‘American Fiction’s’ Cord Jefferson: From Gawker to the Oscars

10 years ago, Cord Jefferson was blogging for Gawker. Now, his directorial debut ‘American Fiction’ is almost guaranteed a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars and he’s a frontrunner for Best Adapted Screenplay. In this episode, Jefferson traces his path from online journalist to full-fledged filmmaker, with stops along the way writing for ‘Master of None,’ ‘The Good Place’ and HBO’s ‘Watchmen,’ for which he won an Emmy Award in 2020. He talks about nailing the darkly satirical tone of his new movie that interrogates the expectations of Black artists, how his own experience in Hollywood influenced the script and the “emotional breaking point” he hit before doing the hard work he had to do on himself to get where he is today. 

Follow Cord Jefferson on Twitter @cordjefferson and Instagram @cordjefferson Follow Matt Wilstein on Threads @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod and Threads @lastlaughpod

Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast

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