Fresh Air

In his Oscar-nominated biopic Maestro, Bradley Cooper was determined not to imitate the legendary Leonard Bernstein. Instead, the actor worked with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin to find his own rhythm. They spoke with Terry Gross about conducting, Bernstein's legacy, and playing with batons when they were kids. Also, Justin Chang reviews Italy's submission for best foreign film, Io Capitano.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

As Donald Trump seeks to gain the Republican presidential nomination, he faces 91 felony charges across four states and several lawsuits, many with dates in court that run right up to the election. We talk with reporter Alan Feuer, who is part of the team at the New York Times covering Trump's legal battles. The first of four criminal case trials is expected to start on March 25.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Lucy Sante has been writing books since the 1980s, exploring everything from photography to urban history. In a new memoir, she shares her story of transition from male to female at 67 years old. "I am lucky to have survived my own repression," Sante says. "I think a lot of people in my position have not." The book is titled I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition.Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new Apple TV+ series Constellation.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Wright is up for an Oscar for best actor this year for the film American Fiction, where he plays a novelist who's frustrated with the publishing industry's expectations of Black authors. He cynically writes a book under a pseudonym that's full of clichés, like drug abuse, violence, and poverty — and it's a hit. Wright's first starring role was in the 1996 film Basquiat. He talks with us about his big break in the play Angels in America, and the time early in his career when he was acting opposite Sidney Poitier and asked for advice on acting.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

From relentless campaigning to snubs and speeches, the Academy Awards have often reflected a cultural conflict zone. Michael Schulman sifts through the controversies in his book, Oscar Wars. Maureen Corrigan reviews The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Actress Molly Ringwald came to represent '80s teen angst after starring in Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. She's now in the new series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, about the high society women that Truman Capote loved and betrayed.Also, we hear from another actor who got her start as a teen — Busy Philipps. In the '90s, she played tough girl Kim Kelly in Freaks and Geeks. Philipps' latest project is the movie musical Mean Girls where she plays a mom trying to be young and cool.John Powers reviews the new Vim Venders film Perfect Days.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Sterling K. Brown won an Emmy for his portrayal of Christopher Darden in The People v. O.J. Simpson, and another for This Is Us. He's now nominated for an Oscar for his performance in American Fiction.Colman Domingo is also nominated, for his role in the biopic Rustin as Bayard Rustin, the civil rights leader responsible for organizing the 1963 March on Washington. Rustin was forced into the background because he was gay. Justin Chang reviews Drift, starring Cynthia Erivo. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

How is New York City coping with the 175,000 migrants from the Southern border? New York Times reporter Andy Newman says the city's legal mandate to provide shelter to any who need it is being tested by a stream of migrants — some of whom were sent on buses by Southern governors.Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews Francis Spufford's Cahokia Jazz.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We remember Peabody award-winning broadcast journalist Bob Edwards, who died on Saturday at the age of 76. He was the first and longest-serving host of NPR's Morning Edition, from the show's inception in 1979 until 2004. Terry Gross recorded two interviews with Edwards. Also, John Powers review Perfect Days, the new film from director Wim Wenders.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ruffalo plays a debauched cad in Yorgos Lanthimos' bawdy, dark comedy Poor Things. The role was a big departure from his previous work playing real people in dramas like Spotlight or Foxcatcher, or as the Incredible Hulk in the Marvel movies. The Oscar-nominated actor spoke with Sam Briger about these roles, how he got his start in acting, and how a brain tumor changed his life.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Molly Ringwald became a film icon in the '80s after starring in a trio of films: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. "I don't like to use the word iconic because it's overused — but they really are. Those films are really iconic," she tells Tonya Mosley. Now she's in the new Ryan Murphy series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, about the high society women that novelist Truman Capote loved and betrayed.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Journalist Michele Norris has spent the last 14 years collecting what she describes as "an archive of the human experience" with The Race Card Project. She wanted to see how Americans really talk and think about race, so she asked people to share their thoughts in six words. Norris adapted the project into a memoir called Our Hidden Conversations. Also, we'll hear from Kai Wright, host of the WNYC podcast Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows about the early years of the AIDS epidemic, when so little was known about HIV, and so much was misunderstood.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We remember Wayne Kramer, the guitarist of the late '60s proto-punk band MC5. The revolutionary band's idols were the Black Panther party, Malcolm X and John Coltrane. Kramer died last week at 75. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2002.Also we listen back to our 1988 interview with actor Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies. He died at 76. Justin Chang reviews the French film The Taste of Things.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Award-winning ProPublica reporter Topher Sanders has spent the last two years investigating America's aging freight train system. He says the Federal Railroad Administration monitors "less than 1% of what's happening on the rails." Sanders talks about the toxic East Palestine, OH derailment, the prevalence of blocked railroad crossings, and why railway safety legislation is yet to be passed. Also, rock critic Ken Tucker shares three new songs. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The civil rights leader Medgar Evers is maybe more known for his assassination in 1963 than the work he did to fight for voting rights and desegregation. MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid tells the story of Medgar and his wife Myrlie in a new book. Evers was the NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, a state that lynched more Black people than any other. The risks of the job created a lot of tension in their marriage — and after Medgar's death, Myrlie's fury drove her to be an activist herself.

When Mark Daley and his husband, Jason, became foster parents to two brothers, they fell in love with the children right away. But Daley and his husband also know that their family could change at any moment. Eventually, the boys were reunified with their biological parents. Daley's memoir is Safe: A Memoir of Fatherhood, Foster Care, and the Risks We Take for Family. Daley talks about the foster care system at large, as well as the joy and pain he and Jason experienced as foster parents.Also, TV critic David Bianculli reflects on Curb Your Enthusiasm, as it enters its 12th and final season.

Journalist Michele Norris has spent the last 14 years collecting what she calls "an archive of the human experience." She wanted to see how Americans really talk and think about race, so she asked people to share their thoughts in six words. The results were overwhelming. Eventually, the project moved online and got more than half a million entries from over 100 countries. Norris turned the project into a new book called Our Hidden Conversations. Also, John Powers reviews a biography of Frantz Fanon, by Adam Shatz.

Emma Stone is nominated for an Oscar for her starring role in Poor Things. She spoke with Terry Gross about the film and her relationship to her anxiety. David Bianculli reviews Ryan Murphy's FX anthology series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. Also, Benjamin Breen talks about his book, Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science. It's about the pioneering work anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson did on the use of psychedelics as a way to expand consciousness, and how that later connected to government research on the use of psychedelics as a weapon.

Oppenheimer and Barbie have been nominated for 13 and 8 Oscars, respectively. We feature our interview with Christopher Nolan, who wrote and directed Oppenheimer, about the making of the atomic bomb. Also, we hear from prolific music producer Mark Ronson about the soundtrack and score of Barbie. He co-wrote one of the songs that's been nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy, "I'm Just Ken."David Bianculli reviews the latest installment of Ryan Murphy's FX anthology series Feud, this time about Truman Capote.

Kai Wright's WNYC podcast, Blindspot, revisits the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, focusing in particular on populations that are frequently overlooked — including the pediatric patients at Harlem Hospital.