Movie People: Interviews & More From the Southampton Playhouse

As Project Hail Mary makes waves at the box office, co-director Phil Lord talks through the unique challenges of the project and what its success means for the state of theatrical movies.

This week, we're joined by Dr. Shawn Domagal-Goldman, the head of astrophysics at NASA, who advised on Andy Weir's hit book that inspired Project Hail Mary. Dr. Domagal-Goldman explains the hard science behind the spacefaring adventure and how movies inspired his career.

This week's episode features a reunion between Southampton Playhouse artistic director Eric Kohn and his former colleague, IndieWire's Anne Thompson, a veteran entertainment journalist who has been covering the Academy Awards for decades. Plus, on our Playhouse People segment, Think Inc. trivia founder Paul Johnson shares his movie fandom.

The new animated Pixar hit Hoppers follows a teenager who befriends her local beaver population. Like many Pixar favorites, it combines big ideas with imagination and heart. Director Daniel Chong talks to Movie People about how he navigated that formula and the films that inspired his own work. This episode also features South Fork Natural History Museum's Frank Quevodo on the defunct beaver population of Long Island and a new edition of Playhouse People with Rebekah Wise.

With four Oscar nominations and a year's worth of acclaim, the Brazilian period piece The Secret Agent has made waves around the world. Director Kleber Mendonça Filho and producer Emilie Lesclaux traveled to the Southampton Playhouse in the final week of Oscar campaigning before voting closed to discuss the genesis of the project and its global resonance.
Also in this week's episode: Filmmaker Nathalie Musteata joins us to discuss her short film Two People Exchanging Saliva, which is currently nominated for Best Live Action Feature Film. And we close out with a new segment, Playhouse People, featuring members of our community and their relationship to our historic movie theater.