Category: Gallery Updates

A couple of new interviews with Mary discussing Smashed have shown up online and you can now check them out below. First in her interview with Red Eye Chicago, Mary talked about her night out with Aaron before filming, Megan Mullaly, and more. I’ve also added a photo of her from the interview and Melanie made some caps. It’s a really great interview, so be sure to see it!

Interview with Red Eye Chicago

Interview captures

Second, here’s an excerpt of an interview Mary did with James Ponsoldt for Hollywood Chicago. Click on the link above to read it in full where Mary also talks about Scott Pilgrim and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter:

HollywoodChicago.com: James, given that this production was a nineteen day shoot, what was the most important element in the pre-production that contributed the most in making that shoot successful?

Ponsoldt: Probably the most valuable thing was casting great actors, the bulk of your work is done once you get great actors with great imaginations, and allow them the autonomy to be collaborators, and the script on the page is a blueprint with beats, that they could say and do whatever they wanted. Mary was one of my biggest collaborators, because she is the center focus for 98% of the movie. We spent a long time developing the character.

Winstead: James and I spent several hours a day talking about her back story. Even though in some films you feel pretentious doing a back story, but with this I needed the details to flesh her out, because it was a complex role. Everything was going to be useful to me as an actor. Also it was valuable to talk about my own life and history, and to compare how Kate felt when something similar happened to me in my life. It was marrying all those small details, so by the time I was on set I felt I was Kate, or understood he enough to feel I could be her.

Finally, below is another new interview video Mary did with VelvetRed TV talking about Smashed

More press for Smashed continues! The L.A. Times talked with Mary, director James Ponsoldt and co-writer Susan Burke about the film, and here’s what Mary had to say:

“It’s just that things sort of shifted for me,” Winstead said in an interview at an L.A. cafe. “I was always really fulfilled by working in whatever capacity I could. I just loved being on set and working. And then one day it just sort of stopped being fulfilling… and if I have this amazing opportunity to work in this awesome industry and I’m bored, that means I’m doing something wrong. I’m not taking advantage of the opportunities that have been given in the right way.”

Ponsoldt viewed Winstead’s experience in genre films as a plus. Drawing a connection to her previous roles, the director said, “In a lot of ways, that goes perfectly with a person who’s struggling. If the character felt fragile or weak you would pity her and she would feel broken. You would feel sorry for her and you’d never see yourself [as] that person. It was really important that when this person gets knocked down, you’re willing to believe she’ll get back up.”

That said, I added a new photo of her with James to the gallery.

Also, I’ve added a new photo shoot with Mary taken last week when she was interviewed by the NY Daily News. Thanks to Dominika for the pics. Be sure to head to the gallery to see the full shoot:

Also, below is a video of Mary being interviewed at the Hamptons International Film Festival:

Last night, Mary attended the Film Independent screening of SMASHED with director James Ponsoldt and her co-star Octavia Spencer. You can see photos from the event in the gallery. If I get any HQs, I’ll let you all know.

Also, Neon Tommy sat down with Mary to talk about Smashed and the type of research she did for the film:

Regarding the casting of Winstead, Ponsoldt reveals, “I’ve been a fan of Mary for a long time. She’s this very still, constant, strong presence. She has a very tough role [in Smashed] because she has to be cold, but she also has a sly sense of humor…we wanted someone to be a surrogate for the audience who could find strength and go through a lot.”

“It was scary for me to take it on because I’d never done anything like that before,” admitted Winstead of taking on her role as an alcoholic.

When asked how she prepared for her role with co-star Aaron Paul, who plays her husband in the film (also an alcoholic), Winstead dishes on how the two went out and got drunk together.

“I did it because I wanted to experience what our dynamic would be like [when we were drunk] since we had to be like that a lot in the film,” she laughs.

She continued by saying that she knew the role would be challenging, both mentally and emotionally:

“I spent a lot of time in AA meetings,” mentioned Winstead. I went to so many in L.A. and there were so many places to do it and see different people from different backgrounds. It was so relatable and that was my first step…and then I had to figure out the problems in my own life.”

When asked why she didn’t do something like this sooner, Winstead explains, “I don’t know if I would’ve been able to play a role like this five years ago…the years of working and growing as an actor just kind of came at the right moment for me and I was finally confident enough and ready to do it.”

Though Winstead’s past roles have been starkly different from her role in Smashed, it seems they’ve set her up over time.

“All I’ve ever really want to do is be a real human being on the screen,” reveals Winstead. “So finally having that opportunity was really exciting.”