Shoot Again! Talking Pinball with Clark Hill

Sensual Creatures: Vampires, Frilly Shirts, and Interview with a Vampire with Jonny Lee Jr.

Vampires, as a concept, should not work. They are dead. They are allergic to weather. Their entire dating strategy is "what if I bit you." And yet — somehow, Anne Rice took this nonsense, draped it in frilly eighteenth-century shirts (a look Jonny Lee Jr. has, to his eternal credit, brought to this very podcast), and produced one of the most genuinely seductive pieces of pulp fiction of the twentieth century. This week, Jonny returns to walk Mandy through the entire blood-soaked architecture of Interview with the Vampire — the 1994 film, the AMC series, and the lore that Anne Rice constructed to power both. Along the way: Cher was almost cast as Louis (yes, that Cher; yes, in a corset; no, it would not have worked). Tom Cruise was, by Anne Rice's own admission, the wrong man for Lestat — right up until he opened his mouth on screen and became the only possible man for Lestat. Brad Pitt may have been miserable filming this and you can, if you squint, kind of tell. Kirsten Dunst, age eleven, delivered a performance so calibrated that they auditioned a thousand other children and quietly admitted defeat. And Anne Rice herself wrote Claudia — a five-year-old trapped in eternal childhood — because her own five-year-old daughter had died of leukemia, which recontextualizes the entire story so violently that you may need to sit down. Also covered: why blood drinking, in the Anne Rice cosmology, is better than sex (the vampires are the most sex-positive characters in 1990s cinema); why the second half of the movie kind of falls apart the moment Antonio Banderas shows up to monologue at everyone; why the AMC series is gayer than the movie which is gayer than the books which are already pretty gay; and the fact that one of the most cinematic shots in nineties film involves a child vampire worrying about getting blood on her pink satin shoes. Welcome back to nerd-dom. GUEST SPOTLIGHT Jonny Lee Jr. is one of Make Me a Nerd's original guests and a self-described "very well-rounded nerd" — a designation he has now earned across episodes on Zelda, Sailor Moon, and the present descent into Anne Rice's vampire universe. He is an actor and singer with the rare ability to make you genuinely excited about a frilly eighteenth-century shirt, and he has read every single Vampire Chronicles novel, which is the kind of qualification you cannot fake. Links & References Past Make Me a Nerd Episodes Referenced * Moon Prism Power, Make Me a Gorgeous Podcaster: Sailor Moon with Jonny Lee Jr. [https://trustory.fm/makemeanerd/moon-prism-power-make-me-a-gorgeous-podcaster-sailor-moon-with-jonny-lee-jr/] * Make Me a Nerd Takes a Hearty Breath of the Wild with Jonny Lee, Jr. [https://trustory.fm/makemeanerd/make-me-a-nerd-takes-a-hearty-breath-of-the-wild-with-jonny-lee-jr/] — the Zelda episode * Mommie Dearest with Abdi Nazemian [https://trustory.fm/makemeanerd/mommie-dearest-with-abdi-nazemian/] Film & Television Discussed in depth * Interview with the Vampire (1994, dir. Neil Jordan) [https://letterboxd.com/film/interview-with-the-vampire/] * Interview with the Vampire (AMC series, 2022–present) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview_with_the_Vampire_(TV_series)] * Byzantium (2012, dir. Neil Jordan) [https://letterboxd.com/film/byzantium/] — the Saoirse Ronan vampire film Jonny was trying to remember on air * Queen of the Damned (2002) [https://letterboxd.com/film/queen-of-the-damned/] Referenced in passing * The Crying Game (1992, dir. Neil Jordan) [https://letterboxd.com/film/the-crying-game/] * Mommie Dearest (1981) [https://letterboxd.com/film/mommie-dearest/] * Hook (1991, dir. Steven Spielberg) [https://letterboxd.com/film/hook/] * Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991) [https://letterboxd.com/film/madonna-truth-or-dare/] * Desperado (1995, dir. Robert Rodriguez) [https://letterboxd.com/film/desperado/] * Philadelphia (1993, dir. Jonathan Demme) [https://letterboxd.com/film/philadelphia/] * Top Gun (1986) [https://letterboxd.com/film/top-gun/] * Legends of the Fall (1994) [https://letterboxd.com/film/legends-of-the-fall/] * Nine (2009, dir. Rob Marshall) [https://letterboxd.com/film/nine/] * Sliding Doors (1998) [https://letterboxd.com/film/sliding-doors/] * Game of Thrones (HBO series) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones] * Will & Grace (2017 reboot) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_%26_Grace_season_9] Books * Interview with the Vampire (1976) by Anne Rice [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview_with_the_Vampire] * The Vampire Lestat (1985) by Anne Rice [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Lestat] * The Queen of the Damned (1988) by Anne Rice [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen_of_the_Damned] * The Vampire Armand (1998) by Anne Rice [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Armand] * The Vampire Chronicles (series overview) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Chronicles] Stage * Lestat (musical, Broadway 2006) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lestat_(musical)] — music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin * Nine (musical) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_(musical)] — the 2003 Broadway revival, dir. David Leveaux, starred Antonio Banderas and Jane Krakowski People Creators * Anne Rice [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Rice] (1941–2021) * Stan Rice [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Rice] — Anne Rice's husband, the real-world basis for Lestat * Christopher Rice [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Rice] — Anne and Stan's son * Neil Jordan [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Jordan] 1994 film cast * Tom Cruise [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cruise] * Brad Pitt [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Pitt] * Kirsten Dunst [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsten_Dunst] * Antonio Banderas [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Banderas] * Stephen Rea [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Rea] * Thandiwe Newton [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thandiwe_Newton] — credited in 1994 as "Thandie Newton" * Christian Slater [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Slater] * Evan Rachel Wood [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Rachel_Wood] — the other actress considered for Claudia AMC series cast * Sam Reid [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Reid_(actor)]

Shoot Again! Talking Pinball with Clark Hill

Pinball looks like two buttons and a ball. It is not two buttons and a ball. It is a 300-pound machine with layered rules, competitive leagues, wrist injuries, a flow state, and — this will surprise you — an expectation that you will physically grab the machine and move it while playing. That last part is legal. Encouraged, even. This week, Mandy's new neighbor Clark Hill, who carries quarters at all times in case he passes a machine in the wild, joins her to watch Shoot Again, a documentary that is essentially pinball propaganda, and to explain why none of this is as simple as it looks. The conversation covers flow states, wizard modes, the Dolly Parton machine, a proposed cats-themed machine (the cats, not the musical), and at least one incident involving a toddler on the glass. Press play. GUEST SPOTLIGHT Clark Hill is a theater nerd, Magic: The Gathering player, pinball league competitor, and Mandy's new neighbor — a convergence of circumstances that the universe has clearly been building toward. He is currently active in a pinball league in Van Nuys, California, carries quarters on his person at all times, and has a deep personal relationship with the work of game designer Keith Elwin. He has also, on at least two occasions, had to ask a father to remove a toddler from the glass surface of a pinball machine. Connect with the Show Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens [https://www.instagram.com/mandy_kaplan_klavens?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==] Make Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join [https://makemeanerd.com/join] — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people. --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website [https://makemeanerd.com/join] to learn more.

The Truth is RIGHT HERE: X-Files with Chelsea Stardust

The X-Files is, technically, a show about two FBI agents investigating extraterrestrial activity, government conspiracy, and the unexplained — which is why it's mildly hilarious that filmmaker Chelsea Stardust's curated onramp for Mandy contains, by Mandy's own count, exactly zero alien episodes. What it does contain: a man who hibernates in a nest every thirty years and squeezes through air ducts; a parasitic humanoid Flukeman swimming around the sewer system (related, somehow, to Chernobyl); a gentle psychic played by Peter Boyle who can see exactly how everyone is going to die; an inbred Pennsylvania family hiding their quadruple-amputee mother under the bed; and Bryan Cranston's head, which will explode unless he keeps driving west. Mandy was, against every instinct she possesses, completely charmed. What emerges across the conversation is a love letter to a show whose secret weapon turns out not to be the monsters at all. It's the writing (Vince Gilligan, pre-Breaking Bad, was already writing Vince Gilligan episodes). It's the sparing use of special effects, which means the few times you actually see the Flukeman, you really see him. It's a theme song Mark Snow created by smashing his forearm onto a keyboard in frustration, which is the most rock-and-roll origin story in television scoring. And it's the Mulder-Scully dynamic, which Chelsea makes a passionate case is the actual core of the entire enterprise — the relationships first, the body horror second, the Cigarette Smoking Man a distant third. By the end, Mandy has watched five episodes, formed strong opinions about Scully's footwear ergonomics, identified Roseanne's Dan Conner's best friend Chuck in a guest spot decades later, and developed genuine sympathy for a sewer-dwelling parasite. Chelsea has confessed that she's never gotten to talk about The X-Files on a podcast before, which feels like a crime against nerd culture and is hereby corrected. GUEST SPOTLIGHT Chelsea Stardust is a writer, director, and producer with a deep bench of horror credentials. She made her directorial debut with the sci-fi thriller All That We Destroy (Hulu, part of Blumhouse's Into the Dark series); directed the horror-comedy Satanic Panic (written by novelist Grady Hendrix, available on VOD); and most recently co-directed Grind, a horror anthology about the gig economy that premiered at SXSW 2026. She co-hosts the horror movie podcast Sitting in the Dark with Tommy Metz III on TruStory FM, runs the Losers Book Club in Los Angeles, and is generally the kind of person who treats nerdiness as a vocation. Find her on Instagram at @chelseastardust and her book club at @losersbookclubla. * Chelsea Stardust on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/chelseastardust/] * Sitting in the Dark podcast (TruStory FM) [https://trustory.fm/sitting-in-the-dark/] * Losers Book Club LA on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/losersbookclubla/] Chelsea’s Films * All That We Destroy (2019) [https://letterboxd.com/film/all-that-we-destroy/] * Satanic Panic (2019) [https://letterboxd.com/film/satanic-panic-2019/] * Grind (2026) [https://letterboxd.com/film/grind-2026/] The X-Files Episodes Discussed * “Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_(The_X-Files)] * “Squeeze” (Season 1, Episode 3) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeeze_(The_X-Files)] * “The Host” (Season 2, Episode 2) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Host_(The_X-Files)] * “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” (Season 3, Episode 4) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Bruckman%27s_Final_Repose] * “Home” (Season 4, Episode 2) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(The_X-Files)] * “Drive” (Season 6, Episode 2) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_(The_X-Files)] * “Monday” (Season 6, Episode 14) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monday_(The_X-Files)] People Mentioned * Grady Hendrix [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grady_Hendrix] — novelist; wrote Satanic Panic * Dave Grusin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Grusin] — composer of The Firm score * Tommy Metz III on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/tommymetz3/] — Sitting in the Dark co-host Referenced Books * The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Southern_Book_Club%27s_Guide_to_Slaying_Vampires] by Grady Hendrix * It (Stephen King novel) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(novel)] — referenced for thematic parallels with “Squeeze” Referenced Films & Series * Scanners (1981) [https://letterboxd.com/film/scanners/] — Cronenberg; cited for the “Drive” cold open * Speed (1994) [https://letterboxd.com/film/speed/] — the spiritual cousin to “Drive” * The Goonies (1985) [https://letterboxd.com/film/the-goonies/] — Mandy’s prior episode reference * The Firm (1993) [https://letterboxd.com/film/the-firm/] — for Mandy’s Dave Grusin score reference * It (1990 miniseries) [https://letterboxd.com/film/it-1990/] — Tim Curry as Pennywise * Disclosure Day (2026) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclosure_Day] — the Spielberg UFO film Chelsea referenced Past Make Me a Nerd Episodes * It’s Our Time Down Here: A Goonies Comfort Rewatch with Krissy Lenz [https://trustory.fm/make-me-a-nerd/] — series hub (specific episode page) Make Me a Nerd * Make Me a Nerd membership [https://makemeanerd.com/join] * Mandy Kaplan on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mandy_kaplan_klavens/] * @mandymiscast on TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@mandymiscast] --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website [https://makemeanerd.com/join] to learn more.

Watch Me Fly… Serenity with Krissy Lenz

Here is a fact about Firefly, which is to say the beloved Joss Whedon space western that aired on Fox in 2002: the network, in its infinite wisdom, decided to air the two-hour pilot — the one designed to introduce you to the entire world, its characters, and the general vibe of a Western in space — not first, but somewhere in the middle. This is approximately like hosting a dinner party and opening with dessert, except the dessert is also on fire, and also you've invited the guests' most confused relatives. The show was cancelled. The fans — who call themselves Browncoats, because of course they do — responded not with acceptance but with a multi-year grassroots campaign that eventually produced a movie (Serenity, 2005), a documentary about the making of said movie (Done the Impossible), and a fan-organized party circuit called Shindigs that still runs today. This week, returning champion Krissy Lenz walks Mandy through all of it. The movie itself, Mandy discovers, is tonally bewildering in the best way — part heist, part Star Wars homage, part horror film, part comedy, with Chiwetel Ejiofor showing up as the most civilized, polite, and unnervingly calm assassin in the 'Verse. ("He believes in this better world that even he's not welcome in," Krissy notes, which is, frankly, the kind of villain thesis statement most movies wish they could pull off.) Summer Glau is doing ballet-grade choreography in combat boots and a slip dress. Alan Tudyk is delightful, briefly, and then — for contractual reasons Krissy helpfully explains — permanently unavailable. And Nathan Fillion, the internet's favorite convention dad, spends the climax in a physical fight that looks suspiciously like the end of every Star Wars movie you've ever seen. Along the way, the conversation takes its requisite detours: how to separate the art from the artist when the artist is Joss Whedon and the allegations are what they are; the rehabilitation economy around Louis CK; whether Mal is charmingly brusque or just, on closer 45-year-old inspection, kind of a dick; and the enduring question of whether Joel McHale should be allowed to play anyone other than Joel McHale. By the end, Mandy has agreed to watch the series, consider attending a Shindig, and do a future episode on Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog — which is, by any reasonable metric, a successful recruitment. Find Krissy * The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast [https://trustory.fm/the-most-excellent-80s-movies/] * Gank That Drank [https://trustory.fm/gank-that-drank/] * Neighborhood Comedy Theater (Mesa, AZ) [https://nctphoenix.com/] Connect with the Show Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens [https://www.instagram.com/mandy_kaplan_klavens?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==] Make Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join [https://makemeanerd.com/join] — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people. --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website [https://makemeanerd.com/join] to learn more.

No Time To Play… Ender’s Game with Erica Cochran

Mandy Kaplan has been handed a Hugo-winning, Nebula-winning, Mormon-authored military sci-fi classic about a six-year-old being psychologically tortured into committing accidental alien genocide, and reader, she has THOUGHTS. This week, her son Casey's high school chemistry teacher — the proud Trojan, theater company founder, and science-and-theater double-nerd Erica Cochran — walks Mandy through Orson Scott Card's 1985 novel Ender's Game, a book that predicted the internet, iPads, online political discourse, and rogue AI with such unsettling accuracy that you kind of want to check if Card also has next week's lottery numbers. Before they even open the book, there's The Orson Scott Card Problem to address — namely, that he is an anti-gay-rights activist who appears to have written a scene in which his six-year-old protagonist convinces a naked bully to also get naked before their fistfight. Mandy has some thoughts about this. Erica has some thoughts about this. Everyone has some thoughts about this. They proceed with their "art vs. artist" disclaimer firmly in place, with Mandy reserving the right to get in a few jabs. She gets in several. What unfolds is a joyful, slightly unhinged, deeply thoughtful conversation about a book Mandy read every word of and still couldn't quite follow ("I got a lot of beeps and boops"), while Erica — who has reread the series multiple times and done "a lot of therapy" — sees the full emotional architecture underneath. They dig into why so many of these dystopias center on children (the innocence, the smallness, the inability to consent), why Ender is Valentine with the capacity to be Peter, why the government commissions a third child from a family whose parents are, diplomatically speaking, not geniuses, and whether the book's climactic religion-founding is a defense of the Book of Mormon or a sly admission that anyone can make up a religion. Also discussed: Scientology's youth promotion track, the 2013 movie (Erica: "two thumbs down"), the inexplicable prevalence of the insult "fart-eater," and the fact that Petra is doing her absolute best and does not deserve Mandy's Gen-X scolding. By the end, Mandy is converted — not to loving the book, exactly, but to seeing what she missed in it. Which is, honestly, the whole point of this podcast. Connect with the Show Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens [https://www.instagram.com/mandy_kaplan_klavens?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==] Make Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join [https://makemeanerd.com/join] — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people. --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website [https://makemeanerd.com/join] to learn more.