Letter from the editor: Highlights from our Dec. 11 issue

It may not be signaled by white smoke at the Academy Museum, but with the arrival of the first big year-end prizes and our annual Envelope Roundtables, Oscar season is well and truly here.

Over the next three weeks, keep an eye out as we unveil in-depth conversations with some of this year’s most-talked-about actors, actresses and directors — starting with this week’s cover story.

Read on for a sneak peek at our 2025 Oscar Actors Roundtable, plus more highlights from our Dec. 11 issue.

Cover story: The Envelope Actors Roundtable

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

On a rainy Saturday afternoon at The Times newsroom last month, actors Will Arnett (“Is This Thing On?”), Benicio Del Toro (“One Battle After Another”), Jacob Elordi (“Frankenstein”), Wagner Moura (“The Secret Agent”), Jesse Plemons (“Bugonia”) and Stelland Skarsgård (“Sentimental Value”) joined moderator Yvonne Villarreal to discuss balance in all its forms — between work and family, preparation and spontaneity, expectation and ambition.

In other words, the participants brought the same depth to the conversation as they did to their acclaimed roles, and an abiding respect for their peers around the table. I had the privilege of watching it live, and you can trust me when I say you won’t want to miss it. Keep an eye out for the premiere tomorrow on latimes.com, our YouTube channel, Spectrum and, of course, in your mailboxes.

Laura Dern

It’s never easy navigating the death of a parent, but doing so amid the release of two prominent films requires special resolve. And after the death of her mother, Diane Ladd, last month, Laura Dern initially worried about having to talk about her parents while promoting “Is This Thing On?” and “Jay Kelly.” But if there were one actor with the poise to get through it — as evidenced by the lyrical reflections on the loss of David Lynch she published in The Times earlier this year — it would be Dern.

“I thought, ‘This is going to be hard because I’m going to have to talk about my parents,’” she told Margy Rochlin, whose profile of Dern features co-stars Will Arnett and George Clooney singing her praises. “Then I thought, ‘They are my muses, my guides, my teachers. I’ve never done an interview without talking about my parents, and that will be the case for the rest of my life.’”

‘The Smashing Machine’s’ brutal fight scenes

Dwayne Johnson filming "The Smashing Machine."

When I stepped out of my first viewing of “The Smashing Machine” earlier this fall, I made a beeline for director Benny Safdie at the post-screening reception. Having spent a significant chunk of the runtime wincing and grimacing at the mixed martial arts sequences, I had to know: How did they get those thuds and thwacks to sound so… real?

Bob Strauss has the answer to that question and many more in the story that conversation inspired, which goes inside the making of “The Smashing Machine” with Safdie, actor Ryan Bader, cinematographer Maceo Bishop and sound mixers Skip Lievsay and Paul Urmson.

“The fingerless grappling gloves MMA fighters use made for sharper, more painful impact noises than padded, puffier boxing gloves do. These were enhanced by hours of recordings of hands striking skin,” Strauss writes. “And double Oscar-winning prosthetic makeup artist Kazu Hiro designed a lifelike silicone dummy of Johnson’s upper body for knee-to-head shots, which everyone agreed was fun to punch — and sounded authentic when they did.”