Dax Shepard on ‘Hit and Run’, working with his fiancee’ Kristen Bell and how writing the script made his “acting job a lot easier”
Getting to make a movie centered around cars was a dream come true for Dax Shepard, star of the new film Hit and Run.
Bill Hader on His Early Days in Comedy and Why Stand-Up Isn’t His Thing
While many Saturday Night Live cast members begin their careers in standup, others aren’t so comfortable with being themselves on stage all by themselves. Bill Hader, for example, might be nominated for an Emmy for his work on the long-running sketch show, but the idea of doing stand-up comedy is something so challenging for him.
Ron Howard Talks About Returning to Acting in ‘Arrested Development’, Directing His Daughter and Young Actors in the Spotlight
Ron Howard hasn’t appeared in a meaningful acting role since the 1986 TV movie Return to Mayberry, reprising his role of Opie Tyler from The Andy Griffith Show, preferring to sit in the director’s chair. It has worked out well for him, since he won Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for A Beautiful Mind along with directing several other popular films.
Shia LaBeouf Rips Big Budget Movies
LaBeouf starred in the three Transformers movies, but he will not be in the planned fourth film in the franchise. That doesn’t seem to bother him much, as he says, “There’s no room for being a visionary in the studio system. It literally cannot exist.”
True Blood’s Terry Bellefluer, Todd Lowe: With Season 5 “I haven’t been able to find, really, moments of levity”
Todd Lowe is finally getting a chance to do some drama on HBO’s True Blood. For the past several seasons, his character, Terry Bellefleur, has had to settle for being the comic relief for the respective vampires, werewolves, and fairies on the scene. But Lowe actually favors the lighter bits.
Bill Hader on His Emmy Nomination and What He Learned from His ‘SNL’ Mentors
Bill Hader has been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Supporting Actor for his work on Saturday Night Live. Now Emmy nominations for SNL aren’t anything new, but no SNL actor has been nominated for that particular award since Eddie Murphy in 1983.
Chris Rock on ‘2 Days in New York’ and Going Back to Broadway
Chris Rock might have seemed like an odd choice to star in Julie Delpy’s indie romantic comedy 2 Days in New York, but that’s only if you haven’t been paying attention to Rock’s recent career. Sure, he might have starred in Pootie Tang years ago, but in the last several years Rock has manged to branch out not only as a writer, director, and producer, but also as an actor.
Actors Provide Laughs with Dramatic Readings of Yelp Reviews
Online review sites like Yelp can be really helpful, but one always has to remember to take it from the source. I remember reading one that gave a hotel a poor review because the lobby chairs weren’t comfortable and the hotel TV didn’t have the writer’s favorite channel.
Anne Hathaway on her Catwoman Suit and the Best and Worst Part of Working on ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Despite Anne Hathaway having a lot of exciting projects coming up (The Dark Knight Rises, Les Miserables), there is only one question she is consistently asked. What’s it like wearing the Catsuit?
Sigourney Weaver talks ‘Political Animals’
When asked how she felt about the ongoing campaigns, Sigourney Weaver (“Aliens,” “Gorillas in the Mist”) put it delicately: “I think it’s a pretty daunting thing to watch. It’s our dysfunctional political process front and center, and I actually think it’ll be one of the reasons people will tune into ‘Political Animals.’ As dysfunctional as we are, it’s fiction.”
Willem Dafoe on Acting: “I don’t interpret, I do”
Willem Dafoe remains one of those actors who is as versatile as he is prolific — he regularly appears in about 3 movies per year, ranging from expensive studio projects like Spider-Man and John Carter to independent films like this year’s 4:44 Last Day on Earth and The Hunter.
How Does Michael Shannon Describe Acting?
Michael Shannon was asked a handful of mostly New York-centric questions recently but this one about acting caught my eye.
Kate Winslet On Her Body, Her Confidence and Working with Big-Headed Stars
A few years ago a band called the Silver Brazilians released a song titled “Kate Winslet”, which served as an ode to the beauty of the titular Titanic actress. However, with lyrics like “Kate Winslet / You know you look so fine / When they talk about your weight girl / I wouldn’t pay no mind / I’m no diplomat / but you look better fat / Kate Winslet,” it does mention Winslet’s often-discussed figure in a less-than-flattering way.
Newsroom’s Jeff Daniels: “We get a new play, basically, 90 pages every two weeks. And there is little to no rehearsal”
Actor Jeff Daniels has been making the rounds in promotion of his latest role in Aaron Sorkin’s new hit HBO series, The Newsroom, that just managed to rake in 2.1 million viewers in its debut.
Brian D’Arcy James on His New Musical Revue and What He’s Learned from ‘Smash’
It’s ironic that one of the most experienced Broadway musical actors on the NBC television series Smash, Brian D’Arcy James, plays one of the characters who isn’t involved in the Broadway business.
Nathan Lane on His ‘Iceman Cometh’ Pre-Show Preparation
During the run of the show, he and actress Laurie Metcalf (who is currently starring as Mary Tyrone in O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night on London’s West End) exchanged emails about the pressures of working with O’Neill’s text, food before shows and pre-show preparation.
Keira Knightley on ‘Seeking a Friend’: “It was one of the best scripts I’d seen in years – and so unique”
In Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Keira Knightley’s character Penny joins the ranks of cinema’s Manic Pixie Dream Girls. Not familiar with the term? Coined by film critic Nathan Rabin to describe the type of free-spirited, indie-music loving, quirky young girls who seem to only exist in movies to open up emotionally hollow men (like Natalie Portman’s character in Garden State and Zooey Deschannel’s in 500 Days of Summer), Knightley’s version of the MPDG serves as inspiration to Steve Carrell’s character in the film, who is trying to come to terms with the failures in his life as the world is coming to an end.
Kevin Spacey Talks About Learning From The Best – Jack Lemmon, Joseph Papp & Mike Nichols
After learning from the best as a young actor – Jack Lemmon, Joseph Papp, Mike Nichols – Kevin Spacey is ready to give back.
Julianne Hough: “My biggest fear is that people think, Oh, just because she was on ‘Dancing with the Stars’, she thinks she can act now”
Julianne Hough is talking a lot about Rock of Ages, the film adaptation of the smash hit Broadway musical that features some of the greatest rock hits of the 1980s. She talked about how Dancing with the Stars helped her acting career and whether or not her fellow actors are singing on the soundtrack.
Joe Manganiello on ‘Magic Mike,’ ‘True Blood’ and Hanging Out With Wolves
Actor Joe Manganiello has learned to take a light-hearted approach to his career. How could he not? He plays a werewolf on HBO’s True Blood and a stripper in Steven Soderbergh’s new movie Magic Mike.