The Treatment

Actor and director Joel Edgerton often plays characters who question traditional notions of masculinity. His most recent role was as a soft-spoken logger at the turn of the 20th century in the film Train Dreams. The film is nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture. For his treat, Edgerton celebrates the Welsh musician Ren, who talks openly about his mental health struggles in his music.

Actress Wunmi Mosaku’s performances often say so much in the pauses in dialogue from her work in Lovecraft Country to Loki, and the 2010 film I Am Slave. Mosaku’s latest role is Annie, a Hoodoo healer and the estranged wife of Smoke in Sinners. Her performance garnered her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, one of 16 nods for the film. Mosaku talks to Elvis about why she is attracted to characters who are seeking freedom, what self-affirmation has done for her, and how the moments before a character speaks are often the most revealing.

Josh Safdie’s films often show the claustrophobic chaos of family life. His kinetic film Marty Supreme received nine Oscar nominations including Best Director and Best Picture. For his treat, he talks about a 1979 Oscar-winning film he used to navigate the chaos he was experiencing as a child.

In 2021, Chloé Zhao made history as the first woman of color to win the Best Director Oscar for her film Nomadland. Now, her latest film Hamnet is up for eight Oscar nominations including her second nod for Best Director. The film, an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel of the same name, stars Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes as they navigate the death of their child. Zhao spoke with Elvis at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where she was the recipient of the 2026 Trailblazer Award. Zhao talks about getting her start at Sundance, collaborating with Farrell on the screenplay, and how she uses her body in the writing process.    Do you love listening to The Treatment? We want to hear from you! Please take a moment to share your feedback in this survey so we can make your listening experience better. Thank you!  

Guillermo del Toro’s films often show the beauty even in their, at times, gothic horror. His latest is the Oscar nominated adaptation of Frankenstein, which is up for nine awards next month, including Best Picture. For del Toro’s treat, he celebrates the late director Ken Russell. Russell’s work often stoked controversy and was even censored, but as del Toro notes, it was also filled with dazzling beauty and craft.

The films of Yorgos Lanthimos cannot be neatly summed up and often take the viewer in surprising and unexpected directions. He’s the mind behind The Lobster, Poor Things, The Favourite and his latest, Bugonia. The film, starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, is up for four Oscars including Best Actress and Best Picture. Lanthimos tells Elvis why he enjoys working with non-professional actors, how Emma Stone prepared for the layered role, and why he likes a film that doesn't give all the answers.   

Director Joseph Kosinski’s films don’t exactly scream quiet solitude. He’s helmed the action packed Tron, Top Gun: Maverick  and most recently, the Oscar nominated F1, starring Brad Pitt. However, his films’ protagonists often have to do battle with themselves in the end. For his treat, Kosinski goes back to a painting he discovered as a young man in New York that captured the loneliness of being a director.  

Sinners is now the most Oscar nominated film ever with 16 nods including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. In 2025, Ryan Coogler sat down with Elvis for an extended conversation about the film. Elvis and Coogler delve into the musical spark behind Sinners, why his characters often have a complicated relationship with home, and why he sees films as an exercise in contrast.

Oscar nominated director Darren Aronofsky doesn’t shy away from gritty realism. From the ugliness of drug addiction in 'Requiem for a Dream' to the frightening discipline of a ballerina in 'Black Swan' to his latest thriller, 'Caught Stealing' starring Austin Butler. The film takes place in the pre-gentrified New York City of the 1990s. For his treat, Aronofsky pays tribute to another film that captured the dark side of the city as the backdrop for a bored guy’s never-ending night.  

Elvis welcomes Iranian director Jafar Panahi, whose film It Was Just an Accident received two Oscar nominations for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay. The film earned critical acclaim when it won the Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. He talks about the obligations of a socially engaged filmmaker, letting the audience be the judge of his films' morality, and how he approaches casting.