Last night, Mary attended the Film Independent screening of SMASHED with director James Ponsoldt and her co-star Octavia Spencer. You can see photos from the event in the gallery. If I get any HQs, I’ll let you all know.
Also, Neon Tommy sat down with Mary to talk about Smashed and the type of research she did for the film:
Regarding the casting of Winstead, Ponsoldt reveals, “I’ve been a fan of Mary for a long time. She’s this very still, constant, strong presence. She has a very tough role [in Smashed] because she has to be cold, but she also has a sly sense of humor…we wanted someone to be a surrogate for the audience who could find strength and go through a lot.”
“It was scary for me to take it on because I’d never done anything like that before,” admitted Winstead of taking on her role as an alcoholic.
When asked how she prepared for her role with co-star Aaron Paul, who plays her husband in the film (also an alcoholic), Winstead dishes on how the two went out and got drunk together.
“I did it because I wanted to experience what our dynamic would be like [when we were drunk] since we had to be like that a lot in the film,” she laughs.
She continued by saying that she knew the role would be challenging, both mentally and emotionally:
“I spent a lot of time in AA meetings,” mentioned Winstead. I went to so many in L.A. and there were so many places to do it and see different people from different backgrounds. It was so relatable and that was my first step…and then I had to figure out the problems in my own life.”
When asked why she didn’t do something like this sooner, Winstead explains, “I don’t know if I would’ve been able to play a role like this five years ago…the years of working and growing as an actor just kind of came at the right moment for me and I was finally confident enough and ready to do it.”
Though Winstead’s past roles have been starkly different from her role in Smashed, it seems they’ve set her up over time.
“All I’ve ever really want to do is be a real human being on the screen,” reveals Winstead. “So finally having that opportunity was really exciting.”