Interview: Jamie Anne Allman On ‘The Killing’ and Taking Risks at Auditions

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:11 — 13.9MB)

If you’re not watching AMC’s The Killing, then you are missing out on some great work by one of the best cast’s on TV.

The show revolves around the murder of teenager Rosie Larsen and as the story deepens, we’re finding out that Rosie’s aunt Terry, played by Jamie Anne Allman also has some secrets she’s been hiding. 

I talked to Jamie recently and had a really fun conversation with her about the show and what it’s like on-set when you have to deal with such a depressing subject. She also talked about taking risks when you audition and had a perfect example on when she auditioned for The Shield. She took a chance, nailed it and walked away with a recurring role on that show.

At the end of The Killing‘s season, we’ll find out who killed Rosie and that will unfortunately end Jamie’s time on the show. But, you can soon check her out in the upcoming film, Any Day Now (which also stars Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt).

Want more of The Killing? Check out our interview with Eric Ladin! Read more

Michael Fassbender on Early Auditions, Directors and Acting: “I take my work seriously but I can’t take myself too seriously”

Michael Fassbender is an actor who most people weren’t aware of in 2010, but by the end of 2011 his name and his naked body were the talk of the town.  

In a revealing interview with GQ, Fassbender talks about his early experiences breaking into acting and how he has coped with his fame post-Shame.

Fassbender explains that he more-or-less fell into acting while he was looking for a way to express himself.  He says, “As a teenager, you’re searching for something that fits for you. I was pretty average at most things. I was just looking for something that I could relate to and perhaps excel in myself.”

His professional career started with a number of lows.  After being cast in the HBO World War II mini-series Band of Brothers, the film shoot lasted for nine months.  Those nine months, however, did not amount to much screen time for Fassbender, who says,”Blink and you’ll miss me.” 

He lived in Los Angeles during the following months and struggled in his auditions.  He says, “I wasn’t blowing them away in the audition room, that’s for sure.  I just didn’t feel settled or comfortable or confident.” Read more

Watch this Four-Minute Preview of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’

Last night, Sony released this four-minute preview of Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man except for the first minute, everything is pretty much the same stuff you’ve already seen in the previous trailers.

But, it still looks great.

Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen and Sally Field, The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

Check it out below! Read more

Q&A: Leonard Nimoy Talks ‘Fringe’, Voice Acting and ‘Big Bang Theory’

After announcing that he was retiring from acting, the great Leonard Nimoy was thankfully lured back to work. Tonight, you can catch him once again as William Bell on the season finale of Fringe.

How was he convinced? “I’m a sucker for a good role and J.J. Abrams, the Executive Producer of the show, is a friend of mine,” he said in a conference call earlier this week.

I’ve loved Nimoy for years and any chance I can see him on-screen is a treat. In this Q&A, he talks about Fringe, his character William Bell, if he’s coming back for the show’s final season and voice acting.

The season finale of Fringe airs tonight at 9/8c on FOX

Follow Leonard Nimoy on Twitter! Read more

Biography: Kristin Scott Thomas

Award winning actress Kristin Scott Thomas has become internationally renowned for her talent, elegance and commitment to her craft. Never shying away from challenging roles and determined not to repeat herself, Scott Thomas‘ body of work is an extraordinary collection of acclaimed film, television and theatre performances.

Scott Thomas was recently seen in Gilles Paque Brenner‘s Sarah’s Key. Based on the international bestseller by Tatiana de Rosnay, the film weaves two different stories, one set in World War II Paris and the other in the present. Scott Thomas received a Cesar Award nomination for her performance in the film. She was also recently seen in Alain Corneau‘s Crime d’amour which had an IFC release in 2011.

Upcoming, she will appear in Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod‘s Bel Ami opposite an all-star cast including Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman and Christina Ricci; and Pawel Pawlikowski‘s La Femme du 5eme (aka The Woman In the Fifth) opposite Ethan Hawke; Lola Doillon Sous ton Emprise and Alain Corneau Une Femme Parfaite.

In 2010, Scott Thomas co-starred in Sam Taylor Wood’s directorial debut, Nowhere Boy. The film follows John Lennon‘s teenage years and his first steps to stardom and Scott Thomas plays Lennon’s aunt Mimi opposite Aaron Johnson and Anne Marie Duff. For her performance, she received a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA nomination and a British Film Independent Award nomination. In 2009, Scott Thomas was seen in Catherine Corsini’s Partir, about a woman prepared to abandon everything in the pursuit of passion.  For her performance, Scott Thomas received a Best Actress Cesar Award nomination. Read more

Chris Colfer Talks ‘Glee’ and His Screenwriting Debut in ‘Struck by Lightning’

Actor Chris Colfer is famous for playing openly gay high school student, Kurt Hummel, on FOX’s Glee.  But it turns out the 21-year-old is not just good at belting out show tunes.  Colfer’s new film, Struck by Lightning, just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.  He not only stars in the movie, but he also wrote the script about a teenager who starts a literary magazine to impress Northwestern University, and then blackmails his classmates in order to get submissions.

In an interview with NPR, Colfer admitted that he does share some similarities with his character.  He said, “When I was in high school, we had this thing called the senior project where one senior was selected every year to have their own show…All the seniors before me always just did an SNL-like format with a bunch of skits and gags and songs, and I was the only student that ever was like, ‘Nope, I’m going to write a show, and we’re going to do a full production.’” Read more

Interview: Blayne Weaver, Actor/Writer/Director of ’6 Month Rule’, on Directing Himself, Acting His Own Words and Letting His Cast Improvise

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:36 — 15.6MB)

When Blayne Weaver came out to LA at 19, he was just like you and me. Ready to rock and eager to work. He got lucky pretty quick and booked parts in shows like JAG, ER and Chicago Hope but eventually he realized that he wanted to do something more substantial.

So, with the help of a friend, he picked up his pen (ok, he sat at his computer) and started writing.

That burst of inspiration turned out to be a film called Manic that starred Don Cheadle, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Pretty good for a first time screenwriter!

He had a small part in the film and as he was on set, he started to watch the director and began to think, “I can do this.”

And he did.

He wrote and directed a short called Losing Lois Lane, then came his first feature called Outside Sales. Next up was Weather Girl starring Mark Harmon, Kaitlin Olson, Jon Cryer and Jane Lynch.

And now, 6 Month Rule.The film, about a womanizer who, while teaching his recently dumped friend the rules of emotional detachment, accidentally finds someone who could permanently kill those rules. The film stars Blayne, Martin Starr, Natalie Morales, Dave Foley, Jaime Pressly and John Michael Higgins and will be released in New York and Los Angeles in June.

Blayne and I talked recently about the film, what’s it like to direct himself and if it’s easier to act in something he’s written.

On Twitter: Follow Blayne and 6 Month Rule! Read more

Trailer #2: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans & Denis Leary

Holy crap! This is awesome! No time to write. I gotta watch this again.

The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

Director: Marc Webb
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen, Sally Field
Writers: Steve Kloves, James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent

In Theaters: July 3rd Read more

‘Matilda’ Star Mara Wilson on Why She Quit Acting in Films: “Film acting is not very fun”

Some child actors grow up to become adult stars, some fall off the wagon, and some, like Drew Barrymore, go through a combination of both.  Then there are others who just, well, disappear into obscurity.

Mara Wilson was at one point a young actress who appeared in a number of major family films in the mid-1990s, including Mrs. Doubtfire, Matilda, and the Miracle on 34th Street remake.  Wilson’s last acting role was in 2000′s Thomas and the Magic Railroad, but unlike other child actors Wilson hasn’t acted on screen in the last twelve years isn’t from lack of offers. 

In a post on her blog, Wilson — who is now a 24 year old playwright and recent NYU graduate –reveals that she stopped acting because she simply stopped enjoying it. 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

Read more

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