Back in October when Mary and the cast of Smashed was interviewed by The Academy Awards, they also asked to submit some questions for Mary to answer and now they’ve been released. Be sure to check out the Q&As to see if your question was answered.
Loved all her replies!
In a new interview with the East Valley Tribune, director James Ponsoldt was asked how he came to the decision of casting Mary in his film Smashed.
Can you tell me a little bit about the casting of both Mary and Aaron?
I’ve loved Mary as an actress for years – specifically “Scott Pilgrim”, though, which I really loved, I saw it a few times in the theater. What I really dug about her was that she’s been in all these genre movies – action movies, horror films – and she’s really diverse. Here’s this character who at times can feel like a sad clown, but the movie doesn’t pity her and (she does) not feel broken or fragile or beyond repair because, you know, we wanted her to be somebody that the audience could relate to and see themselves or their sister or their best friend. So I really loved Mary’s strength and sense of humor and just her sense of fearlessness in incredibly awkward scenes, and playing very sincerely in times that could be severely uncomfortable.
And Aaron, I, like many people, just love from “Breaking Bad” and he’s just a super, super nice, thoughtful guy who has this incredible voice and intensity about him but he’s really a gentle person.
When I got Mary and Aaron together, I sort of set them up to get lunch together. Initially I talked to them afterwards and they were both just really, really excited. It was important to me that they both believed they could be married, that they could continuously be interested in this other person for the duration of a shoot but perhaps for longer. It’s worth saying that Mary is married and Aaron is engaged but it was just super important to me. I saw them as total collaborators, so I just wanted them to be as excited as I was. Once they spent that time together, I just found them endlessly watchable and wanted to create scenes where I could just push them into intimate and uncomfortable places, and, you know, they’re game for anything.
Also, in its third week of limited release, Smashed made $44,436 this weekend, bring the domestic total to $149,949.
I’ve added some new event photos of Mary attending the 40th Anniversary and book release Of “W: The First 40 Years” event in Los Angeles. Mary even posed with her husband Riley at the event. Be sure to check out all the pics in the gallery.
Also, there’s new interviews and photos I’ve added to the gallery. Below is part of her interview with Now Toronto magazine:
“I haven’t done a big film since [Smashed],” she says. “I did a cameo in Die Hard 5, but I [only] worked for a day, so I can’t quite count that. I’ve only done small parts in a string of really small films; I haven’t made the leap back to big films yet. I’m moving toward wanting to be a collaborative part of the process as much as I can. I would like to be filmmaker-focused in everything I do.”
GlobeandMail also interviewed Mary about Smashed:
Winstead was knocked sideways when she read Smashed ’s script. “ She’s a completely real character that you just never, ever see in scripts,” Winstead, 27, said during an interview during the Toronto International Film Festival in September. “She always has to be perfect, she always has to be making the guy a better person. She’s on a pedestal. And here’s a woman who’s dragging herself through the mud with what she’s doing to herself, making terrible choices and yet you still root for her.”
The article’s accompanying photo can also be viewed in the gallery.
Public Radio sat down with Mary a couple of weeks ago and due to Smashed‘s release, asked her to name some other films that deal with heavy situations that are her favorites. You can listen to her interview below:
Last night in Los Angeles, Mary and Octavia Spencer along with writer/director James Ponsoldt and co-writer Susan Burke did a Q&A at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater to discuss Smashed. You can see the video below:
Smashed will be opening in Boston this upcoming Friday and The Boston Globe did an interview with Mary (and director James Ponsoldt) about the film. Here’s what Mary had to say:
“I grew up in a dry county in Utah,” Winstead (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”) says. “And my family was pretty strict, Southern Baptist. So I never experienced alcoholism firsthand. I mean, I drink now. My friends drink. But I’ve never been close to anyone who drank to excess. So preparing for this role and understanding Kate’s frame of mind and her struggle meant talking to people who have struggled with substance abuse and simply exercising my craft and thinking hard about how I work through my own issues, compared to Kate.”
She also talks about the types of roles she’s looking forward to:
“I don’t have a dream role or a dream type of role,” she says, joking for a moment that “Smashed” is the third consecutive film in which her character is named Kate. “That’s as close as I want to come to typecasting. But I acknowledge this role will probably open doors for me. And really what I want most from that is the ability to keep working with directors like James, and the ability to pick roles just because I love the character and the script and not because I need the role to raise my profile or for a paycheck.”
She does, however, vow to keep seeking roles that help her “better understand myself and how I relate to the people in my life.”
Also, head to the gallery (or click on the thumbnail) to see a new photo of Mary and James from the interview.
The DC Examiner reviewed Smashed and gave it a pretty great review. Here’s part of the review:
Mary Elizabeth Winstead gives a compelling, Oscar-worthy performance as Kate, a fun-loving wild child who is rarely sober, and rarely needs to be with her equally sloshed music journalist husband Charlie(Aaron Paul) enabling her at every turn. Fairly early on we see these two are a toxic pair, with Charlie allowing his wife to drive off in a drunken stupor, the evening devolving into a random crack smoking binge, and ending with Kate waking up in the middle of nowhere on a street corner.
Due for a role she could really sink her teeth into, Winstead is a revelation as Kate, and will remind some of Gena Rowland’s award-nominated turn in A Woman Under the Influence. She’s more than just the typical caricature of a drunk, but plays someone whose learned alcoholic behavior filled her with a false glow. Without it, she’s all jitters and social anxiety, incapable of dealing with the full force of life crashing down around her. You won’t find a better female performance this season. Paul is solid, but he shrinks a little bit opposite Winstead. This is clearly her show, and she more than runs away with it.
Scorecard Review also interviewed Mary and James about the film. As always, click on the link to read it in full:
Did working with this story make you re-examine how you view alcohol and those who abuse it?
Winstead: It made me look at a lot of the people I know in Los Angeles. I drink, I’ve never been compelled to drink a lot, or felt good when I drink a lot. And certainly I have been drunk many times, but it’s just not something I really enjoy. I love getting just a little bit tipsy, or having a couple drinks. But my whole life, for whatever reason, I usually cut myself off after that. I have other problems, but I looked at the friendships and relationships that I have, and the people who I have never seen sober, or talked to them when they’re sober. When you’re young enough, you think, “Ah, there’s that crazy kid that I used to talk those times,” but the film definitely makes you think about these people, and at what point do you start worrying about them. And in Los Angeles, and this industry, that line is continually more and more blurred. The older I get, the older my friends get, I don’t really know where it is, and I think the line is different for everyone.
And ShockTillYouDrop also had a brief interview with Mary:
As someone who feels more comfortable with films like Scott Pilgrim and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, how was your comfort zone on this?
It was scary for me to take it on, because I had never done anything like this before. I was always wondering ‘when am I going to get one of these parts?’, and then when you actually get the part you’re like ‘how do I do this!?’. But the response has been good and it’s really helped my confidence so I’m looking forward to hopefully doing more roles like this. I definitely feel more confident doing leading dramatic roles.
Is there anything you can relate to in regards to your character?
Oh yeah. I mean, when I first read it, I was probably in too much denial of my own problems to relate to her. And then when I really started looking at the things in my life, and looking at myself, it was sort of like the flood gates opened and the whole movie was kind of a breeze. I kind of figured it out and it unlocked everything.
You & Me This Morning in Chicago interviewed Mary and director James Ponsoldt about Smashed last week. You can see the interview video below:
Ain’t It Cool News sat down with Mary and director James Ponsoldt where they talked about Smashed. Mary also talked a little bit about her upcoming film A.C.O.D., DH5 and The Spectacular Now. Be sure to click the above to read the interview in full:
Capone: You and Aaron do have that. How did you get level of intimacy in such a short time span? It really easy to believe that you have been together for a long time.
MEW: I would love to say that we did tons of rehearsals, but it was kind of a thing that happened really easily, and I think it was actually one of more surreal experiences that I had working with another actor. Just after a couple of days of being in that house and working those scenes together, we both felt like it was absolutely really happening, that we were absolutely a real couple and we lived in that house and that that was our lives.
So when we shot the last scene, we were both really sad. That whole day we really felt like we were going through some really sad breakup, but we’d both stop and just look at each other like, “Why does this feel so real? This is so weird.” So yeah, we did have a couple of meetings beforehand. We had a lunch together and then we had a night where we went out drinking together, and that kind of brought us a little closer, a little faster than if we had jumped into it cold. It was one of those magical things that we both thought was going to be a lot harder to make that connection, and it turned out to be not that hard.
Capone: With the tight schedule of the film, couple with the emotional highs and lows of the story, was that just exhausting physically and mentally for you? It doesn’t seem like you had time to take a break and step out.
MEW: It was definitely exhausting, but it was also very cathartic. It wasn’t super dark. I felt very tired every night and going to bed; I slept good. [Laughs] I can remember James constantly telling me I needed to go get a massage every time we would have a day off. We were working six day weeks, so we had a few days off. I never did. But yeah, we were all tired. But there wasn’t much time to think about how tired you were. You’re just in it and making it work.
Capone: Can you tell me about a couple of things you’ve got coming up? I know the A.C.O.D. is the one I’m the most excited about seeing. What’s the story there?
MEW: Well it’s this big family where Adam Scott is at the center of it, and his little brother played by Clark Duke is getting married. So it’s all about Adam Scott’s character has to plan the wedding as the best man, but he doesn’t want his parents in the same room ever, because it just brings up too much.
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