Apex Mountain

Career peak debate for actors/directors.

Apex Mountain has run in 400 episodes. The most recent 40 are listed below — open any episode at its timestamp to hear the segment.

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Episode	Host	Answer
‘L.A. Confidential’	Andy Greenwald	James Cromwell → L.A. Confidential — Agrees Guy Pearce is interesting actor who will age into different gravitas, but suggests he should stay offline due to his recent tweets; James Cromwell - very good in Star Trek movie and Succession
‘L.A. Confidential’	Bill Simmons	Kevin Spacey → Memento — Kevin Spacey - either this or American Beauty, but likes this because it sets up American Beauty; Guy Pearce - it's Memento; Kim Basinger - not this, was in the 80s during Nine and a Half Weeks stretch; James Cromwell - might say this film
‘L.A. Confidential’	Sean Fennessey	Guy Pearce → The Brutalist — Guy Pearce - might be now post-Brutalist (2024), thinks he's very well regarded as an actor
‘The Nice Guys’	Bill Simmons	Russell Crowe — Crowe for Rob personally; Gosling with this movie and La La Land; discusses various other Apex Mountains including Shane Black for Lethal Weapon 1, Keith David for The Thing, 1977 as greatest year
‘The Nice Guys’	Chris Ryan	Ryan Gosling → Lethal Weapon — Discusses whether Gosling has more cachet post-Barbie than after La La Land; agrees Shane Black's Apex Mountain is Lethal Weapon 1
‘The Nice Guys’	Rob Mahoney	Russell Crowe → The Nice Guys — Russell Crowe for this movie
‘To Live and Die in L.A.’	Bill Simmons	Wang Chung → To Live and Die in L.A. — Wang Chung - suggests renaming the category to 'Wang Chung Apex Mountain' because they had both this movie and Breakfast Club in the same year
‘To Live and Die in L.A.’	Chris Ryan	Wang Chung → To Live and Die in L.A. — Wang Chung - agrees with the assessment and discusses their career impact through these movies
‘To Live and Die in L.A.’	Sean Fennessey	Discusses William Friedkin's talent for music selection across multiple films but doesn't explicitly state Wang Chung is at apex mountain
‘Fargo’	Bill Simmons	Coen Brothers - No Country for Old Men; Macy - not yet but getting close after Boogie Nights; Buscemi - Sopranos because he was directing and it was a big deal; McDormand - no apex, career intentionally designed without one; Stormare - Blue Velvet over Armageddon
‘Fargo’	Chris Ryan	Swedish meatballs via IKEA cafe, GMAC financing plans, Riley Giffenbach, true coat sealant
‘Fargo’	Kyle Brandt	Steve Buscemi → Con Air — Buscemi - Con Air as his apex when he became a movie star; Stormare - Armageddon six months after Fargo when he was with Spielberg shooting Lost World