Fresh Air Weekend: Viola Davis, Nathan Englander

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Viola Davis earned her first Oscar nomination with a small but memorable role in Doubt; she also has won a pair of Tony Awards for her work on Broadway.

Chris Pizzello/AP

Viola Davis earned her first Oscar nomination with a small but memorable role in Doubt; she also has won a pair of Tony Awards for her work on Broadway.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors, and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

Viola Davis: The Fresh Air Interview: The actress earned her second Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of a maid in the 1960s-era film The Help. She talks to Fresh Air about why she thinks the character is anything but the cliche some have claimed.

Nathan Englander: Assimilating Thoughts Into Stories: In What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, Nathan Englander writes about his own faith — and what it means to be Jewish — in stories that explore religious tension, Israeli-American relations and the Holocaust.

A Veteran's 'Return' to The Front Lines Of Home: In Liza Johnson's drama, Return, Linda Cardellini plays a vet who returns from her time overseas with no way to make sense of where she was and what it meant. Critic David Edelstein says the film's lack of a traditional story arc makes it seem even more real.

You can listen to the complete broadcasts here:

• Viola Davis: The Fresh Air Interview
• Nathan Englander: Assimilating Thoughts Into Stories
• A Veteran's 'Return' to The Front Lines Of Home