Mary recently completed two days worth of press for her film All About Nina and brand new interviews with her, co-star Common as well as writer/director Eva Vives have hit the web. Be sure to check out the film in New York and Los Angeles this weekend if you’re able to. You can check to see if the film is playing in a theater near you by going here. In related news, Mary will be at the AMC Empire 25 in NYC this Friday at 7:30pm participating in a Q&A for the film. Be sure to check back for even more interviews in the coming days!
Mary also did an interview with Awards Circuit. I’ve added parts of some of the Q&As below, but be sure to click the link to read it in full since it is a great read.
JM: What made this part attractive to you? There’s a lot of stuff that people seem interested in you for. At the same time, you don’t sign on to a lot. So, you definitely have an idea of what you want to do. What made this something that sounded like a good way to spend six months of your life?
MEW: Yeah. This one, you know, because these movies are so fast and furious, we shot this one in 21 days. It was a much shorter time spent in the character, but a much more intense time than most others, you know? But, it just was, from the first page, so intriguing to me. It opens with this huge, long, stand up monologue. I don’t get that many scripts that open with just one woman talking for three pages, you know? Right off the bat, I was curious about it, at the very least, since playing a stand up comedian seemed like such an incredible challenge.
JM: Has working with Eva made you think about directing?
MEW: I think, for a few years now I’ve thought about the possibility of directing. It might be something that I could be good at. Of course, it’s something you don’t really know about until you try. Hopefully one day I’ll find the time and the people who want to work with me, because I’d love to try it. But I don’t know. It would all have to come together in the right way. We’ll see. But I hope that it does!
JM: What do you look for going forward? Between great work on television, “All About Nina,” which deserves awards attention for you, and how every few weeks you’re rumored to be up for a blockbuster, does it impact what strikes your fancy when looking at potential gigs?
MEW: Well, I mean, I kind of just go with my gut feeling on whatever I do. Usually, I’m just looking for something that I think will feel good to do. Usually that is based on the material and the people and the story we’re telling. That means for me that character is complex, that we’re trying to say something with it that’s going to make us feel good and stand behind at the end of the day. So, that’s kind of what I look for. If it’s not saying anything, if it won’t make me feel good, I’m not interested. But, if it is, if it has a point of view that’s interesting to me, or if we’re trying to say something that might matter at the end of the day, that could capture my interest.
JM: Luckily, that’s starting to include certain large scale projects too now.
MEW: It is! It’s exciting. It opens things up for me a little more. More diversity of storytelling, in all facets of filmmaking, is really exciting.
Additionally, Mary spoke with Entertainment Tonight about the film which you can read after the cut:
What do you think it means for this movie to be coming out now, following the rise of the #MeToo movement and, just this week, the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport trended on social media?It’s kind of amazing, the timing, because we had no idea when we were making the movie that this movement was going to blow up in the way that it has. It feels really special. Now, it’s not just one voice coming forward. It’s like we’re a part of something so much bigger and, hopefully, this movie will be a part of the legacy that is this time and this movement. We’re all really excited about that, that it’s such a symphony of experiences and voices coming forward and that we get to be, hopefully, a part of that that won’t go unnoticed. If the story can connect with anybody who needs to see it, I really hope that they’re able to see it and connect with it.
In terms of Nina’s trauma, is this the type of role you would do research to prepare for? Or are you able to pull from what is in Eva’s script?We had Jamie and, obviously, this is Eva’s story. So, I had her there every day. I tried not to pick her brain too much, because I didn’t want to exploit her and what she’s been through, but I trusted that if there was anything inauthentic about what I was doing, she would be there to guide me and to tell me what I needed to hear. Of course, knowing what she’s been through and knowing what the character’s been through, my empathy for that is huge, so it was pretty easy to connect with that and to go there emotionally. Your heart just breaks, just knowing that anybody’s gone through something like that. And having Eva there, that connection was always there for me, so I didn’t have to try very hard to feel that. But I did carry a little bit of the weight of wanting to really do it justice and to make sure it was right and was what she wanted it to be.