Interview - Sarah Jessica Parker (’Sex And The City’)
SQUARE PEG NO MORE
Talking with ‘Sex And The City’ star Sarah Jessica Parker
interview by Fred Topel
Sex and the City: The Movie has had millions of fans metaphorically lining up for tickets since the TV series ended. Still, filmmakers want more than just their core fans to enjoy the film. Star and producer Sarah Jessica Parker has been pleased that viewers from all walks of life have complimented her during her promotional tour for the film.
“I’ve spoken to a number of people over the last 48 hours who confessed that they really weren’t fans of the show, or just didn’t really spend their time watching it, and that they were surprised that they could be drawn in and feel certain things,” said Parker. “These were straight men, straight women, gay men, and all sorts of people in-between.”
The film does include many high fashion Easter eggs for the loyal fans. When Carrie […]
Original post by Robert Newton
Interview - Ashton Kutcher (’What Happens In Vegas’)
THIS IS HOW HE ROLLS
Talking with the impossibly pretty Ashton Kutcher
Interview by Fred Topel
In romantic comedies like What Happens In Vegas, two mismatched lovers spend the whole movie fighting, only to realize they love each other after all. It makes for a cute story, but star Ashton Kutcher does not believe real life works like that. He credits the success of his marriage to Demi Moore to their similarities.
“I don’t think opposites attract,” Kutcher says. “I think like attracts like. So I don’t think that they do attract, opposites. Only when you’re talking about magnetic poles. I think in order to create affinity with something, you have to be like it. There’s actually a whole lot of neurolinguistic programming stuff that has actually proved that as well, so I would say that that’s the key.”
While his costar, Cameron Diaz, plays a high-powered executive to his commitment phobic slacker, they had […]
Original post by Robert Newton
Interview - George Clooney (’Leatherheads’)
BY GEORGE, WE THINK HE’S GOT IT
Talking with Leatherheads director and star George Clooney
Interview by Fred Topel
George Clooney is such a handsome guy, he really shouldn’t deprive his fans of seeing him on screen. Fortunately, even when he directs movies, he’s appeared in them. His third film, Leatherheads, actually stars Clooney, where he only played cameos in Good Night, and Good Luck and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
“The truth is, I did it because this was a part that for a long, long, long time I wanted to play and I thought I was the right guy to play it,” said Clooney. “And I also thought, ’I’m 46. If I don’t do it now, I’m done. This is it. This is my last shot at it.’ [Steven] Soderbergh was going to do it in 1998 when we were going to do it and I was very excited about that sort […]
Original post by Robert Newton
Interview - Director Martin McDonagh (’In Bruges’)
MR. HITMAN’S HOLIDAY
Talking with ‘In Bruges’ director Martin McDonagh
by Christopher Sandlin
Many directors go their entire career without winning prestigious awards for their work. British director Martin McDonagh, on the other hand, won an Oscar for his directorial debut with the 2006 short film Six Shooter. Before getting started in film, McDonagh became one of Great Britain’s most celebrated (and tabloid-fodder) contemporary theatre directors. In 1997, at the age of 27, he was the first playwright since Shakespeare to have four productions running simultaneously in London’s West End. His grotesque, blood-filled (yet comedic) plays quickly thrust him into the spotlight as the Quentin Tarantino of England. Oh, and if that’s not interesting enough, did you hear about the time he nearly got into a knockdown with Sean Connery at a London theatre awards show? If you haven’t heard of this rebellious playwright yet, this won’t be the last time.
McDonagh marks another […]
Original post by Robert Newton
INTERVIEW - Will Ferrell & Will Arnett (’Semi-Pro’)
TRIUMPH OF THE WILLS
Talking with Will Ferrell and Will Arnett of Semi-Pro
By Robert Newton
There is an episode from the tenth season of Mike Judge’s “King of the Hill” in which Texas ‘tweener Bobby Hill learns he has a knack for making people laugh. In order to prevent the boy from cutting up so much in school, his folks enroll him in a clowning class at a local community college. The pretentious instructor proceeds to take all the fun out of what should otherwise be a delightful pursuit. Watching the kid bomb at his graduation performance is painful, and the episode serves as an all-too-familiar reminder to many comedians that staying grounded is key in staying funny.
Will Ferrell has never taken a course like that, and thank goodness.
The former “SNL” superstar spent all of February on the road, promoting his new basketball comedy Semi-Pro on his FunnyOrDie.com Comedy Tour (with Nick […]
Original post by Robert Newton
Interview - Director Jon Poll (’Charlie Bartlett’)
HOLDEN ONTO A HERO
Talking with Charlie Bartlett director Jon Poll
By Robert Newton
“What attracted me to the movie after reading a hundred scripts,” says editor-turned-producer-turned-director Jon Poll, “is that the humor in it is so truth-based; what I love about it is that this odd bird makes choices that are not all perfect, but all come from a place of sincere honesty.”
In Charlie Bartlett, the 40-Year-Old Virgin producer’s first turn calling the shots as director, teen rebel Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) realizes that there is money in selling his behavioral medications to his classmates. Beyond the immediate reward of quick cash, he discovers that he genuinely enjoys helping people, setting up shop in a school bathroom and hearing the woes of the school’s troubled teens.
“We live in a world of a lot of cynical, clever, smart filmmaking – of films that are ‘Tarantinoesque,’ if you will,” he explains, “and here we […]
Original post by Robert Newton
INTERVIEW - Laura Linney (”The Savages”)
SAVAGE PATCH KIDS
A talk with Oscar-nominated ‘The Savages’ star Laura Linney
by Fred Topel
Ask any actor the generic questions of what attracted them to their latest project, and they’ll give some rehearsed answer about the script or the filmmakers. Laura Linney is aware of this, so was hesitant to give such a response about her latest film, The Savages. However, she has the credibility to back it up.
“You hear that over and over again but when a script is undeniably good, you pay attention,” she said. “It becomes clear to me there’s something to me that something’s going on when I read the script through for the first time and I start working on it before I finish reading it. Your actor brain just turns on. I can’t help it. All of a sudden, ideas start coming and you start hearing the rhythm of things. For a script to be that […]
Original post by Robert Newton
Interview - Tim Burton & Johnny Depp (’Sweeney Todd’)
WHO WILL SHAVE YOUR SOUL?
Tonsorial talk with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp
Interview by Robert Nesti
At the onset of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, there’s a short clip that highlights the collaboration between director Tim Burton and star Johnny Depp. In a series of quick cuts, scenes from Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, The Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory flash across the screen, making viewers aware of the remarkable artistic relationship between these two artists.
Sweeney Todd, though, may be their most challenging project to date. Adapted from Stephen Sondheim’s landmark 1979 Broadway musical, it follows the bloody exploits of a serial killer in Victorian London who dispatches his victims by cutting their throats and, in an unholy alliance with an enterprising baker, turns their remains into meat pies that become the toast of the town. On stage the musical was a shocker – an […]
Original post by Robert Newton