oscar voters, but maybe it shouldn’t have: Director Yorgos Lanthimos and star, frequent collaborator Emma Stone, have proven themselves Oscar favorites with strong showings from their past films, especially The Favourite and Poor Things.  We discuss the film, but first, a Sundance report from Richard before digging into Lanthimos and Stone’s history with the Oscars, and why this somewhat prickly, political movie succeeded with the Academy despite a relatively weak showing upon release. Then we discuss the movie itself, get into spoilers, the future of the Stone-Lanthimos collaboration, and finally discover whether or not Richard is an Andromedan. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24d ago1:27:35

Send Help

Almost four years ago, Producer Ben Hosley watched Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan" and proclaimed that if he'd been in that scenario, everything would have worked out perfectly. With the gleefully satisfying "Send Help," Raimi gives Ben the ending he's always wanted. Join Ben, Griffin, David, and Marie as they chat about the endless likability of Rachel McAdams, the heel turn of Dylan O'Brien, and how the various employees of Blank Check Productions would fare on a deserted island. Read "Dylan O’Brien Is Ready to Talk About That Accident" Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28d ago2:26:41

Critical Darlings: Train Dreams, And Netflix’s Quest For Best Picture

On today’s show, Richard and Alison hop on a boxcar and stare wistfully as the 20th century passes them by with Best Picture nominee Train Dreams. They discuss director Clint Bentley’s lush, if somewhat sanded-down take on Denis Johnson’s novella about a lumberman haunted by his past, starring a very quiet Joel Edgerton. Train Dreams is one of Netflix’s Best Picture nominees this year, but the film was not an original production. It was acquired by the streamer at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. On the occasion of this year’s festival (which is happening as we speak) we also discuss how Sundance works, and what, exactly gives a movie that ineffable Sundance flavor we have come to associate with small-scale American indies like Little Miss Sunshine.  We also discuss Netflix’s seemingly endless quest to win Best Picture, why the Academy is so resistant to giving them the big prize, and why the most popular streamer in the world is so desperate for Academy validation in the first place. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1/29/20261:03:57

Morvern Callar with Emily Yoshida

Mommy's back! Emily Yoshida joins the gang to talk about 2002's Morvern Callar, a surprisingly tender film about grief, starting over, and taking a Jet2 Holiday. We're chatting about Samantha Morton's unconventional star quality, our personal history with mixtapes, and the Fantastic Beasts franchise for some reason. Plus, Ben reveals his love of seaside snow, Griffin adds some context from the source material (or whatever he could translate from the Scottish dialect), and everyone agrees that Morvern did nothing wrong. Watch Shogun Season 1  Check out the official Shogun podcast Listen to the Emily’s Traitors Podcast: First To Breakfast Watch Carnival of Souls Watch the Romano Tours SNL Sketch Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1/25/20262:36:52

Critical Darlings: The Oscar Nominations Recap (And Also Some Talk About F1)

It’s Hollywood’s biggest morning! Join Richard and Alison (plus a vacationing Producer Benjamin Frisch) as they pick apart the biggest snubs and surprises of the year: Sinners breaking the all-time nominations record! The Secret Agent surging out of Neon’s international power lineup! The complete collapse of would-be frontrunner Wicked: For Good! Plus we take a conversation detour with Apple’s F1, the surprise blockbuster pulling up the rear amongst the Best Picture lineup finds alongside Train Dreams, Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, Bugonia, Sentimental Value, Hamnet, and One Battle After Another in the Best Picture category despite being a popcorn racecar movie about Brad Pitt going fast vroom vroom.  Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, Premiere Party, and read Alison's work at Vulture. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1/22/20261:07:36

Ratcatcher

We need to pod about Glasgow. We need to pod about the arresting inner lives of these complicated protagonists. We need to pod about every incredible project Lynne Ramsay has been attached to over the past 25 years that never actually happened. So yeah, WE NEED TO POD ABOUT CASTVIN! Join us as we discuss Ramsay’s debut film Ratcatcher, a striking study of a young boy on the precipice of adolescence in the slums of 1970s Glasgow. Ben discovers that he adores this movie. Griffin discovers that he can make “Lin Manuel Ramsey” a bit. And everyone discovers that Scottish accents are not that easy to imitate. Watch the Characters Welcome Sketch from Tristan Griffin Watch Timmy on Fallon Check out Meshes of the Afternoon Watch The Mother Project Check out Notes on the Cinematograph Watch Barry Jenkins in the Criterion Closet Listen to the Top 21 Sports movies of the 21st century episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1/18/20262:05:07

Critical Darlings: Hamnet And The History Of Oscar Villains with David Sims

This week, we’re joined by David Sims as we orbit the Golden Globes and their Best Drama winner, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. In the vibes-based reality of awards season predictions, Hamnet has emerged as a potential spoiler to the season’s other favorites, including Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. But what, exactly, makes something an Oscar villain? We also get into the film itself, the historical Shakespeare, why people are weird about Chloé Zhao, and our predictions for next week's Oscar nominations. Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, Premiere Party, and read Alison's work at Vulture. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1/15/20261:14:56

No Other Choice

Join Pulp Men (and Woman) of the Year Griffin, David, Ben, and Marie as they discuss Park Chan Wook’s latest offering, the silly and sublime No Other Choice. We’re talking about paper, AI-proof jobs, the handsomeness of Lee Byung-hun, the possibility that Director Park is the Michael Jordan of dissolves, and the fact that this is likely Griffin’s favorite film of 2025. Plus, David breaks down over the finale of Stranger Things, and we all apologize for a bunch of stuff. Read the Chevy Chase New York Times profile. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1/11/20262:40:43

Critical Darlings: Marty Supreme And The Precursor Circuit with Griffin Newman

This week, we’re only slightly hung over from last night’s New York Film Critics Circle Awards! Griffin Newman joins the pod to discuss the event, where, among dry-run Oscar speeches from Amy Madigan, Rose Byrne, and Wagner Moura, we saw Ethan Hawke fall into a fountain beneath a towering Buddhist deity. Then we turn to the precursor circuit, where Marty Supreme’s momentum has cemented Timothée Chalamet as a frontrunner for Best Actor. We get into how he’s played the campaign circuit so far, and why Timmy and Marty are well positioned for the Oscars, despite not resembling the usual Oscar fare. Finally, we dive into Marty Supreme spoilers, before closing out with both an award and an in memoriam for the week. Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, Premiere Party, and read Alison's work at Vulture. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1/8/20261:44:32

Is This Thing On?

Testing, testing…does anybody know? Is this thing on? It depends on who you ask, frankly. The Blank Check team are divided on Bradley Cooper’s latest offering, the divorce dramedy Is This Thing On? Can you just walk in off the street to do an open mic at the Comedy Cellar? No. Is Peyton Manning one of our finest athlete actors? Yes. Is Griffin’s opinion of this film possibly strained by his anxiety over the New York City mayoral election? Probably. Join us for an episode that we hope is funnier than Will Arnett’s sad sack stand-up, but also probably not as brilliant as Bradley Cooper’s performance as a guy named “Balls.” Read the Cybertruck article Listen to Cannes I Kick It Watch the Vic Mensa ft. Wyclef Jean performance on Colbert Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1/4/20262:28:30

Introducing Critical Darlings

Welcome to Critical Darlings, a new podcast miniseries from Blank Check: A conversation about the awards season conversation, one contender at a time.  On Critical Darlings, critics and Blank Check alumni Richard Lawson and Alison Willmore guide you through the state of the Oscars race, from the precursors, to the campaigns, to the nominees themselves. To get things started, we begin with a discussion of the festival circuit and the curious state of this year's race; where many promising films have floundered upon their public release. Sidebars include the host's Oscar history, watching festival features on no sleep, Brazilian film Twitter, The Oscars on Youtube, Leonardo DiCaprio at Cannes, and Allison's shocking Il Postino experiment.  Critical Darlings is crashing the Blank Check feed every Thursday through the end of Oscar season. Starting next week we'll have video clips to share produced by our friends at Vulture, stay tuned.   Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, Premiere Party, and read Alison's work at Vulture. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Follow @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or DiscordFor anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1/1/20261:25:39

Avatar: Fire and Ash

We went back to Pandora and we all fell in love with a very special lady. She’s a bit prickly. A bit unconventional. But boy, is she something! Join us as we chat Avatar: Fire and Ash, aka VARANG: THE AWAKENING, the third installment in Big Jim’s Sully family saga. Yes, this movie’s a bit messier than the previous ones. Yes, it repeats many of the same beats as The Way of Water. No, we do not care. We are too distracted by our new Na’vi queen. Listen to Big Jim drop Big Lore on The Town with Matt Belloni (Part 1 - Part 2) If you're in the area check out Nitehawk Trivia  Watch the Anaconda Trailer to have 3 Bad Minutes Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12/21/20252:44:30

Ella McCay with Richard Lawson

It’s pretty hard being the governor of an unnamed state when you’re a 34-year-old woman with a husband who’s the heir to a local pizza empire and you’ve got a brother who has agoraphobia and your sleazy dad keeps leaving you weird voicemails and Julie Kavner is narrating your entire life story! Wooo, that was a lot. James L. Brooks’ Ella McCay is A LOT. Richard Lawson joins us to chat about this very strange movie that feels like a real outlier at contemporary multiplexes. If anything, Ella McCay is a refreshing throwback. Kind of. Minus a few glaring, mind-boggling missteps. Anyway, join us for a fun conversation about this latest Brooksian offering, and stick around for a very exciting announcement about the expansion of Blank Check Productions!  Subscribe to Richard’s newsletter Premier Party Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12/14/20252:05:31