Q&A: Betty White Talks ‘Off Their Rockers’, ‘Hot in Cleveland’ and Her Long, Wonderful Career

I’ve always loved Betty White. From watching reruns of The Mary Tyler Moore Show to the Golden Girls, she’s always been someone I’ve completely adored.

Betty, who turned 90 in January, started her comedy career with, Life with Elizabeth which gave her the first of many Emmy Awards. That was followed by a daily NBC talk/variety show called The Betty White Show. She was a recurring regular with over 70 appearances on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar and appeared on The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She also subbed as host on all three talk shows.

Her recurring role as Sue Ann Nivens in the classic The Mary Tyler Moore Show earned her two Emmys for Best Supporting Actress in 1974-75 and 1975-76. She received her fourth Emmy for Best Daytime Game Show Host for Just Men. Nominated seven times for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls, White won the Emmy the first season in 1985, and she later appeared in the spin-off The Golden Palace for one season. She earned her next Emmy Award as Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series on The John Larroquette Show.

Currently starring in two shows, TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland and NBC’s Off Their Rockers, Betty has no plans for retiring, saying that “I’m just happy as a lark. People say are you thinking about retiring, I don’t have time to think about retiring.”

I recently did a conference call with Betty and Off Their Rockers Executive Producer Chris Coelen where they chatted about the show, Hot in Cleveland and Betty’s long and wonderful career.

Off Their Rockers airs on Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC Read more

WonderCon Interview: Maggie Grace on ‘Lockout,’ Working With Green Screen and ‘Taken 2′

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:55 — 10.9MB)

Lockout was one of the featured films at this years WonderCon and from the clips and previews they showed, it’s going to be a big, fun, crazy action romp.

The film, set in the near future, stars Maggie Grace (Taken, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn) and Guy Pearce (Memento, Prometheus) and follows a falsely convicted ex-government agent (Pearce), whose one chance at obtaining freedom lies in a dangerous mission. He’s got to rescue the President’s daughter (Grace) from rioting convicts at an outer space maximum-security prison.

Maggie Grace, who is riding high from her roles in Taken and the Twilight films, left Ohio when she was 16 and headed for Los Angeles. She quickly got an agent and started working soon after (FOX’s Septuplets and Oliver Beene), but it was her breakout role as Shannon on Lost that put her on the map. From there, she moved to features including the The Fog, The Jane Austen Book Club and, finally, Taken. After Lockout, she’ll be seen in the last Twilight film and Taken 2: Taken Again. Ok, I made that title up. But Taken 2 is actually coming out soon.

I talked to Maggie at WonderCon about Lockout, working with green screen and her favorite moment on the set and Taken 2. Read more

WonderCon Interview: Brit Marling & Director Zal Batmanglij Talk ‘Sound of My Voice,’ Writing Together and Filming Without a Permit

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:22 — 9.2MB)

Brit Marling (Another Earth) wrote and stars in the time-travel drama, Sound of My Voice. The film is about a couple (Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius) who go undercover in a cult in an attempt to refute the claims that its leader, Maggie (Marling), is from the future. The two quickly find out that they may be in for far much more than they bargained for.

Brit is hands down a perfect example of the mantra, create your own work. I talked to her last year for Another Earth, when she was just starting to get on everyone’s radar. After Sound of My Voice is released, she’ll be seen in Arbitrage with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, The Company You Keep with Robert Redford and Shia LaBeouf and East, another film she wrote and will star in.

I talked to Brit and co-writer/director Zal Batmanglij at WonderCon about how they came up with the idea for the film, filming without a permit and how the two work together as writers. Read more

Q&A: ‘Unforgettable’ Star Poppy Montgomery Talks Her Character, Research and How Her Own Memory Has Gotten Better

Poppy Montgomery stars as Carrie Wells on the hit CBS show, Unforgettable. Wells is a former police detective with a rare condition that makes her memory so flawless that every place, every conversation, every moment she’s ever had is embedded in her mind.

I wish I had that problem.

Originally from Australia, Poppy moved to Los Angeles when she was 18 and quickly landed roles on shows like NYPD Blue and Party of Five. After appearing on The Beat and Relativity, she got her first series regular role on Glory Days. When that was cancelled after 9 episodes, she immediately got the role of FBI agent Samantha Spade on Without a Trace, where was for seven seasons.

I talked with Poppy on a conference call where she talked about Carrie’s evolution, the research she did and if playing a character with an incredible memory has helped her with her own recognition.

Unforgettable airs on Tuesdays at 10/9c on CBS Read more

SXSW Interview: Bobcat Goldthwait, Joel Murray & Tara Lynne Barr Talk ‘God Bless America’

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:33 — 12.8MB)

The wonderfully warped mind of Bobcat Goldthwait (World’s Greatest Dad) delivers us the new film, God Bless America. He wrote and directed the film and it’s a darkly funny social commentary on the celebrity-worshipping culture we live in today.

The story follows Frank (Joel Murray), a guy who if you said was down on his luck would be kind. He finds out he has a brain tumor, comes home, flips on the TV and decides to end it all. But, as he’s watching a slew of Reality TV shows, he comes up with an idea: Why not go on a killing spree to rid the world of these horrible people? Along the way, he partners with the teenaged Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr) and the two set out to rid the world this evil.

Bobcat has known Joel (Mad Men) since they filmed the 1986′s One Crazy Summer. “Most of my movies are all filled with casts who are all friends,” he said so, fresh off of the Academy Award winning film, The Artist, Joel was cast. This is Joel’s first starring role and he has some pretty lengthy monologues in it; one of them totaled 3 pages. He said that those were hard work, “trying to make it mean something let alone memorizing it.”

Since Bobcat didn’t know any 17-year old girls, they brought Tara in for the role of Roxy. After appearing in a handful of Disney Channel shows, this was Tara’s first major role.

I talked to Bobcat, Joel and Tara at SXSW where the film screened to a packed audience who loved the film, myself included. We talked about how Bobcat got the idea and how he’s probably done with acting, Joel’s experience as a lead and tons more.

The film debuts On Demand on April 6th and in theaters May 11th

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SXSW Interview: Robin Tunney Talks ‘See Girl Run’, ‘The Mentalist’ and Playing a New Character

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:58 — 13.7MB)

Robin Tunney and Adam Scott star in Nate Meyer‘s great new film, See Girl Run. Tunney stars as Emmie, a restless married woman who leaves her comfortable life behind to find out what her world might have been like if she ended up with her high school sweetheart (Scott).

In 2009, Nate sent Robin the script, she loved it and agreed to do the film. But, there were two major obstacles: money and scheduling.

As you probably know, Robin has a pretty successful day job (and by successful, I mean massive hit) on CBS’ The Mentalist. The first 2 years while on her hiatus, the money wasn’t available but eventually things worked out and they finally had a shooting date. Nate told me that if Robin didn’t love the script so much, the film “couldn’t have happened otherwise.”

I got a chance to talk to both Robin and Nate at SXSW about the film, how she wanted to tackle another character and what the difference was between preparing for the film and The Mentalist. Read more

SXSW Interview: Matt Lucas on ‘Small Apartments’ and Creating Characters

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:00 — 15.1MB)

Matt Lucas is one of the most versatile character actors working today. If you’ve seen his work on the brilliant Little Britain, Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland (Tweedledee/Tweedledum) and as Gil in Bridesmaids, you know exactly what I’m talking about. 

With all of his amazing work, it’s surprising (at least to me) that Small Apartments, the Jonas Ackerlund film that premiered at SXSW this year, was his first starring role. The film, about a guy named Franklin Franklin (Lucas) who may or may not have killed his landlord, is loaded with quirky characters, one of them being Franklin. The film sports a great cast including James Caan, Billy Crystal and Johnny Knoxville.

As Franklin, Lucas spends most of his time in his underwear and he’s not disguised in makeup or prosthetics, like we’re used to seeing him. “That’s quite an experience,” he told me. In his own skin, he gives a great performance. He’s funny and in some scenes, really moving. If you’re a fan of Matt’s, you’ll definitely have to catch this.

I talked to Matt at SXSW the morning after the film screened for the first time where we talked about auditioning, how he creates his characters and watching himself on-screen.  And don’t miss out on his great advice to actors! Read more

SXSW Interview: The Stars of ‘The Cabin in the Woods’, Jesse Williams, Kristen Connolly and Anna Hutchinson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:21 — 12.0MB)

Kristen Connolly, Jesse Williams,  and Anna Hutchinson star in wickedly fun new horror film, The Cabin in the Woods.

From the minds of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, the film (also starring Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins) is about 5 friends who, on their college break, travel to a remote, yes, cabin in the woods. Once they get there, well, bad things start to happen. Really, really bad things.

Jesse graduated from Temple University started out as a high school teacher in Philadelphia. From there, he moved to New York City and began acting where he appeared in off-Broadway shows and films like, Brooklyn’s Finest and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. He’s can currently a series regular on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.

Kristen went to the Yale School of Drama and as soon as she graduated, she booked guest star roles on television shows Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Life on Mars and Nurse Jackie and recurring roles on soaps Guiding Light and As the World Turns. She was also in both several productions at Shakespeare in the Park in 2011 and then starred as ‘Cordelia’ in King Lear opposite Sam Waterston and Kelli O’Hara at The New York Public Theater last fall.

Anna is a hugely popular young actor from New Zealand and has appeared in several Disney Channel shows here in the US.

The three are great in the film and even if you aren’t a fan of horror – like me – I promise you’ll really get a kick out of the film. I talked to them at this years SXSW festival about their first auditions for the film, the stage combat class they had to take and geeking out with Joss on Shakespeare. Read more

SXSW Interview: Matthew Lillard Talks About Making His Directorial Debut With ‘Fat Kid Rules The World’

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:05 — 13.1MB)

Matthew Lillard makes his directorial debut with the charming new film, Fat Kid Rules the World.

It’s the story of Troy Billings (Jacob Wysocki), who at seventeen is overweight and suicidal. As the poor kid is about to jump in front of a bus, he’s saved by Marcus (Matt O’Leary), a high school dropout and street musician. The two become friends when Marcus asks the musically challenged Troy to become the drummer his punk rock band. But the more the two bond, the more concerned Troy’s father becomes.

Matthew is having a great couple of months. He starred in the Oscar nominated film, The Descendants, was cast opposite Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams in Trouble with the Curve and Fat Kid debuted at this years SXSW festival to great reviews.

I talked to Matthew at SXSW and man, he was great. I could have chatted with him for hours. He sat and two of its stars, Lili Simons and Dylan Arnold,  sat down to talk to me at SXSW about what its like to be on the other side of casting, his directing style and why he choose to make Fat Kid his debut. Read more

SXSW Interview: ‘Fat Kid Rules The World’ Stars Jacob Wysocki and Matt O’Leary

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:55 — 6.9MB)

Matt O’Leary and Jacob Wysocki star in SXSW Festival favorite, Fat Kid Rules the World.

The actors had different films at last years festival, with Jacob starring in Terri while Matt was in the Grand Jury winning Natural Selection. Having seen both films and really liking their work in each one, I was really looking forward to watching Fat Kid.

The film is actor Matthew Lillard‘s directorial debut and it’s a charming film that I liked a lot. It that will absolutely make you look forward to his next project.

In the film, Jacob plays Troy Billings, a suicidal, overweight 17 year-old. Right as he’s about to hurl himself in from of an on-coming bus, Marcus, a street musician, (O’Leary) dives in to save him. The two become quick friends when Marcus asks Troy to become the drummer his punk rock band. It doesn’t matter that Troy can’t play the drums because that one act of kindness is all Troy needs.

I talked to Jacob and Matt at this years SXSW Festival about acting, working with Matthew and how the two lived together during the shoot.

Oh, and if you listen to the audio podcast, you’ll hear the other star of the film, Billy Campbell and his thoughts on Twitter and Facebook. Check it out if you have the time!

Follow Jacob and Billy on Twitter! Read more

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