Salon

Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins knows that there's still a lot work to be done when it comes to telling black stories in Hollywood. The writer/director of "Moonlight," which won the Best Picture Academy Award in 2017, joined Salon's D. Watkins along with actor Stephan James to discuss the new film "If Beale Street Could Talk." The film, out in New York and Los Angeles on December 14 and Christmas nationwide, is based on the James Baldwin novel of the same title. Set in 1970s New York City, a couple struggle with the unjust incarceration of James' character Fonny. Jenkins emphasized that the appreciation of black-centric stories on the big screen doesn't stop at this film and other films he's made like "Moonlight." "I like to think of change as being like a direction, not a destination," Jenkins told Watkins on "Salon Talks." Referencing his first feature film "Medicine for Melancholy" made in 2008 about a black couple in San Francisco struggling with the gentrification of their neighborhood, Jenkins makes the point that he doesn't want to stop making stories that focus on black characters, "There's been too many times where we go, 'Oh, and we had 'Medicine for Melancholy,' or we had 'Moonlight,' and so, we good.' It's like, 'No, no, no, no, there's so much more s**t that you have to cover.'" Watch the video above to hear why Jenkins believes Hollywood has been seeing financial success in black stories. And check out the <a href=' https://www.salon.com/tv/e/640560/c/3949' rel='nofollow'>full episode</a> to hear Jenkins express his passion for James Baldwin and how difficult it was to adapt "If Beale Street Could Talk."

Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg is helping break the stigmas around mental health by taking openly about it. On "Salon Talks," he opened up about his own experiences with OCD, his fans, and his advocacy work. "I write and act in plays and I play characters with anxiety a lot of times, and people come after the show and tell me you've inspired me because I have anxiety," Eisenberg told SalonTV's Mary Elizabeth Williams. Referencing a <a href=' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNeMtCLDAzY' rel='nofollow'>video</a> he made about his experiences with anxiety for Child Mind Institute, a non-profit supporting children and families with mental health issues, Eisenberg said, "I think it's probably helpful for younger people to hear. It would have been helpful for me to hear that too from somebody older who seems like me but seems to be functioning in society and doing well in a certain area." In the video, Eisenberg gave advice to his younger self. "It's not the worst thing in the world to have these feelings, even though it might feel like, having that anxiety might be indicative of other beneficial and positive characteristics," he said. Watch the <a href=' https://www.salon.com/tv/e/722577/c/3949' rel='nofollow'>full "Salon Talks" episode</a> with Eisenberg to hear about his newest role as a cheating stock trader in "The Hummingbird Project," in theaters March 15, and his take on being called unusual.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates the epidemic level that constant stress is having on Americans' health today in his latest project, the HBO documentary "One Nation Under Stress." During a "Salon Talks" episode he shared his personal tips for controlling stress and regaining control amidst life's unpredictable stressors. The film, which premieres March 25 on HBO, goes deep on why Americans are experiencing decreased life expectancy today, and how the root causes are all stress-related, self-inflicted conditions, including opioid overdose, alcohol-related liver cirrhosis, obesity and suicide. "You have plenty of examples around the world of truly capitalistic societies that do not suffer the way the United States is suffering right now," Dr. Gupta shared. "They continue to have increasing life expectancy, they continue to have decreasing mortality and decreasing levels of stress. The United States is unique in this regard and that's the part that fascinated me the most." Americans' stress, instead, tends to originate from this feeling that things seem unjust, Gupta explained. "We've espoused this idea of rugged individualism, but if you have to look at what's unique about America and what's probably driving these drops in life expectancy, dashed expectations, blatant glaring inequality, those two things in combination seem to be a big part of it." Watch the video above to hear what Dr. Gupta uses in his own life to cope with stress and check out the <a href=' https://www.salon.com/tv/e/730759/c/3948' rel='nofollow'>full episode</a> to hear more about the HBO documentary "One Nation Under Stress."

In the last year, Chelsea Handler set out to look inward and face the deep trauma in her life, she tells "Salon Talks." In the comedian's latest memoir <a href=' http://www.amazon.com/dp/dp/0525511776/?tag=saloncom08-20' rel='nofollow'>"Life Will Be the Death of Me,"</a>, she opens up about the loss of her older brother when she was nine years old and how it impacted her. Handler's recent work with a therapist led to her writing the book. "I had never said out loud to anyone what my brother said to me before he died. I had never uttered it. It was like a dirty secret even though it was too painful. You know, that he would come back, that he would never leave me with these people," Handler told SalonTV's D. Watkins. And for Handler it was more than just talking about it-the process helped her heal. She urged her readers to look at their own traumas. " I'm not fully fixed or complete, but the biggest, deepest injury I had is now putting itself back together. I don't want everybody to go through life the way I did from nine to 40, completely blocking out any sort of trauma that I had when I was nine years old." Watch the video above to hear more about Handler's process of admitting and writing about her trauma. And check out <a href=' https://www.salon.com/tv/e/757629/c/3949' rel='nofollow'>Chelsea Handler's full episode</a> to hear her disgusting, yet eye-opening healing experience with the psychedelic drug Ayahuasca.

<p>When Randall Park and Ali Wong wrote the Netflix romantic comedy <a href=' https://www.netflix.com/title/80202874' rel='nofollow'>"Always Be My Maybe,"</a> they never expected that their "dream get" for an Asian American love interest-Keanu Reeves- would actually sign on to play opposite Wong's character Sasha. The Netflix rom-com follows childhood sweethearts Sasha and Marcus (played by Ali Wong and Randall Park) and how they reconnect after 15 years apart. </p> <p>Reeves plays an over-the-top version of himself, who is overly poetic and Hollywood, yet still charming. He plays a rival love interest of Sasha, who Marcus is extremely (and understandably) jealous of. The A-list cameo was kept under wraps until the film debuted on Netflix. </p> <p>"I mean, what are the chances, you write a script and you want to have Keanu playing Keanu?" Park, also a producer on the film, shared on "Salon Talks." "We were living in a fantasy world. When it came down to trying to get him, that's where it was like, 'Oh, well, it was fun writing it, but let's be prepared to rewrite this for someone else.' During a window in his 'John Wick 3' shooting, he came to San Francisco, shot with us." </p> <p>Watch the video above to learn about how Randall Park created Keanu Reeves' character. And check out the <a href=' https://www.salon.com/tv/e/808368/c/3948' rel='nofollow'>full episode</a> to hear Park explain why he never expected ABC's "Fresh Off the Boat" to get past the pilot episode. </p>

<p>Aaron Sorkin opened up on "Salon Talks" about how he re-created the role of Atticus Finch for Tony Award nominee Jeff Daniels in his version of "To Kill a Mockingbird," currently on Broadway through September. </p> <p>Sorkin admitted that his first draft of the show was "timid," and that he only was able to truly dive into the writing process when he stopped thinking about the word "adaptation" and Harper Lee's original. "I was gonna write a new play, that I wasn't gonna pretend I was writing it in 1960 and I wasn't gonna try to do a Harper Lee impersonation," Sorkin told SalonTV's Andrew O'Hehir. </p> <p>While Lee's version of Atticus was "carved out of marble" and flawless, Sorkin was determined to inject imperfection into the character for Daniels." </p> <p>"I realized that I didn't have to give him a flaw. He already had one-it's just that. When I learned the book in seventh, eighth, ninth grade or whenever it was, and I think that when most people learn the book, we're taught that that flaw is a virtue. Atticus believes that there is goodness in everyone, that you just have to look hard enough, that you'd just have to crawl around, as he says, 'You have to crawl around inside someone else's skin, for a while and you can find the goodness.' He excuses racism all over the place." </p> <p>Watch Sorkin's <a href=' https://www.salon.com/tv/e/789676/c/3948' rel='nofollow'>full "Salon Talks" episode</a> to hear more about why Sorkin thinks Atticus would find reasons to be compassionate about Trump voters and the right wing website where he found inspiration for some of the secondary characters. </p> <p>To learn more about the starring roles of Atticus and Scout, watch <a href=' https://www.salon.com/tv/e/753220/c/3949' rel='nofollow'>the "Salon Talks" episode with Jeff Daniels and Celia Keenan-Bolger</a>. </p>

ESPN reporter Dan Murphy describes how doctor Larry Nassar became a safe haven for young women in the gymnastics world. Murphy explains how the sport's win-at-all-costs culture contributed to Nassar's serial criminal and sexually abusive behavior. In his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/dp/0316532150/?tag=saloncom08-20">"Start by Believing: Larry Nassar's Crimes, the Institutions that Enabled Him, and the Brave Women Who Stopped a Monster,"</a>Murphy details the full scope of the case against Nassar and the 250 women who stepped forward to tell their stories. <a href="https://www.salon.com/tv/video/0qmnou">To learn more about how athletes are continuing to pursue justice beyond Nassar's life sentence, watch the full episode on "Salon Talks."</a>

Reporter and author Michael Rothfeld explains the beginning of Trump's friendship with mob lawyer Roy Cohn and how Trump has used Cohn's philosophy to take down his opponents. Rothfeld takes readers to the underbelly of Trump's world of greed and lust in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/dp/0593132394/?tag=saloncom08-20br">"The Fixers: The Bottom-feeders, Crooked Lawyers, Gossipmongers, and Porn Stars Who Created the 45th President."</a> <a href="https://www.salon.com/tv/video/eganlj">To learn about Trump's other fixers, including Michael Cohen, watch the full episode on "Salon Talks."</a>