In episode 45, Johnny talks to Auckland-based Radio New Zealand journalist Nik Dirga.

Nik moved to New Zealand from the USA in 2006. He has more than 30 years of journalism experience, for publications in California, New York, Mississippi and Oregon and has won multiple awards for his reporting and essays. On this side of the world, his work has been published by Radio New Zealand, the New Zealand Listener, the New Zealand Herald, the Australian Associated Press, the Spinoff and much, much more.

Their chat includes a look at a slew of this year’s Oscar-nominated films, they discuss the work of David Cronenberg, Billy Wilder and Charlie Chaplin, they take a deep dive into the messy, uneven films of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, and Nik shares his experiences two years ago watching the actual filming of one of 2025’s movie masterpieces……

This conversation was recorded face to face in late-January of 2026.

Thanks to James Van As who wrote and performed the brilliant podcast music (check out James' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loco Looper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ game) and to Willow Van As who designed the amazing artwork and provided general podcast support.

You can contact My Movie DNA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @mymovieDNA or email mymovieDNA@gmail.com.

Check out Johnny's new podcast series, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠500 Films: A Journey Through Genre Cinema⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, available wherever you get your podcasts.