Tom's Top 3: March 24, 2026
Spring Sci-Fi Sampler
Hi everyone! Welcome to this week’s installment of Tom’s Top 3 Tuesdays, where I highlight three pieces of content (Podcasts/Shows/Songs/Articles/etc.) that I found interesting or noteworthy from the prior week.
Please toss me a like and share this with as many people as you can!!! Whoever you think might find this newsletter informative, entertaining, funny, idc—just drop them a link. It really helps grow the newsletter, so I greatly appreciate the support!
[Podcast] The Big Picture - The Steven Spielberg Conversation
Spielberg was recently interviewed at the SXSW Conference/Festival in advance of his newest movie, Disclosure Day, coming out later this year. A few things stuck with me:
Spielberg said he saw Fantasia too young and was left incredibly scared by the “Night on Bald Mountain” (honestly that’s so fair, what a terrifying sequence)
This was funny to me because I was always so scared of Spielberg’s E.T. growing up, because I felt I saw it too young (don’t worry I have since gotten over my fear)
Spielberg also mentioned that he does a lot of prep work on big-budget movies that have a lot of VFX, but on other movies he might not plan at all beforehand
He claims he did not have one storyboard on either Schindler’s List or Saving Private Ryan!!!
He also has a western movie in development, but he wouldn’t give away any details
[Podcast] House of R - ‘Project Hail Mary’ Deep Dive. Plus: Andy Weir!
At the start of the Spielberg podcast, Sean Fennessey called out how Project Hail Mary killed it’s opening weekend, to the tune of $140.9M. I saw PHM on Sunday—I really enjoyed it, but I was expecting a movie that was closer to The Martian than a buddy comedy. Although the stakes are high (the whole world rests on the shoulders of Ryan Gosling), the movie plays more for laughs. Gosling was perfect in this role, and I was really amazed by how they nailed the Rocky character.
After you check out the movie, I’d listen to this fun deep dive and interview with the author of the book, Andy Weir. He reminds me a lot of Vince Gilligan: nerdy in the best way and passionate about his work.
In a particular memorable part of the interview, Weir described why he is convinced our first contact with an alien species would be a positive, peaceful one. Listen to the end to hear his optimistic reasoning.
[YouTube] Variety - How ‘The Mandalorian’ Score Found The New ‘Star Wars’ Sound
I didn’t realize until now that Ludwig Göransson also composed the score for The Mandalorian. I would have never guessed that the key instrument in that legendary, Emmy-winning score is… a recorder.
Göransson is the hottest composer in the business right now, coming off his most recent Oscar for Sinners (his third!). It was a treat to peek into his creative process.
If you made it to this point, drop a comment to say hi. And as always, please like and consider sharing with a friend who you think would enjoy! I’ll be back next week. ✌️