The Frame

Young Jean Lee's play, "Straight White Men," is an examination of privilege that provokes and challenges audiences; movie theater owners are getting creative about selling "Star Wars" merchandise and concessions; Lorely Rodriguez, aka Empress Of, is getting raves for her debut album.

Spike Lee's latest provocation likens the level of gun violence in Chicago to a war zone; Rooney Mara's performance in "Carol" adds to her already impressive list of credits; the beloved "Charlie Brown" holiday special, now in its 50th year, wasn't originally embraced by network executives.

Eddie Redmayne, last year’s best actor Oscar winner for “The Theory of Everything,” talks about portraying a trans-woman in “The Danish Girl”; Latin Grammy-winner Natalia Lafourcade deconstructs her song, “Hasta La Raíz”; This year's Independent Spirit Award winners will likely differ a lot from the Oscars.

As producer of the "Hunger Games" movies and a former studio executive, Nina Jacobson has a platform to demand gender equality in Hollywood; Pixar president Ed Catmull has helped build the studio into the empire it is today.

Ryan Coogler grew up watching the "Rocky" movies, and now he's director and co-writer of the spin-off, "Creed"; How "Toy Story" saved a struggling special effects firm called Pixar; "The Hunting Ground" inspires the question: can journalism and advocacy co-exist in documentaries?

Todd Haynes has directed several films with women as protagonists and his latest is “Carol,” which stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara; MADtv debuted 20 years ago and managed to stay on the air for 14 seasons; a club owner considers L.A. nightlife after the Paris attacks.

Series creator Kurt Sutter is disappointed but not bitter about the cancellation of "The Bastard Executioner"; it's been 20 years since MADtv set out to be the west coast version of "Saturday Night Live"; "The Hunting Ground" examines sexual assaults on college campuses.

Writer-producer John McNamara and director Jay Roach talk about the struggle to make "Trumbo," about the 1940s Hollywood blacklist victim; Nancy Tartaglione, international editor for Deadline.com, on the importance of cinema in France; Rashard Bradshaw, aka Cakes da Killa, is a loud and proud gay rapper.

The Marvel comics character Jessica Jones has a dark backstory, which is what inspired producer Melissa Rosenberg to create a TV series about her; in the documentary "Song of Lahore," a group of Pakistani musicians use a jazz standard and You Tube to find a global audience; Pandora will enter the on-demand music streaming business.

After taping an episode in Cuba earlier this year, Conan O'Brien travels to Armenia with his assistant, who gets to visit her family's homeland; the terrorist attacks in Paris have caused two networks to postpone sensitive episodes, and several bands have canceled European dates.

On today's show: Lea Thompson didn’t always like the way women were depicted in movies. So she directed a female-positive feature — written by and starring her daughter; mixed news for people who work in Hollywood; Jeff Tomsic, director of the buddy comedy, "Tag."

On today's show: Hanks is spending a good chuck of his summer playing Falstaff in "Henry IV" under the stars on the grounds of the V.A. campus in Brentwood; Spotify's curated playlists are hugely influential, but are they also sexist?

On today's show: Director Domee Shi mined her childhood for the story about a Chinese dumpling that comes to life in the animated short, "Bao"; Fox can only hope for the best as the World Cup kicks of without the U.S. team; between streaming services and countless cable channels, why are there still movies that can't be seen?

On today's show: the British actress has gone from an Oscar-nominated role in "Phantom Thread" to sharing the stage with Jeremy Irons; the E3 gaming convention is not just about guns and bombast; a new episode of Song Exploder features Liz Phair revisiting her 1993 debut album, "Exile in Guyville."

On today's show: Director X (that's what he goes by) says his film is a "re-imagining" of the '70s blaxploitation classic; what does it mean that the major film critics are overwhelmingly white and male?; we take you out to the ol' ballgame with the L.A. Dodgers' organist.

On today's show: actress Toni Collette talks about her intense performance in the new horror film, "Hereditary"; remembering Anthony Bourdain, the author and TV host who had a profound influence on food culture; a preview of the Tony Awards with New York Times co-theater critic Jesse Green.

On today's show: the theater satire trio known as Culture Clash revisits the volatile region in its latest show, “Bordertown Now”; the ReFrame coalition is partnering with IMDbPro to recognize standout, gender-balanced film and TV projects; the L.A.-based American Contemporary Ballet performs at its studio on the 32nd floor of a downtown high-rise.

On today's show: director Brad Bird explains the long gestation between the original and "Incredibles 2"; is the traditionally conservative country music industry changing its stripes?; the PLAY organization helps people tap into their creative, playful selves.

On today's show: 50 years after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, filmmaker Dawn Porter talks about her Netflix docu-series, "Bobby Kennedy For President"; until recently, singer-guitarist Naia Izumi could barely survive by performing on the streets of L.A. Now, he’s on his very first national tour after winning NPR’s Tiny Desk Song Contest.

On today's show: Filmmaker Morgan Neville adds Fred Rogers to his eclectic list of documentary subjects; Jihan Zencirli is unlike any balloon artist you've ever encountered.

On today's show: Samantha Bee said she crossed a line with her vulgar comment about Ivanka Trump, but where is that line these days on TV?; actor Simon Baker makes his film directing debut with "Breath"; music under the stars at the Mt. Wilson Observatory.

On today's show: Writer/director Bart Layton talks about the true story behind his new heist film, "American Animals"; Spotify's founder admits the company erred in its attempt to punish some recording artists accused of misconduct; The Miracle Project brings together teenagers and young adults with autism to create and perform a musical.