This week, Ira Sternberg spoke with veteran investigative journalist and Emmy winning filmmaker, Steven Leckart, who wrote, narrated and executive produced a new eight-part podcast series, “Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy,” available now as an Apple Original on Apple Podcasts. In this episode of Talk About Las Vegas, Steven talks about his early interest in Siegfried & Roy as a child; how he jumped at the chance to be involved in this project ,which investigates how and and why Roy Horn was injured on stage during the duo’s performance in 2003 by Montecore the tiger; how the podcast team tracked down witnesses who have never been publicly interviewed and provided information and insight; why Siegfried & Roy still have an impact on Las Vegas and beyond; how the duo’s childhoods had an impact on their lives and careers; how the podcast was structured and why Apple decided to go with the series; and the lesson Steven learned at the end of the series.
Steven Leckart is an Emmy-winning writer, director, and investigative journalist. His directorial debut was “Challenger: The Final Flight,” a four-part documentary he developed, produced, and
co-directed for Netflix. His other film credits include writing “What’s My Name | Muhammad Ali,” an Emmy-winning documentary directed by Antoine Fuqua for HBO Films
Steven also wrote and co-executive produced “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates,” a three-part Netflix documentary from Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim.
Before working in film/tv, he wrote for Wired, Esquire, The New York Times, Popular Science, Playboy, Maxim, and Men’s Health,among others.
Steven is the author of Cabin Porn, a New York Times bestseller about hand-built architecture that has been translated into several languages.
His nonfiction article “The Bicycle Thief,” about an Olympic hopeful cyclist turned serial bank robber, was selected for the 2020 edition of Best American Sports Writing and is currently being developed into a scripted series.
Currently, Steven is showrunning a multipart docuseries about the Los Angeles Lakers for Hulu.
https://www.instagram.com/leckart/
Leave a Reply