Curt Milton

It was going on one, two in the morning, and we were shooting what I felt was an important scene for me, when he makes an attempt to be quote-unquote straight, in a suit, and at the end of it he gets emotional and locks himself in the other room. And I felt like, I’m not getting what I want—I’m not happy with it. Mike was happy with it. He called me the next day and said, “I know you weren’t happy with the scene last night. Believe me, we wouldn’t have gone home if I had felt we weren’t getting it.” And then he sort of became my psychiatrist and said, “You find it difficult to be happy, don’t you? You find it difficult to enjoy things.” And I said, “Well, sometimes. Last night was about feeling too tired and not feeling I was reaching what I needed to reach for the scene.” He talked to me then about when he was making, I don’t know whether it was Virginia Woolf or The Graduate. He said, “I didn’t enjoy it for a second. I was worried about so many things.” And then he said, “You know, this is never going to happen again quite this way. You should try to allow yourself to enjoy this more. Take a minute a day, and then add a minute the next day, and another minute. Pretty soon, you’ll have hours of happiness.”

The Birdcage opened thirty years ago today, so in its honor, I want to share one of my favorite stories about Mike Nichols that didn't make it into my biography. This is from an interview I did with Nathan Lane.

Markets down. Gas prices up. He’s long for that exit ramp already.

Screw Covid, I'm going to Sturgis. Troy Tassier is a professor of economics at Fordham University and the author of The Rich Flee and the Poor Take the Bus: How Our Unequal Society Fails Us during Outbreaks.

"Screw Covid, I'm going to Sturgis!" The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, held in August 2020, was the epitome of the individual choice mindset. Of course it spread cases outward and caused infections, illness, and death. A new research paper allows us to watch the Sturgis Covid wave spread across the US.

Trump Has Given America a Constitutional Dilemma Congress should not have to argue over whether to trigger the War Powers Resolution, and certainly not in the midst of conflict.

Lots of arguing over the War Powers Resolution. But what's it say?
I talked my boss out of using in 1990. I still think it's a bad law. But Trump should be answering Congress's questions.
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

It’s hard to imagine anyone but Connery in this role. He owns the movie (sorry, Alec B).

Trump’s Enormous Gamble on Regime Change in Iran A few paths to success, many to failure

First impression: This is regime change, lots of ways for it to go wrong, a few it could go right, but at huge risk:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Publishing my normal Sunday polling article early (for obvious reasons):

Trump starts a war with Iran that few Americans support.

Overall support for Trump in early post-strike polling is below that for Afghanistan and Iraq, including among Republicans.

www.gelliottmorris.com/p/polls-trum...

Wag the Dog (1997) ⭐ 7.1 | Comedy, Drama 1h 37m | R

This film seems especially timely right now. Rent or buy on all major platforms.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0120...

Agreed. I think it would have been much more popular. Great film … and I saw it in a theater.

I guess Operation Epic Fury is better branding than Operation Please Stop Talking About Epstein or Operation Maybe This Will Help Me in the Midterms or Operation We'll Work Out the Details Later.

I'm hearing reports that the elderly despotic leader is now afraid to reenter the capital and is attempting to establish a functioning government in a gilded palace located in a remote southern part of the country.

This is what these liars promised and what tens of millions of marks swallowed.

In South Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, regime change was the easy part. Nobody doubts the ability of the US to effectuate regime change through military force in most countries. The hard part is what comes after. We didn’t have a great plan for that in other places. Do we now?

President Trump’s State of the Union Variety Show Were you not entertained?

@radiofreetom.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

One of the best reviews of whatever that was last night,
from @radiofreetom.bsky.social.

Read and enjoyed all three of them. Thank you, Ann.

😜

I had a great time writing the essay for this May Criterion release of a film that was a huge deal in 1974. Today it's less known than its Best Pic Oscar competition (Godfather II! The Conversation! Chinatown! What a year!) but is well worth a revisit or first look. www.criterion.com/films/29151-...

Claim: “Prices on beef are way down…”

Reality: Prices on almost all groceries are up. Beef has increased an avg. of 22% since the beginning of 2025.

Oh dear god!

It must be nice living in his alternate universe.

After a fairly sober opening, Trump is now veering into fantasy, falsely claiming that he ended taxes on Social Security and suggesting that tariffs paid by foreigners will mostly replace the income tax. All false.

Now Trump is claiming tariffs will replace the income tax again.

The camera panned to Amy Coney Barrett who had a “over my dead body” look.

Trump says that foreign countries pay tariffs but here's who actual experts say pay them.

A year ago there were a lot of well-meaning, centrist institutional types who were sure that Trump was unstoppable

Mine too!

I walked by there today but no one was seated on it. I think you look great … and relaxed!

Undignified to say the least

New WaPo-ABC poll:

Trump's approval stands at 39% positive and 60% negative among adults — including 47% who say they strongly disapprove.

The last time Trump's disapproval touched 60% was shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

It was stage band in my high school, too. I was in the “swing choir,” not the “jazz choir” … but essentially the same thing.

This new Amazon service was astonishing. I've edited a ton of @GeekWire podcasts. This one was terrific fun and I learned a lot. Worth listening to!