The Treatment

In the film 'Union County,' director Adam Meeks takes an unflinching and empathetic look at the opioid crisis in rural Ohio. Meeks and his star Will Poulter did a grassroots tour of independent theaters in that state around the film’s release. For his treat, Meeks makes an impassioned plea for independent cinema that doesn’t fly over the states between the coasts.

Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black’s work often looks at real people struggling to find their place. He won the Oscar for the 2007 biopic 'Milk' starring Sean Penn as the openly gay activist and politician Harvey Milk. His other projects include the films 'Rustin and J. Edgar,' as well as the limited series 'Under The Banner of Heaven.' His newest project is the four-part docuseries 'Rock Out.' The series looks at the powerful impact the LGBTQ community has had on rock and heavy metal. Black tells Elvis how being an outsider can ultimately be a gift, why he doesn't like his work to feel comfortable, and why this is such a personal project for him.

Writer and professor Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor has grappled with her father Richard Pryor’s legacy through her teaching and her recent book 'Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me.' For her treat, she celebrates an early comedy special that demonstrated her father’s command of language and the stage.

First time director Adam Meeks’ new film 'Union County' takes on addiction with empathy and hope. The film, which stars actor Will Poulter, who was also a producer on the project, looks at the opioid crisis in rural Ohio through a real-life rehabilitation program that has had promising results. Poulter plays a recovering addict going through the program alongside many non-professional actors who are on their own sobriety journeys. Meeks and Poulter talk to Elvis about documenting real recovery stories, what Poulter's conditions were before taking on the part, and why he often plays characters wrestling with their own pride.

Sir Christopher Frayling is a film scholar who has written extensively about Italian director Sergio Leone, most notably in the biography Sergio Leone by Himself. For his treat, Frayling reveals the early so-called children’s films he watched that horrified and thrilled him.