Interviews – Page 24 – MaryEWinstead.net

New Video Interview with Mary on the Audition Process and More

on February 20, 2013February 20, 2013 by Jessica Comments Off

Last night, Mary along with Showing Up director James Morrison and from 2006’s Black Christmas (who also co-starred with Mary in that film and played her mother in Magnificat) were at the SAG Foundation to do a Q&A about the film and talk about the audition process. During the Q&A, Mary said that she still gets nervous to do auditions and how her views on the audition process changed from when she filmed her segment in Showing Up to how she feels about them today. Check out the full interview below:

Loved Mary’s responses! 🙂

New Video of Mary Attending The Spectacular Now Premiere; New Review

on January 25, 2013 by Jessica Comments Off

Vibe Magazine caught up with the cast of The Spectacular Now during their Sundance premiere and talked about how the film is similar to teen movies from the 80s.

Also, EW named TSN a “lovely and original teen movie”:

The Spectacular Now was adapted from a novel by Tim Tharp, and that’s part of what accounts for its rich and exploratory psychological texture, but it’s also not afraid of being an all-out teen movie. There are hookups and dates, beer and sex, caustic discussions of divorce, a romantic triangle, and a senior prom. That said, The Spectacular Now is one of the rare truly soulful and authentic teen movies, like last year’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower or the classic one from 24 years ago that this one most reminded me of: Say Anything. Like them, it’s a movie about the experience of being caught on the cusp and truly not knowing which way you’ll land.

The Spectacular Now, like Flight or Steve Buscemi’s Trees Lounge, is the story of a very functional drinker, but it’s no case study. The movie has a deep, touching nostalgia for the romance of teenage life, and that, in a way, is Sutter’s whole problem: He doesn’t want to let go of that. It would mean doing what every drinker, clinging to his adult baby bottle, doesn’t want to do: grow up.

A.C.O.D. Film Reviews Interviews Movies The Spectacular Now

New Vanity Fair Interview; More Spectacular Now Reviews

on January 21, 2013 by Jessica Comments Off

Vanity Fair West coast editor Krista Smith recently caught up with Mary Elizabeth at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival to talk to Mary about her new films The Spectacular Now and A.C.O.D. Click here to watch the interview.

Also, a couple more reviews about The Spectacular Now have been released. First one is via Slashfilm:

The Spectacular Now is everything I hope a Sundance movie to be. It has heart, many laughs, story twists that will jolt you from your seat, and most importantly, the film speaks to a deep truth. It is an honest coming of age film about growing up and facing the great unknown that comes after high school, something we can all remember and relate to. But it tells that story without the forced nostalgia of other Hollywood films.

The entire supporting cast is great in the few scenes they appear, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bob Odenkirk and Kyle Chandler. /Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Variety:

The scars and blemishes on the faces of the high-school lovers in “The Spectacular Now” are beautifully emblematic of director James Ponsoldt’s bid to bring the American teen movie back to some semblance of reality, a bid that pays off spectacularly indeed. Skillfully adapted from Tim Tharp’s novel, evocatively lensed in the working-class neighborhoods of Athens, Ga., and tenderly acted by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, this bittersweet ode to the moment of childhood’s end builds quietly to a pitch-perfect finale. Warts-and-all authenticity can be a tough sell, but Ponsoldt’s bracing youth pic seems bound to graduate with honors.

Woodley thoroughly fulfills the promise of her smaller role as the teenage daughter in “The Descendants,” locating the precise point at which Aimee’s infatuation with Sutter turns to self-protection. Equally impressive is Teller, who makes his character’s adolescent bravado appear intoxicating and then more than a little scary. The film’s supporting players are uniformly superb.

Geek Tyrant also loved the film:

Continue reading New Vanity Fair Interview; More Spectacular Now Reviews

Interviews Movies Smashed

New Mary Videos and Photos

on December 31, 2012 by Jessica Comments Off

The Hudson Union Society has uploaded some clips of Mary and Smashed director James Ponsoldt from back in October when they were in NY to promote the film. Unfortunately, embedding the videos wasn’t an option, but at any rate, be sure to click on the links below to see the videos, and you can see the photos from the event here.

Mary and James Discussing the ending of the film– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-suNyn5vYY

Mary on how she prepared for Smashed— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rm_3Bx6r-s

Mary and James on how they did a different alcoholic-related film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tGfSAq9bqE

Mary on how to act drunk– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh3dfqkvGeQ

Captain America 2: Winter Soldier Film Reviews Interviews Movies Smashed

New Smashed Reviews and Interviews

on December 14, 2012 by Jessica Comments Off

With SMASHED in UK theaters today, new interviews and reviews about Mary’s role in the film have been posted online. The first interview comes from HeyUGuys, where they talk about the film and her performance, awards buzz, superhero movies (and the Captain America 2 rumors), as well as where she sees her career going from here.

The UK’s The Week also says that Mary’s performance deserves an Oscar win:

This small, precisely observed portrait of alcoholism is “an unsentimental movie for the age”, says Stephen Holden in the New York Times. Reminiscent of the classic Days of Wine and Roses, minus the old-time Hollywood melodrama, “it is anchored in a solid, convincing performance”by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Playing Kate with resonant intelligence and healing humour, Winstead is “a revelation”, says Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. and
should be on the list for a best actress Oscar nomination. Together with Aaron Paul, “they are dynamite”.

Winstead is “never less than excellent”as the grandly unhinged Kate who ends up hanging by a thread, says Joshua Rothkopf in Time Out. The self-control in her performance is “astounding”.

BBC News also has an interview with Mary which you can view here.

“I’m very aware my chances are not very high so I’m not getting my hopes up,” says the actress, previously seen in quirky movies like Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof.

“But it’s lovely to hear anyone say anything like that about a performance I’ve done, and I certainly can’t help but fantasise about the idea of being a part of it in some way.”

“I had seen Mary in big action films like Die Hard 4.0 and the remake of The Thing,” says Smashed director James Ponsoldt, whose work won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival last January.

“But spending time with her, I realised what a wonderful imagination she has and how willing she was to really prepare for this role.”

And finally, The Guardian has a video review that you can view here.

A Good Day to Die Hard Film Reviews Gallery Updates Interviews Movies Smashed

New Interviews with Mary Discussing Smashed; New Review

on December 13, 2012December 13, 2012 by Jessica Comments Off

A couple of new interviews with Mary have been released in the UK in anticipation for the Dec. 14 release of Smashed. The first interview comes from The Telegraph. Also, head to the gallery to see a new Mary shoot she did for the paper. On filming Smashed in 19 days:

The breakneck, 19-day shoot was, she tells me during a recent interview in London, “kind of eye-opening… it felt like acting boot camp.

Before this, any time that I auditioned to play somebody that had a dark past or any sort of troubled or tortured quality, people would always say, ‘You’re too sweet, you’re too nice, you’re too normal – you could never have problems’. And you can’t help but start believing that stuff.”

On how Smashed required her to be emotional:

“When you are playing someone who is dealing with issues on a really personal level, if you don’t bring your own issues into the equation, it’s not going to feel really personal to the people watching it,” she says.

“My issue that I uncovered in doing this film is that I have always been an extreme people-pleaser to the point where I have had people involved in my life because I want to make them happy, not because it does anything for me,” she says. “My whole life I’ve been like ‘oh I don’t have any problems, I am so boring’, but making this film I had to acknowledge that I do have problems and no matter how big or small they appear to other people, your own problems are big to you.”

Click on the link above to read that interview in full. The next interview comes from HuffPo UK where she says playing the role of Kate was scary and the advice she got from Bruce Willis on the A Good Day to Die Hard set:

Continue reading New Interviews with Mary Discussing Smashed; New Review

Gallery Updates Interviews Smashed

BUST Magazine Scans

on December 12, 2012 by Jessica Comments Off

I’ve finally uploaded Mary’s BUST Magazine interview to the gallery. Special thanks to Martin and my friend KR for the pics. To see the accompanying photo-shoot, click here.

Interviews Smashed

The Variety Studio: Awards Edition Full Interview

on December 11, 2012 by Jessica Comments Off

A few weeks ago on November 28, Mary attended The Variety Studio: Awards Edition event in Los Angeles. At the event, Variety talked to Best Actress Oscar hopefuls Elle Fanning, Rashida Jones, Leslie Mann, Quvenzhane Wallis, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Emayatzy Cornealdi. Naturally, Mary talked about her much award-buzzed film Smashed. Check out the full video interview below:

If you missed pics from the event, you can view them here.

Interviews Movies Smashed

Stylist Interviews Mary About Smashed and Moving Away From Horror Films

on December 11, 2012 by Jessica Comments Off

Smashed opens in the UK this Friday (Dec. 14) and Stylist magazine caught up with Mary where she talks about how she landed the part of Kate, alcoholism and horror films. Click on the link above to read the interview in full.

What drew her to the character of recovering alcoholic, Kate?

“I was craving the role,” she tells Stylist. “There aren’t actually that many roles out there for women and while I’ve had a lot of fun flying around in horror films I was getting sick of the niche and reputation I was becoming known for. When I saw the script for Smashed I didn’t think that I would be considered for such an incredible part. For one thing, I’d been having a hard time even getting meetings for smaller independent films because people thought I was too nice and not interesting enough. But once you’ve had a part like Kate, and once you’ve finished filming, I think it’s understandable that you don’t want to go back to playing the girlfriend or the wife.”

Mary also talked about how she had to examine her own life in order to relate to her character:

“I’ve always been a massive people pleaser – someone who tries to keep a happy face and put a positive spin on everything,” she says. “I’m very aware about that fault in myself and I know that I paper over certain things that aren’t so great in my life much in the same way that Kate does with her addiction. Seeing that in me helped with Smashed, though, as it gave me some degree of insight into what Kate might be going through.”

As for all the Oscar and award buzz she’s getting?

“I can’t buy into any of the Oscar hype. It’s such an outside chance and completely not what I was seeking from the role that I prefer not to even think about it. I think often in Hollywood there can be two types of roles for women – the strong and the sexy – and because I’m definitely not the sexy I was always more likely to be cast as the strong. Hopefully the more vulnerable side of Kate’s character, the side which makes the audience love her, will mean that I can move in a slightly different direction, though.”

Interviews Movies Smashed

Empire Interviews Mary on SMASHED

on December 3, 2012 by Jessica Comments Off

With Smashed being released in the UK on December 14th, Empire Online recently caught up with Mary where they interviewed her on the film. Be sure to check out the video interview below: