Kyle Meredith With...

Kyle Meredith talks with Willem Dafoe, Corey Hawkins, Anna Diop, and director Nadia Latif about turning Walter Mosley’s novel The Man in My Basement into a psychological thriller where race, trauma, and grief haunt every frame. The story follows Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins), a man on the verge of losing his ancestral Sag Harbor home, who agrees to rent his basement to the mysterious Aniston Bennett (Willem Dafoe) for the summer—only to find himself pulled into a chilling reckoning with history, family ghosts, and the root of all evil. Dafoe digs into acting as “pretend” courage, why first days on set still terrify him, and how genre lets hard truths sneak up on an audience. Latif reflects on making her feature debut and weaving her own story of loss into Mosley’s text, while Hawkins details playing Charles’ transformation opposite Dafoe in a basement where time itself bends. Diop speaks to how horror and thriller connect with Black history in ways straight drama can’t. From prosaic lines that ring like bells (“People die every day”) to lighting tricks, skewed timelines, and even maggot wrangling, the team unpacks how The Man in My Basement becomes a story you can’t shake.Listen to Willem Dafoe, Corey Hawkins, and more of the cast of The Man in My Basement discuss the new film or watch the interviews on YouTube here and here. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's a Rewind double feature today on Kyle Meredith With, as we bring you a pair of episodes from 2017. First, Soft Cell’s Marc Almond talks with Kyle Meredith about shaping his 2017 solo album, Shadows and Reflections, as a '60s-steeped, orchestral “torch and baroque” set—curating lesser-known gems, keeping the original arrangements’ DNA, and slipping in two new cuts (including the filmic “No One to Say Goodnight To” and the Walker Brothers-sized “Embers”). Then on the second half of the episode, OMD’s Paul Humphreys talks about the band's own album from that year, The Punishment of Luxury, balancing four decades of signature melody with modern minimalism and glitch textures, limiting the synth palette to dodge the “tyranny of choice,” and turning a WWI painting into a rhythmic teaser with gunfire as percussion—while still embracing the hits.Show your support for Kyle Meredith With by making sure to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Sabrina Impacciatore showed up to The Paper — the long-awaited return to the world birthed by The Office — like a heat-seeking comet, all glamour, sharp elbows, and survival instinct. She spoke with Kyle Meredith about stepping into a franchise with generations of fans and finding the funny even when the stakes feel like a barbell on your shoulders. She calls the weight a motivator, not a burden, and her character of Esmeralda arrives fully charged: vintage-star hair, weaponized nails, and a don’t-look-down ambition that keeps the newsroom whirring. Listen now.Impacciatore laughs now about the terror of those early table reads, admitting “My legs under the table were shaking." She adds that she "didn’t understand what was going on” through the language haze -- but the nerves didn’t dull the commitment. Case in point: the soon-to-be infamous “worm” moment. “Why don’t we shoot me doing the worm?” she pitched, only to discover the worm is an ’80s break-dance move that she absolutely didn't know how to do. A midnight YouTube cram session later, she arrived on set, launched into it, and swears she delivered “the best worm in the history of worms,” just as the director tells her that it was only a rehearsal take. We get to see the bloody knees version.Listen to Sabrina Impacciatore or watch it on YouTube chat about all this and more. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Lzzy Hale of Halestorm spoke with Kyle Meredith about Everest, the band’s roaring new record born from a “desert island” headspace in Savannah with Dave Cobb. Nearly three decades into their run, Hale framed the album as a live-wire snapshot instead of a genre exercise: big melodies, bigger punches, and zero interest in coloring inside the lines. It’s the sound of a band refusing to calcify. Listen now.“We were writing and recording in real time,” Hale says, describing how the band ditched old riffs and notebooks to chase whatever felt electric that day. That gamble paid off on “Watch Out,” where a 4:00 a.m. voice-note flipped the entire track: “Dave’s like, ‘That’s the chorus — screw the other part.’”She also lit up at the mention of Nick Cave, praising the way he can drop a single word — like sin — and suddenly the song carries a new kind of gravity. “He’s one of those rare, once-in-a-lifetime artists who can be otherworldly and still completely genuine," she says. "There’s this balance he mastered long ago that I really admire.”Listen to Lzzy Hale of Halestorm or watch it on YouTube chat about all this and more. You can also grab tickets to Halestorm's upcoming tour here. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

For this edition of Kyle Meredith with..., listen to Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips across three interviews that span their albums King’s Mouth and The Terror, collaborations with Miley Cyrus and Kesha, and covers of The Beatles. Coyne also digs into concept records, becoming a new father, the perception of songs like “Giant Baby,” and why useful music — like “Happy Birthday" — matters. He also reflects on the band’s legacy, staying curious, the balance between pop culture chaos and charity work, and why Flaming Lips fans embrace constant change.Listen to Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips or watch it on chat about all this and more. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

David Rysdahl sat down with Kyle Meredith to dig into FX’s Alien: Earth, the latest installment of the Alien franchise. Known for roles in Fargo and Oppenheimer, Rysdahl steps into a story that uses sci-fi horror as a Trojan horse for bigger questions — AI, environmental collapse, corporate greed, even the messy question of whether humanity deserves to stick around. Listen to the conversation now. For Rysdahl, working again with creator Noah Hawley after Fargo meant playing more than just a scientist — he was embodying a piece of Hawley himself. “I do feel like I’m playing a part of Noah,” he tells Meredith. “Arthur is the conscience and the heart of Alien: Earth. Wayne in Fargo was that for his family, and Arthur is that in this story. Both are idealists who have their faith and their world shaken.” He laughed about Hawley sending him a one-line email — “You want to come to Thailand?” — and knew right then he was back in the deep end.That deep end, of course, comes with the Alien franchise’s weight and a modern spin on terror. Rysdahl admitted the show made him rethink the present just as much as the fictional future.Listen to David Rysdahl or watch it on YouTube chat about all this and more. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

DEVO’s story has finally been distilled into a new documentary, and it’s landed on Netflix thanks to director Chris Smith. Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale joined Kyle Meredith to talk about the film, which charts the band’s path from Kent State to post-punk pioneers to MTV oddities to cultural prophets who survived long enough to tour with The B-52's(get tickets here!). It’s been a long time coming, but in true DEVO fashion, the doc doesn’t offer an “ultimate truth” — just one version of their truth filtered through another outsider’s lens. Listen now.The pair also reflect on the path from their hippie-era influences to creating a soundtrack for the paranoia of the 1970s. Mothersbaugh remembers wanting to be “a pioneer” with sound the way Hendrix was for the ’60s, while Casale points out that DEVO’s obsession with futurist art and media helped them break rock’s formula. Along the way, they found themselves jamming with Neil Young — years after his song “Ohio” haunted them as Kent State survivors — an unlikely crossover that redefined Young in their eyes. And now, as they gear up for the Cosmic De-Evolution tour with The B-52's, they joke that their “farewell” might last long enough to include Mars colonies.Listen to Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale of DEVO or watch it on YouTube chat about all this and more. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

For this special Rewind episode, Kyle Meredith talks with DJ Shadow, as well as Black Eyed Peas’ Taboo and apl.de.ap, about pushing their artistry into bold new directions. Revisit the conversations now.DJ Shadow takes us inside The Mountain Will Fall, which at the time was his first “artist show” in four years. Plus, he chats about the rediscovery of long-lost multi-tracks and how staying forward-thinking keeps his music vital.Taboo and apl.de.ap discuss their song “Street Livin'” as a raw diagnosis of America’s social and political climate and their continued activism from Standing Rock to schools in the Philippines. Then, they touch on Masters of the Sun, a Marvel-published graphic novel expanded into augmented and virtual reality that boasts an all-star voice cast and a Hans Zimmer-assisted soundtrack.Listen to DJ Shadow and Black Eyed Peas’ Taboo and apl.de.ap chat about all this and more. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Genndy Tartakovsky has spent decades shaping the animation landscape with everything from Dexter’s Laboratory to Samurai Jack, but when he sat down with Kyle Meredith, the talk was all about his first leap into unapologetically adult animation. His new Netflix film Fixed follows a good-natured dog named Bull on the last wild night before his scheduled neutering, a premise Tartakovsky says came to him in a single lightning-strike moment. Seventeen years, multiple pitches, and one truly committed cast later, the result is a raunchy-but-heartfelt comedy that pushes cartoons beyond TV-safe snark. Listen now.As Tartakovsky explains, the road to Fixed began with a character-driven buddy movie idea loosely inspired by his childhood friends, which studio execs insisted needed a hook. “They said maybe even an adult concept,” he recalls. “And instantly I said, ‘What if they’re dogs, and one finds out he’s getting neutered in the morning?’ Everyone laughed, and that was it.”Idris Elba, voicing Rocco, got the lion’s share of euphemism-filled dialogue, which the actor embraced wholeheartedly despite being in the conversation for James Bond at the time. “He loved it,” Tartakovsky says. “One speech had five different ways to say balls, and he was cracking up.”After a 17-year fight to get the movie made, Tartakovsky’s hope is that Fixed helps pry open the door for more full-length, adult-oriented animation in the US. Listen to Genndy Tartakovsky talk about Fixed and more in the new episode above or by watching the video below.Listen to Genndy Tartakovsky chat about all this and more or watch it on YouTube. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Alien franchise has never been short on xenomorphs, but FX’s Alien: Earth proves there’s plenty more to fear than acid blood and chestbursters. In a conversation with Kyle Meredith, showrunner Noah Hawley, producer David W. Zucker, and cast members Timothy Olyphant, Sydney Chandler, Samuel Blenkin, Alex Lawther, and Babou Ceesay unpacked the series’ deeper bite: AI ethics, corporate dystopias, and what happens when humanity hardwires itself into machines. Listen to all of the conversations now.Hawley says his entry point wasn’t just the monster, but “the moment Sigourney Weaver leans back and Ian Holm is revealed to be an android,” sparking a story about “being trapped between the primordial past and an AI future you created that’s now turning on you.” Chandler adds that Alien: Earth doesn’t “feed the audience answers,” but leaves space for viewers to chew on questions long after the credits roll. And while the genre demands a little running-and-screaming, the cast was just as invested in the subtler moments. “I’m rooting for us,” Olyphant quips about his stance on AI, “but yeah, I’m a little iffy on it all.”Even in a universe built on corporate greed and hybrid consciousness, the performers resisted the urge to play cyborgs and synthetics as soulless automatons. Ceesay framed his character’s dead-eyed determination as a coping mechanism for trauma, while Blenkin relished his Peter Pan–inspired villain’s warped morality: “He’s completely misread the book… He sees himself as a superhero.” Lawther sums up the on-set energy as being “like a magpie, collecting things” about AI, even if none of them could actually explain how it works. All agreed the humanity—flawed, obsessive, or childlike—is what makes the terror hit harder.Listen to cast of Alien Earth chat about all this and more. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy