The Spiel
Each week, host Eric Vespe welcomes a notable guest to discuss a film from the career of director Steven Spielberg. The show serves as an open-ended love letter to one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, exploring his enormous impact on cinema. Produced by SpectreVision Radio, a podcast network at the intersection of the arts and the uncanny, the series is part of a community for creators and fans with shared curiosities and passions.
Episodes
Jaws with Ian Nathan
Jaws is host Eric Vespe's favorite movie of all time, so it's only fitting that we get the nerdiest possible deep dive into the 1975 blockbuster with special guest Ian Nathan.
Ian's an author and documentarian who has produced books on The Coen Brothers, Tim Burton, and Guillermo del Toro as well as produced truly epic documentaries on John Carpenter's The Thing and James Cameron's Aliens.
His n
Disclosure Day Review with Drew McWeeny
There is a brand new Steven Spielberg movie out in theaters this weekend so of course we had to dive into it on The Spiel. Vespe is joined by his longtime friend and ex-Ain't It Cool colleague Drew McWeeny to dissect, as best they can, Spielberg's Disclosure Day, which could very well be his final cinematic statement on the topic of extra-terrestrial beings.
The conversation begins with a spoiler
*batteries not included With Lou Taylor Pucci
Prominent indie actor Lou Taylor Pucci (Southland Tales, Thumbsucker, Evil Dead 2013) is our guest this episode to talk about a new title for The Spiel: *batteries not included, the 1987 film produced by Steven Spielberg, directed by Matthew Robbins, and starring everybody's favorite '80s old couple Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn.
Lou's new movie, Touch Me, is a weird-ass movie about aliens and c
Transformers: Dark of the Moon with DC Pierson
DC Pierson (Captain America: Winter Soldier, Community) returns to talk a little about the brand new restoration of his cult classic indie comedy, Mystery Team co-starring Donald Glover and Dominic Dierkes, as well as continue his Spiel journey of watching every Transformers movie until all have been conquered.
At this point in the Transformers franchise we're pretty sure Steven Spielberg's creat
Duel with The McManus Brothers
Kevin and Matthew McManus (American Vandal, Cobra Kai, Redux Redux) jump in the passenger seat for a revving chat about Steven Spielberg's Duel. Shot in 10 days, this 1971 TV movie was Spielberg's first real introduction to Hollywood.
It's an adaptation of a Richard Matheson short story that follows a spineless city boy as he's tormented by a faceless truck driver that prowls the rural roads outs
Jaws with Renny Harlin
Legendary action director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) is our guest this week to talk about the latest chapter of his Strangers reboot trilogy, his collaboration with Steven Spielberg early in his career, and how much of an impact Jaws has had on many of his films, including his own killer shark flick Deep Blue Sea.
We talk color theory, visual storytelling, how and when you can lose an
Three O'Clock High with Kevin Lewis
Did you know that Steven Spielberg produced the classic '80s cult film Three O'Clock High? Well, we didn't either, until our guest, writer/director Kevin Lewis (Willy's Wonderland, Pig Hill) came to the show wanting to discuss it.
It's a simple story about a high school dweeb (Casey Siemaszko) challenged to a fight by the new kid in school (Richard Tyson) and the chaos that ensues as he tries eve
Bryan Fuller On The Amblin Inspirations Behind His Film Dust Bunny
TV Mastermind Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) makes his feature directorial debut with Dust Bunny starring Mads Mikkelsen, Sigourney Weaver, and newcomer Sophie Sloan.
On the surface this film has nothing to do with Steven Spielberg, but it turns out that it was originally developed as an episode of the Amazing Stories reboot and Spielberg himself gave notes on the script that survived t
Amazing Stories with Mick Garris
Steven Spielberg tried his hand at a Twilight Zone-ish series in 1985 that didn't exactly set the ratings world on fire, but would prove to be formative for a whole generation of imaginative kids.
Amazing Stories brought in a combination of seasoned pros like Scorsese and Clint Eastwood and exciting, young talent, including today's guest, writer and filmmaker Mick Garris.
Mick became famous for
True Grit with Josh Gondelman
Emmy Winning writer (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver) and very funny standup comedian (People Pleaser) Josh Gondelman returns to The Spiel to talk about a film that most people probably forgot was produced by Steven Spielberg: 2010's True Grit starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and Hailee Steinfeld in her first major role.
Based on the Charles Portis novel, previously adapted as a
Twilight Zone: The Movie with Macon Blair
Macon Blair (The Toxic Avenger, I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore) joins Vespe to talk about one of the most impactful films of Steven Spielberg's career, Twilight Zone: The Movie.
They dip into the tragedy, of course, but there's more to this anthology than the controversy. This film brings together some of the best filmmakers of the era in John Landis, Joe Dante, Spielberg, and George
Poltergeist and the Paranormal with Aaron Sagers
Aaron Sagers is not only a pop culture journalist, he's also a well-known paranormal investigator. He's the founder of ParanormalPopCulture.com and you've seen him on-camera for Travel Channel's Paranormal Paparazzi and Paranormal Caught on Camera, and Netflix's 28 Days Haunted.
In short, he knows a lot about movies and the spiritual world, so he was the natural choice to come in and talk about P
Jaws @ 50 with Laurent Bouzereau
Steven Spielberg's documentarian Laurent Bouzereau returns to The Spiel to discuss Vespe's favorite movie, Jaws, and his great new deep dive documentary made in conjunction with Amblin and Nat Geo called Jaws @ 50.
There's a lot to talk about in terms of the legacy of Jaws, the impact it had for good and ill on both the film industry and the fishing industry, as well as where it fits into the lex
Frank Marshall on Jurassic World Rebirth
Legendary film producer, director, and documentarian Frank Marshall is my guest on the show today to talk about his working relationship with Steven Spielberg, a creative partnership that goes back to Raiders of the Lost Ark and continues on to this day.
Marshall co-founded Amblin with Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy. We talk about what necessitated Spielberg creating his own production company, h
A Conversation with David Koepp
Frequent Steven Spielberg collaborator David Koepp is our guest this week. Koepp is the screenwriter behind Jurassic Park, The Lost World, War of the Worlds, and Spielberg's upcoming UFO/UAP flick as well as the director of the criminally underrated Stir of Echoes.
Koepp also penned the script for the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth, which hits cinemas July 2nd. We talk about his work in the Jur
Hook with Jonathan Entwistle
Director Jonathan Entwistle (Karate Kid: Legends, The End of the F***ing World, I Am Not Okay With This) joins Vespe to talk about the incredibly divisive Spielberg film, Hook.
Spielberg's Hook is a bonafide classic for a whole generation, but if you're not part of that younger Millennial generation it has the reputation of leaving you cold.
The story is about a world where Peter Pan is real an
Columbo with Rian Johnson
It might come as a surprise to some folks that Steven Spielberg directed the pilot for Columbo, titled Murder By The Book, but that he did and it turned out to be one of the most important projects of his early career as his success with this episode is what got him the gig directing Duel.
If you're going to talk about Columbo and Spielberg then you're going to need a guest who knows their whodun
Farewell to Josh Robert Thompson
The Spiel co-host, Josh Robert Thompson, is stepping away from the show, but before he leaves to pursue his own creative endeavors he and Vespe take a look back at his time on the show, discuss our favorite episodes, guests, and experiences while he was behind the mic.
You'll hear plenty of behind the scenes stories, more Spielberg, Lucas, and Morgan Freeman impressions, some Scott Wampler anec
A Career-Spanning Interview with Veronica Cartwright
Veronica Cartwright joins The Spiel hosts to talk about her incredible career, from The Twilight Zone to The Birds to Alien and Witches of Eastwick, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and, yes, even Scary Movie 2.
Cartwright also shares her thoughts on Steven Spielberg's career, including an incredible anecdote of watching Jaws for the first time with Richard Dreyfuss.
There are so many great stor
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with Charles Soule
Charles Soule (author of the Star Wars: The High Republic series as well as some of the best Star Wars comic books) joins the show to talk all about one of the most controversial and heavily debated Steven Spielberg films: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
We all know co-host Josh Robert Thompson goes to bat for this one, but does Soule? We dive into the George Lucas of it all,
Bear McCreary Picks His Top 5 John Williams/Steven Spielberg Scores
Incredible composer Bear McCreary (God of War, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Battlestar Galactica, Happy Death Day) knows a thing or two about composing badass scores. Vespe challenged him to come up with top 5 favorite John Williams/Steven Spielberg collaborations and the resulting episode sees McCreary putting his Top 5 against Vespe' Top 5.
Originally only available on the show's Patr
Innerspace with Anthony Breznican
The Spiel welcomes Anthony Breznican, Vespe's Kingcast co-host and entertainment reporter extraordinaire at Vanity Fair, to talk about Amblin's Innerspace. This weird-ass movie was directed by Joe Dante and produced by Spielberg and is all about a shrunk down Dennis Quaid getting injected into Martin Short's butt and that's just the start of this crazy '80s flick. Bond-esque villains, mini-Kevin M
Spielberg's Endings with Clarke Wolfe
I think we can all agree that Steven Spielberg knows how to end a movie. He's got some all-timer endings in his filmography, but he also has some divisive endings. We're talking about War of the Worlds, A.I., Munich, and more.
Noted filmmaker, podcaster, entertainment host, and professional geek Clarke Wolfe (Malum, Torn Hearts, Sending in the Wolfe podcast) joins JRT and Vespe to examine some o
The Goonies with Flula Borg
The Goonies is an important movie for folks of a certain generation, including the absolute madman who is this week's guest. You know him from Pitch Perfect 2, The Suicide Squad, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Silicon Valley and now he's here to talk about The Goonies, Richard Donner's coming-of-age adventure story produced by Steven Spielberg.
We bounce around a lot in this episode, going from behind
Casper with Mallory O'Meara
Leave it to Vespe and JRT to turn a conversation about the 1995 Amblin family adventure story CASPER into a lewd, R-rated talk about ghost titties. In our defense, bad influence (and James Beard award-winning author) Mallory O'Meara is our guest and despite all of our best efforts when we three get together things get chaotic and talk quickly turns to horniness.
Does Casper hold up? Which of the
Twister and Twisters with Stephen Graham Jones
Celebrated genre author Stephen Graham Jones (The Indian Lake Trilogy, Mongrels, I Was A Teenage Slasher) is a huge fan of both Twister and Twisters, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and shows up this week ready to talk about what made him laugh, cry, and jump for joy in both the 1996 original film and its 2024 sequel.
Topics include: An all new patented crazy wildlife story
West Side Story with Alex Winter
Spielberg has been working towards making a musical for his entire career, so it shouldn't be a surprise that when he finally got to make an all-out musical he brought not only his A-game, but also his deep love and understanding of Old Hollywood musicals with him.
This resulted in 2021's West Side Story, an incredibly smart and charming reinterpretation of the Robert Wise film and the Stephen So
Josh Ruben on Amazing Stories
This week's topic: 1985's Amazing Stories, an NBC anthology series overseen by Steven Spielberg himself. Not only did he produce the whole thing, but he also directed two episodes.
Those two episodes are the focus of the show as we welcome director Josh Ruben (this weekend's rom-com slasher HEART EYES). We talk a bit about marrying those two radically different genres into one super fun movie be
Schindler's List with Jordan Hoffman
It's a heavy topic, but we somehow found the perfect guest to balance a serious topic with a little humor in noted critic, pop culture journalist, and author Jordan Hoffman (Vanity Fair, New York Daily News, The Times of Israel).
Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a German Industrialist who worked from within the Nazi party to save over 1100 Jews from the con
Ariana Richards Talks Jurassic Park
The one and only Ariana Richards, Lex Murphy from Jurassic Park, joins Vespe and JRT to talk dinosaurs, Graboids, Martians, and even her ludicrous haircut in 1989's Prancer. This is Ariana's very first podcast appearance and she comes loaded for bear, y'all. She has stories about working on all her big movies including Jurassic Park.
Hear about how she got noticed by Spielberg in the first place
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
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 curre
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 dev
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
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
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 div
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
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 th
Scott Beck and Bryan Woods on A.I. - Artificial Intelligence
The writer/producer/director team behind A Quiet Place, 65, and The Boogeyman have a new movie out this week called Heretic, starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, and Chloe East, so they decided to stop by and chat about one of their favorite Spielberg films: A.I.
That's right, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods are our guests and we dive into the nitty gritty of Spielberg's controversial masterpiece, A.
Mallory O'Meara on Joe Vs. The Volcano
Chaos ensues as the wonderful, and James Beard award-winning, author Mallory O'Meara (Girly Drinks, The Lady from the Black Lagoon) comes on the show to discuss the extremely odd Amblin flick Joe Vs. The Volcano, starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan (three Meg Ryans, believe it or not), and directed by the famous writer John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck).
This movie is a favorite of Vespe's, but both oth
Germain Lussier on Hook
Germain Lussier (head movie nerd writer at Gizmodo and I09) joins Vespe and JRT for a wide-ranging discussion on Steven Spielberg's Hook starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, and a very pissed off Julia Roberts.
How much does nostalgia come into play when discussing this film? Did everybody who was a child when they saw it love it and all the adults hated it? Or is the answer more complicated
Jurassic Park with Jeremy Slater
Jurassic Park is not only one of the best popcorn films ever made, it's also the catalyst for the largest shift in Hollywood production and storytelling in recent cinematic history. It changed movies forever.
To dive into that and just how awesome and fun Jurassic Park is, we are joined by one of the most in-demand screenwriters in the business, Jeremy Slater (Moon Knight, The Umbrella Academy, G
Introducing The Spiel's New Co-Host
The Spiel co-creator Scott Wampler passed away before the show debuted and the hunt was on to find someone that could step in to the immense void he left behind. After months of searching, Vespe made his choice. Now you get to meet the new co-host. What are their dreams? Aspirations? Deepest, darkest wishes? And how good is their Morgan Freeman impression? You'll have to listen to find out!
Learn
Live At Fantastic Fest: Nacho Vigalondo on Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Spiel rings in its very first live show at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX. Vespe is joined by guest co-host Nick Preuher (co-founder of the Found Footage Fest) and special guest Nacho Vigalondo (director of Timecrimes, Colossal, and Daniela Forever) to talk about Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Does Close Encounters act as a spiritual sequel to Jaws? What about shared DNA with David Lynch's
Wynter Mitchell on Catch Me If You Can
We celebrate the final episode of The Spiel with Scott Wampler as co-host with this rowdy chat with our dear friend, podcaster, and advisor to the stars Wynter Mitchell about a top tier Spielberg entry: Catch Me If You Can.
This is a special episode in that it is the very first thing we recorded for the show. This was our test run to see if a podcast about Spielberg's movies would work and two ho
Brian Duffield on War of the Worlds
The very talented writer/director Brian Duffield (Spontaneous, No One Will Save You) joins Wampler and Vespe to discuss Spielberg's War of the Worlds. We go through all the set pieces, talk about the 9/11 parallels, how awesome it is that Tom Cruise plays a glorious screwup, and so much more. War of the Worlds is one of Wampler's favorites, so it's very cool that we got to talk about this title wh
Greg Mottola on Used Cars
Director Greg Mottola (Superbad, Paul, and Confess, Fletch) joins Wampler and Vespe to talk about a very early outing for Steven Spielberg as producer: Used Cars. Written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, produced by Spielberg and John Milius, and directed by Zemeckis, this raunchy, cynical, absurd early '80s comedy starring Kurt Russell, Jack Warden, and Gerrit Graham seems made in a lab to be one
DC Pierson on Transformers
The time has come. The All-Spark is up for grabs and that can only mean one thing: We gotta talk about Transformers, executively produced by one Mr. Steven Spielberg. Wampler and Vespe couldn't do it alone, though, so they called in the calvary in the form of the very funny comedian, author, and actor, DC Pierson (Mystery Team, The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To, Captain America: Winter S
Josh Gondelman on Men In Black
Comedian Josh Gondelman (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) joins us to talk a little about the very first Men In Black. How does the film hold up? Is it okay to like Will Smith again? How good was Barry Sonnenfeld at making this type of goofy genre movie? Why won't Hollywood just give Rick Baker a trillion dollars to keep making movie magic? All these questions and mor
An Interview With Dee Wallace
The incomparable Dee Wallace joins The Spiel to discuss her work on Steven Spielberg's E.T. Wallace takes us behind the scenes of the making of the movie, including stories about how she got the part of Mary, what it was like the first time she saw E.T., the one time she had a disagreement with Spielberg on the set, her beliefs on what real life aliens are like, and the legacy of the film some 40+
Laura Lux on Arachnophobia
Model, Streamer, and Kingcast favorite guest Laura Lux makes her first appearance on The Spiel and she brings a hell of a title with her. This is our very first time talking about a movie that Spielberg produced, but didn't direct. That's right, it's 1990's Arachnophobia directed by Spielberg's longtime producer Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels, John Goodman, and Julian Sands... and a shit
BONUS: A Conversation with Laurent Bouzereau
Yes, The Spiel has a Patreon and here's a tiny taste of the bonus episodes you get if you sign up. First one's free!
This chat with Laurent Bouzereau will give you a behind the scenes peek at what it's like working with Steven Spielberg as his own personal documentarian. We discuss the importance of Laurent's documentary work, including his recently released FAYE on HBO, and dive into his incredi
Brian Michael Bendis on 1941
Comic book legend Brian Michael Bendis (creator of Miles Morales, author of House of M, The Ultimates, Torso) decided, for some reason, to talk about Steven Spielberg's 1941. This was the director's first failure, an over caffeinated live action Looney Tunes look at how the post-Pearl Harbor hysteria hit Southern California.
This kitchen sink of a movie is the brainchild of Bob Gale, Robert Zeme
Elijah Wood on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Elijah Wood, who is known as an actor, producer, DJ, and who also happens to be our boss here at The Spiel, joins Vespe and Wampler to discuss one of Steven Spielberg's most beloved films: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. There's so much ground to cover with this one, from the immaculate cast, the huge cultural impact, and the sheer amount of pure Steven Spielberg heart poured into it that this rowdy t
Haley Joel Osment on A.I.
Haley Joel Osment is the star of Steven Spielberg's often misunderstood masterpiece A.I. - Artificial Intelligence and now he's on The Spiel to talk about what it was like working on that film as a mecha child on the hunt any possible path back home to his mother. You'll hear Osment discuss working with Spielberg, how the director almost picked Harry Potter over this film, his work with Jude Law,
Kumail Nanjiani on Raiders of the Lost Ark
The very funny Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals, The Big Sick) kicks off The Spiel by talking about not only one of the best Steven Spielberg movies, but one of the flat out best movies ever made: Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Kumail, Vespe, and Wampler dig through this supernatural action adventure masterpiece, pick their favorite moments, reveal some secretly amazing screenwriting and filmmaking details, d
Episode 0
Host Eric Vespe is joined by Spectrevision Radio head honchos Daniel Noah and Elijah Wood to discuss just what the hell you're in for with this show. You'll find out the backgrounds of the two hosts, the sad recent events that had a major impact on what The Spiel is going forward, what some of our favorite Spielberg joints are, and even get a preview of what's to come, all wrapped up in a warm hug
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