Terry Gross

John Cusack stars in the new film America Sweethearts opposite Julia Roberts. By the time Cusack was 22 he had a number of films to his credit: The Sure Thing, Eight Men Out, Say Anything, and Fat Man and Little Boy. Later he went on to make The Grifters, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Thin Red Line, and Grosse Pointe Blank which he cowrote. His most recent film was High Fidelity based on the Nick Hornby novel.

Biomedical ethicist Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. We talk about the news that human embryos are being grown by researchers doing stem cell research. Previously, the cells were harvested from aborted fetuses. The idea of fetal farming is quite controversial. Proponents cite the enormous potential for finding cures to cancer, Alzheimer and diabetes. Opponents are aghast at the notion of using and destroying human life for the sole purpose of research. Caplan is the Director of the Center for Bioethics and Trustee Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Vince Vaughn teams up again with –Swingers— costar John Favreau in the new movie, –Made.— The movie, written and directed by Favreau, follows two aspiring boxers who concoct a money laundering scheme. Vaughn has appeared in several movies including –Swingers,— –The Lost World,— the remake of Alfred Hitchcock –Psycho,— and –The Cell.—

The grandson of singer and songwriter Jimmy McHugh, McHugh and his family manage the estate of the legendary artist. Songwriter Jimmy McHugh was famous in the forties and fifties for songs like “The Sunny Side of the Street.” Today, McHugh talks about the resurgence of interest in his grandfather’s jazz standards. Several remakes of McHugh’s songs presently hold top spots in the jazz charts.

Actor Edward Norton. He co-starring in the new film The Score along with Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando. His first major role was in the 1996 film Primal Fear as a quiet, stuttering altar boy accused of a brutal murder. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal. Norton went on to roles in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You, The People vs. Larry Flint and Fight Club. He was nominated for an Academy Award again for his role in American History X. He directed and stars in the new film Keeping the Faith.

Sidney Poitier is the leading African-American actor of his generation. He was the first, and so far, the only African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor which he did in 1963 for his performance in Lilies of the Field. His other films include, The Defiant Ones, A Patch of Blue, Guess Who Coming to Dinnger, and To Sir, With Love. His autobiography, The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography is now out in paperback.

New York Times reporter Steve Erlanger returns to the show to talk about the upcoming trial before the International War Crimes Tribunal of Slobodon Milosevic.

Icelandic film director Baltasar Kormakur has been compared with Spanish film director Almodovar for his debut film, an off-beat comedy, 101 Reykjavik. It set (of course) in Iceland, and is the story of a 28 year-old slacker, his mother, and the flamenco teacher they both fall in love with. The film won the Discovery Award for Best First Film at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival. And Kormakur was just named by Variety as one of the Ten Directors to Watch.

Writer and editor Roger Angell has been a fiction editor at The New Yorker for over 40 years. And has written about baseball for the magazine for decades. His pieces about baseball have been collected in four books including Late Innings and The Summer Game. Angell new book is A Pitcher Story: Innings with David Cone (Warner Books). Cone is a celebrated pitcher, a Cy Young Award winner, and one of sixteen men in history to pitch a perfect game. Last year, pitching for the Yankees, Cone experienced his first major slump. Angell chronicles Cone struggle in his book.

Novelist Nick Hornby's new book is How to Be Good a novel about a bitter and sarcastic man who becomes a –do-gooder.— He also the author of the bestseller High Fidelity (which was made into a film starring John Cusack), Fever Pitch, and About a Boy. Hornby is also the pop music critic for The New Yorker.