Monday, January 5, 2015: The filmography of actor Robert Duvall features some of the greatest productions to come out of Hollywood: To Kill A Mockingbird, The Godfather I & II, Apocalypse Now, Lonesome Dove, and Tender Mercies, for which he earned an Oscar. In 2010, he talked with Bob about his career and his film titled Get Low in which he portrays the town recluse who stages his own “living funeral.” Then, Bob visits with Dolly Parton – The Queen of Country Music. They discuss her long musical career, her philanthropic work in her home state of Tennessee and Parton’s starring role in the 2012 movie Joyful Noise.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015: Bob talks with director Richard Linklater about his latest movie Boyhood which he filmed over 12 actual years. The only special effect is watching the main character grow up on screen…starting in elementary school and ending on his first day of college. The story follows family moves, unfortunate stepfathers and broken hearts and stars newcomer Ellar Coltrane as Mason, and Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke as his biological parents. Boyhood is being released today on DVD and both the film and Linklater are serious contenders for Academy Awards this year. Then, we revisit an earlier interview with the director. In 2006, Linklater was here along with investigative journalist Eric Schlosser. He wrote a best-selling non-fiction book titled Fast Food Nation. They co-wrote a fictionalized screenplay based on the book, and Linklater directed the movie, also called Fast Food Nation. The book and the movie go behind the scenes of a hamburger chain to expose the health risks of producing and eating fast food.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015: Bob talks with Sister Helen Prejean about her 2005 book titled The Death of Innocents which laid out the stories of two men who she believed were wrongly executed. Sister Helen also wrote Dead Man Walking which was turned into an award-winning movie by Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. Prejean, a Catholic nun, has been fighting for the past 30 years against the death penalty.
Thursday, January 8, 2015: Bob talks with Robin Nagle, who has one of the more interesting jobs out there. She’s the anthropologist-in-residence at New York City’s Department of Sanitation, a position she’s held since 2006. When she’s not studying the city’s trash, Nagle directs the John W. Draper Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Humanities and Social Thought at New York University. The public radio show Radiolab is now in its 12th season. Bob talks with the programs hosts and creators Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad about how the show started, what they try to accomplish with each new episode, and how they’d like to see it grow.
Friday, January 9, 2015: In 1957, Joan Baez bought her first guitar for 50 dollars. Two years later, she made her debut at the Newport Folk Festival, astounding the audience with her unique three-octave vocal range. She spoke with Bob in 2008 about her five-decade career and her album titled Day After Tomorrow. They’ll also talk a little politics. Baez has always spoken her mind and this interview was no different.