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Speaker 1: Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and

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Speaker 1: analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Thursday, September eighteenth, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Lyttleton. I am co

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Speaker 1: editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm in

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Speaker 1: LA He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around

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Speaker 1: the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,

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Speaker 1: we'll hear from Ramin Setuda on his sit down with

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Speaker 1: Julia Roberts and the cast of writer director Luca Guardino's

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Speaker 1: provocative new film After the Hunt. And Chief music critic

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Speaker 1: Chris Willman revisits a moment in time that defines an

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Speaker 1: era Lilith Fair. There's a new documentary out on Sarah

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Speaker 1: McLoughlin's nineteen ninety's all female touring Summer Music Festival. But

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Speaker 1: before we get to that, here are some headlines just

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Speaker 1: in this morning that you need to know. Truthfully, there's

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Speaker 1: nothing people are talking about more right now than Jimmy Kimmel.

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Speaker 1: The situation with his show getting yanked from ABC happened

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Speaker 1: with shocking speed on Wednesday afternoon. The news is still

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Speaker 1: flying as we record this morning, Variety's team is doing

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Speaker 1: a ton of reporting to understand what's going on and

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Speaker 1: why it's all happening. We will have an update, perspective

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Speaker 1: and analysis in Monday's episode of Daily Variety. I suspect

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Speaker 1: the story will evolve quite a bit between now and then.

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Speaker 1: Until then, keep your eyes on Variety dot com, where

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Speaker 1: we are watching this very live story with great intensity

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Speaker 1: about what it signals for media, for television, and for

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Speaker 1: our culture. Now we turn to conversations with Friday journalists

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Speaker 1: about news and trends in show business. Ramin Setuda joins

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Speaker 1: us to give us the backstory on his starry sit

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Speaker 1: down with Julia Roberts, Io Adebris, Andrew Garfield, Chloe Savigni,

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Speaker 1: Michael Stolberg, and director Luca Guardaninho for his for Ramine's

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Speaker 1: cover story for the Variety cover story on their new

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Speaker 1: movie After the Hunt. The subject matter of the movie

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Speaker 1: is very serious, but as Ramin explains, this troop had

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Speaker 1: a lot of fun making the movie. Ramin Setuda, co

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Speaker 1: editor in chief of Variety. I hear that's a pretty

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Speaker 1: good gig.

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Speaker 2: It is a good gig.

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Speaker 3: I think we share it for a reason because it's

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Speaker 3: such a good gig remin.

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Speaker 1: I was so excited when you landed Julia Roberts for

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Speaker 1: our cover. She's part of this very provocative new movie

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Speaker 1: from director Luca Guaraninho called After the Hunt, and it

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Speaker 1: made waves in Venice, and Julia is an object of

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Speaker 1: fascination everywhere she goes. She I certainly grabbed attention in

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Speaker 1: Venice and you got the chance to sit down with

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Speaker 1: her tell us everything.

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Speaker 2: For me, we're very lucky.

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Speaker 3: We did the first cover story for this movie with

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Speaker 3: Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Io ed Abiri and they

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Speaker 3: were joined by Chloe Sevani and Michael stoolbarg and Luca

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Speaker 3: also joined. When I talked to journalism students where I

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Speaker 3: talk about the craft of interviewing, people often want to know,

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Speaker 3: what is it like talking to actors? Was it like

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Speaker 3: sitting down with an actor? And you and I have

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Speaker 3: talked about this before.

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Speaker 2: We often will keep our cool. It's a job. We

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Speaker 2: go in there with our questions.

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Speaker 3: But there are situations and instances where you grow up

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Speaker 3: loving someone so much that it's like your heart grows

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Speaker 3: because you love them so much.

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Speaker 2: And for me, growing up and watching.

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Speaker 3: Movies and loving movies Julia Roberts was my favorite actor.

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Speaker 2: She was the best movie star.

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Speaker 3: I saw all her movies in the nineties, even the

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Speaker 3: ones that weren't well reviewed. It was just to go

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Speaker 3: into a movie theater and to watch a Julia Roberts

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Speaker 3: was a real part of my upbringing and my love

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Speaker 3: for movies and my love for romantic comedies. So to

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Speaker 3: be in the same space as Julia Roberts was a

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Speaker 3: little bit of a.

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Speaker 2: My heart's racing experience.

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Speaker 3: It was a little bit of an out of body experience,

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Speaker 3: but we had a great conversation. I'm really really proud

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Speaker 3: of this cover story. I hope everyone reads that Julia

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Speaker 3: Roberts is very fun and very funny in person, and

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Speaker 3: she still is a true movie star. She radiates a

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Speaker 3: movie star glow when you're in her presence.

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Speaker 1: She's playing a flinty college professor, very ambitious, who gets

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Speaker 1: involved in a big scandal that involves Andrew Garfield and

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Speaker 1: her star student played by io Ed Barry. It sounds

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Speaker 1: like a very needy discussion of very contemporary themes about

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Speaker 1: accusation and the lines of consent and just all kinds

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Speaker 1: of very difficult issues, the kind of things that you

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Speaker 1: don't see so much on big screen movies the kind

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Speaker 1: of things that have been like the province of limited

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Speaker 1: series tell us about the movie after the Hunt, and

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Speaker 1: how you think that going to be received.

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Speaker 3: So this movie will be opening the New York Film

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Speaker 3: Festival next week. It is being distributed by Amazon MGM.

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Speaker 3: It opens in theaters on October tenth. And you described

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Speaker 3: it very accurately, Cynthia. It is a movie that is

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Speaker 3: very contemporary. It has a rip from the headlines feeling

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Speaker 3: to it, given everything that we've gone through. Luca specifically

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Speaker 3: said he doesn't like that this is described as a

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Speaker 3: movie about the Me Too movement because it's about these characters.

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Speaker 2: But it certainly is set.

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Speaker 3: Against the background of me too, and it is about

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Speaker 3: what happens after there is this assault allegation on campus.

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Speaker 3: It's certainly it's not a lighthearted film. And one of

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Speaker 3: the things that was hard for Julia was getting into

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Speaker 3: the headspace of the character that she plays, Alma and

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Speaker 3: playing this professor. But it reminded her very much of

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Speaker 3: working with Mike Nichols, and she misses Mike.

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Speaker 2: Nichols very very much.

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Speaker 3: They work together on Closer at Charlie Wilson's War, and

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Speaker 3: there is a period in Julia's career after winning the

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Speaker 3: Oscar where she and Mike collaborated on these two projects,

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Speaker 3: and I do think this is a return to form

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Speaker 3: for her of that period of her career. And she

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Speaker 3: and Luca just love each other. It was a total

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Speaker 3: love fest. They admire each other so much. Brian Lord

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Speaker 3: introduced them. He represents both of them, and they it

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Speaker 3: was like there were cinematic soulmates, and even in our

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Speaker 3: conversation they were finishing each other's sentences.

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Speaker 2: They were having a lot of fun.

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Speaker 3: And Luca actually volunteered to direct Julia in My Best

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Speaker 3: Friend's Wedding Too if that happens, which I'm not really

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Speaker 3: sure if that movie's up her grabs because Sealine Song

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Speaker 3: is writing the screenplay. But it was a lot of

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Speaker 3: fun and they clearly clearly really love each other.

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Speaker 1: The Guadanino take on My Best Friend's Wedding Too, that

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Speaker 1: is just worth the price of admission right there. It's

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Speaker 1: a very interesting choice for her. This is the first

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Speaker 1: time in a while that we've heard the words Oscar

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Speaker 1: buzz around.

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Speaker 2: Julia asked her why she chose this role. It was interesting,

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Speaker 2: is she read the script.

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Speaker 3: She liked the script, but for her, it really is

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Speaker 3: about working with the right director that she feels comfortable with,

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Speaker 3: and she feels that she's going to be connected with

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Speaker 3: on set, and so she said she was interested in

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Speaker 3: the role, but she didn't make the decision to take

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Speaker 3: on this project until she and Lucas had together.

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Speaker 2: They were at a friend's house.

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Speaker 3: They were sitting together, and then they just started talking

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Speaker 3: and they couldn't stop talking. They talked for hours together,

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Speaker 3: and they really really were connected, and that's what inspired

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Speaker 3: her to make the role, which I thought was very

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Speaker 3: interesting because a lot of actors will choose a director

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Speaker 3: based on what they see on screen, but for Juliet

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Speaker 3: really is about the personal connection.

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Speaker 1: Your story does a great job of weaving in many voices,

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Speaker 1: and you feel like you really have a sense of

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Speaker 1: the making of this movie. And although as you said,

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Speaker 1: it is not a comedy, these are not light subjects,

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Speaker 1: the whole troop seemed like they just had a blast together.

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Speaker 1: They describe a lot of fun things, and a certain

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Speaker 1: star's banana bread gets a lot of discussion in your story.

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Speaker 3: So Julia invited everyone to her beach house and they

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Speaker 3: rehearsed as if they were rehearsing a play, and she

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Speaker 3: made them banana bread. She's a very good cook, according

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Speaker 3: to Luca, and Luca took a loaf of the banana

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Speaker 3: bread on a trip he was taking and he was

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Speaker 3: at the airport and the staff at the airport tasted

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Speaker 3: the banana bread and they fell in love with the bread.

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Speaker 3: You and so, yeah, this cast is very close together.

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Speaker 3: Even though this is a very difficult subject matter that

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Speaker 3: they're playing on screen.

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Speaker 2: In person, they really love each other. They were cracking jokes.

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Speaker 3: And what was also interesting is that Luca he moved

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Speaker 3: very quickly. They shot this movie in twenty eight days.

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Speaker 3: This surprised me because I've seen a lot of his films,

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Speaker 3: but he doesn't ask for a lot of takes. So

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Speaker 3: he said, he comes from the Clint Eastwood school of filmmaking,

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Speaker 3: where he only asks for one or two takes, and

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Speaker 3: he makes movies very quickly, very economically, and he wants

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Speaker 3: to stay under budget, which was also.

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Speaker 2: A very interesting thing that I learned while talking to

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Speaker 2: them for this story.

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Speaker 1: And I'm sure those words are going to warm the

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Speaker 1: hearts of studio executives everywhere. On time and under budget.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for bringing Julia Roberts to us. We have

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Speaker 1: that incredible smile and that Julia Roberts gaze on our cover.

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Speaker 1: Dear listeners, run to get your print copy of Variety.

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Speaker 1: Go to wriety dot com and look through all the photos.

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Speaker 1: They are fantastic. It's so much more to come on

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Speaker 1: after the hunt and Julia here this award season. Thank

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Speaker 1: you for taking time to chat. We'll end here with

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Speaker 1: a clip that captures the camaraderie among this cast. It's

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Speaker 1: from the cover story video that accompanies Remins great reporting.

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Speaker 1: This clip starts as Michael Stolberg is talking about working

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Speaker 1: with Guadaninho, Timothy Charlomay, and Armie Hammer on the twenty

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Speaker 1: seventeen drama Call Me by Your Name, and then Chloe Savigny,

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Speaker 1: Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield chime in.

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Speaker 2: I got to live with it for about two months

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Speaker 2: before we threw it in to be shot.

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Speaker 3: I got to know Timmy, and I got to know Army,

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Speaker 3: and I got to know.

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Speaker 2: I like to get.

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Speaker 1: Sorry you had if us out thoughts thoughts it out

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Speaker 1: loud with Chloe.

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Speaker 2: The wow, the magic, because a walking magic. They don't

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Speaker 2: even smell like for another time. It was a nazy wow.

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Speaker 1: It's all right, will you ask? And now Chris Willman

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Speaker 1: joins us to talk about the new Hulu documentary Lilith

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Speaker 1: Fair Building a Mystery, which premieres September twenty First, Chris

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Speaker 1: gives us his first hand account of what was so

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Speaker 1: groundbreaking about the all female tour that Sarah McLaughlin led

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Speaker 1: in the late nineteen nineties. But first, here's a clip

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Speaker 1: from the trailer.

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Speaker 3: Singer Sarah McLaughlin has launched an all female tour.

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Speaker 1: This was the first time you'd seen anything like its

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Speaker 1: finding out that all of my favorite artists had played

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Speaker 1: at this event.

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Speaker 2: Alila fair Bill is incredible. Paula Cole, Who's Agad, Erica.

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Speaker 4: Podus, she Naede O'Connor, and this is Elliott, Sara McLoughlin,

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Speaker 4: Joe Crowth, Jewel.

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Speaker 3: I was in disbelieved that I'd never heard of it before.

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Speaker 1: Promoter said, you can't have put two women on the

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Speaker 1: same bill. People will come. That's complete bullshit, and it

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Speaker 1: put a huge fire under my bout to prove them all.

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Speaker 1: Chris Willman, thank you for doing me a pleasure. Chris,

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Speaker 1: you are our chief music critic, and you are also

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Speaker 1: our chief reviewer of music documentaries. There's a new documentary

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Speaker 1: coming out, Lilith Fair, Building a Mystery, and it's a

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Speaker 1: deep dive back into the nineteen nineties festival that in

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Speaker 1: my memory ran longer than it actually did. It was

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Speaker 1: led by Sarah McLachlin, who was an incredible artist and

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Speaker 1: really was at the peak of her popularity and success.

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Speaker 1: Her sound really defines that late nineties era very well,

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Speaker 1: and she used her clout to put together a touring

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Speaker 1: lineup of female musicians. And although the nineteen nineties wasn't

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Speaker 1: that long ago, it is true that that felt like

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Speaker 1: a very radical move at the time. Let's start with

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Speaker 1: Chris having covered it in the moment back then? What

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Speaker 1: was so different? So what stood out so much about

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Speaker 1: the Lilith Fair and what Sarah McLaughlin was trying to

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Speaker 1: do with this tour.

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Speaker 4: Even today there will be occasional all women bills and

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Speaker 4: it still seems as novel as it did then. I mean,

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Speaker 4: this past year I went to Brandy Carlile's Girls just

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Speaker 4: on a weekend festival in Mexico, which is her annual

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Speaker 4: attempt to basically revive Lilith fair for one weekend as

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Speaker 4: opposed to a whole summer. What Sarah McLaughlin did back

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Speaker 4: in the nineties, the spirit of it lives on, but

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Speaker 4: it's still a radical idea to package women together. What

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Speaker 4: Sarah McLaughlin was dealing with was she went out on

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Speaker 4: tour I think ninety four ninety five, as she took

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Speaker 4: Paula coll Out as her opening act, and she became

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Speaker 4: aware that this was like stunning to people, that you

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Speaker 4: would think that people would come see a woman opening

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Speaker 4: for a woman, and that you didn't need the so

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Speaker 4: called variety of throwing a man in there.

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Speaker 2: And why that idea.

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Speaker 4: Has persisted is is kind of a mystery, speaking of

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Speaker 4: building a mystery. But so Sarah said, you know, I

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Speaker 4: don't want to do just too. I want to do

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Speaker 4: a bunch. So the following year she did a few

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Speaker 4: test dates. Not all of them were even called Liltz Fair.

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Speaker 4: It was still coming together. But then by the summer

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Speaker 4: of ninety seven, it was like, Okay, we're going to

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Speaker 4: do this full scale. We're going to go out to

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Speaker 4: like every big amphitheater in the country with a somewhat

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Speaker 4: rotating cast of characters.

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Speaker 2: But ninety seven ninety eight ninety nine.

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Speaker 4: Those were the three main years for Liltz Fair where

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Speaker 4: they really went out. I was covering it for Entertainment

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Speaker 4: Weekly at the time, and we did cover stories back

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Speaker 4: to back a couple of years.

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Speaker 1: Obviously it made a big impact if they're making documentaries

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Speaker 1: about it in twenty five years later.

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Speaker 4: And in the documentary they had within the first few minutes,

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Speaker 4: Olivia Rodrigo On was the young expert witness who testifies

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Speaker 4: that she had no idea there was such a thing

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Speaker 4: as lilth Fair until fairly Rea, even though these are

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Speaker 4: all her favorite artists. This will be an education for

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Speaker 4: some younger people as well as the salgic trip for

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Speaker 4: the elders who were there.

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Speaker 1: How do you think the music holds up?

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Speaker 2: Well, it was very well curated.

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Speaker 4: When you've got people like Bonnie Raitt, you're on the

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Speaker 4: right track. The second year they knew they had a

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Speaker 4: diversity problem, and so they brought in artists like Erica Badou,

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Speaker 4: who is about to play the Hollywood Bowl.

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Speaker 2: She's still around. All these people are still around.

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Speaker 4: Fiona Apple is not that active, but she is remains

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Speaker 4: one of the most respected artists in music. Cheryl Crowe

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Speaker 4: is still a superstar. We don't hear as much about

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Speaker 4: some of the others, like Natalie Merchant or Paula Cole,

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Speaker 4: but bind and large Liz Fair, people like that. The

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Speaker 4: Dixie Chicks were on it the third year. After they

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Speaker 4: started thinking they should have black people and brown people,

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Speaker 4: they thought, hey, why not some country artists too, So

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Speaker 4: in a way it was also pioneering. I think the

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Speaker 4: multi genre festival. Now it's common to see I think

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Speaker 4: multi genre bills, and with Coachella you see literally everything represented,

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Speaker 4: but Lilith Fair. It's like, Okay, the common denominator is

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Speaker 4: not the music. It's not even the attitude so much.

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Speaker 4: It's the common denominator is the gender, and so there's

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Speaker 4: so much you can put under that umbrella. As they

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Speaker 4: eventually figured it out, it was exciting, especially that second

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Speaker 4: year when you could hear some great R and B

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Speaker 4: singers as well as pop singer songwriters and rockers, and

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Speaker 4: they really mixed it up. So I think it was

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Speaker 4: influential in that way, which might not get as much

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Speaker 4: credit for it.

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Speaker 1: Chris, what would you say about the documentary itself? Does

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Speaker 1: it work in terms of putting it into historical context

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Speaker 1: and leaving you with appetite to learn more.

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Speaker 2: I think it does.

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Speaker 4: You know, I was so immersed in Lilith's Fair and

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Speaker 4: It's Lore that I wanted it to be three hours long.

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Speaker 4: But I think the documentary does a really good job

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Speaker 4: covering a lot of basis. It's very celebratory, as you

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Speaker 4: would expect, but it doesn't completely gloss over some of

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Speaker 4: the thorny issues. And then when it comes to the

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Speaker 4: issue of should there be a Little Fair revival today?

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Speaker 4: I think everybody who starts to watch this stock better

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Speaker 4: will go, hell, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Do you think there's a need for a little Affair today?

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Speaker 4: I mean it's a good question, and one that the

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Speaker 4: movie raises at the end because they do make the

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Speaker 4: point that Taylor Swift goes out and has almost exclusively

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Speaker 4: female opening acts, so there are sisters who are doing

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Speaker 4: it for themselves, so to speak, and elevating other women

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Speaker 4: in those support slots. On the other hand, there is

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Speaker 4: a Instagram account I forget the name of it, but

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Speaker 4: they track all the festivals that are happening in the nation,

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Speaker 4: and they do two versions of the poster, one with

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Speaker 4: all the names and then one that only has the

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Speaker 4: female names, and then in most of those festivals, the

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Speaker 4: entire poster art is blank except for a couple names,

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Speaker 4: especially if its genres like a country or hip hop

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Speaker 4: or something.

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Speaker 2: You know, singer songwriter festival might be a different deal.

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Speaker 4: So when you see that altered image where all the

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Speaker 4: male artists have been taken out and you just see

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Speaker 4: one or two lone female artists, you start to feel, man,

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Speaker 4: we have not come a single inch in the twenty

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Speaker 4: eight years since L's Fair started, so there is a

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Speaker 4: place for it.

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Speaker 1: You can only imagine the lineup, but the incredible artists

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Speaker 1: that are out there now and again, so many of

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Speaker 1: the top hit makers are women. Well, Chris, thank you

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Speaker 1: for helping us put music and pop culture and the

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Speaker 1: role of it all into context. I'm really eager to

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Speaker 1: see this documentary, so thank you for previewing it.

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Speaker 4: I think you'll enjoy it.

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Speaker 1: As we close out today's episode, here's a few things

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Speaker 1: we're watching for. Variety is getting ready to host its

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Speaker 1: annual Entertainment and Technology Summits September twenty fifth in Los Angeles.

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Speaker 1: We have great speakers lined up. More to come on

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Speaker 1: that next week. Next week, Variety will be globe trotting again,

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Speaker 1: we'll produce digital dailies out of the Busson International Film

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Speaker 1: Festival in Korea, the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain,

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Speaker 1: the Finished Film Affair in Helsinki, and the Zurich Film Festival.

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Speaker 1: Two TV premieres on our radar next week are season

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Speaker 1: two of Doc on Fox and The Low Down on FX.

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Speaker 1: That's the new series from Reservation Dogs creator Stirlin Harjoe.

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Speaker 1: Both shows land on September twenty third. Before we go,

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Speaker 1: congrats to Julie McNamara. She's partnered with Matt Lockshare winner

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Speaker 1: Jenny Snyder Erman to ramp up development and Urban Sutton

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Speaker 1: Street productions. McNamara spent many years in programming at CBS,

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Speaker 1: and she most recently headed podcast content for Spotify. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening. This episode was written and reported by me

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Speaker 1: Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Ramin Setuta and Chris Wilman

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Speaker 1: sticks Nick's hick Picks. Please leave us a review at

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Speaker 1: the podcast platform of your choice, and please tune in

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Speaker 1: Monday for an other episode of Daily Variety