Feeling Seen

Director William J. Stribling saw THE BIRDCAGE as a 7 or 8 year old, and it instantly became his favorite, watched on repeat. At its center is director and drag club owner Armand Goldman (or is it Coleman?), played by the incomparable Robin Williams. Decades later, Will is a comedy director himself, whose latest film (full disclosure: it was written by this show's producer, Marissa) is THE MIRROR GAME.After this conversation, Jordan has one quick thing about another director: past guest Christopher Landon!Watch THE MIRROR GAME on Tubi, Amazon, or YouTube.***With Jordan Crucchiola and William J. Stribling Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky. 

Carter Smith is a queer horror icon, even if all his films aren't highlighting explicitly queer relationships. A master of depicting complex male...friendships?, he continues that trend in his new film, THE PASSENGER. And perhaps that instinct got its start watching Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. Much has been said -- and not all of it in alignment -- about the gay subtext of Freddy's Revenge, and central to that is the performance of Mark Patton as Jesse Walsh, a young man fighting a demon he doesn't understand and can't shake (decades later, Smith would cast Patton in his film  SWALLOWED). Then there's his hunky compatriot, Grady.  All this and more on today's FEELING SEEN.** THE PASSENGER is out tomorrow On Demand.Also mentioned in this ep: Scream Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street***With Jordan Crucchiola and Carter Smith Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky. 

On her podcast, TV, I SAY WITH ASHLEY RAY, Ashley has no pretentions about good entertainment. But once upon a time, she was a young Bergman scholar (and even, briefly, a beat poet). This entire trajectory of self-examination and unapologetic devotion to her own interests might just have its roots in Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman's 2004 opus, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, and its female lead, Clementine (Kate Winslet).After that conversation, Jordan has one quick thing about the phenomenon of Barbenheimer.***With Jordan Crucchiola and Ashley Ray Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky. 

Manuel Betancourt's new book is called THE MALE GAZED: ON HUNKS, HEARTTHROBS, AND WHAT POP CULTURE TAUGHT ME ABOUT (DESIRING) MEN, but he's feeling seen by two of the brightest stars of '90s and '00s Hollywood. He tells Jordan about what spoke to him in Natalie Portman's Alice from CLOSER (2006, d. Mike Nichols) and Julia Roberts's Jules in MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING  (1997, d. P.J. Hogan). Then, Jordan has one quick thing about the ladies of DEAD RECKONING.***With Jordan Crucchiola and Manuel Betancourt Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky. 

Jessica St. Clair is a writer and actor who you've definitely seen or heard, be it on her own shows with Lennon Parham (Best Friends Forever, Playing House), countless TV and movie appearances, or on her podcast with June Diane Raphael, The Deep Dive. She and Jordan bond over the messy, weird details of deep best friendship across lots of movies and TV shows, but especially past Feeling Seen favorites Anne of Green Gables (1985), When Harry Met Sally (1989), and Lady Bird (2017).Then, Jordan has one quick thing about Mission Impossible 7.1***With Jordan Crucchiola and Jessica St. Clair Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky. 

This episode originally aired in January 2022.We were delighted to have actor Isabelle Fuhrman as one of our earliest guests. She may be best known for playing the titular role in the Orphan franchise (and since this interview she's gone on to stun us with Orphan: First Kill); Sheroes  is in theaters now; and she played Clove in the Hunger Games movies.  In this episode, she talks with Jordan about her movie, The Novice (just released at the time of this interview), and how her role in it changed the way she thought about acting, her body, and the very nature of work. ***With Jordan Crucchiola and Isabelle Fuhrman Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky. 

In 2001's Two Can Play That Game, Vivica A. Fox plays Shanté Smith, a confident, self-possessed woman who narrates the film by barreling the camera and telling the audience just how it is. A middle-schooler at the time, Shar Jossell (now a journalist and the co-host of We See Each Other: The Podcast), heard Shanté speaking to her in more ways than one. And what she heard changed her life.That, plus one quick thing about the new movie SHEROES.***With Jordan Crucchiola and Shar Jossell Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky. 

Before she was directing movies about iconic figures (becoming something of an icon herself in the process) Mary Harron was a journalist. And before that, she was inspired by characters like Rosalind Russell's Hildy Johnson in HIS GIRL FRIDAY -- a woman who is valued for her incomparable skill and undeniable smarts, who can't quite seem to leave her complicated profession behind for what society deems a more "respectable" life.  Mary's new movie is DALíLAND, in theaters and on demand now.Then Jordan's got one quick thing about the trailer for the new Luca Guadagnino movie, CHALLENGERS.***With Jordan Crucchiola and Mary Harron Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky. 

At just 18, actor Laya DeLeon Hayes already has a decade in film, television, and video games under her belt. She voiced Doc McStuffins, won a BAFTA for God of War Ragnarök, and co-starred with Queen Latifah on The Equalizer. Now she's helming a film of her own in Bomani J. Story's The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, a reimagining of Frankenstein that premiered at SXSW and is now in theaters. She comes to us today with the kind of character she hopes to see more of -- and play more of -- on screen: the fun, awkward, and freely herself Issa Dee on Insecure, as played by the show's creator, Issa Rae.Then, Jordan has one very quick thing about the new Expendables 4 trailer.***With Jordan Crucchiola and Laya DeLeon Hayes Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky. 

Long before becoming a celebrated author of A STAR IS BORED and the newly-released BIG GAY WEDDING, Byron Lane was a small-town Louisiana kid who dreamed of life in the big city. More than dreaming of it, he felt like it was where he was meant to be. Which is why he felt so seen by Bette Midler's switched-at-birth country twin, Sadie Ratliff, in the 1988 Midler & Tomlin comedy BIG BUSINESS.Then, Jordan has one quick thing about the newly released trailer for GIVE ME AN A!***With Jordan Crucchiola and Byron Lane Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production of Maximum Fun. You can watch video editions of our new episodes on our YouTube Channel!Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky.