Now that the Dallas International Film Festival is over, I’ve added several new photos to the gallery of Mary attending the festival in addition to the ones I previously added. Also, be sure to check out this great new interview she did talking about her most recent films and photo portrait Mary did while at the event. Head to the gallery to check everything out!
DIFF Day 9
Q&A for SMASHED
DIFF 2013 Portraits
Mary looked lovely in blue while attending the Dallas International Film Festival yesterday in Texas to receive the Dallas Shining Star Award. Head to the gallery to check out the photos, the first few credited towards the respective owners. Shoutout to Ellie for posting the HQ ones!
Congrats again, Mary! Well deserved!
A reporter for Examiner also caught up with Mary at DIFF & shared the following story:
My favorite interview of the evening was with one of my favorite actresses, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Winstead has appeared in many films including Sky High, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Thing, Final Destination 3, and most recently starred in the independent film Smashed with “Breaking Bad” actor Aaron Paul. Winstead talked to me about her favorite kinds of movies to do. She says that small movies that do not get trailers and that everyone is there because they are really passionate about it are her favorite. Of course, she also enjoys working on the bigger films like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World where she got to play iconic comic book character Ramona Flowers. She and I spoke about my 9 year old newphew’s love of the film and how he makes us watch it with the commentary on so that he can learn trivia about his favorite film. The photo in the slideshow of us speaking shows her reaction to this, along with finding out he went as the title character for Halloween carrying around the famous, “Have you seen a girl with hair like this?” drawing. Winstead was very honored to have gotten the call about DFS wanting to honor her accomplishments and spoke about how well Dallas was treating her. Winstead has several projects that will be released later this year. The first one, which she spoke a little about, is The Spectacular Now which will be released in August. It is directed by her Smashed director James Ponsoldt. Winstead has a supporting role in the film. She also talked about finishing up the comedy A.C.O.D. with the “very funny” co-stars Adam Scott and Amy Poehler. Winstead was unsure of when the film will be released.
I’ve added additional scans of Mary in the March issue of Wonderland Magazine as well as adding better quality scans of her photoshoot from it. Thanks to Martin for the scans! Head to the gallery to check out Mary’s interview where she talks about Smashed, being named a “newcomer” (even though she’s been acting for years), and wanting to write and produce.
Thanks to Melanie, we’ve uploaded over 1000 screen-caps of Mary’s amazing performance in Smashed. Head to the gallery to check them out.
I’ve also begun capping the deleted scenes. The first deleted scene is already up in the gallery as well.
Be sure to keep checking back! I’ll be adding more caps from the DVD extras. Additionally, a new interview with director James Ponsolt, who directed Smashed has been posted online and he talks about why he chose Mary and how they filmed the emotional scene towards the end of the film. Click HERE to read the full interview. Below is James’ reason as to why he picked Mary for the lead role:
I knew Mary from many movies, especially Scott Pilgrim which I really loved her in. That’s obviously a hyper-stylized live-action cartoon of a movie but she gives a really grounded, naturalistic and strong performance in it. And I think there’s a reason Mary has been in a number of action and horror movies: she’s tough, she doesn’t feel weak and fragile. And it was important to us that the person who was going to play Kate to be someone who could be a surrogate for the audience. It was important for us to have someone who was brilliant and had a great sense of humor; who would allow us to laugh with her and not just at her. It was a strong and complicated person. And Mary knew she hadn’t done films before where she was in every single scene and acted this kind of way. So she was nervous and shouldered the burden of the film. The movie lives or dies by her performance. I didn’t ask her to audition, but when we first met over lunch and had a long several-hour conversation getting to know each other, she offered to put herself on tape to give her take on the character. So she did that at home and did a lot of scenes, including this one. I watched them with my wife and we were just blown away by her.
There’s a new video out of Mary at the Independent Spirit Awards where she was asked about the power of independent films. Skip to the 1:18 mark to see Mary’s response:
During the Independent Film Spirit Awards, IFC spoke with Mary Elizabeth Winstead on the red carpet and asked if she’d like to work with her Scott Pilgrim Vs the World director Edgar Wright again:
Wright is known for using his favorite actors in multiple films, so we couldn’t resist asking Winstead when we caught up with her at the Spirit Awards if she would ever want to work with the director again.
“Oh yeah,” she told IFC on the red carpet. “I mean, he’s so busy. I can never keep track.”
Wright definitely does know how to keep himself busy, having just completed “The World’s End” and now gearing up for his Marvel superhero movie “Ant-Man.” When we asked Winstead if she would try to finagle herself a part in that movie — after all, it still hasn’t cast any leads yet — she laughingly admitted that she’d love to be involved.
“Sure, I can be in ‘Ant-Man.’ Why not?” she said. “I love him and hopefully we’ll work together again.”
“Ant-Man” is slated to launch the third wave of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films after “The Avengers 2? hits theaters. It was announced back in October that the movie will have a November 6, 2015 release date, which means Wright has plenty of time to figure out the way he wants to approach the lesser known superhero’s story — and who he wants to cast as its leads.
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! 🙂
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.
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
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
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