Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen interview
The producers, writers and cast talk about what makes Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen different from the first movie, Shia’s hand injury, Megan’s sexy outfits, and what President Obama has to do with the film.
Megan, it’s been great to see your rise to stardom from the first movie. From your perspective, what’s changed for you since the first Transformers?
Megan Fox: The movie, its success and how well it’s received has opened a lot of doors for me careerwise and I’ve been able to be part of some films that I don’t really feel that I deserve to be a part of and that’s due greatly and solely to the success of Transformers. I just did Jonah Hex with Josh Brolin, Michael Fassbender and John Malkovich and in general actors don’t get those kinds of opportunities and for me to have that is a huge blessing and that’s because of the success of this movie.
Any changes in your daily life?
Megan Fox: Sure, I mean getting photographed at Whole Foods or coming out of Rite Aid with your shampoo bottles and stuff, that’s new for me but that’s not that crazy, you acclimate to that pretty quickly.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Whatever Works with Larry, Evan and Patricia
Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood and Patricia Clarkson talk about their new film Whatever Works and their experience working with Woody Allen.
Larry, when Woody showed you this script, were you reticent about taking it?
Larry David: Well first of all, I’m reticent about everything, so it’s not unusual for me to be reticent. Yes, I was reticent because it was something unusual for me. I hadn’t done anything like that before, playing a character, memorizing material. I had a lot of self doubts and negative feelings and I thought that I should communicate that to him, which I did.
What did he say?
Larry David: He said, “No, you’ll be fine.”
Evan, you’re a bright young woman, how hard or fun was it to play somebody this clueless?
Evan Rachel Wood: I don’t want to sound pompous saying it, but it was really hard to play dumb. I was worried that she was either going to be really annoying or really endearing, so there was a fine line there that I didn’t want to cross. I think she’s sweet. I had fun actually, it was kind of nice not to have to come to the set and cry everyday.
Larry David: It was interesting because she played someone who was much dumber than she is and I played someone who was much much smarter, so we were at both ends.
Patricia, most men want two women, but you had two men, how did you feel about that?
Patricia Clarkson: How do I feel, I’m thinking of trying it myself. I’ve never done it, but never say never. Yes, it was thrilling, it was exciting and sexy with two delicious actors and men and I was fortunate that he let my character have that. It was a set and it’s acting, it’s not like I lay in bed all day with these men, but I loved the premise.
Did that first scene where you have 2 or 3 pages and talk up to the audience frighten you?
Larry David: That was a very daunting prospect. Yes, I did have to memorize it. I was kind of thinking when I first saw it that maybe there will just be a teleprompter. After I memorized it, it actually was ok. I found it easier to talk into the camera then I did to these people (cast).
Did you get good at the memorization?
Larry David: No, I really didn’t. I tried to use some of the tools that I had learned. I tried to memorize the Gettysburg Address the other day—
Why?
Larry David: Because it’s a beautiful speech, but I had a rough time with it.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Jessica Biel talks about her Easy Virtue
Jessica Biel talks about her singing, co-stars, and what it was like being the only American in her newest film Easy Virtue at a recent press conference.
Q: You’ve done a wide range of films from comedy to action, why did you decide to take on this role?
A: I think initially I loved this script. Stephan sent me a copy with a really nice note saying, “I’d love for you to play this part. Please look at it.” So I looked at it and I just thought it was such a unique experience for a period movie. At times it was almost like a raw comedy. It had all these interesting elements—squashing the dog, did that happen in 1929, you’ve never seen it before, but of course it happened. So there were a lot of really unique elements and I just loved Larita. It was one of those things that after I read it, I wanted to be her. I wanted to have the comebacks, the strength, and the vulnerability she had. I literally said to my agents that I had to do this. Figure it out.
Q: How did you relate to Larita and what did you have to pull out of yourself that’s very unlike you in order to play her?
A: I related to her in that kind of fish out of water feel. I think I always sort of felt that way growing up in general. I went to a lot of different schools. I was always the new kid. You’re on television, you go to college, you’re the kid on television who is in college that everybody knows but you don’t know anybody. So I really connect with her kind of stoic, I’m going to survive in this situation attitude. What was very different for me to grasp were her incredible comebacks which were really clever. I wish I was like that. I’m just too nice that it’s just sooo boring. I want to be more like her in that sense.
Q: Are you the type that would get along with the mother or would there be some conflict and button pushing?
A: Well see, that’s why I wanted to be a little bit more like Larita because I would probably move it around to make her feel a little more comfortable and not stand my ground as who I am and I’m not going to do what you want and this and that. That’s what I mean about being a little too nice.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Star Trek interview
At a recent press conference, the stars of the new Star Trek film talked to us about their experience on the set and their own knowledge about the original series.
Chris, what did you find intimidating about taking on such an iconic character played by such an iconic actor?
Chris Pine: I think it was two fold in that it’s a big ten fold studio big budget movie and the pressure is that a lot of people are expecting it to make a lot of money and that it is Star Trek which comes the added and protective fan base. But once I met J.J. Abrams and I got a sense of what he wanted to do with it and he wasn’t looking for a bad impersonation of what Mr. Shatner had done and realizing what Mr. Shatner had done was so unique, was so specific and was so iconic—in many ways it was very liberating because I knew that I had to run in the opposite direction to kind of make any mark of my own.
Eric, you usually play the good guy but here you’re the villain. What does it take to go from one extreme to the other?
Eric Bana: I don’t make the distinction in my head actually. Every film I’m in I try to play a character that I find interesting, and whether it’s good guy, bad guy, villain or hero. I don’t know that it’s more fun playing the villain, it keeps the girls, that’s for sure. I don’t know there’s that much of a difference. I just try and do what’s right for the character.
Mr. Nimoy, this Star Trek takes place in an alternate timeline and the younger Spock is very different from your Spock, he’s much more emotional, much more human, and he has the relationship with the girl. How did you feel when you first read the script, were you resistant to that because he’s quite a significant character?
Leonard Nimoy: He does, doesn’t he (have a relationship with the girl). I was bemused by it when I read the script and I was amazed by it when I saw it in the film. I thought it was incredible.
I think there’s more of a human Spock than a Vulcan Spock–
Zachary Quinto: I don’t necessarily agree with you. I think there’s a duality and internal conflict because he’s really split between the two halves of himself but I don’t think he’s gained control over that duality that Leonard had when he played the character. That’s the journey of this character. It’s not that he won’t allow you there and it’s not that he possesses more humanity than Vulcanity.
Have any of you met your counterparts and what was that experience like?
John Cho: I met George Takei. I wrote him a letter after I got the role and we had a meal and talked. He has become a little bit of an icon himself because the character is an icon. I mostly just avoiding doing an imitation of him.
Anton Yelchin: Walter came on set and he was pretty complimentary. I felt like what was essential for Chekov naturally was the accent so I tried to stay as true as possible to that accent and messing around with it a little but still maintaining that general kind of spirit that he created because I really think that’s what made his character special for 40 years.
Chris Pine: I saw Bill last night actually for the first time at a charity show in Burbank and it was a very short meeting because it was a big event and he had a lot of people to see. I sent a letter very early on in the process explaining to him who this punk kid was taking on the role and he was very kind and wished us well. And I know Leonard was the same way. There was a wonderful feeling of handing over the mantle to us. It was more about allowing us the freedom to make this character our very own.
Monday, October 13, 2008
My Own Worst Enemy
If you ever thought you were your own worst enemy, well now you can relate to one man. Christian Slater stars in the new NBC show My Own Worst Enemy about a man with two very different lives. We caught up with Slater, his alter egos, and the rest of the cast at the premiere party to find out more!
Congratulations on the show, so tell us a little bit about your character(s)?
Christian Slater: I play two characters and they’re both very fun—Edward Albright and Henry Spivey. Henry is sort of an every man, got an office, two kids and a beautiful wife, and Edward is a highly trained operative.
FUSN: Which character do you prefer to play?
Christian Slater: I think initially I enjoyed the aspects of the espionage qualities of the Edward character but as they cast my family and they put that sort of nucleus together, I’m enjoying being Henry as well.
Saffron Burrows: I play a woman named Dr. Norah Skinner and she is quite something. We are part of a military intelligence unit, a kin to the CIA in certain ways and we (Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell and myself) are all operatives in the system. What you see about me in the first couple of episodes is not at all that is there– definitely the water runs deep. You meet me as Christian’s therapist as the civilian man and then his alter ego Edward has this very big relationship with me that we discover a little later on.
FUSN: Would you say that you’re a good person or a bad person?
Saffron Burrows: I’m a good person but I just do some bad things.
Bella Thorne: She’s Ruthy Spivey—she’s smart, sweet, precocious, she loves spying on her neighbors, she’s probably most like her dad. She loves her dad probably the most, but she loves her family, she’s really sweet.
Michael O’Malley: I play two characters on the show—Tom and Raymond. I’m Christian’s best friend in his suburban life and his partner and somewhat rival at work in his operative life. Tom is a suburban dad, plays fantasy football, the joker in the office and kind of a clown but good at his job. Raymond who works for the government agency is a real by the book soldier, somewhat sinister, has seen real dark things humans have done and has contributed to the dark things that humanity has done to other people.
Alfre Woodard: Her name is Mavis Heller and she is the head of Janis, that’s the covert operation that Christian’s characters Henry and Edward are my operatives for.
Madchen Amick: I play Christian’s wife Angie on the domestic side of his two personalities.
Any similarities between you and your character(s)?
Christian Slater: I think in certain aspects, but for the most part I would say that I’m down the middle between the two.
Saffron Burrows: (mischievous laugh) I’m suitably private and she’s got a lot of secrets which I do enjoy, some of them I have not found out yet.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Kim Alexis Has the Look
Former supermodel Kim Alexis proves she still has the right stuff as host of TV Land’s new original series She’s Got the Look, in which ten women over 35 compete for a modeling contract. In this exclusive interview, Kim dishes about her new show and shares her age-defying beauty secrets and why getting older is a beautiful thing.
FUSN: You look absolutely incredible! Your skin is glowing and you’re in great shape–you have to share some of your beauty secrets with us.
KA: I guess a lot of it is preventative, eating correctly and working more sort of on the inside out, happy home life, that type of thing.
FUSN: As a lot of women get older, they make the mistake of wearing clothes that are sort of more youthful, what advice can you give them to dress more appropriately?
KA: I think it’s good to talk with your girlfriends while looking through magazines because you get more of a double permission that you don’t have to look good in everything. I was doing this the other day with one of my girlfriends. We looked through a magazine and it was like “oh that’s cute but I couldn’t wear that because of this or I love that color and that would look good on you but I couldn’t wear it.”
FUSN: With that said, skinny jeans are still in. What do you think? Yes or no?
KA: If you’re skinny, skinny jeans are good, if you’re not I think you should stay away from them.
FUSN: Younger models are looking to be on the runway but we don’t see that with older models, so what can the winner expect in addition to receiving the Wilhelmina contract and Self spread?
KA: I think some of the young girls only want to be on the runway because they see some of these tv shows and again you have certain bodies that are good for runways and certain ones that aren’t and runways are meant for the really really tall thin willowy people. As we get older, most of us don’t stay in that shape. I think for a woman that’s older it would be better to do more beauty or certain types of fashion– not the bikini running on the beach, there’s just those people, especially guys, who don’t want to see an older woman running on the beach in a bikini (laughing).
FUSN: Well if they look like you, I’m not sure about that.
KA: (graciously) Well, I don’t know.