Terry Gross

Mike White is the Hollywood screenwriter behind hit films including The School of Rock, The Good Girl and Chuck & Buck. His film Year of the Dog, a "not very funny" comedy about a woman grieving for her lost pet, is due out on DVD Aug. 28; it stars Peter Sarsgaard and Saturday Night Live veteran Molly Shannon. (This interview initially aired April 9, 2007.)

Actor Peter Fonda is probably best known for his role in the cult-classic road movie Easy Rider. His recent roles include one in the film 3:10 to Yuma, a 2007 remake of the 1957 Western of the same name, which was itself based on the 1953 Elmore Leonard short story. The movie also stars Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Fonda, the son of actor Henry Fonda, is also the author of the memoir Don't Tell Dad.

Eugene Hütz is the charismatic front man of the gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. The multinational, multiethnic group includes a violinist, guitarist, accordionist and bass player. Hütz himself hails from Ukraine; he appeared in the film Everything is Illuminated alongside Elijah Wood. Gogol Bordello's new album is Super Taranta.

Michael Harvey created the A&E cable show Cold Case Files, a documentary series that follows forensic experts and detectives as they investigate long-unsolved murder cases. Harvey has also written a novel, The Chicago Way.

In his new film, Resurrecting the Champ, actor Samuel L. Jackson plays a homeless, broken-down former heavyweight contender. The movie is directed by Rob Lurie and set to open Aug. 24. Jackson's other films include Black Snake Moan, Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever, Coach Carter, Freedomland and Unbreakable. He studied dramatic arts at Atlanta's Morehouse College, and after he graduated he originated two August Wilson roles — Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson and Wolf in Two Trains Running — at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

Journalist Frances Harrison has been the BBC's correspondent in the Iranian capital city of Tehran for the past 3 years. She says conditions have gotten worse, especially for women, under the increasing strictures being put in place by the ultraconservative Islamic government. Harrison's husband is Iranian; prior to her posting in Iran, she reported for the BBC from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Malaysia. She's now back in the U.K.

Actor David Duchovny stars in the new Showtime series Californication, which is basically about a lot of sex. (Duchovny plays a novelist with a taste for women.) The actor, who's best known for his role as Agent Fox Mulder on the TV's The X-Files, earned an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a graduate degree in English Lit at Yale University.

Singer-songwriter Ben Vaughn talks with Fresh Air producer Amy Salit about Lee Hazlewood, who died Saturday at age 78. Hazlewood was best known for writing Nancy Sinatra's hit "These Boots are Made For Walkin'," and his songs were recorded by other pop stars including Elvis Presley, Nick Cave and Courtney Love. But he had a recording career of his own as well, and he influenced a generation of rockers. Vaughn is a singer, songwriter, producer and composer who's scored many network TV shows and films, in addition to recording 12 albums of his own.

Matt Weiner, a TV writer and producer who landed an Emmy and a Writers Guild Award for his work on HBO's The Sopranos, has created a new show. It's an AMC drama series called Mad Men, set in the fiercely competitive world of Madison Avenue ad execs in 1960s New York.

Ayub Nuri was working with foreign journalists in Iraq as a fixer — a war-zone interpreter, guide, source-finder and occasional life-saver. Nuri worked with increasing autonomy until he became a reporter with his own byline. He wrote about his experiences in The New York Times Magazine on July 29, 2007. Nuri is now based in New York City.