Anthony Lane on Julia Roberts in 2001: “The essence of Julia Roberts’s appeal is that she is more lovable than desirable, and that, even when love is off the menu, she cannot not be liked. There is no more flattering illusion in movies: here is a goddess, and she wants to be your friend.”
Claudia Roth Pierpont on Katharine Hepburn in 2003: “With her starved, whippetlike grace and overbearing intensity, Katharine Hepburn appeared slightly mad. But the same characteristics also made her seem a distinctly new type of woman, poised between the nervy and the nervously overwrought.”
Hilton Als on Angela Bassett in 1996: “While she has yet to account for a film’s financial success, her dignified, alert, and earnestly emotive screen presence does generate audience sympathy. And she appeals especially to that segment of the moviegoing public (black women, white housewives, lesbians, and married men) who are not just fetishizing her striking upper-body musculature but are responding to the subtext of her performances—a subtext that includes her struggle to reinvent Hollywood’s view of black women as something other than wisecracking or doleful martyrs, their hair stiff with brilliantine and the funk of subjugation.”
Interview: “Mike and Molly’s” Billy Gardell on “Dancer and the Dame”
Posted on May 26, 2015 at 3:31 pm
Copyright 2015 UP
Billy Gardell, star of television’s Mike & Molly, talked to me about his new film, Dancer & The Dame. He plays Rick Dancer. “He was once like a super detective and he kind of got obsessed chasing this bad guy but he didn’t have enough evidence to take the bad guy down and he started to obsess and he tried to do it prematurely and the bad guy who was tied into the city made him look foolish and got him busted down and therefore he kind of gave up on himself. He kind of gave up on himself and became cynical and then end up pushing mail papers around the precinct room. And then what happens is, like in life, the right thing sparked his inspiration and made him become a good cop again and start caring again.” Unlike many actors, he was not worried about working with an animal.
“It was fine with me. I wanted to do a movie that was family-friendly. I have an 11 year old ]and I thought it was a cute script. My friend Tommy Blaize wrote a really good script and it was a really fun family adventure, I don’t know about all that stuff about ‘Don’t work with dogs or kids.” I don’t really believe that. I think this is just a nice family movie, a nice movie for families to enjoy together.”
He says that working on the road as a stand-up helped him as an actor. “You learn how to really deliver a funny line very well and you learn to think quickly on your feet. So if there’s something quick that you come up with to make the take even funnier, I think that plays into it.” That is especially important on “Mike and Molly,” where he is working with the famously inventive improviser Melissa McCarthy. “She does a lot of improvising and then I have to be on my toes to adjust to what it is that she’s going to do. And that’s what makes it super fun for us to work together. I just never know when she’s going to go off the main path and then trying to keep up with that and being a straight man too has been a lot of fun.” He says the key to the show’s popularity is that “you see real people in this show and whether it’s Mike and Molly or my mother or the woman who plays Melissa’s mother the whole cast has a character that is kind of based on reality. And then ultimately underneath all of that, it is two people that thought they would never fall in love falling in love and I think people root for that.”
Gardell is having a lot of fun on his new game show series, Monopoly Millionaires Club. “That’s a very exciting opportunity that came my way last year. So far we’ve given away $1 million twice in 12 episodes and the odds guys said that wouldn’t happen for 30 episodes. So I’m not sure the insurance companies are happy but I think it makes for great TV. It’s a super fun fast-paced version of Monopoly and there is a lot of all or nothing moments. And I get to give away a bunch of money and so it’s wonderful. It’s not mine so I don’t mind it — I hope the audience wins. I hope they win it all.”
A Pittsburgh guy at heart, he is still the biggest Steelers fan there is. “I’m a fanatic. Absolutely! We have Steeler Sundays out here in California at my house and I only allow Steeler fans over for the Steeler games and the rest of my friends can come by but I’m die hard to the end. The team resonates what that city is that’s why it is so connected to the city.”
Gardell told me about the first time he got a laugh. “I was at a baseball banquet. It was one of those end of the year is things and I think I must have been about eight years old or so. And our guest speaker was Bill Hillgrove who is the announcer from Steelers because I grew up in Pittsburgh. And he had said something and my father leaned over and whispered in my ears, ‘say this’ and I stood on my chair and I said whatever it was that my father told me to say and I got a huge laugh and it was very addicting. I thought, ‘Wow, what a great way of going through life — I want to do that.’ And to this day my father and I try to remember what that line was and neither one of us can remember. Isn’t that funny? I remember the feeling. I remember that distinct feeling of having a room full of people laugh because you said something fun.”
He listened to George Carlin and Richard Pryor records as a kid. “We did not really understand the whole thing but the parts we did they would just make us laugh from our souls. And then my dad turned me on to Jackie Gleason when I was very young and then I had a grandmother, Edith Bean, who I told her at nine I want to be a comedian and she said, ‘Well, if you work really hard every day you can do it.’ It’s an old World War II generation idea that if you never quit you can do this and I trusted her opinion so much that I never asked anybody else.”
He says he has learned the most from “Mike and Molly” director James Burrows and creator Chuck Lorre. And he also learned a lot from Greg Garcia, “a wonderful man who created ‘My name is Earl’ and ‘Yes Dear’. Greg was kind of my first taste in the work and constantly because they gave me recurring part on the show for ‘Yes Dear’ he was super good to me and helped me along. And then in the first two years of ‘Mike and Molly’ being the lead Jimmy Burrows really gave me a guiding hand and Chuck Lorre kept me from completely freaking out. So I’ve been around some men that really were influential and really helpful. If Chuck sees something that he thinks is going to work is unafraid to do it. And he is also not afraid to put normal characters in situations that you wouldn’t ordinarily see them in. He just believes that the story is good enough and the characters have that sense of worth that people are going to invest themselves in it.”
Today we mourn the loss of actress/comedian Anne Meara, wife of Jerry Stiller and mother of actor/director Ben Stiller.
Stiller and Meara were a comedy team who appeared frequently on the Ed Sullivan show. Their humor often focused on their differences as a couple — she was Irish Catholic and he was Jewish. This bit from the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was inspired by an early precursor to eHarmony and Match.com.
She was a very gifted actress. She appeared opposite Robert De Niro and Robin Williams in “Awakenings.” I think her best dramatic performance is in The Daytrippers, as the neurotic mother of two daughters played by Hope Davis and Parker Posey.
Blythe Danner Talks to Susan Wloszczyna About “I’ll See You In My Dreams”
Posted on May 18, 2015 at 3:46 pm
One of my favorite critics interviewed one of my favorite actresses — Susan Wloszczyna spoke to Blythe Danner about her role in the bittersweet romance, “I’ll See You in My Dreams.” Paltrow talks about introducing her daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow, to organic foods when she was a child, what she loves about stage acting, why low-budget independent films have more interesting roles, and kissing her co-star in this film, Sam Elliott, her first-ever kiss with a man who has a mustache.
Carlos Pratt plays a real-life high school championship athlete in McFarland, USA, available on DVD and Blu-Ray June 2, 2015. Kevin Costner plays Coach Jim White, who has never coached running before when he helped a group of boys from one of the poorest schools in the country to win the state championship. Pratts talked to me about what makes a great coach and the sports movie that made him decide to be an actor.
What is it that makes Coach White so special?
He saw something in his kids. He was just a teacher, a true teacher. He was there for them. He was a mentor to them and as well as their parents. He went the extra step.
And what was it like with Kevin Costner, was she also kind of coachy with you guys?
Absolutely. Kevin was super coachy. He just made us feel right at home. We are quite a family. And if we had any questions he was always there, and if he had questions we were there. We just worked together. It was great. Kevin is an awesome, awesome man.
Did you have to audition for this part?
I did. I auditioned quite a few times. I read for the role of David Diaz originally. But the casting director thought I was more right for Thomas.
How would you describe Thomas as a character?
Oh man! He’s just tough. He’s gone through a lot in life and he’s kind of been shut down so many times. It’s hard for him to open up to everyone. He kind of thinks that this is as good as it gets. He’s come to that realization so he’s not really expecting more out of life. That was just it until Coach White comes to his life and shows him that there’s more. His father was working and his mother at the house and his sister getting pregnant and his father really not being there because of work, end of story. He had to grow fast.
How much running did you do for this film?
Before we were filming we would do 5 or 6 miles a day as a team and then while we were filming it varied. I ran a lot for sure. We filmed one race that was three miles. But filming it, we would run 9 miles before that was over.
And did you go running it all with the real runners from the story, who we see at the end of the film?
No unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance. I did meet Thomas while we were filming but I was very brief with him because…not brief but we have more a little bit of a time together because I did have to go shoot the next scene so I didn’t have the chance to go with anyone but I do think that Hector Duran who played Jonny Samaniego, I think he went for a rune with the real Johnny Samaniego. I almost thought that he did.
What movie made you say, “I want to do that?”
There’s a movie called Friday Night Lights that was like my high school story. And then I went to college and I saw the movie and I just remember welling up. I was like, “Whatever this feeling is, I want to get it back to the world.” and that’s when I said, “I’m going to act.”
One of the most powerful scenes in the film is when the team sees the ocean for the first time.
There have been so many sports movies, but I come understand really quick but that there’s something about Nikki Caro in having a woman’s touch that just makes this one a little different. And I think the way she had everything set up strategically, it was almost like she was being a mother. We did that scene maybe in, like, November and when we got there we were just excited. For me it was like I was seeing like my little brother for the first time. So you find that and then you just challenge yourself and you go and have fun and you jump in. You jump in the ocean together. It was cold but it was awesome. I felt super organic with everybody. You put the seven of us together in any room, we’re going to have a blast. We really are brothers so you can see us just having fun and playing in the water.
You and the other actors had to learn to work together just like your characters did. What is it that creates a team?
Here is the thing about a team. Everyone is going to have a different personality and an ego of some sort or whatever but if you realize that you’re all coming for the same goal and you accept each other and who they are for their strengths and their flaws, then I think you work together in unison. You have to try and encourage each other and help each other but you only push them whenever they can’t push themselves anymore. I think we really did a great job of that.
What has meant the most to you in the responses to this film?
I’ve been hearing a lot that “I’m proud to be a runner again,” that “I’m proud to be whoever,” but it’s really awesome to hear people say, “I’m proud to be me, “I’m proud to be Hispanic,” “I’m proud to be Mexican,” “I’m proud to be black,” or “This inspires me.” Kids will tweet me all the time in their finals week and they’ll take a picture, a screenshot and make fun of when I’m running and they’re like, “I just need that push.” I’ll savor it and say “Good luck.” It’s really cool that something like that gives a little extra strength. That’s what you make when you do with a film. To encourage and start planting seeds that lead to a better tomorrow.
What’s the best advice you ever got about acting?
That you are enough. What that means is that who you are as a person is enough. Never be afraid to show it. Some people act and they are phenomenal at it, but it’s very hard to showcase who you really are and your real emotion. That’s the best advice that I got. It was just to give a side of Carlos in that situation, in every situation.
What do you look for in the films you take on, as a producer or an actor?
I just want to be a role model and I want to film great stories. Before every audition I say a prayer. I say, “God, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. Thank you for allowing me to be here. Allow me to use the tools that you’ve given me and to perform nerve-free. If my words and actions are positive, let that everyone see that and learn from them. And if what I’m saying could be viewed in a negative way let people learn what not to do from my actions. And that’s it, I just want to influence and encourage and help make a better tomorrow.
, talked to me about his new film, 
. He plays Rick Dancer. “He was once like a super detective and he kind of got obsessed chasing this bad guy but he didn’t have enough evidence to take the bad guy down and he started to obsess and he tried to do it prematurely and the bad guy who was tied into the city made him look foolish and got him busted down and therefore he kind of gave up on himself. He kind of gave up on himself and became cynical and then end up pushing mail papers around the precinct room. And then what happens is, like in life, the right thing sparked his inspiration and made him become a good cop again and start caring again.” Unlike many actors, he was not worried about working with an animal.
.
, as the neurotic mother of two daughters played by Hope Davis and Parker Posey.
, available on DVD and Blu-Ray June 2, 2015. Kevin Costner plays 
that was like my high school story. And then I went to college and I saw the movie and I just remember welling up. I was like, “Whatever this feeling is, I want to get it back to the world.” and that’s when I said, “I’m going to act.”