Back in early November, I mentioned that there would be a free screening of Smashed courtesy of Backstage.com and now, their interview with Mary discussing the film has gone online. You can see the Q&A below:
Video of Mary attending November 10’s Deadline Hollywood’s The Contenders event with co-star Aaron Paul and director James Ponsoldt has gone online and you can view it below. Additionally, if you want to see the photos (or missed them the first time) of Mary at the event, click here.
A bit of news on Mary’s films. First, site GeeksofDoom gave Mary’s performance in Smashed a glowing review. Here’s what they had to say:
Smashed is a powerful, thoughtful examination of addiction. Mary Elizabeth Winstead delivers a phenomenal performance, effectively portraying the travails of alcoholism and sobriety without being overly dramatic. Smashed is Winstead’s Rachel Getting Married, making the former scream queen the next Anne Hathaway – a leading actress with impressive range and versatility.
Winstead deserves a nomination for her devastatingly authentic portrayal, and director James Ponsoldt will no doubt join the likes of Marc Webb, Rian Johnson, and Duncan Jones as part of the next generation of great filmmakers.
So, so happy about that. Additionally, Mary’s other films A.C.O.D. and Charles Swan could be Sundance 2013 hopefuls. IonCinema predicted that they could head to the fest come January. You can see the A.C.O.D. prediction here and the Charles Swan prediction here.
On Wednesday night during the Smashed Q&A at the Cinémas Palme D’Or event, Mary and Aaron were asked questions about their roles in the film and how they felt upon reading the script. Below is some of the questions. If you want to see some of the videos from the event, click here:
TDS: When you first read this script, what did you think? Did you know this was something you wanted to do?
PAUL: To be honest when it was sent to me I was very hesitant to even approach something that dealt with another substance abuse. But I started reading it and it was such an honest story of just a young couple dealing with their own struggles. It’s just raw and honest and then I heard (Winstead) was attached and I was just so excited about seeing her take on this role because I knew she was going to kill it.
WINSTEAD: I’ve had never ever had that opportunity before to play a character so complex and layered and real and flawed and all those things. It was extremely exciting but extremely scary. Once I actually got the part I was like, “Oh no… I have to actually do this and go for it.”
Mary, Did you go to AA meetings to prepare for the role?
WINSTEAD: I went to many, many AA meeting. It was great. Los Angeles is a great place to do it because it’s such a varied city. Every different type of person can have this issue. I grew to relate a lot to their struggles.
What was it like working with the director James Ponsoldt?
WINSTEAD: He’s just so amazing that any film he does I will take any part. He’s really good with actors. He knows the right thing to say. I feel very spoiled. I just wish I could work with him on everything.
I’ve posted a new photo and videos of Mary and Aaron Paul attending last night’s Smashed Q&A post-screening at the Cinémas Palme D’Or in Los Angeles. In the video, Mary talks about what she thinks her big break was. Check out the pic in the gallery.
This Wednesday on November 14, Mary and Aaron will be doing a post-Smashed Q&A session in California. Below are the details via Examiner:
Cinémas Palme D’Or in Palm Desert presents a sneak screening of the film “Smashed,” with a live Q&A Session with the film’s actors Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead this Wednesday, November 14 at 6:30 p.m. The discussion will be moderated by Cinémas Palm D’Or host and co-owner Steve Mason.
This screening is for patrons 21 years of age and older and Cinémas Palme D’Or will be serving wine and beer for this screening.
Cinemas Palme D’or is located at the Westfield Shopping Plaza at 72840 Highway 111, Palm Desert, CA
Earlier tonight in Los Angeles, Mary attended Deadline Hollywood’s The Contenders event with her co-star Aaron Paul and Smashed director James Ponsoldt where they talked about the film. Be sure to check out all the pics in the gallery.
Sony Classics and Lionsgate / Summit have opened up their For Your Consideration doors and added four new screenplays to the growing list of Oscar screenplays for you to download including Stephen Chbosky’s excellent screenplay for The Perks of Being a Wallflower and James Ponsoldt and Susan Burke’s screenplay for Smashed, which includes a fantastic speech at the end of the film from Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s character, Kate.
These four scripts are added to the list of six previous scripts from Focus and Universal bringing the current total to ten, but more will certainly be on the way soon enough.
Because of that, you can now read the SMASHED script by clicking on the link here.
To read the scripts for the other screenplays currently on the list, click here.
Back near the end of September, Mary did a post Smashed Q&A at Los Angeles’ SAG Foundation and this upcoming Thursday November 8, Mary will be returning to do another Q&A. According to the official site:
Screening followed by a Q&A with Mary Elizabeth Winstead and other cast members
Thursday November 08, 2012
7:30pm
Los Angeles
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!