Biopic: A Podcast Story

Hooray! We have a bonus episode: our 13th edition of Irrelevant Host Banter, with a flashback to mid-2024 with Episode 25: Ray and Episode 26: Liz & Dick.  These are some outtakes that were cut for running time, and/or because we were digressive or repetitive. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. We jump around in a senseless, context-deprived manner, and you should definitely skip this episode and download any normal episode from “Episode 10: Cobb” onwards if this is your first time listening. Includes material cut from: Episode 25: Ray Episode 26: Liz & Dick Highlights include: Rena fuming about other podcast hosts boring her by talking about what they are wearing or drinking. Another dead brother. The time that Sara and Rena saw the Cats movie together: “Do you remember like halfway through that when we realized when I was like, their ears are moving. Like the horror was like the horror washed over you so slowly.” David Eigenberg appreciation. Speculating on the budget for Liz & Dick. Love for Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Relief that Lawrence Olivier did not win an Oscar for Othello. And much more, of course. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.   Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Hooray! We have a bonus episode: our 12th edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes that were cut for running time, and/or because we were digressive or repetitive. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. We jump around in a senseless, context-deprived manner, and you should definitely skip this episode and download any normal episode from “Episode 10: Cobb” onwards if this is your first time listening. Includes material cut from: Episode 23: The Pride of The Yankees Episode 24: Saint Joan Highlights include: Unimpressive Greatest Generation-era honeymoons More fascination with the Gehrig family’s premature aging. More on Henry VI’s “Love Day.” Rena’s classmates emotionally wounding her by laughing at the sentimental bits in Casablanca. Sara’s Saul Bass appreciation. Sara’s Thelma Schoonmaker appreciation. And much more, of course!  Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Hooray! We have a bonus episode: our 11th edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes that were cut for running time, and/or because we were digressive or repetitive. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. We jump around in a senseless, context-deprived manner, and you should definitely skip this episode and download any normal episode from “Episode 10: Cobb” onwards if this is your first time listening. Includes material cut from: Episode 21: Gandhi Episode 22: The Duchess Highlights include: Blade Runner Rutger Hauer monologue appreciation. More fun tidbits about rotten boroughs. Rena’s loathing for antimaterialism. Why corsets are less barbaric than going to the gym. Kevin Costner being a big man-ho in the 90s. And much more, of course!  Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

We recorded around three hours of material for “Episode 20: Reagan” back in August of 2024. That movie was torture to endure and we wound up cutting about half of what we recorded. We assert that the right to free assembly allows us, the much-loathed coastal media types, the right to seek hope, comfort, and the mutual salving of wounds among the like-minded. So, this bonus episode is not for everybody. If you are broken-hearted about the horrible thing that happened in Washington, DC on Monday, January 20 of 2025, and you would rather not be told “F— your feelings, pronoun person,” here is nearly 50 minutes of us hating on Ronald Reagan and the Reagan biopic that came out in 2024 and stars Dennis Quaid. We hope that you feel better. You are not alone. Including: Unwanted comeuppance for unrepentant libs via gender-neutral bathroom. An ox with a cold. How we narrowly escaped being owned by some finance bros who hollered, “Vote Trump!” at the end of the movie and appeared to actually enjoy this irredeemable tripe bucket of a movie. Salacious, Kitty Kelly-imparted gossip about the oral talents of the former Nancy Davis, aside from her acting. Trying to remember where our child selves were when the Berlin Wall fell. Did we mention just how thoroughly we hated the Reagan biopic? Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Hooray! We have a bonus episode: our ninth edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes that were cut for running time. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. We jump around in a senseless, context-deprived manner, and you should definitely skip this episode and download any normal episode from “Episode 10: Cobb” onwards if this is your first time listening. This bonus episode consists of material cut from Episode 19: And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself. Subjects include: Non-lucrative possibilities for the publishing industry. The Lost Cause sucks and we are not here for it. Buster Keaton’s awful childhood. Boring white dudebros. Sara’s realization that she has D.W. Griffith confused with W.C. Fields. A sarcastic discussion about how much we are not looking forward to seeing the Dennis Quaid-starring Reagan. And, as always, much more. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Hooray! We have a bonus episode: our eighth edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes that were cut for running time. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. We jump around in a senseless, context-deprived manner, and you should definitely skip this episode and download any normal episode from “Episode 10: Cobb” onwards if this is your first time listening. Includes material cut from: Episode 17: Get on Up! Episode 18: Gotti Highlights include: Sara is surprised to learn that Dan Ackyroyd’s eyes don’t match. A discussion of what it means if you don’t notice people’s eye color. Grieving for the decline of wedding gowns with a sleeve. James Brown corpse capers that didn’t make it into Episode 17: Get on Up!, even though we normally never miss a corpse caper. More deconstruction of bad Get On Up! Reviews from IMDB. At least Gotti was free on one of the streaming services that we subscribe to. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Hooray! We have a bonus episode: our seventh edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes that were cut for running time. If this is your first time listening to us, we recommend that you listen to one of our regular episodes instead. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. Includes material cut from: Episode 16: Cleopatra Episode 17: Get on Up! Highlights include: Clarifying Carroll O’Connor’s age. More revolting Ptolemaic incest talk. Appreciation for Craig Robinson and the fine art of yelling at the screen during movies. Numerous shout-outs to Andrew Hickey’s A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. Sara’s shrine to Jason Mantzoukas. Rena mushing out at her foster cat, again. And more, of course! Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Hooray! We have a bonus episode: our sixth edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes that were cut for running time. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. Includes material cut from: Episode 15: Prefontaine Episode 4: Respect Episode 5: The Conqueror  Highlights include: Rena and Sara debate what number constitutes “several.” The "Second Opinion" for Prefontaine that didn't make it into the episode. Sara’s reaction to an abbreviated Beauty and the Beast performance at Disney World. And more, of course! Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

We had a lot to say about Race, so much that our fifth edition of Irrelevant Host Banter is entirely composed of material that we cut from Episode 14: Race.   Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs, mostly about Race.   Highlights include: The sentimental way that Rena commemorates D-Day every year. Spoilers for Jordan Peele's Nope. Sara marvels at the wonders of the postal service. The Lion King's visual references to Triumph of the Will haunt Berlin's Museum Island. Sara and Rena discuss possible future films and how to prioritize them. And more, of course! Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Trigger Warning: Contains mentions of the Holocaust. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com  

Hooray! We have a bonus episode: our fourth edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes that were cut for running time.   Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs.   Includes material cut from: • Episode 12: Becket • Episode 13: Frida   Highlights include: Rena's rant about her unintended visit to Casa Trotsky. An extended cut of portions of our "Would You Hook Up With this World Leader?" quiz. Further discussion of Harvey Weinstein's repulsiveness. More about the history of forks in Europe. A definition of negging for listeners over sixty. The "Second Opinion" for Frida that didn't make it into the episode. Sara's vehement reactions to unprofessional, drunken behavior by Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton on the set of Becket. And more, of course! Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com  

We have a bonus episode: our third edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes that were cut for running time. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. Includes material cut from: • Episode 10: Cobb • Episode 11: Evita   Highlights include: • The extended take of our reactions to Eva Peron’s corpse. • Extra criticisms of Robert Wuhl’s performance in Cobb. • A look at insider trading laws and the history of Coca-Cola in cans. • Lots more!   Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Just in time for 4th of July weekend 2024, we have a bonus episode: our second edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes from the episodes that we released in June of 2024 that were cut for running time. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. Includes material cut from: Episode 6: Milk Episode 7: Bessie Episode 8: Rocketman Episode 9: Gia Highlights include: Rena hates surprises. An intense, literalist deconstruction of the lyrics to "Rocket Man". Our sadness that racism did not end in 2008. The time that Elton John bought a dinosaur from Ringo Starr. Attention-seeking foster cats. Lots more! Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Visual Aids: https://imgur.com/user/BiopicAPodcastStory Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Rena and Sara prefer that our podcast be at least half an hour shorter than the movies that we talk about. Rena generally dislikes listening to other podcast hosts banter about their personal lives, so she's happy to cut all of that out. But we needed to learn some new audio skills, so she spliced together a bunch of random irrelevant host banter and a few things that were cut for running time. The clips in this episode were taken from the following episodes: Introduction: Who Are We and What Are We Doing? Episode 1: The Doors Episode 3: Caligula Topics include: The excellence of Teresa Anne Savoy's hair in Caligula. Sara's insights regarding the role of dinosaurs in American history. A trip to Père Lachaise. Were both Andrew and James Garfield assassinated by Charles Guiteau? Listener feedback. Rena's least favorite biopic. Plus much, much more. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Imgur: https://imgur.com/user/BiopicAPodcastStory Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com  

Emergency bonus episode! Michael, the oft-delayed musical biopic about the life and times of troubled genius and smooth (never convicted, often tried) alleged criminal Michael Jackson has a teaser trailer and an April 2026 release date. We risked 1990s-era Pokemon-inspired seizures as we watched the trailer over and over in an attempt to parse the psychotically edited clip parade for insights about what we can expect from this movie. What we’re confident predicting: the absolutely unbiased team of MJ estate executors producing the film will give us a film in which young boys will be the villains trying to take down one of the 20th century’s most iconic and important artists; Johnnie Cochran may not make it to the final cut because the filmmakers didn’t read MJ’s 1993 settlement agreement; screenwriter John Logan’s need for a GoFundMe (call us, John!), and that the musical sequences will probably be electrifying.  Also discussed: the economics of MJ and why it was easier to let him do whatever the hell he wanted; prosthetics; The Jacksons: An American Dream; how Rena was old enough to rent a car when she first saw the Thriller video; and the unexpected parallels between the Michael teaser trailer and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. And so much more.  Sources used in the episode include… https://variety.com/2025/film/news/michael-jackson-biopic-trailer-first-footage-1236168488/#recipient_hashed=b9997f00edcb0ce488b46f6883f897b1143a3ff8c2a571e2e26872f0fcba0958&recipient_salt=4d7867d3eca22b71fde0dba3b278c22145f502c20e757e3f49a26898273008a5&utm_medium=email&utm_source=exacttarget&utm_campaign=newsalert&utm_content=644726_11-06-2025&utm_term=6337474?utm_medium=&utm_source=&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&utm_id=    With additional thanks to Pajiba As promised, here's the video of Smokey Robinson and George Michael singing "Careless Whisper." Noted: Bill Cosby does the intro, sorry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflvN5mkrxQ Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

First shots have been fired in the Oscarbation Wars of 2025 / 2026, and those shots are coming to you from Bruce Springsteen, in Brokendreamsville, New Jersey, in a biopic that will certainly cover territory that we’ve already seen many times this year in our emergency breakdown of the Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere trailer.  Will this movie have enough self-serious white men over-explaining the significance of the album Nebraska to satisfy Hollywood's annual quota of self-serious white men over-explaining things? Did the hotel room in which Bruce Springsteen recorded the album serve as a murder room for one of the many serial killers who haunted America in the 1970s because of the excessive use of lead paint? Are we going to see an actor’s interpretation of record executive John Hammond for the fourth time since we’ve launched this show?  Most important: how important is that hole in the floor that Jeremy Strong talks about in this trailer going to be to the plot of this film?  Come for the rage and the coverage of everything from former New Jersey governor Chris Christie’s unrequited passion for Bruce to how Gaby Hoffman’s Jersey hausfrau turn makes us feel old, stay for Sara’s truly vexing true-or-false quiz about Bruce Springsteen.  This movie comes out on October 24 and you bet we’d prefer not to see it.  Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is directed by Scott Cooper and stars Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen, Stephen Graham as Douglas “Dutch” Springsteen, Paul Walter Hauser as Mike Batlan, Marc Maron as Chuck Plotkin, Gaby Hoffman as Adele Springsteen, David Krumholtz as Al Teller, the magnificent Jeremy Strong as Jon Landau, some bottle blonde actress as a woman who is probably not Patti Scialfa or Julianne from Sisters as “The Girl 🙄,” and soon-to-be-breakout-star Cormac Fingeret as “Man Riding in Truck with Man Yelling ‘Bruce, You Suck!” The trailer’s here: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2147076121/?ref_=tt_vids_vi_1    Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Reagan is finally here and boy does it look mighty bad. Rena and Sara try to make sense of the Reagan trailer, a film that has been waiting for its moment since filming in 2020, and speculate on its contents, whether its director is an auteur, and the putty and prosthetics budget. We play a game called “Desperate or Canceled.” This film will star Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan, Mena Suvari as Jane Wyman, Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan, Dan Lauria as Tip O'Neill, king of accent work Jon Voight, Robert Davi, Kevin Dillon, Scott Stapp, and maybe Kevin Sorbo.  We peel back the infinite layers of Jon Voight's unconvincing de-aging makeup on our journey through development hell and production purgatory, in search of empty cowboys. Along the way, we meet an unholy daisy chain of banally-named production companies, make bets on the still-unconfirmed running time, explore the choices made while filming during COVID, and identify the bad guys and the absentees. Spoiler warning: We might spoil everything? We’ll know more when the film comes out on August 30.  Visual Aids: https://imgur.com/gallery/reagan-trailer-emergency-episode-of-biopic-podcast-story-tvdbwrk Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory  Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Buckle up, snowflakes, we’re ruining your favorite folk hero!  Politics month is supposed to be over, but we have one more slice of Americana bullshit for you all, 1973’s Walking Tall, starring Joe Don Baker. After all, what is more patriotic than being a pro-wrestler-turned-town-sherriff-without-any-law-enforcement-experience-cum-alleged-wife-murderer-and-legend who stands up for what is right (grifting harder than your competition)? What is more American than assaulting your town’s inhabitants with a two-by-four because due process is nonsense, and you haven’t eaten yet?  Nothing. NOTHING.  We find a couple of flaws with the popular, ridiculous myth of Buford Pusser and discuss those (spoiler alert: There was not an official stick that he used to beat people with) while also finding fault with Buford’s sheriff’s uniform of a relaxed-fit shirt and brown slacks, the film’s soundtrack, Bing Crosby’s production house, the too-good-for-this-film presence of the tragic Elizabeth Hartman, and the town orthopedist’s cast-making skills. And a lot of other things.  Walking Tall was directed by Phil Carlson and stars Joe Don Baker as Sheriff Buford Pusser, Elizabeth Hartman as Pauline Pusser, Lurene Tuttle as Helen Pusser, Noah Beery Jr. as Carl Pusser, Dawn Lyn as Dwana Pusser, Leif Garrett as Mike Pusser, Felton Perry as Obra Eaker, Logan Ramsey as John Witter, Rosemary Murphy as Callie Hacker, Gene Evans as Sheriff Al Thurman, and Bruce Glover as Grady Coker. Sources used in the episode include…   Podcasts  Behind the Bastards  Going South   The Facebook page Buford Pusser: The Other Story—which, I know what a cesspool Facebook is, but the man who created it, Mike Elam, has dedicated a lot of energy and time and shoe leather to dissecting this man’s legacy which, I gotta say, is fucking weird, and speaks to that strange, strange time our society was in at the end of the Vietnam War and in the throes of Watergate.—Sara   Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Hello boredom, our old friend. Dull, terrible Parnell — widely considered Clark Gable’s worst film and one of the worst movies ever made — lives up to its reputation as we celebrate the blessed end of Politics Month. We take a long, pained look at a film that combines the magic of inert, uncommitted acting, a dire, boring screenplay filled with cliches, and the thrills of parliamentary procedure around Irish “home rule”, and firmly recommend that no one ever watch this movie. Was there a gas leak on set? How checked out was Clark Gable? Did Billie Burke sell her soul to the devil in order to look young for her entire life? Can an impromptu spelling be ever be compelling? This movie is a nightmare. We did this work for you here.  Because the movie was so wildly uninformative, we welcome a special guest, the delightful and wildly intelligent Fin Dwyer of The Irish History Podcast and the Transatlantic Podcast  who gives us the true (and much more interesting) story of groundbreaking Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell. Parnell stars Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell, Myrna Loy as Katie O'Shea, Edna May Oliver as Aunt Ben Wood, Edmund Gwenn as Campbell, Alan Marshal as Captain William O'Shea, Donald Crisp as Davitt, Billie Burke as Clara Wood, Berton Churchill as The O'Gorman Mahon, Donald Meek as Murphy, Montagu Love as Gladstone, Byron Russell as Healy, Brandon Tynan as Redmond, and somewhere, in an uncredited role, Lee Strasberg. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Books   Clark Gable : tormented star David Bret   The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge and the Phoenix Park Murders that Stunned Victorian England  by Julie Kavanagh (Author)   Myrna Loy : the only good girl in Hollywood Emily Wortis Leider   Fireball : Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3 By Robert Matzen   The fifty worst films of all time : (and how they got that way) by Harry Medved  The Irish History Podcast with Fin Dwyer, our guest.   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

We couldn’t be more excited to welcome our friend and New Orleansian Glenn from The Awesome Village to talk about John Goodman’s star turn as Louisiana populist senator and governor Huey Long in the TV movie Kingfish.  Featuring a cavalcade of future stars, Kingfish efficiently cycles through the political career, appetites, and light corruption of Long with what Sara found to be an objectionable amount of music. Also discussed at length: why John Goodman is the best, several odes to New Orleans, Rena displaying unexpected interest in football, why we wore brown lipstick in the 1990s, the magic of Louisiana politics, and the shocking heel turn of FDR, who we liked well enough two weeks ago in Sunrise at Campobello.  Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long was directed by Thomas Schlamme, written by  Paul Monash, and stars John Goodman as Huey P. Long, Jr., Matt Craven as Seymour Weiss, Anne Heche as Aileen Dumont, Ann Dowd as Rose Long, Jeff Perry as Earl Long, Bob Gunton as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Cobbs as Pullman Porter, Hoyt Axton as Huey P. Long, Sr., Kirk Baltz as Frank Costello, Richard Bradford as Judge Benjamin Pavy, Jimmie Ray Weeks as Allen Henderson, Bill Raymond as Gov. O.K. Allen, John McConnell as 'Battlin' Bozeman, Ed Bruce as Gov. J.Y. Sanders, and Joe Chrest as Carl Weiss. Sources used in the episode include…   Podcasts: Perspectives in History, 5-parter on Huey Long. Gadfly 6-parter on Huey Long. TV: Dick Cavett interview with John Goodman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3F9ltZhPgM   News: https://variety.com/1995/tv/reviews/kingfish-a-story-of-huey-p-long-1200441053/   Also, we have an actual Louisianian to give us some context here.  Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory

A crude, egomaniacal leader with astonishing hair, suffering from mini-strokes and hypertension, dies following a party where everyone kisses his ass and cheers on American machismo. Is it a call from the future? A bird? A plane? No…It’s The Death of Stalin! Chaos breaks loose as his potential successors try to figure out who is the most feckless and clever of them all, and who can take over the future of the USSR. We meet failsons, daughters of dubious intellect, hypermasculine generals, and overly performative ass-kissers on our journey to the Nikita Khrushchev era in this pitch-black comedy from Antonio Iannucci, the kind and hilarious Scotsman who also blessed us with Veep. We unpack the absurdity and tragedy of communist Russia in the 1950s, what “17 minutes” means, Sara’s history of working for maniacs, the settled-science hotness of Steve Buscemi, the adorable, tragic pup Laikaa, the missed opportunity for a McDonald’s tie-in, and so much more as we continue Politics Month 2025.   Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Sources used in the episode include… Behind the Bastards, several episodes related to Joseph Stalin and his henchmen. Real Dictators episodes on Joseph Stalin. We read the graphic novel. Character sketch on Khrushchev from a CIA memoranda prepared for President Kennedy in 1961 that was declassified in 1976, now available through the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library: https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkpof-126-003#?image_identifier=JFKPOF-126-003-p0087   The Last Days of Stalin, by Joshua Rubenstein. https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/whats-fact-and-whats-fiction-in-the-death-of-stalin.html Stalin's daughter : the extraordinary and tumultuous life of Svetlana Alliluyeva by Rosemary Sullivan Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com