About this episode
Phil Johnston is the Academy Award-nominated co-director and writer of "Ralph Breaks the Internet." He also co-wrote the original "Wreck-It Ralph" and the Oscar-winning "Zootopia." But we can say we knew him way back when — all the way back when he was a student at Columbia University film school and Christy and her husband were neighbors with him and his wife, Jill, in a loft building in Brooklyn. He and Christy talk about all of it in her latest A La Carte interview: his early love of movies growing up in small-town Wisconsin, his first career as a TV news reporter in the Midwest and the leap of faith he took to pursue his dream of being a filmmaker. He's been so busy for the past several years, it was just nice to sit down and have a conversation with him. We hope you guys enjoy, too. (Also: The movie title Christy is groping for during the Ethan Hawke portion of our discussion is "Juliet, Naked," which she quite liked.)