Amanda Peet, Matthew Shear: Fantasy Life and grown-up rom-coms
27 March 2026

Amanda Peet, Matthew Shear: Fantasy Life and grown-up rom-coms

Popcorn Podcast

About

Amanda Peet and Matthew Shear are here to talk about Fantasy Life, their New York-set romantic comedy that won the Audience Award at South by Southwest and earned Peet a Special Jury Award for what Variety called the performance of a lifetime. They dig into what drew Peet to this unusually specific script, how writer, director and star Shear drew on his real-life experience as a Manhattan manny to write something deeply personal, and what it was like directing legends, including Judd Hirsch, Bob Balaban and Holland Taylor as a first-time filmmaker. There's also a frank and fascinating conversation about whether acting is a void that can ever truly be filled.


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