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Interview: Hilary Swank stands tall, dives deep discussing ‘The Homesman’

November 16, 2014 By Thelma 2 Comments

American Maverick Tommy Lee Jones shines light on Hilary Swank

American Maverick Tommy Lee Jones shines light on Hilary Swank

I had a chance to have tea with two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank at the Hamptons International Film Festival in the lobby of the Maidstone Hotel. We discussed her scrubbed down, soulful role as Mary Bee Cuddy in Tommy Lee Jones’s The Homesman, one of my favorite movies of 2014. The Nebraska native, 40, addressed the challenges of playing a single Nebraska homesteader on the Western frontier and how that woman’s struggle remains relevant today.

You play a virtuous woman in a dangerous time: does that still resonate?

Mary Bee lived in a time where manners and morals were virtues. We are in a day and age where we’ve lost touch with that for a lot of other reasons. For me, she does the right thing because she believes in doing the right thing. She’ll say right to your face how she feels. The world would be a better place if we would just really deal honestly with each other. She goes where angels feel to tread.

As an actress, you had to tread in the past, riding horses, plowing fields. Do you ride?

I didn’t. I love animals. I’ve had experience horseback riding recreationally. But I didn’t know how to ride to this extent. Getting to be an actor gives me the ability to walk – or ride — in someone else’s shoes and empathize with someone else’s plight in life. Playing a farmer, it’s extraordinary how hard a life it is: they have to grow and work and sustain life. Farmers are fitter than any bodybuilder. You have to know how to direct mules and pull that carriage and pull the plow. There are distinct steps to get to it and you cannot skip a step. And then there are those bits like getting on a horse when your horse is not behaving and you’re losing the light. I love that challenge and the collaborative aspect of it. Tommy Lee Jones is a hands-on horseman and he wanted me to look a specific way. When I jump in I get to jump in with the best.

[RELATED: Oscar-Winners Hilary Swank and Tommy Lee Jones Amaze in ‘The Homesman’]

Mary Bee is a Sarah Plain and Tall kind of character. She’s unvarnished. Did that suit you?

It cuts all pretenses and gets to the heart of the matter. To use a book as a metaphor: to judge a book by its cover. It’s so easy to judge a woman on first meeting. Being around Tommy Lee Jones, I see the way people look at him and talk about him. Stereotypes are dangerous. Ultimately he made a feminist movie and it shows his heart and how multi-faceted he truly is. He allows people in. If anything, making this film made me appreciate him like I appreciate Mary Bee. People can put labels on Mary Bee, like she’s bossy, or she’s plain. But there’s more to all of us than anybody can ever see, even the people that are close to us. It’s so important to give people the benefit.

How hard is it to find leading roles this multi-faceted for women in Hollywood now?

I’d love to find a great supporting role and not carry the movie. There are years when we’ve had a lot of great women’s roles I just hope to not make it a gender thing. I want to find roles that tell stories that we can connect to, or learn from, or be entertained by. As a female artist, I do find full-rounded, fleshed out people to play, it just might not be as often as I like. So I can’t really complain even though I want more.

What was your takeaway from this portrait of women in the West?

Their strength, courage and bravery, how they blazed a trail for us women is incredible to me. How they survived and we were able to push on is a reminder that we really should be more grateful for what we have in front of us. And, looking back, we should consider the trails they blazed and say thank you to them for what they endured and accomplished.

The Homesman is currently in theaters.

Filed Under: Celebrity, Movies & TV, Oscar Race Tagged With: Hamptons Internation, Hilary Swank, Interview, Oscar, Rodrigo Prieto, The Homesman, The Western, Tommy Lee Jones

Oscars Q&A: Steve Coogan Navigates between the Rocks of Schmaltz in ‘Philomena’

November 30, 2013 By Thelma Leave a Comment

Steve Coogan and Judi Dench in Philomena In the arthouse hit, “Philomena,” an elderly Irishwoman searches for the son she reluctantly gave up for adoption. Credit comic Steve Coogan for bringing her story to the big screen. The “Night at the Museum” actor optioned the Martin Sixsmith bestseller, produced, tapped director Stephen Frears (“The Queen”) and co-wrote the script with Jeff Pope. He also wisely snagged Dame Judi Dench to play the title role. Coogan also crafted a juicy role for himself as the cranky, recently fired political journalist Sixsmith, who turns to Philomena’s human interest story as the subject of a marketable book with very little interest in humans himself. It put the British comic actor in the perfect position to, as he told Yahoo Movies last week over the phone, “navigate between the rocks of schmaltz.”

Question: The movie starts almost like an episode of the brilliant British TV show “The Thick of It,” which spawned the movie “In the Loop” and the HBO show “Veep.” Sixsmith gets sacked from his job at the ministry and it’s instantly clear this man has just been trampled.

Steve Coogan: It’s funny, that’s one of the notes from Stephen [Frears]. We wrote it originally with only a slight reference to Martin being fired and Stephen gave us a good note to include it. It shows Martin at a low point.

Q: Since Martin is based on a real man, was Sixsmith as cranky as the character in the movie or did you bring that?

SC: I brought that. When I interviewed Martin there was always a kernel of truth. I said to him, how did you feel when you were fired? And he said, “I felt sorry for myself.” I put a lot of myself into Martin. I said I need to change you a bit for this story. When I spoke to Martin about his character, we both referred to him in the third person. The character is a mixture of Martin and me. The cynicism is me and the spikiness. And, although that is me, I’m also aware of the limitations of that viewpoint. I want to attack my own cynicism.

Q: In contrast, Philomena could not be less cynical – but that doesn’t make her a pushover either.

SC: We see her on the surface at first. She’s from an an old conservative generation of women who on one level have a simple view of life, maybe not intellectual but have an intuition that is incredibly incisive. She’s actually experienced life. And Martin’s in some ways a journalist and an armchair theoretician. He has had the luxury to let his thoughts flow freely from his fingertips, while Philomena has had to get on with her life. She’s a doer. She walks the walk and Martin’s all talk.

[Related: Critic’s Pick: ‘Philomena‘]

Q: The beauty of the movie is that it sheds light on the human condition, but that condition also includes laughter.

SC: Jeff and I were very keen not to have it be too portentous, to seduce the audience by having them laugh along the way rather than hitting the characters over the head with a book.

Q: Coogan and Dench are not two actors often mentioned in the same breath. Was she always your Philomena?

SC: Whenever I considered who would play the part, I kept thinking Judi Dench. She’d played Iris Murdoch, and I said there aren’t a plethora of great parts for older actors. They tend to be supporting roles. They play an old person and that’s the most defining characteristic of that part. But Philomena, she’s just a human being and her age is only part of it. It’s not what defines her. She had a life. She was young once. So we hoped it would attract her as an actor. We went to her house and told her the story. She was a little trepidatious about playing something like this; she’s no different in that regard. She wants to do something a little different. She has an Irish background and it appealed.

Q: The scare factor: Were you worried about playing opposite Dame Judi?

SC: I was so preoccupied with producing, writing and getting her I almost forgot that I would have to act opposite her. I was a little daunted. And then I saw Judi trying to figure out how she was going to do it at the camera test. She was talking to herself in the character. I saw that she was flesh and blood and she had to struggle with things. I thought, “Oh, good, she’s not able to do it immediately.” She’s a working actor. That was good to see.

[Related: ‘Philomena’ Wins Appeal to Overturn R Rating for 2 F-Bombs]

Q: As an actor more accustomed to getting laughs than sobs, what worried you about playing the dramatic scenes?

SC: I said to Frears, I don’t want to be overacting. All I did was listen to and react to what she was doing. It would have been a lot harder acting with someone who wasn’t experienced. I just saw Philomena, when I was making her laugh, not Dame Judi Dench. The chemistry we had was real. I spent a lot of time in the car with her, laughing. She used to accuse me of having Botox and Collagen. Stephen wasn’t overly deferential. She likes that. When she was saying she wasn’t happy with some element on set, he’d say in front of her, “Has anyone got Helen Mirren’s number?” That would rattle her a little bit. She’d give him the evil look out of the corner of her eye.

Q: Did you pull out your Bond impressions for Dench since she’s played M so often in that franchise.

SC: Yes. I did my Bonds repertoire. She’d say, “Do some more of this, or that.” I became a performing monkey for her.

Q: A performing monkey that wrote her a role that may land her an Oscar, and potentially one for you as well for adapted screenplay.

SC: It’s a bit surreal but gratifying. It’s a story I pursued from reading something in a newspaper. The process itself is good, and the recognition is fairly nice, but part of me is very nervous. You can be killed with kindness, as Carrie Fisher might have said. I already started writing the next thing with Jeff. It’s good to talk about what you do, but it’s more important to get on with the work. My father used to tell me a Chinese proverb: before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment, chop wood carry water. You’ve still got to do a day’s work.

Filed Under: Celebrity, Movies & TV, Oscar Race Tagged With: Interview, Judi Dench, Philomena, Stephen Frears, Steve Coogan, Yahoo! Movies

‘Catching Fire’ Q&A: Director Francis Lawrence Identifies With His Heroine Katniss

November 30, 2013 By Thelma Leave a Comment

Francis Lawrence with the cast of The Hunger Games It could have been challenging for director Francis Lawrence to be that other Lawrence, the dude, on the “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” set. But J.Law made it easy for this music video director, who’s worked with everybody from J. Lo to Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake to Britney Spears, and also has “I Am Legend,” “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Constantine” under his belt. Question: Is there a character you identify with the most? Francis Lawrence: Katniss. I do. She’s the center of the story, and I just buy her, I just believe her. I understand what she wants, and I understand what she’s thinking, and I understand what she’s going through. I believe in her choices. Q: Can you be more specific? FL: Sure. Her father died in a mining accident, and she started to provide for her family. So her objective in life is to provide for her family, and I think, mostly, for her sister. And she took on that role. And then her sister was taking on a different role, who suddenly is gonna be chosen to go in these games. And I get the sacrificing yourself for her sister, for that innocence.

And I relate to all the other choices that she makes. It’s about survival. It’s very simple. I don’t think it would have worked if she was really dwelling on love. Because I don’t buy that people do that in those situations where it’s life and death at your doorstep every second of every day. It just happens right: you’re bonding with somebody, maybe, in a moment in a cave, right, or you’re injured. But it’s because you guys are going through stuff together. You’re not thinking about, ‘Is he gonna be my boyfriend?’

Q: In the book, Katniss and Peeta share a bed for comfort. FL: Because when they sleep, they have nightmares and night terrors. They both have gone through the same thing together and that bonds people, when you go through traumatic experiences. And so, to answer your question, I just believe Katniss as a human, I really do. It’s not that I disbelieve other people but, because this story is so centered on her, I believe Katniss.

Q: But in this installment, it definitely opens up. “The Hunger Games” was so in Katniss’ head and seen through her yes. FL: Well the story opens up a little bit. For the most part, we’re telling it through Katniss’ point of view. We break a little bit, a few times. But we made a rule that it really always had to be about Katniss in some way, or because of something that Katniss has done. And that’s the way we connected it. So we grew and blew it open just a little bit, in terms of the Plutarch and Snow scenes.

Q: Those are the scenes that weren’t in the novel between the new Head Game Maker, Plutarch Heavensbee, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland’s President Snow. FL: We had to backwards engineer those scenes. When Katniss gets back from The Districts, or from her victory tour, she’s back in The District, and she knows she’s failed. She sees Snow, and he shook his head at her at the party. She’s knows she’s endangered families. Gale is in danger. She’s going to come home. She’s going to want to run. And suddenly, these peacekeepers are showing up, right?

We know these things happened in the book. So we now have to figure out what was Snow thinking. What is the moment when he and Plutarch got together? What was the process when they decide to send peacekeepers to the District to crack down? And so we had [to] come up with just what their step-by-step plan is, to get rid of Katniss Everdeen.

[Related: Review “The Hunger Games: ‘Catching Fire’]

Q: Looking ahead, you’re leaving for Berlin to scout locations for “Mockingjay.” FL: We already made a couple of trips out to Paris and Berlin to scout. This is the tech scout. We’re going with the crew, because it’s our last opportunity to go out all together to really do all the technical and logistical planning for what we’re gonna do in each of the locations, and walk the crew through, what we’re planning on doing everywhere. So we’re gonna go do that over the next week, in Paris and Berlin. And we end up going there later next year in the spring.

Q: What’s the roll out over the next two movies? FL: It’s basically this time next year, and this time the year after that.

Q: And you’ve signed on to direct both “Mockingjay” movies, right? FL: It was a decision that was made early on while we were prepping “Catching Fire.” I’d only signed on for “Catching Fire.” And I was approached to do “Mockingjay” as well. And that was really exciting because the people are great, and it was really creative and collaborative, and a nice group of people. The only thing I was really nervous about was this movie because, if this one for whatever reason didn’t turn out so well, and the actors didn’t like it, or if people didn’t show up, or it got horrible reviews or something, it would be really awkward going back to the shoot. We go back to shooting, in about two weeks.

Q: While the books were originally on the YA shelf, “The Hunger Games” series has a wider appeal. FL: The stories just keep getting more and more interesting. The stories keep growing up, as does the fan base.

[Related: Is ‘Battle Royale’ the Japanese Version of ‘The Hunger Games’ (Or Vice Versa?)]

Q: Who is the audience for “Catching Fire?” FL: I think the audience is everybody. I wouldn’t take small kids. It’s pretty intense. But I think that it’s really for everyone. The genius of the material is that Suzanne Collins wrote a series of books about the consequences of war for teenagers. But she didn’t treat teenagers like children, which is one of the reasons that teenagers really ate it up. Because of that approach, I think it’s crossed over into the adult world. There are big ideas, and I think that they’re smart, and I think that they’re very moving. And so, I don’t think that it’s just for teenagers.

Filed Under: Celebrity, Movies & TV Tagged With: Catching Fire, F, Francis Lawrence, Interview, Jennifer Lawrence

Academy Conversations: “All is Lost” with Robert Redford, J. C. Chandor and me

November 11, 2013 By Thelma Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Movies & TV, Oscar Race Tagged With: Academy Conversations, All is Lost, AMPAS, Interview, J. C. Chandor, Oscars 2014, Robert Redford, The Academy, Video

Yahoo! Exclusive: I interview Lee Daniels, Oprah, Forest Whitaker and “The Butler” cast

August 25, 2013 By Thelma Leave a Comment

There are a lot of meaty quotes in my 15-minute roundtable with the director and cast of “The Butler.” Here’s one story on racism and the use of the N-Word from Lenny Kravitz: “…when I grew up that word was used in a way that it felt hip, it felt street, it felt like you’re part of a group. I used to be, was, still am, a huge fan of Richard Pryor. Nobody used that word more colorfully than he did. It was how we addressed each other. It was how we knew we were brothers. There was a great skit he did where he talked about going to Africa. He went to Africa. He hung out. It was so beautiful. At the end of the trip he realized, you know what, I don’t see any niggers here. We’re not niggers. I will never use that word again. and He put it away. If he could do it, any body could do it. Whether we call each other that or not, at the end of the day if we want to get rid of this, if we don’t want others to use it, then we have to not use it.” Well said, Lenny, and now let’s roll the tape:

Filed Under: Celebrity, Movies & TV, Oscar Race Tagged With: Civil Rights, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Forest Whitaker, Interview, Lee Daniels, Lenny Kravitz, Oprah, The Butler, Video Interview, Yahoo! Movies

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