Riz Ahmed on Bringing 'Hamlet' Into the Modern World
In this episode of The Business, Riz Ahmed discusses his upcoming modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which reimagines the Danish royal family as a wealthy South Asian clan in contemporary Britain. He reflects on how his own outsider experience and a high school teacher’s encouragement led him to connect with Hamlet’s themes of alienation and injustice, and how he approaches the play as a musical, emotionally driven performance. Ahmed also talks about his Amazon series Bait, his Oscar‑winning short The Long Goodbye, and the challenges of balancing his acting and music careers while confronting self‑criticism.
Drew Goddard Shoots for the Stars with ‘Project Hail Mary’
Screenwriter Drew Goddard discusses his career trajectory—from early TV work on Buffy, Alias, and Lost to high‑stakes film projects like Cloverfield, World War Z, and his latest adaptation of Andy Weir’s *Project Hail Mary*. He explains how fast‑paced TV training helped...
Oscar Winners Victory Lap: Autumn Durald Arkapaw & Joachim Trier
In this episode of The Business, Kim Masters and Matt Bellany discuss the post‑Oscars landscape, highlighting recent winners Joachim Trier and Autumn Durald‑Arkapaw. Trier explains how his reputation now lets him cast stars like Al Fanning without a script, while Durald‑Arkapaw,...
A Demanding First Week for Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro
The episode focuses on Disney’s new CEO Josh D’Amaro, who in his first week faces three major setbacks: the cancellation of OpenAI’s Sora video app, which threatened Disney’s AI partnership, and troubles with Epic Games as Fortnite’s latest release underperforms,...
A Human Conversation with the Producers of ‘The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist’
Producers Diane Becker and Ted Tremper discuss the making of their documentary "The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist," detailing how they secured interviews with AI leaders like Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, the logistical nightmare of organizing...
Tilly Norwood Creator Defends Her Controversial Synthetic Character
In this episode of The Business, host Kim Masters interviews Aline Vander Veldin, co‑founder of Particle 6 Productions, about her synthetic AI character Tilly Norwood. Vander Veldin explains that Tilly is intended solely for AI‑generated content and is not meant to...
A Check-In with SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin
SAG‑AFTRA president Sean Astin entered his term amid a storm of high‑profile disputes, from an FCC clash over Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue to the rise of synthetic performers and a retreat by OpenAI on a controversial opt‑out request. As the union...