Several new interviews with Mary are out today ahead of the premiere of BrainDead, premiering this Monday, June 13 at 10pm on CBS. As always, below I will post highlights from each interview, but click on each individual link to read them in full. The first one comes from IGN where Mary talks about the show and 10 Cloverfield Lane.
IGN: What was your first reaction hearing the concept? I think what is really interesting is the Kings making it, because I don’t think anyone predicted this would be their next show after The Good Wife.
Winstead: Absolutely not. I think when it was first brought up to me, the concept wasn’t really brought up. What was said was “the Kings are doing this new show. You should read the script.” The producer who mentioned it to me does both BrainDead and Mercy Street. Eventually it came through as an offer from my agent and the same thing was kind of said. “Take a look at the script. It’s from the Kings. It’s their new show after The Good Wife.” I didn’t know what it was when I opened it. I was just blown away by the script and what a risky, fun, ballsy move it was on their part to do this as their first thing after the Good Wife. it’s such a 180 and a shift in tone and style and story and a real experiment because it’s just a mash up of so many genres. I just felt like it was done so well in the pilot that I read and they’re so talented. When really talented people are going on a limb and doing things no one else is doing, you want along for that ride. That was my thought process on it.
IGN: The night that trailer dropped, I was like “holy s**t, I talked to her about this movie a year ago but I didn’t know it was this movie.” Was it funny for you to have the whole discovery yourself of what it was actually going to be, after thinking, “Oh, I made this little movie with me and John Goodman.”
Winstead: It’s been one of the most pleasant surprises of my career because it’s not that the movie became something else. That’s the movie that we shot. But I didn’t expect anyone to know about it because in my mind, it was this little movie called Valencia with me and John Goodman. It wasn’t until the Cloverfield name got attached to it that people turned their heads and said, “Oh, this sounds interesting.” It is an interesting comment on current moviegoers and a title does need something now. That’s a whole other conversation, but in this case, I’m happy that it made people want to talk about it and curious about it and that it made people want to check it out, and that there’s such a great response.
The next interview comes from E! online, where Mary discussed how the show is different from Michelle & Robert King’s last show, The Good Wife:
“Tonally the shows are so different. I think that in and of itself sets the characters apart. Laurel’s story is so different than Alicia’s story, where she’s coming from and who she is. The time in her life is very different, so, I think there’s certainly a world in which Laurel could become this hardened woman as the seasons go on, but she’s a bit of a softy in a lot of ways as of now and she’s a bit goofy and a bit silly and a bit of a wild child and a lot of fun,” Winstead said. “I definitely see her as her own character. It will be interesting to see where she goes. I think that she can go any number of places depending on what happens to her because they’re putting her through the wringer on this show. She’s not traumatized at this point. I’m curious to see where they want to take her as the seasons go on because anything can happen.”
Mary also revealed that part of the reason she took on the role was to do comedy:
“I like her kind of goofy side. I like the comedic moments that we play with on the show because she feels like a real person to me. She doesn’t feel like this steely kind of tough woman trying to make it in politics. She’s just this real girl who really doesn’t like politics but has this innate ability to work within that…She’s still kind of finding herself and trying to figure out what she’s good at.”
Architectural Digest also caught up with Mary where she did some quick Q&As revealing a few things about her home life in Los Angeles and how she loved her wardrobe from 10 Cloverfield Lane so much, she still has the jeans her character wore!:
What’s your favorite thing in your home? “An old upright mahogany piano from 1905. I just love the character it gives my home, and I love playing it. It’s not in perfect condition, because it was used in a school for years and years, but it has so much history.”
If you could save only one thing in your home, what would it be? “I don’t have that much that I couldn’t live without, other than my husband and my dogs, Didy, a dachshund, and Ambrosius, a maltese. But I’m a sentimental person, so it would have to be photo albums and pictures from the pre–digital photography days.”
What famous person, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party? “Anjelica Huston. I think she would have so many amazing stories, and I’d love to pick her brain about what it was like in that filmmaking era. I know people who know her, so it feels like it could possibly happen in some parallel universe.”
You can also view a video interview Mary did with her co-star Aaron Tveit.