Today’s podcast tackles the first big-budget feature ($48M) director Steven Soderbergh was ever allowed to make. Shockingly, it was not a box office success but has since become a beloved romantic crime dramedy of the time.
We’re joined by very special guests: playwright
(THE DIGNITY CIRCLE) and screenwriter Kevin A. Rice (BECKETT). Kevin is not on the socials, but you can follow Lauren on IG if you want to follow what’s happening with live theater in LA!
LAUREN is a Los Angeles-based playwright and screenwriter. Her play THE DIGNITY CIRCLE is set to have its Los Angeles premiere in February 2026 at Theatre of Note in Hollywood. Her work has been put up in Los Angeles, The Bay Area, New York, and at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She currently has several screenplays in development, both as an independent writer, and with her writing (and life) partner, Kevin A. Rice.
KEVIN is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter. Since graduating from AFI, Kevin has worked on various projects in TV and film including the feature film BECKETT that was produced by Luca Guadagnino and starred John David Washington, Alicia Vikander, Vicky Krieps, and Boyd Holbrook. Most recently he has begun co-writing features with his very talented wife, Lauren.
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Movie Trivia Question of the Week
George Clooney shot to stardom thanks to snagging a leading role in the TV show ER which ran from 1995-1999. But Clooney actually played an Emergency Room technician in a TV sitcom alllll the way back in 1984! And this 1984 gig was Clooney's first ever leading / recurring role! So he essentially owes his whole career, even its very beginning, to Emergency Rooms everywhere. :P
What was the name of that 1984 TV sitcom?
Sound off in the comments below!
The Wines
Ghostnote Super Santa Cruz
We paired this wine with 1985’s DEMONS last month! But great minds think alike (and shop at the same LA wine shops :P) so here it is again! Lauren and Kevin thought the wine was sexy, but still a robust red to match the evergy of the film. Here’s our write up on this wine from the DEMONS post:
Get it? Super Tuscan, but from Sata Cruz, California?
Primarily Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, and Sangiovese, with a mixed lot of Merlot, Nebbiolo, and Negro Amaro tossed in. All grown in the Ascona Vineyard in Santa Cruz, Organically Farmed, 2000ft in elevation, abundant sunshine during the day, and consistent overnight fog and cool ocean breezes. The soils are weathered marine sedimentary sandstone, shale and siltstone. The small 4.5 acre vineyard was planted in 2000 on the site of an old Christmas tree farm, and has been meticulously farmed by Ken and Abbey Swegles since 2016.
This has the tannins, that rustic, dry as demonic hell mouthfeel I was looking for - Cab Sauv and Franc with Nebbiolo and Sangiovese tossed in? Black and red fruit, an ooze of earth and cocoa powder with a nice bay leaf herbaceousness at the end. Yes, please.
2020 Vecchioflorio Marsala Superiore, Dry
DALLAS: Ok, this film a bit cheesy, kinda sweet, with a nice bite. It’s also well structured. Plummy, juicy all the things you get in a good dessert wine, except the cheese of course, though I’d recommend pairing with cheese (see where I’m going with this?)
Marsala is a sweet or dry fortified wine (18% ABV) grown and produced near the western coast of Sicily within the province of Trapani. Florio Marsalas have been produced in this land for nearly two centuries.
The grapes used to make this bottling are Grillo and Cataratto, both white varieties. The Superiore is aged in oak barrels for at least 24 months.
Traditionally the marsalas are used in fine dining but some absolutely stand on their own and this is one of those. As an aperitif, it goes well with medium-aged cheeses. And since around here we are in fact considered medium aged- cheese, it works out. On the palate you are getting those raisin and currant notes, some vanilla.
2017 Terlato and Chapoutier Lieu-Dit-Malakoff Shiraz, Victoria, Australia
This is a film about an ex-con on the run, falling in love with the very thing that hunts him, judges him, isn't supposed to want him, and yet he embraces it while still forging his own path, for better and for worse.
So I had to pick a wine from Australia, the country of ex-cons, that the wine continent called Europe didn't want and gave them the boot, but then they made their OWN wine country. Now personally, for me, I wanted a wine with some depth and heft, while OUT OF SIGHT has a certain breeziness to it, the romance and comedy, it's still very much a crime thriller, and it juggles all its elements beautifully.
So I went with a collab between France and Australia, a perfect romance like in the movie would have been a British/Aussie collab, I bet that exists but I'm not personally famialiar with any, so instead I went with Terlato-Chaptoutier Shiraz, out of Victoria Australia. Chapoutier is a pretty well known Rhone winery, and here they teamed with Terlato, their American distributor, to produce Shiraz wines out of Victoria, Australia.
Shiraz aka Syrah - it's literally the same grape, just the Aussie name for it - is very much an adult version of a big bold red. Syrah is less jammy, less tannic and rustic, more acidic and peppery and balanced. It can still be big, and especially Shiraz from Australia tends to be biggER and jammiER but especially when grown by Rhone winemakers, retains its acidity and balance, it's nuance and poise.
Have you seen OUT OF SIGHT recently? Have you tried any of the above wines? Do you know the answer to the Movie Trivia Question of the Week?
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