Mary
Elizabeth
WinsteadSource

Given that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is two days away from opening in theaters, a ton of new interviews with Mary talking about the film have come online. First up, here’s a bit of Mary talking to CBM about seeing the film for the first time and the film’s aging process. Click the link to read the full interview:

A lot of actors talk about not liking to see themselves on the big screen — how does 3D affect that? Does it make the whole thing worse?

I haven’t seen it in 3D yet! Tomorrow night will be the first time I see it. I’m curious! I’m a little nervous, because I don’t know what to expect. And just the period-piece elements, too. I’m excited to see how that comes into play in 3D.

The make-up in this movie is really stunning, too; the aging effects on you and Benjamin look seamless. Though maybe I’m a little vain, but if some wiz make-up artists showed me what I’d look like in 20 years, I’d freak out a little.

Oh, I know! I’d like to hope that maybe there’ll be some magic potion by then.

You still look gorgeous, though, which is kind of annoying.

[laughs] I was thinking, if this is the best-case scenario, if I don’t end up gaining 50 pounds by the time I’m that age … because you never know what’s going to happen! So it was like the best-case scenario to me. If all that happens is I get some crow’s feet and some wrinkles through here [points to sides of mouth], I can handle that.

Lucky Magazine also caught up with Mary to talk about ALVH and discuss fashion:

What exactly drew you to the part of Mary Todd?

Well, initially when I read the script, I wasn’t really sure to expect—just from the title! But I was pleasantly surprised about how real all the characters felt. And the character of Mary Todd was written in a way that was very strong, very take-charge—not at all the sort of passive, “token female” role you see sometimes.

Heading into the project, did you know much about Mary Todd’s life?

All i really knew about her was that she ended up being institutionalized when she was older, and I knew that during her time as First Lady, she was talked about for having a lot of breakdowns. So from what I knew, she was kind of a crazy person. But then the more I read about her, the more I learned that was only really true in her final years. There was a lot more to her than that.

Check out this great new interview Mary did with the site HeyUGuys during this past weekend’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter press junket where she talked about what drew her to the film, why she loved playing Mary Todd Lincoln and more.

Edit– Caps are now available in the gallery.

The site also published their first review. Here’s the short version of it.

But the film’s title tells the whole story and sets the stage for its over the top action and freight train like pace. It’s called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter…Let’s have some damn fun. There are a lot of amusing nods to historical events and characters that anyone with a high school diploma will find entertaining. But it’s the overall feel of the film that I loved most. Beside’s Walkers spot on Abe, it’s a very dark and violent film. Initially I was sure the studio would want to sell as many tickets as possible to a film that had vampire in the title and slap a PG-13 rating on it. However, Fox, trusting a successful R-rated director in Timur, held nothing back and the film is better for it. It’s incredibly violent and features vampires in the correct and demonic light with which they should be seen. It’s not overly campy but it’s just enough to smirk at and you’ll find yourself saying “Really?” only a few times. The action is far too much fun and grabs you from the first axe swing till the last twirl. Abe’s axe is the new bending bullet.

There is another Abe Lincoln movie out later this year but I challenge it to be as exciting as this.

(3.5/5)

Mary was interviewed by Cinema Blend where they asked her about how the aging process was for her role in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and how she’s eager to shoot another action film. Read the full interview by clicking on the link above:

You seemed really excited about the aging up in this movie. What made you so excited to do that?
It was just such a challenge, just the thought of having to progress a life from age 19 to 45 or so. Especially her life, going from a car free young socialite to someone who goes through the death of– in real life, 3 children– and the Civil War and all this darkness. To progress from that point to that seemed like a really unique challenge.

And the old age makeup is really, surprisingly great. Do you know what they did that made it so good this time around, when it’s usually so bad?
I don’t know. We got the best people– Greg Cannom was the head special effects makeup artist, and he did Benjamin Button. Any time you’ve seen it done really well, it’s been done by him and his team. It was incredible to see him work and see how he does it. I had several prosthetics, and I also had stuff called stipple all over my face, where I would scrunch my face up, and when I relaxed it all the wrinkles would be there. And then for me they digitally enhanced it slightly. It’s really mostly the prosthetics. On set, Timur hated seeing me old. He was always like, “I don’t know! Less, less!”

Did Scott Pilgrim give you the itch to do more action like that, or were you glad to have the break?
Well I was glad to have a break at first, because right after Scott Pilgrim I did The Thing, which was stunt-heavy, a lot of running and the flamethrower. I was just kind of tired, physically. So I was happy to take a break. But once I was there and I saw people doing stuff around me, and I wasn’t able to be a part of it, it did get a little difficult for me to just sit back in my hoop skirt and not get into the action.

Is there any vanity involved in that for you? Especially since it’s in 3D. Can you handle seeing yourself old like that?
Maybe not yet. Maybe a little down the line that might become more of a scary thing for me. For me it was just more fun and exciting to see myself in a different way. It feels more like the character than me. That’s something I enjoyed, not seeing myself reflected back.