More from Seija Rankin
Netflix Sets Heather McMahan Stand-Up Special ‘Son I Never Had’ (Exclusive)
Heather McMahan found herself an absolutely yes. The comedian, who also hosts the popular Absolutely Not podcast on the Dear Media network, will debut her first stand-up special on Netflix Oct. 17. Titled Son I Never Had, the hourlong show is based on the material from her facetiously-titled The Farewell Tour, which ran 94 dates […]
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Maggie O’Farrell on the ‘Hamnet’ Adaptation, Working With Chloé Zhao, and What ‘The Marriage Portrait’ Means to Her
Maggie O’Farrell has had a prolific summer. After becoming an instant bestseller and a finalist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, her 2022 novel The Marriage Portrait — which tells the somewhat true story of young Lucrezia di Cosimo de’Medici’s arranged marriage in 1500s Florence — was released in paperback. Her publisher, Knopf, is also […]
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‘The Other Black Girl’ Author on Adapting Her Novel for a Post-2020 World
When The Other Black Girl hit bookshelves June?1, 2021, it was already a phenomenon. The manuscript went through a 14-way auction, eventually landing at Atria for a seven-figure deal — and an adaptation was already in the works at Hulu after a similarly competitive bidding war. The novel became an instant New York Times best-seller. […]
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Excerpt: How Long Beach Gay Bars, a Yellow Hatchback and a Stevie Wonder Run-In Influenced Melissa Etheridge’s Early Career
Melissa Etheridge’s storied career has been marked by all sorts of accomplishments: The singer-songwriter has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards (with wins for best rock vocal performance in 1993 and 1995), she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an Oscar (for her original song “I Need to Wake Up” from […]
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Venice Hidden Gem: Newcomers Fuel Partly Improvised ‘Gasoline Rainbow’
When Bill and Turner Ross were in the early days of brainstorming their latest film, they decided to take each other out to lunch to discuss the ideas they’d had floating around for the past few months, mostly via back-and-forth texts. They sat outside at a restaurant in New Orleans, where the brothers live a […]
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Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael’s Podcast Offshoot Offers a Subversive Take on Wellness
June Diane Raphael and Jessica St. Clair launched their podcast, The Deep Dive, in the midst of the pandemic as a way to compensate for the loneliness and disconnect of lockdown. Each week, the two longtime friends and creative collaborators discuss their pursuit of joy amid a bevy of challenges both relatable (motherhood, aging) and […]
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Kevin Kwan on the “Special Alchemy” of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and What to Expect From His Next Novel
The summer of 2023 marks the 10-year anniversary of Kevin Kwan’s internationally best-selling debut novel Crazy Rich Asians and the five-year anniversary of its record-grossing big-screen adaptation, but the author barely had time to think about the dual milestones. For the past two years he has been engrossed in the writing of his fifth novel, […]
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“There’s So Much Peace to Grasp”: Taylor Kitsch on Using the Montana Wilderness to Help Communities in Need
When Taylor Kitsch signs on to the Zoom call to discuss his new charitable endeavor in rural Montana, he looks very much the part. The 42-year-old, clad in a T-shirt, is perched in the driver’s seat of his adventure van, fresh from a supply run for the geodesic dome he’s building. It looks like the […]
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How ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ Casting Directors Made the Band, One Member at a Time
When Kim Davis-Wagner and Justine Arteta signed on to cast the television adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s blockbuster rock ’n’ roll novel Daisy Jones & The Six, they knew they were up against the pressure of re-creating the magic of a beloved piece of IP — but they were also up against A Star Is […]
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‘Yellowjackets’ Director Karyn Kusama on How the Showtime Drama Depicts the “Hell We Put Each Other Through” as Women
Karyn Kusama is one of many executive producers on Showtime’s blockbuster dual-timeline drama about the survivors of a plane crash, but she also has a very singular connection to the series: She directed both the pilot and the most recent season finale. Two years ago, she was tasked with introducing the world to the group […]
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Ayo Edebiri Is Suddenly Everywhere
On a Saturday morning, Ayo Edebiri is discussing her first name. The restaurant required I put in my name for the breakfast order, a mundane request for most people but a potential point of distress for those of us with phonetically daunting monikers. The stakes are low if you’re a journalist but much higher if […]
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Molly Gordon on Making Directorial Debut ‘Theater Camp’ and Reuniting With Ayo Edebiri on ‘The Bear’
This interview was conducted before SAG-AFTRA authorized a strike on July 13. In 2019, Molly Gordon worked for three days on Ramy, the Hulu show about a man exploring his faith in New York City, and it changed her life. She was 23, in the nascent stages of a career she had been dreaming about […]
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