Below is a new video interview Mary did on Monday during a press day for BrainDead. In it, she talks about the types of roles she looks for, her character’s relationship with Gareth (Aaron Tveit), how she chooses her roles today and the tone of the series.
Robert and Michelle King, the duo behind BrainDead (and another little show called The Good Wife), gave an interview with Entertainment Weekly and praised Mary’s work ethic and how much of an amazing person she is on and off the screen. Below is the excerpt:
Uniting all the themes is Winstead (Final Destination 3, 10 Cloverfield Lane), the 31-year-old actress whom the Kings praise for her presence on and off camera. “She’s a truly nice, genuine, grounded person on top of the fact that she can sell jokes,” says Michelle. “She can make unrealistic plot twists seem real.”
If that sounds familiar to King fans, there’s a good reason why. “What we got with Julianna Margulies on The Good Wife was not just someone who could do the comedy and do the drama, but was a leader on the set and kind of raised everybody else’s game,” says Robert. “And day players — she would raise their game by being so on the ball. We’ve lucked out with Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She does exactly the same thing. People come to the set, and if they don’t remember their lines, they go into the trailer at lunch and they quickly get off book. Because Mary is doing this five days a week, and then she comes in and hits it out the park.”
After today’s press day in New York, Spoiler TV released a bunch of new stills from BrainDead, premiering June 13 at 10pm on CBS. Head to the gallery to check out the full set.
Below is the synopsis for the show:
BRAINDEAD is a comic-thriller set in the world of Washington, D.C. politics that follows Laurel, a young, fresh-faced Hill staffer who discovers two things: the government has stopped working, and bugs are eating the brains of Congress members and Hill staffers. The daughter of a Democratic political dynasty who left Washington, D.C. to become a documentary filmmaker, Laurel is pulled back into the family business when her brother, Luke, the Democratic whip Senator from Maryland, needs her help running his Senate office. On the Hill, Laurel becomes unlikely friends with Gareth (Aaron Tveit), the smart, hardworking Legislative Director to a top Republican, Senator Red Wheatus (Tony Shalhoub). Her other allies include Gustav (Johnny Ray Gill), an eccentric genius who is the first in D.C. to recognize that something sinister is attacking the Capitol, and Rochelle (Nikki M. James), a medical student who teams up with Laurel and Gustav to protect and defend the citizens of D.C. from an untimely fate. As the tiny bugs continue to multiply, Laurel and her allies must work quickly to identify the creatures, stop their infiltration and ultimately save the world.
Today is the summer press tour day for Mary’s new show BrainDead, premiering one week from tonight at 10pm on CBS! I’ve added new photos of Mary and Aaron giving interviews which you can view in the gallery.
I will continue adding new press day photos as they roll out so keep checking back!
It’s been announced that on Thursday, June 9, Mary will appear on Late Night with Seth Meyers to promote her new show “BrainDead”. The episode will air at 12:15 am on NBC.
In related news, EW has released a brand new spot for Mary’s upcoming show which will begin airing June 13 at 10pm on CBS. You can watch it below:
Earlier this month, Mary and her husband Riley stopped by Nitehawk Cinema in NYC for a special screening of their cult-deprogramming film FAULTS. In the Q&A, the two discussed audiences fascination with cults, the kind of research they did to produce the film (lots of news stories on lady sociopaths), and how being married affects their working relationship.
If you watched the video or attended the event, you already know that Mary and Riley will be re-teaming on his next film entitled The Art of Self-Defense. No other details have been given at this time, but I’ll surely post them as new information comes out.
And in case you haven’t seen the Q&A, you can watch it below:
Q&A: FAULTS w/ writer/director Riley Stearn & actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead from Nitehawk Cinema on Vimeo.
USA Today did a list of the upcoming summer TV slate and among them was Mary’s new show BrainDead. Speaking with them, this is what Mary had to say about the show:
“There’s a bit of action in it. It’s just really fun and energized and something completely and totally unique,” says Winstead (Mercy Street, The Returned), who plays Laurel. “I really love that the Kings are doing something so ballsy and so completely different for them. It’s such a shift from the great work that they did on The Good Wife.”
BrainDead is a comic thriller set in Washington, D.C., where new Capitol Hill staffer Laurel (Winstead) works with friends to save the world from rapidly multiplying bugs.
Be sure to head to the gallery to check out a new still of Mary and Tony Shalhoub.
CBS has released a brand new trailer for BrainDead, premiering June 13 at 10pm. Check it out below:
BrainDead is a comic-thriller set in the world of Washington, D.C. politics that follows Laurel, a young, fresh-faced Hill staffer who discovers two things: the government has stopped working, and bugs are eating the brains of congress members and Hill staffers. The daughter of a Democratic political dynasty who left Washington, D.C. to become a documentary filmmaker, Laurel (Winstead) is pulled back into the family business when her brother, Luke, the Democratic Whip Senator from Maryland, needs her help running his senate office. On the Hill, Laurel becomes unlikely friends with Gareth, the smart, hardworking Legislative Director to a top Republican, Senator Red Wheatus. Her other allies include Gustav, an eccentric genius who is the first in D.C. to recognize that something sinister is attacking the Capitol, and Rochelle, a medical student who teams up with Laurel and Gustav to protect and defend the citizens of D.C. from an untimely fate. As the tiny bugs continue to multiply, Laurel and her allies must work quickly to identify the otherworldly creatures, stop their infiltration and ultimately save the world
After Mashable released the first cast photos of CBS’ upcoming summer show BrainDead, Spoiler TV has released even more cast promotional pics as well as the first stills for the pilot episode! Head to the gallery to check out the great new pics of Mary!
BrainDead will begin airing June 13 at 10pm.
Promo still:
