Interview: ‘Fame’s’ Anna Maria Perez de Tagle

Posted on September 26, 2009 at 8:00 am

Anna Maria Perez de Tagle is one of the bright new stars who “light up the sky like a flame” in the new re-booting of the 1980 classic film, “Fame.” I was lucky to get to interview her about the film.
NM: How is this version of “Fame” different from the original? If they make one 20 years from now, what will it be like?
AMPdT: “Fame” is more of reinvention rather than a remake of the 1980s hit movie. This time It follows 10 students throughout their personal and professional lives at the NY Academy of Performing Arts high school. It’s different because it’s more contemporary and modern for our generation like the music and the dance numbers. I think 20 years from now the next “Fame” would be patterned after our “Fame.’
NM: Which do you like more, singing or acting, and why?
AMPdT: When I was younger, I always wanted to be a singer. Singing was my first love then it all fell into acting, but once I started working I grew to love acting just as much as I loved to sing.
NM: What was your first performing job and what did you learn from it?
AMPdT: I was the first Asian American Cinderella in the bay area for the children’s musical theatre of San Jose performed at the Montgomery Theatre. I learned everything from musical theatre–I loved the feeling of being on stage and touching people with my talent. That’s when I realized I wanted to do more and go to Hollywood.
NM: Was there a movie or television show you saw as a child that made you say, “That is what I want to do?”
AMPdT: My obsession when I was younger was “Grease.” I watched it everyday on VHS and knew every song. I would pretend I was Sandy and sing to myself to a mirror.
NM: If you could play any part in a famous Broadway musical, what would it be?
AMPdT: I’d love to play my favorite Broadway musical character …. guess who this is and where it’s from…
“When’s it my turn? Wouldn’t I love, love to explore that world up above? Out of the sea…wish I could be……..Part of that…world….!!!” ARIEL from The Little Mermaid!!!!
NM: What would be the best part of going to a performing arts school like the one in “Fame?”
AMPdT: I actually went to the Los Angeles County High school for the Arts which is very much like the “Fame” school. The best part about the school was learning how to sing different styles of music. I was a part of the vocal department Jazz club and other singing classes so I learned how to scat, sing arias, sing operatic etc.
NM: What was your biggest challenge with this role and what helped you make it work?
AMPdT: My biggest challenge was one scene, my favorite scene, with Debbie Allen. I was so nervous to do a one-on-one scene with her because she was an original Fame cast member. Kevin Tancharoen had to talk me through it and he basically told me that that scene will be the one time everyone will remember Joy and actually see my acting chops. At the end I felt like the outcome was very good.
NM: What is it like to be on the red carpet?
AMPdT: It’s actually very hectic. The easiest part is posing for photographers. All you have to do is set one pose and smile. The crazy part is going through the interviews because you never know what will be asked, but it’s still a lot of fun.
NM: What have you learned from your co-stars about how to deal with fame (the experience, not the movie!)?
AMPdT: I think we all learned the exact message of the film which is dreaming big, sticking with that dream and still trying to achieve success. We are all trying to make a name for ourselves in the business so we still strive hard to get to where we want to be.
NM: Do you have any pets?
AMPdT: Yes! I have two teacup pet Yorkies! Timmy, he’s a boy and weighs only less than 3 and a half pounds and Nikki, she’s a girl and weighs a little over 5 pounds. They’re cute and I love them so much.
NM: What’s on your iPod?
AMPdT: I listen to everything from the Jonas Brothers, to Lady Gaga, Demi Lovato, Jordin Sparks, T-Pain and more.

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Interview: Marc Fienberg of ‘Play the Game’

Posted on August 27, 2009 at 2:00 pm

“Play the Game” has many elements that are often found in sexy romantic comedies — a hero who thinks he does not want to fall in love and a heroine who teaches him that he does not know what he wants, a pair of couples whose romantic ups and downs complement and balance each other, and the usual comic mis-fires before the happily-ever-after ending. But it also has some very unusual elements: the sexy humor about the romances of the elderly and the fact that the important relationship in the film is between a devoted grandfather and grandson. Another surprise: the grandfather making the Viagra jokes is played by Andy Griffith.
The movie’s title comes from the games played by the main characters in order to maintain control of their romantic relationships.
So I began my interview with writer-director Marc Fienberg by asking him about the worst game he ever played during his dating days.
It was a trick that appears in the movie, “planned spontaneity,” arranging a chance encounter, or what looks like a chance encounter, even though you planned it out meticulously.
I tried to seduce my wife for seven years. Some might call it stalking — any other woman would have called the police. I drove up to Madison after four years and told her I was in town for a consulting gig, even though I was there just to see her. It didn’t work. My friends who helped me develop these tricks of the trade, it worked like a charm for them. I wish I was as suave and debonair as the guy in the movie.
So, despite the “planned spontaneity” ploy, it is not autobiographical?
It is not so much autobiographical, as a reflection of my life. In my case, only three years later, I just put it on the line and told the truth. I took my own advice and it actually worked. Lying in general is not good.
So I’ve heard! It was nice to see Clint Howard in this film, and of course he has that connection to Andy Griffith going back to his guest appearances with his brother Ron Howard on the old “Andy Griffith Show.”
Clint Howard was the first actor to sign on board. I always wanted him for this part. We had actually gone out to Andy Griffith but he said no at first. We were on a short schedule and he worried that he didn’t have time to learn his lines. And he was concerned about the sex scenes. He is a religious man and he wanted to be consistent with his values. But he said he couldn’t stop thinking about it. The bedroom scene showed older people in a nice, honest, realistic light. And very important — he didn’t die in it. There are not a lot of parts for older characters that don’t have them dying at the end. This movie was all about passion and living life to the fullest and holding out hope that there’s love and companionship at all ages and he liked that.
Griffith and many of your other actors have a television background — Liz Sheridan on “Seinfeld,” Doris Roberts on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” Marla Sokoloff (“The Practice”). Was it an adjustment to work on a feature film?
TV and movies are similar enough from an actor’s standpoint. It’s always hard but the actors brought something even I didn’t see.
What’s next?
“The Machine,” more of a family comedy about a young goat herder who dreams of doing bigger things with his life. Then the internet comes to town and he is forced to save his village. I’m also working on another romantic comedy and doing commercials now, too.
How did your own family influence this story?
My grandfather started dating when he was 89 years old. The more time I spent with him, the more I appreciated different things in life and what was important. When you see these vibrant, passionate lives you more easily focus on what matters in the world.
My father was my first inspiration. He was a closet writer. And I had teachers and read authors who have inspired me to follow my passion. Giving up a safe, secure career, the hardest part was taking that leap to a career that had enjoyment and fulfillment and could make the world a better place. I studied business and started a million dollar e-commerce company that got sold. I wanted to make people laugh, affect people. One of the main things that gave me strength was my kids. It was important to have them see me doing something fulfilling, to set an example for them. We realized that our concern about the financial risk of trying to make a career in movies affected me and my wife much more than the kids.
In the movie, the father is the bad influence and grandfather is the good influence. It was when he started working for his father that he started being less honest. And it is when he starts trying to teach his grandfather not to be honest with women that he learns how important honesty — with himself and others — really is.

Interview: Sophie Barthes of ‘Cold Souls’

Posted on August 21, 2009 at 10:00 am

One of my favorite films of the summer is “Cold Souls.” Paul Giamatti plays an actor named Paul Giamatti who is anxious and depressed as he prepares to play Chekov’s Uncle Vanya. When he reads in the New Yorker about a place that stores souls, he decides to try it. The immensely inventive writer-director Sophie Barthes has concocted a world just slightly off-register from the one we know and Giamatti’s literal and spiritual journey is funny and provocative and always surprising. So was talking to Barthes.
I have some bigger questions, but I want to start with one small one. We see Paul Giamatti rehearsing “Uncle Vanya” under very different conditions — with his own soul, with a borrowed soul of a Russian poet, and without any soul at all. How did you and he work together to create three very different versions of Vanya?

That was the trickiest part of the film in terms of acting but we were nervous for different reasons. He thought he could act badly but not play Vanya well. I could certainly imagine him playing it well but thought it would fall flat to play it badly. It shows you how modest and humble he is. We had both seen “Vanya on 42nd Street,” and he knew his version would not be like Wallace Shawn’s. He doesn’t like rehearsal much. He is very intuitive. But when it came time to do it badly, for those we took time and rehearsed them. I said, “Let’s not make it robotic, but let’s be the opposite of whatever is called for. Confidence is something Vanya doesn’t have, so show confidence. Take directions very literally.” On the DVD extras we will have some other versions. In one he starts to mimic the wind, taking the direction he is given very literally. The one he does with Elena, he did unconsciously a William Shatner interpretation.

That is the beauty of working with such a talented actor. He is not someone to talk about technique and method. You roll the camera and he delivers and he is excellent — in a different way — in the first three takes.
I read an interview where he says he is always being asked to play the anxious man.

Directors keep asking him to play the anxious man because he is so good with it, so vulnerable, such a sad sack, so funny. Jerry Lewis says that comedy is a man in trouble. That’s what Paul is. He always looks like he is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He is very human and vulnerable and has the skills of a comedian. He can go from total slapstick to very melancholic. As a film-maker he is like a grand piano. You can play any note and he gives you this performance. We didn’t know how to choose from the takes. They were all interesting in a different way. He can do deadpan and ultra-emotional.
One of your other actors, David Straithairn, who plays the man in charge of the soul storage, was in a role that was quite different from his usual characters.

David was a bit anxious. He has not done much comedy and this is a melancholic kind of comedy. How much larger than life should this doctor be? It was very different from “Good Night and Good Luck.” But he and Paul had played in a Chekov play together and had chemistry like old buddies on set, very playful.
One of my favorite moments in the film is when Paul looks into his own soul. One of the images he sees is of a toddler, walking and crying.

It is a completely absurd moment and it came about by accident. We had a part in the movie that was a dream I had a long time ago about a baby factory where babies are manufactured. I’m going to put that in another film because it did not work out this time. When the casting agency came with the babies I was expecting four or five month old babies. But they brought toddlers who could walk, so we gave up on the factory idea and used the set next door with the white space.
Tell me about shooting in St. Petersburg.

Russia was a very surprising and pleasant experience. We had heard it was tough but from a logistical point of view the crews were super-professional and we never had a problem. Aesthetically, we decided not to shoot it as a postcard and turned the camera the other way.
Now a bigger question, maybe the biggest. Paul Giamatti is very distressed in the film to find that his soul looks like a chick pea. What would your soul look like?

My soul would change every day, maybe liquid. I go through all those moods.

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Directors Interview

Interview: Jon Brunson of ‘Addicted to the Outdoors’

Posted on August 18, 2009 at 8:00 am

Jon and Gina Brunson are Addicted to the Outdoors and so that is the name of their television show on the Outdoor Channel. Now they are working on a new show that will include their six children, ranging from age 5-16. I spoke to Brunson about how it feels to be on a reality television program and the steps he takes to make sure that his family is not subjected to the tabloid pressures that have been so difficult for Jon and Kate, the Hogans, and other families on television.
What steps do you take to make sure that this is a positive experience for your family?
We do things a whole lot differently from most reality shows. We control everything, as much as it can be controlled. The reason we’re so successful and it keeps the family together instead of a marriage-breaker is the way we run things. I don’t come from a traditional TV background. I had to figure it out on my own, for myself on down. Our employees, producers, cameramen, they really know just one way and that is my way. Every single person who works for us has an iron-clad contract that they cannot take any of the footage but more important these are people who have worked for us for years and they know what we want. We do things a lot differently than many mainstream reality shows do. Our TV show is pretty much outside the house. The kids are on camera if they’re on the trip. We keep them sheltered so much from it.
We’ve had several mainstream producers approach us over the past two years to offer us a reality TV show spin-off of our show, to bring cameras into the house, about how we run the show and have three different companies and juggle six kids. It is fun and exciting and interesting. We talked to them and said, “We think that could be a good product.” But the reason we decided to keep it all in-house and launch it as a web-based show, which we should be launching this month, is so that we could maintain control. It is called “Meet the Brunsons.”
We can always go mainstream. If we control this in-house and establish a fan base we can always take it to a network and hook up with a mainstream producer but we can build the product our way. If it gets too personal we can turn it off, we can just shut it down. If it works well and we’re comfortable, we can always have the option to allow strangers into our house. Our family is the most important thing to us. So we have to be the ones to decide whether the cameras are on or off, whether to keep them out for the day or give the family a break.
No matter how good and exciting it is, if I give them a signal, they shut the camera down. If you bring a mainstream production company in, their job is to get the drama. Their job is not your family’s best interest, it is ratings and money. We don’t run cameras 24-7, which a lot of the others do. If you want to make sure you don’t miss anything good you have to do that, but we do not. And we let the kids be involved in the process. If it’s weird or embarrassing to the 16 year old we’ll tweak it or edit it or change it. I won’t do something to make the show look a little better if it is going to embarrass my son. Family first, product second. In many cases on other shows it is the other way around. They will try to sell you by saying, “It’s going to be good TV, so let’s just do it.” People get sucked in. Even if it is a hit with millions of viewers I will shut it down if it is not right for the family. And I won’t even blink. I won’t think twice about it.
How do you decide what to make public and what to keep private in your show?
“Addicted to the Outdoors” is reality-based, but it is more about Gina and me and the things we do and the trips we make and the kids are occasionally on the show. As we move more into “Meet the Brunsons,” we’re learning. There’s no secret formula; we’re easing into it. To me, the determination comes more on the edit than up front. The footage does not leave us and go to LA. It stays in our control. The crew make what they think is the best show and then I have the final edit. They know what we like and they have a pretty good feel for what we want. And then they bring it to me. There are times when I’m not sure when we’re filming and it looks fine, and other times when I think something is okay while we’re filming and it is not right when I see it.
The product is overseen by me extremely closely. I tell them, “Tweak this, cut this, make this shorter,” and that is what they do. Our kids are as normal as you can find. It doesn’t really compute to them that we’re on TV. When it comes to standard reality television, their job is to get the drama. Their job is to produce a product that will generate ratings and make money. Their job is not what is best for your family.
How has the program made your family closer?
Prior to going full-blown TV/entertainment, before we made that transition, I owned a marketing company. I worked like a mad man, 6-7 days a week, 100 hours a week, but making a living in the outdoors was what I always wanted to do. I told my parents when I was 15 years old that by the time I was 35 I was going to spend my life in the outdoors. I got there by 32, a couple of years ahead of my goal.
Since I began doing this, I shifted gears and started spending a whole lot more time with the family. I always made time for the family but could not spend the time I wanted to at home. Now we spend tons of time together. With the exception of the trips, we’re home, and I don’t got to an office. I turn my phone off at 7 and we eat dinner at the table every night. It’s family time. We both come from a traditional background. My dad was a Southern Baptist preacher. So the show has helped us because I went from working a normal job being away 5-6 days a week, to being home 3-4 weeks straight with the kids and traveling all over the world with my wife, doing things we love, and she’s my best friend. My goal is to be in a place financially where I can able to hang out with my wife and kids and hunt and camp and fish and goof off.
Do you have a favorite trip?
Man, there’s a bunch — it’s hard to pick! We love going over the US. Africa is one of my favorite trips, I love New Zealand. They’re all completely different experiences. We love Alaska, we’re going back there again this year. Canada, Mexico. They’re all a blast. The kids love Colorado and the mountains and the snow. They went skiing there for the first time and some of them said they wanted to live there when they grow up.
What is the most important lesson for people to learn from your travels?
Conservation first and foremost, trying to keep the outdoor lifestyle alive. Hunting, fishing, camping, outdoors — those are traditions we like to see passed down in families. The charities we are involved in are about teaching kids about the outdoors. Taking care of property, game, making sure that it’s going to be around for our grandchildren, great-grandkids, great-great-grandkids will be able to enjoy them.

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Interview Television

Interviews about ‘Adam’ — Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne

Posted on August 6, 2009 at 8:00 am

Hugh Dancy plays the title role in “Adam,” the story of a man with Asperger Syndrome, a form of social dyslexia that is on the autism spectrum. As the movie begins, Adam’s father has just died and he must learn to function on his own. Rose Byrne plays Beth, his new neighbor, who finds Adam’s inability to say anything but the literal truth an appealing quality because of her own losses and disappointments.

Hugh, one thing that really struck me in your performance was your walk, which really communicated a lot about the character. How did that develop?

It was a less conscious process than you might imagine. I never walked in my apt seven different ways to try to develop the right one. It was more learning the ways in which people are and are not tactile, being aware of the feeling of certain clothing, observation, obviously, and instinct. The first scene we filmed was the first one in the movie, the scene at my father’s grave. I waited until the camera was rolling and then had to walk away.

I was also impressed with your American accent and way of speaking — very different from the American accent you did in “The Jane Austen Book Club.”

It was as much about figuring out the voice as the accent. What I worked on was the delivery and tonality that is fairly typical of that condition. Getting that right and getting the rhythms right is what really mattered.

Tell me about what made you want to do this film.

What drew me to it was the way the character was treated, as a character as a bunch of symptoms. He is not labeled, until a good third of the way into the film, so you get to know him before you hear what his diagnosis is.

I understand that you and your fiancee, Claire Danes, have now both played characters with Asperger Syndrome.

She plays Temple Grandin in an HBO biopic. I had already finished this film before she took the role, so we shared research and we discussed both characters with each other.

***

Rose, Adam is such an unusual and fascinating character that it must have been a challenge to make Beth and her concerns carry as much weight in the story. How did you make that work?

Beth had a crappy relationship with guys and a father who was overbearing and larger than life. Adam was the antithesis of all the people she was exposed to. And it was important that the romance took a while. That helped to make her role in the story stronger.

I was very interested in the way Beth’s clothes helped to convey her character. How did you work with the costume designer to determine what would best tell her story?

We talked about it a lot. Alysia Raycraft designed the costumes and she jumped at the chance to be creative with Beth and a little eccentric with the clothing. Beth favors vintage clothing, second hand things. We are a little surprised when we see how wealthy her parents’ home is because her clothes and apartment show that she has eschewed her middleclass-ness. A lot of the clothes were mine. Prada heels weren’t in the budget!

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Actors Behind the Scenes Interview