Hollywood Insiders pulls back the curtain on the movie and TV business. Your host is Hawk Koch, who went from growing up on movie sets to working as an assistant director and producer before eventually serving as president of the Academy. Over a six-decade career, Hawk has been in the room with Hollywood legends and watched iconic films come together.
Now, Hawk sits down with the actors, directors, writers, producers, and executives who helped shape the industry for candid conversations about the decisions, relationships, and unforgettable moments that've shaped show business.
This show is brought to you by The Motion Picture & Television Fund. For more information: https://mptf.com/
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NEW Christopher Nolan Interview: The Odyssey, His Next Project, & Taking Risks In His Career
Christopher Nolan has spent the last 25 years making movies that probably shouldn’t work on paper — time-bending thrillers, three-hour historical dramas, Batman movies that barely feel like superhero movies. Now, coming off The Odyssey (a movie based on a thousand-year-old epic!), he’s in a rare position: he can basically go as big as he wants. The funny part? He still has no idea what he wants to do next.
In this special interview, Nolan sits down with Hawk for a conversation that spans his whole career and the film business of the last 80 years. He talks about starting out with almost no money, what he saw in Heath Ledger before The Dark Knight, why Oppenheimer was a much bigger gamble than it looks in hindsight, and the strange moment when he finally heard his own name called at the Oscars.
But some of the most interesting parts have nothing to do with box office, awards, or working with top actors. Nolan opens up about what success has actually taken away from him, why experience can make you less fearless, how working with his wife keeps him grounded, and why he still tries to protect the part of himself that made movies before anyone was paying attention. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Nolan as much as we did!
00:00 Introduction
01:07 How Nolan became a filmmaker
03:22 Why he gravitates toward nonlinear storytelling
06:53 What a director actually does
10:16 How much his movies change during production
14:02 The Odyssey and what Nolan wants to do next
16:18 Nolan’s philosophy on taking risks
18:16 Why Oppenheimer was such a gamble
19:19 What success has taken away from him
21:17 How Nolan gets his crew to challenge him
24:34 Working hand in hand with his wife, Emma Thomas
25:56 Casting Heath Ledger as the Joker
28:22 Knowing The Dark Knight was something special
30:34 How The Dark Knight changed the Oscars
31:10 Finally winning an Oscar for Oppenheimer
33:07 What Nolan still believes about Hollywood
34:33 The Dark Knight hospital explosion
36:17 Why the Motion Picture & Television Fund matters to him
38:05 Becoming president of the Directors Guild
41:22 Nolan on AI and protecting filmmakers
44:55 Final thoughts
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24 Oct 2026
How Mike Myers Created Comedy’s Most Iconic Characters In Wayne's World, Austin Powers, & Shrek
Mike Myers’ most iconic characters didn’t just come out of nowhere. Wayne Campbell came from the working-class Toronto neighborhood he grew up in. Shrek borrowed from the Scottish voices he heard as a kid. And Austin Powers came from a much more personal place — Myers trying to reconnect with the movies, comedy, and British culture he loved after losing his father.
Myers reunites with Hawk, who worked with him on both Wayne’s World movies. They remember how the studio initially wanted Guns N’ Roses instead of “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the iconic car scene, and how executives at Paramount thought the movie would be a dud (they were wrong!).
Myers also opens up about his unlikely road to SNL, the comedians and filmmakers who shaped him, how success changed his perspective, and why family eventually became more important than chasing the next big thing. And stick around for a small tease of what could be in store for Austin Powers 4...
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12 Oct 2026
How Taylor Hackford Fought Hollywood To Make His Biggest Movies
Taylor Hackford has spent more than 50 years making movies, but some of his biggest successes almost didn’t happen the way he imagined them.
Paramount wanted to cut the now-iconic ending of *An Officer and a Gentleman*. *Ray* took 13 years of rejection before Hackford finally found someone willing to make it. And on *The Devil’s Advocate*, he fought to protect choices the studio didn’t always understand — while directing Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves and a young Charlize Theron.
Taylor joins his longtime friend Hawk Koch to tell the stories behind those battles, working with actors like Richard Gere and Jamie Foxx, and why sometimes the filmmaker has to keep fighting until the audience finally gets to decide.
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1 Oct 2026
Andrea Eastman In Her Own Words: Casting The Godfather & Representing Hollywood's Biggest Stars
This interview was filmed about a week before Andrea Eastman’s passing on August 26, which makes her conversation with Hawk especially meaningful.
Andrea spent her career at the center of some of Hollywood’s most memorable moments — helping cast The Godfather, championing actors before the rest of the industry saw what she saw, and later representing stars like Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Billy Crystal and Sylvester Stallone.
In this interview, Andrea tells those stories in her own words. She looks back on the people she fought for, the movies she helped shape, the old Hollywood she loved, and a career built on instinct, loyalty, and refusing to take no for an answer.
We’re grateful to be able to share this final conversation and honor Andrea’s remarkable life and legacy. May we never forget her giant contributions to Hollywood!
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12 Sept 2026
Are Movie Theaters Back? AMC CEO Adam Aron On The Future Of The Big Screen
Joining the show is AMC CEO Adam Aron, who, as you'll find out in the interview, was interviewed by Hawk (an AMC board member then and to this day) during the hiring process 11 years ago.
A lot has happened since. Aron helped turn AMC into the largest movie theater chain in the world, watched the entire movie theater business come to a standstill during COVID, and then found himself at the center of one of the strangest stories on Wall Street when millions of retail investors rallied around the company and dubbed him the “Silverback.”
Somehow, someway, AMC survived that stretch, and now Aron believes the movie theater business is back on the up and up. He and Hawk talk about why theaters have survived every supposed threat in history, how a crazy idea involving Taylor Swift became a $261 million concert film, and why Aron still believes people want something they can’t get sitting on their couch — the big-screen experience.
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15 Aug 2026
Inside John Wells’ Career Creating ER, The West Wing, Shameless, and The Pitt
John Wells has spent decades at the center of television, building hit shows, developing some of the industry’s biggest stars, and learning firsthand what separates a great idea from one that never makes it to air.
In this episode of Hollywood Insiders, Hawk Koch sits down with Wells for a wide-ranging conversation about the career behind ER, The West Wing, Shameless, and The Pitt. Wells shares how a career setback unexpectedly led him to Michael Crichton and ER, what it was like taking over The West Wing after Aaron Sorkin left, why Shameless took seven years to finally get made, and what convinced him to return to the medical world with The Pitt.
Along the way, Wells talks about recognizing talent in actors like George Clooney and Jeremy Allen White, working with networks and studio executives, how streaming changed the economics of television, and what more than 40 years in the business have taught him about making shows people actually want to watch.
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18 Jul 2026
The Stars, Movies, And Moments That Shaped My Life In Hollywood
In the debut episode of Hollywood Insiders, veteran producer and former Academy president Hawk Koch reflects on the stars, movies, and unforgettable moments that shaped his extraordinary six-decade career. From growing up on movie sets with his father — legendary producer Howard W. Koch — to riding horses with Clark Gable as a child and later working alongside icons like Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford and Natalie Wood, Hawk shares the stories that defined his life in Hollywood.
Hawk also takes listeners behind the scenes of films like Chinatown, Heaven Can Wait, and more, revealing how those productions came together and the relationships that made them possible. He reflects on the lessons, setbacks and "magic moments" that kept him in love with filmmaking for more than 60 years.
This is the debut episode of Hollywood Insiders — a new show that'll take you behind the curtain of show business. Hawk will have candid conversations with the actors, directors, writers, producers, and executives who have shaped the entertainment industry.
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