Filed in 10 Cloverfield Lane Ahsoka Interviews Scott Pilgrim Takes Off TV News

SPTO Wins Critics Choice; GLAAD Nomination and New THR Interview with Mary

Apologies to all for the lack of news on here lately! Been feeling under the weather & while I’m still not feeling totally great, I thought I’d update you all with the latest round of news. First up, during last week’s Critics Choice Awards that took place on Sunday, it was announced (during a moment in the show they were going to commercial) that the Netflix animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off won best animated series! Congratulations to the whole team on that and everyone involved. It was well deserved!

In related news, GLAAD just came out with their list of nominations for the 35th annual GLAAD Media Awards and  SPTO is nominated in the ‘Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series‘ against shows like Netflix’s Bodies & The Fall of the House of Usher. The awards ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 14, 2024 at The Beverly Hilton and in New York on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at The New York Hilton Midtown.

Finally, Mary gave a brand new interview with The Hollywood Reporter this past week discussing her roles in both Ahsoka and returning to the role of Ramona in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. I added some highlights from the interview below, but as always, click the link above to read the interview in full.

You had these two exciting projects that you couldn’t talk about for the longest time, and that’s something you’d never really experienced. A big part of the job is talking about the job. So did it feel pretty isolating? Did it make you anxious?

I suppose it came along at a good time for me because life was so busy anyway. So I didn’t really mind having the opportunity to do the work and letting it speak for itself. There was something liberating about it. That’s not to say that it’s stressful speaking to you, but the thought of promoting something is often another layer of stress. So, in that sense, it was a little bit freeing, but in another sense, the lack of celebration was a bit hard, particularly with Ahsoka. It was unfortunate to not really be able to get together with one another and celebrate all the effort that went into it. So it was nice once the strike was over, as we were able to get together and just have a meal and say, “Oh my God, look at what we made.” Those kinds of things are special, and I’m happy that we’re able to do that again.

When the Ahsoka offer came in, did you walk down the hall and say, “Hey, you! What should I know about this? What’s the deal with the volume? Is C-3PO cool?” Did that conversation happen [with Ewan McGregor]?

(Laughs.) Definitely. We talked a lot about what the experience of being a part of that world is like. Of course, we had those conversations before that as well, but it became a different conversation once it became a reality that I might actually be stepping into it. And I also had a familiarity with the project from being around on the Obi-Wan set. I had a familiarity with some of the people involved, not in a super close sense, but in the way that someone might be a friend of a friend. So you’ve heard about them and you’ve heard how cool they are to work with.

And just being on the Obi-Wan set and getting to see what a positive environment it was, there was something incredibly moving about that. I got to see people working on Star Wars who were such big fans of Star Wars, and that’s something that you can’t really feel and know until you’re there and you feel that energy and what a special thing it is to be a part of. There’s something really infectious about being on a set where everybody really wants to be there. So having had that experience when the offer came through, it made me even more excited than I would’ve otherwise been. Obviously the prospect of being in Star Wars is exciting regardless, but knowing what it feels like to be in that community made it something that I would never want to turn down.

I hear stories all the time of actors calling other actors to vet directors and producers, so who better to ask, right?

Absolutely. It was great to have a direct line to what this experience was going to be like, and it was nothing but positive.

From 10 Cloverfield Lane and Gemini Man to Birds of Prey and Kate, you’d done five years’ worth of jobs that really put you through the wringer, physically. So was part of you glad that Hera didn’t have to get too physical for the time being?

Yeah, it was really perfect for me just in terms of where I was in my life at the time. It was my first job back after having a baby, and I was still feeling my way back into my body in terms of my physicality in the role and in my roles, in general. So it was perfect for me to feel strong and like a warrior, but in a way that didn’t require me to wreck my body, which was still in some level of postpartum recovery even at that stage.

Everyone sounded pretty on point, but it was almost eerie how well you recaptured Ramona. Do you partially credit the inflection or tone you chose for her way back when?

Yeah, I thought it was a really great opportunity to go back and recapture that tone, but also bring some new shades to her, which I really appreciated getting to do. I got to do more scenes with a bit of a smile or a bit of warmth or a bit of cheekiness or things that the film didn’t really have time to explore. The focus of the film version of Ramona was really this deadpan personality. That tone suited the film, but it was nice that the animated series gave me several episodes to explore her and bring those other shades to her. So it was a cool challenge to find that voice, but then also open her up in new ways.

Share
Filed in A Gentleman in Moscow Ahsoka Interviews Scott Pilgrim Takes Off TV News

Mary Discusses Latest Projects in New Interview

Mary recently sat down with Collider where they mostly spoke about her current project, the Netflix animated series ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ and returning to the character of Ramona Flowers over 10 years later. In the interview, she also speaks about wanting to explore the character of Hera more in the Disney+ series ‘Ahsoka’ and her upcoming project ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’, which she’ll star alongside her husband Ewan McGregor. I added a few highlights where she talks about it all, but be sure to click the link above to read the entire interview.

What was the best part about getting to play Ramona again? Were there challenges in returning to her, so many years after playing her?

WINSTEAD: It was a huge experience for all of us, making the film, and that comes with all the history of your old self. There were a lot of things that came flooding back for me, of just the person that I used to be, and having to go back to that and be in that body again. It was definitely more emotional than I expected it to be. I was like, “Oh, God, I’ve been taken back in time and I’m being myself at 24.” There’s just a lot of feelings around that. It was amazing to get to go on this journey with that version of myself and that version of Ramona and get to grow with her in this truncated time frame. It was almost like experiencing being myself at 24 and myself at 38, and in a few months’ time, I went through all that time with her, which was just amazing. It was a deep process that I totally didn’t expect. I just expected to go in and have fun, and it ended up being more powerful to me than that.

I would imagine this character was already special to you because of the following it’s had, and then it gives you all that self-reflection to come back to it. That must have been such a surreal experience.

WINSTEAD: It was absolutely surreal and unexpected. I think the reason why we’re so game to always come back to it and it has stayed with us for all these years is because it was really an influential thing that happened in our very formative years. There’s a lot to say around playing these characters and being a part of this project, and it means a lot to all of us.

Have you thought about what you would want to explore with Hera, if you get to do more of Ahsoka? What an awesome character that is.

WINSTEAD: She’s such an amazing character. There’s such a wealth of experiences that we could bring to [Hera], in terms of either going back and showing a bit of her backstory, of what led up to the moment where we see her in Ahsoka, or at least just feeling it through getting to know where she’s at now in her journey. It’s so hard to talk about without giving away things that might have been discussed in the past. All the fans of her and of Rebels know that there’s so much that can be done with that role, so I would be really excited to get to go down that path.

You also have A Gentleman in Moscow, which sounds like a very interesting character exploration. What appealed to you about telling that story and playing that character? What are you excited for fans to see with that?

WINSTEAD: It’s an incredibly beautiful, sweeping epic story. It just encompasses so many universal themes of love and loss and war, in a way that really pulls on the heartstrings, but it’s also funny and odd. I think it’s a brilliant book, and I think people who love the book will hopefully really be excited to go on the journey with these characters. To get to be in that time period, from the twenties through the fifties, and to get to play it out with my husband and do these really fun, passionate scenes together, was just so exciting. It was really a dream come true.

Share
Filed in Ahsoka Interviews Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

New ‘Ahsoka’ and ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ Interviews

2 brand new interviews are out, one with Mary discussing SPTO and the other with Dave Filoni on what we could see with Mary’s character Hera in Ahsoka should the series get picked up for a season 2:

“We set up Captain Pellaeon in The Mandalorian, and that’s a character that goes with Thrawn, so I’d love to see the two of them together,” Filoni teases. Plus, he points out, a fellow figure from Ahsoka has a long-standing conflict with the Grand Admiral. “His foil throughout Rebels was Hera,” Filoni states. “Pitting the two generals against one another is something that I find interesting.”

So looks like we’ll definitely be seeing some very cool battles between the two characters & of course this means more screen time for Mary, which I’m sure we’re all excited to see when that time comes.

In other news, Mary did another interview promoting Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which is currently streaming on Netflix. You can watch that below.

Mary on returning to the character of Ramona Flowers years later:

“I always had this huge love and connection to Ramona, but I always kind of wanted to do a bit more with her. So to get to come to this point, to be able to explore her further and to get to have different sides of her and different shades to her and kind of flesh her out into this very full person was like, it meant a lot to me. You could feel that Bryan and BenDavid (series co-creator BenDavid Grabinski) really wanted to give her that as a character. And that was really, really special.”

Share
Filed in Ahsoka Interviews Scott Pilgrim Takes Off TV News

New ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ and ‘Ahsoka’ Interviews

Now that the SAG-AFTRA strikes are finally over, celebrities can go back to doing interviews to talk about their shows and films. First up, Mary spoke with Collider in a brand new interview about Ahsoka and how she hopes she’ll get a chance to return to the character of Hera:

“She’s such an amazing character. “There’s such a wealth of experiences that we could bring to her, in terms of either going back and showing a bit of her backstory, of what led up to the moment where we see her in Ahsoka, or at least just feeling it through getting to know where she’s at now in her journey. It’s so hard to talk about without giving away things that might have been discussed in the past. All the fans of her and of Rebels know that there’s so much that can be done with that role, so I would be really excited to get to go down that path.”

Mary on working with Dave Filoni (the new creative chief of LucasFilm):

He’s pretty open when it comes to things he would like to do. He lives and breathes Star Wars and there’s an infinite amount of things that he would like to do, that he could do, and his brain is firing on so many levels. I just try not to get too caught up in it because you never know what’s really going to be able to be accomplished and what’s going to make sense within all the storylines. I just wait until they call for me, and then I’ll be like, “Oh, cool, they’re actually going with that idea,” or “Oh, I guess they decided not to.” I just try to go with the flow. But it’s great to get little hints at his process and his frame of mind. It’s really cool.

Mary also did brand new video interviews with her ‘Scott Pilgrim’ co-star Ellen Wong who played Knives Chau. In the two interviews, they talked about getting to revisit their characters and how the Netflix anime series differs from the 2010 film. The transcript for the ComingSoon interview can be found on their site.



Share
Filed in Gallery Updates Interviews Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Mary Attends New ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ Event

I have added brand new photos of Mary Elizabeth Winstead from earlier this week where she was in attendance at the Egyptian Theater with her Scott Pilgrim Vs the World (2010) co-star Ellen Wong, director Edgar Wright, creator of the SP series Bryan Lee O’Malley and her former Swiss Army Man directors The Daniels.
I have also included video where Edgar talks about casting Mary as Ramona Flowers and another part where she talks about her experience filming the movie.

And just as a reminder: ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ will begin streaming on Netflix this Friday, November 17.

 

 

Share
Filed in Ahsoka Interviews Scott Pilgrim Takes Off TV News

‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ Intro Revealed Plus New ‘Ahsoka’ Video

I have added 2 brand new videos. The first one is the brand new intro for the upcoming ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off‘ series which will debut on Netflix November 17th. You can watch the opening credits below:

Another video of Mary with the cast of Ahsoka was released and in it, the cast was shown the round of toys and figurines that were based off their characters. The video was recorded pre-SAG/AFTRA strike at the Star Wars Celebration event back in April.

Share
Filed in Ahsoka Gallery Updates Interviews

‘Ahsoka’ Episode 5 Screen Captures and New Podcast Interview

I have finally screen-capped over 200 images of Mary Elizabeth Winstead in this past week’s episode of ‘Ahsoka’. Head to the gallery to check out the new pics!

In other news, Mary did a brief interview on a podcast talking about Ahsoka and playing General Hera Syndulla. During the interview, Mary talks about how her house is ‘peppered’ with Star Wars memorabilia, the training she did for the show and her favorite days on set. You can hear the interview here around the 1 hr:06 mark.
(*NOTE: Mary’s podcast interview was recorded before the SAG-AFTRA and Writers’ strike).

Share
Filed in Gallery Updates Interviews Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

New ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ Stills and Interview

In a brand new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley gave some insight on how the upcoming Netflix series came to be.

“I was very nervous,” says O’Malley. “I didn’t know we would get anyone, or especially everyone. We just started asking, and Edgar asked, and I wrote a really nice letter, and everyone just very very kindly and very promptly said yes.”

O’Malley believes their cause was aided by the revival of an old email chain which had been set up around the time of the movie’s release to connect the film’s principals. “The cast have spoken about this email chain a lot but there’s one detail that I don’t think anyone has mentioned,” he says. “We were exchanging emails when the movie was coming out and then this thread went dormant for about nine years. Then, before this anime was even on the docket, Michael Cera responded to a meme someone had sent as if no time had passed. He just said, ‘Oh, that’s funny.’ Chris Evans responded like, ‘Michael, what the f— are you doing responding to this email from nine years ago?’ And then we all started chatting again.” O’Malley explains that working with the cast on the TV show felt like reconnecting with family, in a good way. “We were all pretty young when we made the movie,” says O’Malley. “We all felt like family and I think we have ever since.”

Executive producer BenDavid Grabinski also chimed in on his excitement of getting the entire cast back together to reprise their roles.

“I remember sitting in Bryan’s office when we started to see the emails of people saying that they were interested,” says Grabinski. “I literally screamed. That was the first point where we felt like, okay, this could be a cool show.”

Be sure to head to the gallery to check out the brand new stills and stream the show beginning November 17.

Share
Filed in Ahsoka Gallery Updates Interviews

New Ahsoka Featurette and Production Still

A brand new interview highlighting the ladies of ‘Ahsoka’ has been released, which you can watch below. Mary along with her co-stars Rosario Dawson and Natasha Liu Bordizzo speak about their characters as does Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. I also did screencaps of Mary from the interview and added a new still of her character Hera.

Production Still

Share
Filed in A Gentleman in Moscow Ahsoka Gallery Updates Interviews TV News

New ‘Ahsoka’ Still and Interview; ‘Gentleman in Moscow’ Update

With ‘Ahsoka’ just days away from premiering on Disney+ on August 23rd, Entertainment Weekly did a brand new interview with ‘Ahsoka’ star Rosario Dawson. And while Rosario expressed her excitement in the interview, EW also caught up with her co-stars including Natasha Liu Bordizzo, who plays Rebels alum Sabine Wren and of course Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays General Hera Syndulla, the green-skinned, Twi’lek captain who pilots the Ghost starship.

“What I love about her is that she’s such a strong leader and fighter, and she’s also so maternal and nurturing,” Winstead, 38, explains of her character. “We don’t often see that depicted on screen. We see army generals being these very masculine, hard figures. And Hera has that, but she also has this softness to her. She really wants her crew to be loved and looked after, and at the same time, she’s pushing them to be better.”

Winstead as we all know, is married to Ewan McGregor who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi. So is their house just nothing but Star Wars? “In terms of our son’s favorite toys, he’s got his Grogu, he’s got Lola from the Obi-Wan series, and there’s a lot of Dadas around from different eras of Obi-Wan,” she says with a laugh of her son Laurie, now 2. “He always knows that if he sees any sort of Obi-Wan figure around, that’s Dada. That’s what he knows it as right now.”

With the new interview, a brand new still of Mary as Hera was released, which you can view in the gallery.

In other news, with the SAG-AFTRA strike still ongoing so actors can get better pay and benefits, it was revealed that Mary and Ewan’s new series ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ had a week left of filming before the strike happened.

According to Deadline:

Ewan McGregor saw the strike coming in June, just as filming on his Paramount+ series A Gentleman in Moscow was nearing the finish line.

Like McGregor’s character, a Russian aristocrat under house arrest in a Soviet hotel, the shoot had nowhere to go. Continuing to film without a leading man was not an option, so McGregor, sporting a carefully clipped mustache, gathered colleagues to deliver the news many dreaded: the show would not go on.

Despite a brief reprieve as SAG-AFTRA extended talks with studios in early July, A Gentleman in Moscow eventually shut up shop last week. It had just seven days left to shoot. “He was gutted,” says someone in the room as McGregor gave a brief address to cast and crew.

Share