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Interview: Dianna Agron of ‘I Am Number Four’ and ‘Glee’

Posted on May 22, 2011 at 1:50 pm

Disney shared this interview with Dianna Agron of  I Am Number Four, out May 24 on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Was it fun to leave the Glee gang behind for some big-screen action with your new movie, I Am Number Four?

It was a lot of fun to try something new, but I knew I was going back to Glee after we finished filming I Am Number Four. It was only a brief change for me, but it was great to step into a whole new world.

When did you discover that you clicked so well with your co-star, Alex Pettyfer?

When I was cast on I Am Number Four, I hadn’t met Alex. I had dinner with the movie’s director, D.J. Caruso, a couple of nights before our first table read with the big studio executives and that’s when D.J. said to me, “Perhaps you should meet Alex before the table read?” I thought that was a really good idea. 

Alex has described you as an actress with an old-school movie star quality. How does that make you feel?

That’s very nice of him. It’s pretty hard to accept that compliment because I grew up watching and loving old-school actresses like Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren and Katharine Hepburn. They were always effortless to watch, but I’m growing and trying to challenge myself to get to that place. If I do get to where they are it would be amazing. That’s my goal.

Your character in the new movie is very romantic. Are you similar in real life?

I think so. I really love the character of Sarah because there are a lot of similarities to how I was at school. Sarah loves photography, and so do I. I really started to get into it at school. I have about 10 cameras now and they all have different purposes.

What else do you like to get up to in your spare time?

I love cooking. In fact, my favorite thing to do on a weekend is to have friends over and cook dinner. We’ll sit around, talk and play board games. I love doing things like that, although I also love to be outside and travel. I have such wanderlust. I try to go somewhere new for every vacation and there are so many places that I have yet to visit.

Are you into Twitter and the internet?

Computers are not a huge part of my life. I write, so I use a computer daily for that – but I’m not a big web surfer. I surf the internet every now and then, but it’s not like a two-hour a day, three-hour a day obsession of mine.

Are you a fan of fashion?

I love clothes. I like all the classic designers, but then I also love new, youthful and creative styles. I love it all.

How would you describe your personal sense of style?

It’s very eclectic. When I go to award shows and things like that, I think it’s okay to take risks – but I don’t like to go too crazy with it. On a day-to-day basis, I love vintage clothes, but I also love dressing however I feel that day. One day, I might want to dress like a boy. Another day I might want to put on a pretty, vintage, girly teacup dress. I think you can express so much of yourself through the way you dress and I am very much a girl in that sense.

What kind of girl were you at school?

At school, I was a nerd in some ways and pretty average in other ways. I was always the nice girl, so I had friends in many different areas. That worked well for me.

Did you enjoy school?

I loved school. That doesn’t mean I never fell asleep in a class, but it interested me and at the same time, I knew where I wanted to end up. Towards the end of school I was always thinking, ‘Oh, I’m so close to being able to move out of the house and go to the next step.’ But you have to try and enjoy everything you can while you’re there because you’re never going to have that lack of responsibility again. At school, you don’t have to pay bills and you don’t have to think about things like that. You can just be a kid.

Did you fall in love at school?

I think love is pretty non-existent in high school. I was busy, so I didn’t care. I had one boyfriend and he cheated on me, so I gave up hope for a while and I just focused on everything else.

Wait a minute… He cheated on you?

It’s never good to find out that your boyfriend is cheating on you with the girl in his Math class and then you have to look at them walking down the hallway every day. I just focused on my friends instead.

So what do you look for in a guy?

I look for people that are open and honest. Those are the kind of people that I want to be close to in my life because it’s never fun to wear a mask.

 


 

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Actors

The Real Star of ‘Hangover 2’: Ken Jeong

Posted on May 21, 2011 at 9:36 pm

I’m a huge fan of Ken Jeong (“The Hangover,” “Role Models,” “Community”) and am really delighted that he will appear this week in “Hangover 2.”  Jen Chaney has a fascinating interview with him in today’s Washington Post, about dividing his time between his medical practice as an internist and doing stand-up at comedy clubs until his break-through role in “Knocked Up,” and about making “The Hangover” as his wife, also a doctor, was getting treated for breast cancer.

“I am totally uninhibited at the risk of making myself look idiotic,” he admits.  But that’s what Todd Phillips, director of “The Hangover” movies, cites as Jeong’s greatest asset. “Ken has fearlessness almost more than anybody I’ve ever worked with,” he says….”That whole experience of ‘The Hangover,’ for me, was therapeutic,” he says. “It was my primal-scream therapy.”

 

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Actors

Gotta Share — Improv Everywhere Sings About Staying Connected

Posted on May 20, 2011 at 2:24 pm

I was honored to be the kick-off speaker at the Gel Conference last month.  Gel stands for “good experience live” and it is an enthralling event that brings together innovative thinkers in every area and then has them learn to juggle, doodle, explore, and generally expand their horizons and enlarge their spirits.  I loved the presentation by the New Yorker cartoonists who gave us a peek at their Fisticuffs Show.  Here’s one example of an event that turned out to be not quite what it appeared on the program agenda.  (Sorry about the ad — trust me, it’s worth the wait.)

 

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Shorts
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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Posted on May 19, 2011 at 6:50 pm

Jack is back.

And he is doing what he does best — stealing the movie from everyone else.  Johnny Depp continues Captain Jack Sparrow’s conquest of center stage with this fourth in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, which abandons any pretense of having anyone else as the hero, and just lets him take over.

The series inspired by a theme park ride has for the first time relied on a book as its source.  According to the credits, it is “inspired by” On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, an award-winning fantasy novel about Blackbeard and the fountain of youth.  The Disney series characters are grafted onto the story, which takes us from the courts (in both senses of the term) of London to Spain and then back to the Caribbean, with some historical figures like King George II and Blackbeard.  And we also get to enjoy zombie crewmen, a gallant missionary, sword fights, Keith Richards, chases, explosions, a pirate with a peg leg, shifting loyalties, daring rescues, revenge, voodoo dolls, a carefully balanced struggle on a shifting surface, and mermaids summoned by song who are as deadly as they are gloriously beautiful.  Hurray for summer movies!

Director Rob Marshall (“Nine,” “Chicago”) takes over seamlessly from Gore Verbinski, adeptly managing the tumult of the various characters (three pirate captains plus Penelope Cruz!), locations, and perils.  And everyone is looking for the fountain of youth, where you can steal someone else’s years if you have the chalices — and a mermaid’s tear.

In the previous films, Captain Jack Sparrow’s rapscallion impishness set off nicely the brave, honorable, but not exactly colorful romance of Will and Elizabeth.  Here, Ian McShane, with his gimlet eye and gravely rumble of a voice, joins the cast as Blackbeard, “the pirate all pirates fear,” to remind us that pirates can be ruthless.  “If I don’t kill a man every now and then they forget who I am,” he explains, leaving Jack to be as close as we get to a hero.  Cruz plays Angelica, a woman Jack once wronged who may be more of a pirate than he is.  “You haven’t changed,” she says to him.  “I haven’t found the need,” he replies.  And that pretty much sums up the enterprise.

 

(more…)

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3D Action/Adventure Based on a book Epic/Historical Fantasy Series/Sequel

A Death in the ‘Glee’ Family

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 6:00 pm

Spoiler Alert!  If you did not see “Glee” last night, wait to read this until you get a chance to watch it.

 

Last night, “Glee” reminded us that it can be more than a sometimes coy or campy fantasy with flashy musical numbers and flashier guest stars. The episode was titled “Funeral.” It included some powerhouse solos as members auditioned for a lead singing part in the upcoming Nationals. I especially loved Mercedes’ rendition of “Try a Little Tenderness.” That was a fitting lead-in to the rest of the show. Termagant Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) had one soft spot, her sister Jean, who had Down Syndrome. Jean’s death was devastating for Sue and Lynch was superb in showing us how the pain of her loss was real and genuine — but that she mourned in character, showing very little vulnerability. I was not expecting to be so moved, but the generosity of the Glee club in helping Sue pack up Jean’s things and the tenderness of the funeral, with decorations from Jean’s favorite movie, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” was beautifully done and their performance of “Pure Imagination” was exquisite.

Well played, “Glee.”

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