The Spiel

5.0 (5)
TV & FILM

Each week, hosts Eric Vespe and Josh Robert Thompson welcome a notable guest to the show to discuss a work of film from the career of director Steven Spielberg. The Spiel is an open-ended love letter to one of the greatest film directors of all time and his enormous impact on cinema.

2024-12-30

An Interview with Kiran Shah

Today's guest is the self-described World's Smallest Stuntman who has doubled everybody from Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings to Christopher Reeve's Superman and James Cameron's Aliens. Kiran Shah is also a poet and an actor who played a not so small part in Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark before going on to double Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Kiran looks back on his time working with Spielberg, how he had to lie to get his job on Raiders, as well as stories from all over his career, including being a bad influence on Christopher Reeve, working on Legend with director Ridley Scott and the great VFX legend Rob Botin, and the scariest stunt he ever did that had him doubling a small girl being blown into the River Siene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

53 min
2024-12-23

Vanessa Chester on The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Today we have a conversation with Ian Malcolm's Daughter, Kelly, herself, Ms. Vanessa Chester. Despite being plagued by tech issues, this deep-dive interview about Vanessa's experience working with Spielberg, Goldblum, Vaughn, and Moore while making The Lost World: Jurassic Park is funny, illuminating, and is guaranteed to brighten your day. Chester most recently appeared in a cameo for the currently out Spielberg parody film THE INVISIBLE RAPTOR. We talk about that, and just about everything you could want to hear about from the making of The Lost World. Happy Holidays from us here at The Spiel! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1h 38m
2024-12-16

Steve Agee on Gremlins

Steve Agee (Peacemaker, The Sarah Silverman Program, Superstore) joins the Spiel boys to talk about the very festive, very zany, and incredibly dark family film Gremlins, produced by Steven Spielberg, directed by Joe Dante, and starring Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates. The trio discuss the film's reception upon release, why it still holds up today, how it helped usher in the PG-13 rating, how devastatingly gorgeous Phoebe Cates is, and how Gremlins grew out of the famous unmade Spielberg evil aliens movie titled Night Skies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1h 14m
2024-12-09

John Mariano on Animaniacs

The very talented actor, comedian, and voice performer John Mariano has played a part in a lot of your favorites, from Married with Children and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to Fallout 4 and Baldur's Gate. But one of his most recognizable performances is as Bobby the pigeon in Steven Spielberg's oddly raunchy '90s cartoon series Animaniacs. Bobby was the leader of the Goodfeathers, a trio of birds who sound a lot like the lead characters of Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. John joins us to talk about working on Animaniacs, meeting Spielberg, and hearing what Martin Scorsese himself thought of the recurring bits on Animaniacs. John is also a talented artist who illustrated a ton of the original Garbage Pail Kids cards all us '80s kids loved even if our parents hated them. We talk about that, his youth in New York and experiences seeing grindhouse movies firsthand, and the impact Spielberg had on him long before he got to creatively collaborate with him on Animaniacs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1h 23m
2024-12-04

DC Pierson on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

We're forcing author, comedian, and actor DC Pierson to cover all the Transformers films with us here at The Spiel and he finally returns for the second film in the franchise: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a film that is inexplicably nearly 3 hours long, is even more incoherent than the first, and filled with giant robot testicles. Still, this film has its fans and at least one of them is in on this chat. Listen to us go over the weird politics of the movie, try to make sense of the varying locations used throughout, question how much involvement executive producer Steven Spielberg had on this one, and marvel at a truly unhinged Michael Bay flick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1h 33m
2024-11-25

Drew McWeeny on Back to the Future Pt 2

Is the Back to the Future Trilogy the culmination of what we think of as the Amblin Experience? Did you know that the original thought was to have Doc and Marty travel back to the groovy '60s? And what exactly happened with all that Crispin Glover stuff? All those questions and more are discussed as Vespe is joined by his Ain't It Cool compatriot and incredibly film writer Drew McWeeny as we dive into Back to the Future Part 2, a film that set the template that's still being followed to this day (looking at you, Avengers: Endgame). We bring up lots of behind the scenes stories and take a close look at Spielberg's relationship with Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis. It's a ripper, this one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1h 28m
2024-11-18

An Interview with Corey Feldman and Eugenio Mira

Live from Corey Feldman's recording studio comes this in-person sit down interview with Corey and director Eugenio Mira, whose long lost collaboration, The Birthday, is finally getting a second life thanks to Drafthouse Films in theaters and on streaming. Corey welcomed Josh and Vespe into his home for this interview where some pretty strict limits were put on us, but we rolled with it and get a very insightful chat about Feldman's creative process, his appreciation of pop culture art, and his budding friendship with Jordan Peele, who is instrumental in The Birthday's rediscovery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1h 13m
2024-11-11

David Dastmalchian on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

David Dastmalchian is one of our best character actors (LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL, THE DARK KNIGHT, DUNE, OPPENHEIMER, THE SUICIDE SQUAD) and now he's joining Vespe and JRT to talk about the controversial INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. Our time with Dave was limited, so we run through this movie at a breakneck pace, much like the back half of the film itself, talk about its place among the other Indiana Jones films, why we loved it so much growing up, and why it remains a favorite entry into the franchise despite its not so stellar reputation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1h 1m

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Each week, hosts Eric Vespe and Josh Robert Thompson welcome a notable guest to the show to discuss a work of film from the career of director Steven Spielberg. The Spiel is an open-ended love letter to one of the greatest film directors of all time and his enormous impact on cinema.