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Younger readers may not recall, but Playboy magazine was once very well-known for its celebrity interviews, and independent podcast studio Audio Up announced they’re launching the Playboy Interview podcast with teleplay-style reenactments of famous interviews with Hollywood actors reading the parts.
The first two episodes will be released in September with Rosanna Arquette as feminist pioneer Betty Friedan and Taye Diggs as Muhammad Ali.
Future episodes will have Gael Garcia Bernal as Salvador Dali, Michael Shannon as Tennessee Williams, Shea Whigham as John Wayne, Maya Hawke as Helen Gurley Brown, Kevin Corrigan as Frank Sinatra, and Gina Gershon as Oriana Fallaci.
“Working on the Playboy Interview was an incredible experience,” said Maya Hawke, who portrays Helen Gurley Brown in the first season and will portray Ayn Rand in the second, likely to release in early 2022. “I got the rare opportunity to portray two of history’s most influential, controversial, and complicated women. I was allowed to inhabit the characters rather than being asked to impersonate them, which left me thinking about their respective perspectives for weeks after. And I felt inspired. Even if I don’t agree with them about everything (or anything) – their strength, persistence, and insistence on being exactly who they are has reminded me to be exactly who I am.”
**“**Playboy is culturally iconic for many reasons, but their in-depth interviews and journalistic integrity is a large part of what has made the publication so cool,” said Gina Gershon who portrays Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci. “I was so happy to work on a project that celebrates Playboy’s historic interviews with so many incredible individuals. I’ve always been fascinated by Oriana Fallaci, and was so excited to be able to take part in bringing her interviews to life. It was so much fun to explore this remarkable woman and share her point of view with the world.”
Playboy has published more than 500 interviews beginning with Miles Davis in 1962 and featured such notable figures as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Bob Dylan, Steve Jobs, and Fidel Castro, etc.