Actor Jayce Bartok returns to the podcast for his third visit (he was previously on Episode 225 with Daphne Rubin-Vega & Episode 442 with wife & filmmaker Tiffany Bartok). Jayce may currently be seen in the Ava DuVernay helmed mini-series “When They See Us” on Netflix. He is on the first two episodes. We discuss his experience being cast in the role as well as the period leading up to the production. In 1989 a jogger was assaulted and raped in New York’s Central Park, and five young people were subsequently charged with the crime. The quintet, labeled the Central Park Five, maintained its innocence and spent years fighting the convictions, hoping to be exonerated. This limited series spans a quarter of a century, from when the teens are first questioned about the incident in the spring of 1989, going through their exoneration in 2002 and ultimately the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014. In addition to Bartok, the cast includes Michael K. Williams, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, and Blair Underwood.
In this segment I am joined by author Matthew Asprey Gear who calls in from Edinburgh, Scotland home, and podcaster/filmmaker Peter Rinaldi calling in from Manhattan’s Upper West Side, to discuss Matthew’s book “Moseby Confidential: Arthur Penn’s Night Moves and the Rise of Neo-Noir” (Jorvik Press, 2019) which is available where books are sold. Gear is also the author of the previous “At The End of the Street in the Shadow: Orson Welles and the City” (Wallflower/Columbia University Press, 2016) which we also delve into at length. Peter Rinaldi is the host of the respected podcast “Back to One” where he interviews actors about their craft.
