Amanda Dobbins and Sean Fennessey

“This show, The Big Picture, is animated by the fact that we both love movies—and also remember our lives, and mark our lives, by the movies.”

-Amanda Dobbins and Sean Fennessey, episode 465 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

With the fall movie season upon us, who better to sit with than ⁠The Big Picture⁠ co-hosts Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins?

We begin with a post-vacation check-in (2:38), the god-given gifts of Ben Affleck and Jacob Elordi (6:19), and the latest film from “influencer” Ridley Scott (7:05).

Then we move on to our fall movie preview/draft, highlighting Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid (19:25), Julianne Moore in The Debut (21:39), Robert Pattinson in Primetime (26:12), and new films from directors Alejandro G. Iñárritu (32:37), David Fincher (36:24), James Gray (42:37), and Danny Boyle (58:00). Plus, two personal, familial projects in Once Upon a Time in Harlem (50:51) and The Making of Marie Antoinette (49:11).

On the back-half, we talk all things The Big Picture: Sean and Amanda’s New York origin story (1:01:39), moving to Los Angeles to launch The Ringer (1:12:22), the call from Bill Simmons that brought this duo together (1:12:36), the power of the Dob Mob (1:17:44), and the ongoing race for the show’s third chair, featuring Chris Ryan (1:23:02) and Tracy Letts (1:27:30). We also discuss Sean’s Mount Rushmore of dream guests (1:30:36), the movie he’d most like to do on The Rewatchables (1:34:06), ChatGPT Ebert (1:34:34), the role of AI in film and media (1:35:33), the contemporary challenges of making good work in a “crumbling industry” (1:38:44), and why this show—and this pair—continue to work after nearly a thousand episodes (1:45:39).