SXSW Interview: Simon Baker Talks ‘I Give It A Year’, Improv and the Luxury of Rehearsing

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:50 — 17.8MB)

I Give It a Year had its US premiere at SXSW and the film, starring Rafe Spall, Rose Byrne, Anna Faris and Simon Baker, got a really nice reception from the audience. I was one of the people who saw it and I quite enjoyed it. Spall is one of my favorite actors right now and I loved seeing him as a lead. 

The film, written and directed by Dan Mazer, starts where most romantic comedies end and follows the first year of marriage between Spall’s character Josh and Byrne’s Nat. Things get a bit more complicated though when the two have to deal with Faris and Baker, who play two people that are possibly the ones Josh and Nat should actually be with.

The film feels more like an anti-romantic comedy, which is exactly what Mazer wanted. Mazer has worked with Sacha Baron Cohen on Bruno, Ali G and The Dictator and he brings that freshness and improv spirit to the film.

I talked to both Mazer and Simon Baker at SXSW in a roundtable interview where they were both in seemingly great moods. They were laughing the whole time and to get a true feel for the conversation you really should grab the audio version. The two talked about the improv in the movie, rehearsals and how Simon became attached.

For the full interview, click the audio link above or download it from iTunes  Read more

Screenplay: Judd Apatow’s ‘This is 40′

This is 40: Writer/director/producer Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Funny People) brings audiences This Is 40, an original comedy that expands upon the story of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) from the blockbuster hit Knocked Up as we see firsthand how they are dealing with their current state of life.

Writer/Director: Judd Apatow

Cast: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Megan Fox, John Lithgow, Iris Apatow, Maude Apatow, Melissa McCarthy, Robert Smigel, Charlene Yi, and Albert Brooks

Click here for the script to This is 40

via Screenplay Explorer

Chris O’Dowd on ‘The Sapphires’, ‘Crimson Petal’ and Working with Christopher Guest: “There’s no audition process because it’s so much about improv”

Chris O’Dowd first got the attention of moviegoers after starring in the runaway hit, Bridesmaids, as Kristen Wiig’s love interest.  He’s now starring in the Australian musical The Sapphires, which just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“After Bridesmaids came out, I was offered a lot of bad romantic comedies, and I was very conscious that I needed to do a lot of different projects so I wouldn’t get pigeonholed,” O’Dowd told Speakeasy.  “And I had never done an Aboriginal musical before.”

The Irish actor is also starring in the Encore series The Crimson Petal and the White.  “It was something I hadn’t really done before,” he said.  “I trained as a dramatic actor and went to drama school, so this was the kind of thing I expected to be doing.  So it was a shock when I ended up doing more comedies.  For this adaptation, I was drawn in by the piece and I thought the script was so strong.  It’s a sumptuous adaptation.” Read more

Rebel Wilson Talks ‘Bachelorette’ and Her “Parades of Meetings” with Studios and Networks When She First Came to America

Moviegoers should expect to see a lot of Rebel Wilson in the coming months.

The raunchy Australian actress first caught our attention as Kristen Wiig’s bizarre roommate in last year’s Bridesmaids.  Now, Wilson is appearing in another wedding-related comedy, Bachelorette, alongside Kirsten Dunst and Lizzy Caplan.

Although Wilson will be appearing in upcoming movies like Pitch Perfect and Pain and Gain, the actress wasn’t automatically handed roles.  “Well, what happened is I first came to America and signed with William Morris Endeavor within, like, a couple of days of coming here,” Wilson told NBC New York.  “Then they send you out on these parades of meetings, because of course nobody knew me even though I was well known in Australia and had done 13 TV series there.  It’s not like Americans watch Australian TV, and so they had no idea.” Read more

Interview: Sons of Anarchy’s Charlie Hunnam: “To empathize and to want to murder the same person is a complex thing to play” (video)

Comic-Con: The next 12 months, you’re going to be seeing a lot of Charlie Hunnam.

Along with season 5 of FX’s Sons of Anarchy (which starts September 5^th), he’s got Frankie Goes Boom (featuring fellow Sons star, Ron Perlman, Chris O’Dowd and Lizzie Caplan) and then, he’ll star in quite possibly one of the biggest films of next summer, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim. He also just completed his first screenplay, VLAD, which will soon start to film.

In this interview, Hunnam talks about his character Jax, his upcoming projects and how he’d be perfectly happy to film the show forever as long as “all the guys are there with me.” And don’t miss a cameo by fellow SOA actor, Mark Boone Junior!

Unfortunately, the audio in the video isn’t the best – sorry! – but you can still hear most of the interview. Check it out below!

Read more

Why is it so hard to get Female-Centric Movies Made? Meryl Streep Would Like to Know

To this day, the battle over gender equality continues to struggle on, even though women have come quite a long way. The workplace continues to be a place of inequality, whether intentional or unpremeditated.

Hollywood is no exception, as women are still paid far less, on average, than men. In addition, fewer female leading roles — and female roles, in general– are available at any given time. Truly, men still rule the town, the industry, and the end product, even if women are slowly creeping up into equal positions and pay.

Meryl Streep seems to have a strong opinion on the matter. At the annual Women In Film Crystal + Lucy Awards, Streep was highlighted as a speaker. Reuters reported on Streep’s presence at the prestigious event. Read more

Trailer: Judd Apatow’s ‘This is 40′ starring Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Megan Fox, John Lithgow, Melissa McCarthy, Robert Smigel, Albert Brooks & Jason Segel

This is 40: Writer/director/producer Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Funny People) brings audiences This Is 40, an original comedy that expands upon the story of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) from the blockbuster hit Knocked Up as we see firsthand how they are dealing with their current state of life.

Writer/Director: Judd Apatow
Cast: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Megan Fox, John Lithgow, Iris Apatow, Maude Apatow, Melissa McCarthy, Robert Smigel, Charlene Yi, Albert Brooks, Jason Segel

In theaters: December 21st Read more

Q&A: ‘Best Friends Forever’ Stars Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham

Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham star in NBC’s new series, Best Friends Forever, a show about old friends, new beginnings and awkward situations.

The two star, created and co-write the show about best friends who live on opposite sides of the country. When Jessica is overnighted divorce papers, Lennon convinces her to return home to Brooklyn and back into the apartment they used to share. It doesn’t take long for the girls to fall into old habits: movie marathons and late night girl talk sessions – none of which is good news for Lennon’s live-in boyfriend, Joe (Luka Jones, Upright Citizens Brigade) who tries to be understanding but begins to feel like a stranger in his own home.

Jessica St. Clair performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York and Los Angeles, was in the hit Bridesmaids and was last seen in Wanderlust. On television, she’s starred opposite Megan Mullally and Cheryl Hines in In the Motherhood and has had guest-starring appearances on Parks and Recreation, Weeds and United States of Tara.

Lennon Parham is perhaps best known for playing the supporting role of Abby Chase, alongside Jenna Elfman on the television series Accidentally on Purpose. Some of her other guest roles include Parks and Recreation and How I Met Your Mother. Parham is also an alumna of Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) Theater where she performed for nine years. Her one-woman character show, “She Tried to Be Normal,” ran in New York and Los Angeles and was selected for the Montreal “Just For Laughs” festival in 2009.

I talked to both Jessica and Lennon in a conference call recently where they talked about the show, how the work may, in fact, kill them and their time at UCB!

Best Friends Forever airs Wednesdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC 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

Maya Rudolph Remembers ‘SNL’ and Improvising The Dress Shop Scene in ‘Bridesmaids’

In a recent interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air, comedienne Maya Rudolph opened up about how hectic her life was during her Saturday Night Live days and her grossest scene in last year’s box-office smash wedding comedy Bridesmaids.

“Before I had children, everything about my life was devoted to Saturday Night Live,” she said about NBC’s trademark sketch show, which she returned to co-host in February after leaving as a regular cast member in 2007. “You’re there sometimes on Tuesday nights until 6 or 8 in the morning. You’re exhausted, you’re loopy and you’ve had three shows in a row, and you haven’t done any of your laundry, and you have no food in the fridge.”

If Rudolph made it out with all of her wits intact, it was thanks to the tight-knit SNL cast, which included comedic luminaries like Tina Fey, Fred Armisen, Amy Poehler and Andy Samberg over the course of her time there. “I came from the co-ed touchy feely group,” remembered Rudolph. “You help look out for each other and talk to each other about what’s going on in your life elsewhere. You just experience everything together.” Read more

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