Filed in A Gentleman in Moscow Gallery Updates Interviews Scott Pilgrim Takes Off TV News

Mary and Ewan Interviewed for Variety

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Mary and Ewan got interviewed and photographed for the latest issue of Variety‘s extra edition. Below are some highlights of their interview. Along with the Q&A, the couple were also photographed and you can view their new photo shoot in the gallery. A motion cover edition was also uploaded on the Variety account.
The pictures are both HQ! 🙂

At this point, McGregor was already attached to the project as an executive producer, but he wasn’t sure the role would be big enough for Winstead. Plus, she wanted to make sure that they were actually interested in it for her — not just because he was suggesting it. Once discussions began and they found a way to elevate the character, she was in.

“I’ve been dying to do something properly together since we did ‘Fargo,’” she says. “I really didn’t expect it to be as great of a role as it ended up being. I just felt so lucky.”

Mary on taking the role of Anna Urbanova and how her prep for roles has changed:

“We’re very similar. I’m always really nervous in the beginning, like leading up to it and then having that impostor syndrome moment where you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, I thought I was gonna be great in this role and now I’m regretting taking it because I don’t know what I’m doing!’ And then you get swept away and it becomes enjoyable,” she says.

By the time the day is over, “everything’s so frantic having a baby at home,” that that’s completely where her focus goes. “When you’re off set, you’re just a parent. You don’t really have time to think about how you feel about the character right now. You’re just thrown into bath [time] and dinner,” she says. “I don’t analyze things nearly as much as I did. You don’t have the time to sit and overanalyze and stew and worry and all of those things. You just have to show up and kick yourself into gear.”

On recording Scott Pilgrim Takes off & filming AGIM:

“It was really interestingly cathartic,” she says of diving back in. Since she was already so invested in “Gentleman in Moscow” when she took it on, Winstead had no idea how unique it would feel to step back into the universe in a whole new way.

“As we started getting more and more into the episodes, it was just such a joy. They did such an amazing job — so beautiful and profound, what they were talking about and where they were taking the characters. So, to be doing that with a role that’s formative for me was unexpectedly emotional. It meant so much,” she says. “I tried to reach back into my brain and go back to my 24-year-old self and find that voice again.”

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Filed in A Gentleman in Moscow Gallery Updates Interviews

Mary Featured in New French Article

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In a new article with the French media, Mary was interviewed about A Gentleman in Moscow now that the show is premiering in France. Although no new information is written about anything we haven’t already read in previous interviews, below is a loose translation about what is said:

When you’re an actress married to an actor like American actress and singer Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Fargo, Ahsoka) with Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, it’s rare to be able to match schedules and shoot together. But that’s exactly what happened with this astonishing eight-part series recounting the tribulations of Count Rostov, condemned by the Bolshevik authorities to spend the rest of his life in Moscow’s only palace. One foot outside and he’s dead. One of the women who keeps him from going mad is Anna Urbanova (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a schemer and film actress with close ties to the government, who owes her survival to her beauty and interpersonal skills. “I’d read the novel, and knowing that Ewan was keen to play the Count, I knew it would be a magical shoot, especially as my character is fabulous. Plus, spending six months with your husband working on something you’re passionate about, there’s nothing better.”

A thank you to Best of McGregor for the photo and if any of the translation is incorrect, I do apologize, but please let me know in the comments & I will fix it accordingly.

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Mary Elizabeth Discusses ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ in New Interview, Cast Release Thank You Video

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In a brand new interview with Indiewire, Mary discusses how the animated series came to be and how it felt stepping back into the world of Scott Pilgrim and playing Ramona Flowers once again.
Be sure to click the link above to read the entire interview:

I was first introduced to the world of “Scott Pilgrim” through Edgar Wright, who met with me about the role of Ramona and slipped me the books by Bryan Lee O’Malley— probably a couple years before we ever made the film — and I completely fell in love with them. I couldn’t imagine doing any other project; it was actually really difficult to go on auditions and take meetings because I kept saying, “No, I’m just going to do this movie. I don’t really want to do any of the other ones.” So, I was pretty obsessed with it.

Then at some point, when things started to become a bit more real, Edgar created all these parties and events with other people involved in the project and, very quickly, we became pretty close as a group; all of us would hang out and go to dinners and go to movies and to Edgar’s parties, and it became almost like this college experience. We were all majoring in “Scott Pilgrim” together. That’s where I met Bryan, who I always remember being the quiet guy, the shy guy, which was funny considering he was the person who started it all. But I always remember and respected that he didn’t need to show off how talented and smart he was. He let the work speak for itself — and it did. We all just loved it so much.

So did BenDavid. I first met BenDavid at a party about a year after “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” had come out. He came up to me and my then-husband at the time and gushed about “Scott Pilgrim” — just kind of nonstop about how he was the biggest fan of it in the world. Then he became one of our closest friends, and through us, became one of Bryan’s closest friends. I’m basically taking credit for the two of them, but this amazing kismet happened, and they found each other and were able to collaborate.

There’s also something that just pops off the page when you’re reading Bryan and BenDavid’s scripts. You can see so clearly what the story’s going to be. We had Science Saru, these incredible animators, bringing it to life — basing it on the comics but obviously adding their own twist to it, so there was definitely an element of surprise for me watching the show. But at the same time, there’s something really visual about the writing and the comedic visual cues Bryan and BenDavid put into the scripts. You know how it’s going to play out visually, which is fantastic.

On “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” it was incredibly cathartic for me to get to play this version of Ramona; to get to see her go down this road and to have so much agency, for her to be making so many choices for herself and propelling the story forward herself. I was so happy to get to go through that with her. Bryan and BenDavid pulled it off in such a profound and beautiful way.

In related news, the Scott Pilgrim Takes Off cast also released a thank you video to the fans for their continued support of the series and books, having allowed them to make the show in the first place after its cult status for the film grew over the years. You can view the video here.

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‘Sky High’ Director Discusses Potential Sequel

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In a new interview with Comicbook.com, Sky High director Mike Mitchell talked about the scrapped plans for a potential Sky High sequel and where we would see the cast of characters today.

“All the original kids would be back again, including Cousin Greg. That was one of his first films,” Mitchell said of Sky High star Nicholas Braun, who went on to have a career-defining role in HBO’s Succession as the aforementioned Cousin Greg. “Mary Elizabeth Winsted as Royal Pain, Kurt Russell would have to be back as well.”

As for what Braun’s Zack Attack, Winstead’s Royal Pain, Russell’s The Commander and others would be up to, Mitchell revealed that all the former students would now be teachers at a new collegiate superhero campus.

“We figured all the kids are now grown up and they’re all university teachers at a place called Save U,” Mitchell continued. “You just take all that fun and we bring it from the high school into the college years. It would be such a blast.”

Mitchell also made it clear that he would make it a priority to bring back the original ensemble for a hypothetical second installment.

I truly hope this happens one day! They’ve asked him over the years if he would ever want to make a sequel for the first film that came out back in 2005 & he’s always been so enthusiastic about any ideas he’s had for it!

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Latest Interviews with Mary

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Below I’ve decided to add a couple new interviews Mary has done lately promoting ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ and the Netflix anime series ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’. First up is an in-person interview she did with Ewan in Los Angeles for the Los Angeles time. The event took place at the end of April and a few photos from that event can be seen here.

Secondly, Mary also did a lengthy interview with the SAG-AFTRA foundation discussing her work on the animated Netflix series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off as well as working on AGIM. This was one of my favorite interviews with her! She’s so humble and I just loved watching this as a whole. Very lovely.

Mary also did an interview with Town & Country Magazine talking about playing Anna Urbanova in the series. Be sure to click the link above to read it in full:

What made playing Anna something you wanted to do?
It was such an amazing opportunity. Every aspect of it just sang with potential to be the best thing possible, beginning with the novel, which I had read already, and knowing that Ewan was attached to play the Count. I knew that that was going to be something magical. It felt like a real no brainer to want to be involved on top of the opportunity to play an incredibly fabulous character. Also, I got to be with my husband for six months and work on something that excited us both. There’s nothing better than that.

To create the character, did you use materials beyond the script or the book that inspired it?
The book, of course, was an amazing starting place; Amor Toles wrote such incredibly wonderful characters. In addition to that, I wanted to have something that I could hang my hat on in terms of the history of real actresses at that time, and the real Russian women of that day who were in her position. It’s a bit difficult to find a lot of information, but I did find a few. One was named Alla Nazimova, and I felt she resembled Anna the most—she was also the most fascinating to learn about. She had an incredible backstory that was quite heartbreaking, and I held onto that for Anna.

Is there anything about the production—which has these incredible sets and costumes—that you hope audiences notice? Any kind of Easter eggs we should be looking for?
There are subtleties, especially in the wardrobe, hair, and makeup. Obviously, we go through different eras, which is fun to see, but for Anna, I thought it was so lovely to have not only the evolution in terms of time but also of her as a person. She becomes so much softer, and we see her wearing knits and flat shoes; she’s letting herself get softer, and the clothes reflect that in a beautiful way.

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Mary Attends 2 New Events

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Last Saturday (May 18th) Mary and Ewan pulled double duty in New York as they attended 2 events to promote their projects. First, they attended a new screening of Ewan’s latest film “Mother, Couch“, which will have limited release in the U.S. starting July 5th in NY. I’ve added the photos to that event and you can view them by clicking the pics below:

That same day, the two attended an ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ FYC event.

At the event, Mary was also joined by the author of the novel as well as the show’s writer/executive producer.

I love both looks on Mary from that night, but the second one is my favorite out of the two! It’s so simple, but classy! What do you guys think? 🙂

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Final ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ Stills and Teaser; New Interviews

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The last batch of stills for the conclusive episode of ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ have been released, and it looks like it’s going to be a bittersweet ending for our two lovebirds in the finale. Head to the gallery to check out the new pics! The 8th and final ep will air this Friday, May 17 on Showtime and Hulu along with Paramount+.

The teaser for the last episode has also been added:

In related news, a new interview Mary did while promoting the show during her time in New York has been released today and you can see it below:

Finally, a brief video of Mary was also posted where she was asked to describe her most memorable scene to film during filming of the show:

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