Viola Davis Talks About Her SAG Win and Facing Criticism of Her Role in ‘The Help’

Finding out that you’ve been nominated for an acting award in the same category as Glenn Close and Meryl Streep must be like finding out you’re running the 100 meter dash against the gold medal and the silver medal winners of that event at the last Olympics. 

That’s the predicament that Viola Davis, star of The Help, found herself in during this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards.  However, Davis was not only awarded Best Actress, but also won Best Ensemble with her talented co-stars.

“I feel pretty overwhelmed with my name being called,” Davis said about the film’s best ensemble win.  Yet, when it came to her winning the award for Best Actress, Davis was more talkative.  She admits she doesn’t feel up to the award’s caliber, saying, “I just don’t see the ‘best’ thing going on.  It’s hard. Every time I start a new job, I feel like I start with a clean slate. … I feel like everyone is going to find out what a hack I am. And it’s strange to triumph over Meryl Streep.”  Read more

Watch: George Clooney, Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Viola Davis, Christopher Plummer and Tilda Swinton in Newsweek’s Awards Roundtable

Well, Newsweek got 3 out of 6 right.

In anticipation of today’s Academy Award nominations, the magazine gathered George Clooney, Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Viola Davis, Christopher Plummer and Tilda Swinton- all possible contenders – together for a frank and at times hilarious conversation.

As you know, Clooney, Davis and Plummer got the good news today but that doesn’t take away from the performances Fassbender, Theron and Swinton did this year.

There are 4 videos and they’re all worth watching. You can see Fassbender do his Quentin Tarantino impression, Theron do a South African accent and Clooney will make you laugh.

Best line is from Viola Davis though: “Acting is about problem solving. I don’t have a method. I don’t have a way of working. It changes with every project.”

Check it out below!  Read more

Watch: Actresses’ Roundtable featuring Carey Mulligan, Glenn Close, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Michelle Williams and Charlize Theron

Once again, The Hollywood Reporter has brought together some of the best actresses from the years most talked about films.

This year’s Actress Roundtable features Carey Mulligan from Shame and Drive, Glenn Close of Albert Nobbs, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer of The Help, Michelle Williams of My Week With Marilyn and Charlize Theron of Young Adult.

The video is an hour long and it’s just great to watch (or listen to). They talk about their careers, getting bad reviews, how they got their start and so much more. So good!

There is also a behind the scenes video of the magazines cover shoot.

Check it out below!  Read more

Trailer #2: ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’ starring Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close: Based on the acclaimed novel, the film tells the story of one young boy’s journey from heartbreaking loss to the healing power of self-discovery, set against the backdrop of the tragic events of September 11. Eleven-year-old Oskar Schell is an exceptional child: amateur inventor, Francophile, pacifist. And after finding a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11, he embarks on an exceptional journey–an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. As Oskar roams the city, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity, who are all survivors in their own ways. Ultimately, Oskar’s journey ends where it began, but with the solace of that most human experience: love. courtesy of trailers.apple.com

Director: Stephen Daldry

Cast: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright

In Theaters: December 25th   Read more

Trailer: ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ starring Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, John Goodman, James Gandolfini

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” tells the story of one young boy’s journey from heartbreaking loss to the healing power of self-discovery, set against the backdrop of the tragicevents of September 11. Eleven-year-old Oskar Schell is an exceptional child: amateur inventor, Francophile, pacifist. And after finding a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11, he embarks on an exceptional journey–an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. As Oskar roams the city, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity, who are all survivors in their own ways. Ultimately, Oskar’s journey ends where it began, but with the solace of that most human experience: love. courtesy of trailers.apple.com

Director: Stephen Daldry
Cast: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright, James Gandolfini

In theaters: December 25th, 2011
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Trailer: ‘The Help’ starring Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek

The Help: Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends’ lives — and a small Mississippi town — upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen (Davis), Skeeter’s best friend’s housekeeper, is the first to open up — to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter’s life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories — and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly — and unwillingly — caught up in the changing times. from Walt Disney Pictures

Cast: Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek
Written/Directed: Tate Taylor

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Screenplay: Knight and Day

Want the screenplay to Knight and Day?

Sure you do! (Ok, maybe not judging how much it made this weekend).

Click here for the script

Director: James Mangold

Cast: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Viola Davis, Olivier Martinez, Paul Dano

2010 Tony Nominations

 

BEST PLAY:

In the Next Room by Sarah Ruhl

Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts

Red by John Logan

Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies

BEST MUSICAL:

American Idiot

Fela!

Memphis

Million Dollar Quartet

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Broadway Review: Fences

Let me just get this out of the way – Denzel Washington was outstanding. The very minute he walks onstage, he fills the theater with his presence and you just sit back and enjoy the ride he’s about to take you on.

Fences opened last night at Broadway’s Cort Theater for a limited run through July 11^th and judging from the packed, enthusiastic audience I saw it with, this will be a hard show to get tickets to.

It stars Washington as Troy Maxson, a 53-year-old sanitation worker who once had aspirations of a career in baseball. Married to the devoted Rose (Viola Davis), their back and forth talk, mostly with sexual undertones make for a seemingly happy marriage. Mid way through the first act, his best friend, Bono (Stephen McKinely Henderson), begins to hint at some definite character flaws in Troy that come up in the second act; some shocking, some not.

The show was great and as I said before, Denzel (I’ll call him by his first name, sure) was incredible. The only problem I had – and I’m not sure you can even call it a problem – was the Denzel was so fantastic that he made everyone else look just good. Do you know what I mean? He raised the bar so high that everyone was trying to get to the same level that he was on. Sometimes they were there and sometimes they weren’t.

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Denzel Washington and Viola Davis on the Broadway revival of “Fences”

You really have to watch this.

Denzel Washington and Viola Davis talk about why they are doing this revival of Fences, their early careers in the theater and more.

This snippet is a little over 5 minutes but you can see the passion they have for the show, acting and life.

Watch it!

Update:
Here is the whole discussion. It’s broken down into 5 parts because YouTube can only handle shorter videos.

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