Anton Yelchin on Why He Started Acting: “There was something about it that I just felt completely comfortable doing and happy doing”

Twenty-two year old Anton Yelchin has already found himself roles in two legendary franchises by appearing in Terminator Salvation and the Star Trek reboot, but don’t think that he has only aspires to star in blockbusters. Yelchin found himself attracted to acting by the improvisation of the art, something which he was able to revisit in his latest film.

Yelchin was asked what initially drew him into acting and he explains, “I loved the improvisation part of it the most, because it was a lot like just playing around with stuff.  There was something about it that I just felt completely comfortable doing and happy doing.”  While the fun is what interested him, he credits his supportive parents for keeping him involved, adding, “My parents were like, OK, our kid is happy doing this. This is great. They were figure skaters and grew up going to school and skating, so for them, a person needs to have things to do. They don’t just sit around the house watching TV.”

Actually, Yelchin admits that his parents originally hoped that he would follow in their figure skating footsteps (or is that skate-steps?)  Of course, he was not as graceful as they were, so they pegged their hopes on a much more stereotypical future.  “They were very quick to understand that I wasn’t very good at it, and they weren’t going to make me do it if I wasn’t good, so it automatically reverted to me being a doctor or lawyer. Because, we’re Russian Jews, so naturally, what does your kid do? He goes to law school or he goes to med school.”  Yelchin says it took his father a bit of time to come to terms with his decision to act.  “He still wanted me to apply to college and stuff, and I did. But this is what I wanted.”   Read more

A bit of improvisation and a lot of chemistry landed Ginnifer Goodwin her role on “Big Love”

The sexual chemistry between Big Love stars Ginnifer Goodwin and Bill Paxton was apparent from the moment they met, only at that time Goodwin had no idea just how good it came across onscreen.

Goodwin says she was given a love scene as her screen test and soon enough found herself in a conference room with Paxton and “25 dudes in suits,” she recalls.

“I was very confused about how I was supposed to go about performing this love scene in this chair,” Goodwin says. “So I got out of mine and climbed into Bill Paxton’s chair with him. I realized when I kissed him that it was unexpected and therefore none of the other girls must have molested him in the way I was intending to molest him.”

Concerned she may have gone to far and blown the audition, Goodwin called her agent to apologize, but apparently there was no need to do so. It seems those 25 “dudes in suits” were impressed by her improvisation, because over the speaker phone she heard, “Welcome to “Big Love!”

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John C. Reilly talks about on-set improvisation

John C. Reilly, currently starring in Cyrus, talks about how he developed his character through on-set improvisation with Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei.

He talks about improvising at the 2:30 mark.