Last night in California, Mary hit the red carpet to attend the closing night of the San Francisco International Film Festival for the premiere of her new film Alex of Venice. Mary was joined by her co-stars Don Johnson, Katie Nehra, and Chris Messina. Head to the gallery to see all the new pics!
Thanks to Paige, I’ve added new photos of Mary and her Alex of Venice co-stars to the gallery taken during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival last month.
IndieNYC sat down with director/actor Chris Messina and the rest of the Alex of Venice cast during the Tribeca Film Festival to discuss the film. Below are some highlights and as always, you can read the full interview by clicking the link posted above. And thanks to Paige, I’ve added a new outtake from Mary’s Anthem Magazine interview which you can read HERE. Head to the gallery to check out the full-sized pic:
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is known for roles that are very different from this one, from “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” to “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” Were you [Chris] ever apprehensive about casting her?
No. I saw her in “Smashed,” and I was blown away. And then she came in to read, and her reading was incredible. And she also just had a lot of passion for the movie. It was clear that she connected to the material and wanted to do it. When you’re directing your first movie, or maybe any movie, you need a support team around you, and you need leaders. Nobody was making any money. A lot of these people have families, a lot of them had opportunities to go make money on other jobs. So they had to want to be there. That was something that I required. Mary wanted to be there, and she was an incredible captain of the ship. She set a tone and a precedent for the film that I think the crew, and myself, and the rest of the actors really followed.Mary, you’ve played roles very different from this one–for instance, in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Moving forward, how are you going to be choosing your roles?
Mary: I’m drawn to characters who get to be very human, in that they are a lot of different qualities, instead of just a few or even one. Earlier in my career, I felt like I would play a character, and the character would be [a specific] thing, and fit inside [a specific] box. And I would just try to be that. Now I’m trying to bring all my own qualities to characters, to make them as complex as possible. And if I can find roles that allow for that and don’t box me in too much, that’s the most fun for me. This was kind of perfect for that. And I’m not always going to get that, as much as I try.
AwardsCircuit.com sat down with Mary during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival where they discussed Alex of Venice and future projects. Be sure to read the full interview by clicking the link above!
JM: When this came about, were you offered the part of did you audition?
MEW: I auditioned. It was actually one of those things where I met him and I’d heard things, but I’d loved the script and wanted to audition, not just to meet. I think he was concerned that I wasn’t the right fit, age wise, the character was written to be 35 and at that point I was 28, so it was the sort of thing where he wanted me to come in and prove that I could be a mom and, you know, this character, who’s been in this role her whole life, a young, working mother. The first time I went in, they wanted me to come back looking frumpier, so I went shopping and changed my look head to toe, so it took some convincing, but it was one of those roles that I knew that I just needed to play, you know? It just felt very right for me, so I wanted to prove that I was right for it.
JM: Going forward, what are you looking to do? You’ve hit almost every genre, short of maybe a zany comedy…
MEW: I know! It’s kind of weird, I sort of feel like I’ve reached a point now where I’m looking for the best roles I can find. It’d be nice to find something that would reach a wider audience but I was also really proud of, but it’s really hard, and it’s always kind of a risk. You can do something that reaches a wider audience and it turns out terrible, or with indies, they’re fun and a bit safe, in that if it doesn’t work out there’s less risk, but you wish it would get seen on a bigger scale. I’m certainly proud of this one, but yeah…you just wish they would get seen on a bigger scale.
JM: Definitely. It’s fun to watch how people evolve, and you certainly want to support people you’ve enjoyed in prior works. I know that Scott Pilgrim is pretty much universally loved, but I wonder if that had made $100 million if things wouldn’t have gone a different way, maybe even a worse way?
MEW: Absolutely. That’s totally true. I think I’ve been almost lucky in a way, in that I never broke out completely, especially at a place in my career where I’d be boxed in or wouldn’t really know what I wanted. I’m really only now at a place where I know what I want to do, so I’m really excited that I got to this point sort of on my own.
JM: So to wrap up, what do you have coming up next?
MEW: I have a couple movies coming out. I have a movie called Kill the Messenger with Jeremy Renner coming out, and it’s such and interesting story and he’s fantastic in it. And I just did a movie with my husband called Faults that I’m super proud of. Hopefully that’ll be out soon. And I also just did a pilot, so I’m hoping to enter the TV world soon.
Mary took to her Twitter account earlier today to announce that her next single from her upcoming debut album will be out soon.
I Love You But I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now….coming soon….RT
@Got_a_Girl: The test pressings have arrived
You can hear a small sample of the song here.
Update: Thanks to Natalie, below is the track-listing and you can head to the gallery to check out the album art!
The track-listing is as follows:
1 3:50 2 4:25 3 4:35 4 4:34 5 3:57 6 3:31 7 3:52 8 3:59 9 3:22 10 4:10 11 2:09 12 3:58
In an interview with Backstage.com, director and also actor of Alex of Venice star Chris Messina praised Mary’s acting ability in his new film:
The film follows the titular character, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, as she fights to keep her job as environmental lawyer, her role as a mother, and her eccentric father (Don Johnson) in check, without the support of her husband.
A fan since seeing her on “Smashed,” Messina felt Winstead’s talents were well-suited for the film. “When I saw her audition, I was blown away,” he admits. “The trick with Mary is just to stay out of her way because she doesn’t need my direction…If I have to guide her right or left, that’s fine, but she was connected to the part, she didn’t need me—she just needed me to shut up.”
He kept his silence when directing Winstead, but Messina’s voice and vision as a director comes through loud and clear in the first five minutes of the film, carrying through to the end. Supported, but not driven by dialogue, much of Messina’s storytelling is visual, dropping clues about the storyline in degrees. It was a choice partly achieved by not stopping the recording between takes.
“It created some moments that didn’t have a lot of acting in it and it was helpful for me when I was in editing to find some truth,” he says.
Good news everyone! Mary will be attending two festivals very soon! First up, Mary will attend the San Fransisco International Film Festival on May 8th to promote Alex of Venice, and then on May 10th, Mary will be at the Maryland Film Festival to promote Faults.
You can purchase tickets for the SFIFF to see Alex of Venice by clicking here. Additionally, if you want to see Faults at the MD Film Festival, you can buy tickets and see showtimes here.
Stay tuned for updates on both festivals!
During the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, Mary & several other celebrities posed for exclusive portraits for Vanity Fair. You can see Mary’s photo in the gallery. I absolutely love this photo. Mary looks stunning!
UInterview talked with Mary, Katie Nehra and Derek Luke about Alex of Venice.
The actors each gave Uinterview some insight into their characters, and revealed what they believed was at the core of the film.
Winstead plays the lead, Alex, an environmental lawyer and mother of one, whose husband, played by Messina, leaves her at the beginning of the film. Winstead revealed that her character is forced to redefine herself as “a mother, and a lawyer, and a sister, and a daughter and a new woman.”
“It’s just sort of her, I guess, sort of dealing with all of these relationships, and some new relationships, and some old relationships, and trying to figure out her new life,” Winstead added.
Anthem Magazine also talked with Mary about Venice, Faults and how she sees her career going. Click the link to read the full interview. Be sure to head to the gallery to see a new photo shoot Mary shot for them as well:
How did you get involved with Alex of Venice?
It’s a script I got through my agent like anything else. It wasn’t an offer… I immediately loved it. It was one of those things where I cried like 5 times when I first read it. I just felt really connected to the role and thought it was so beautifully written. I just had to play this part. I just felt like it was very specifically right for me. I knew I was a little bit young, so I auditioned a couple times. I tried to prove to them that I could be a mom and age up a little bit. [Laughs] We haven’t been married this long, but I’ve been with my husband for 11 years, so just imagining him leaving me was so devastating to me. Instantly, I could go there in my head.
This is Faults, directed by your husband Riley Stearns. Did you develop the film together?
He created this himself. I was definitely involved from the beginning, starting from the first 10 pages, so I was excited immediately from the beginning. I was like, “This is the movie. This is the movie that you’re going to find your filmmaking voice with.” I was so excited for him. I never imagined that we’d make it so quickly, so we got lucky. His producers read it and they wanted to make 6 months later—it was insane. I couldn’t be prouder. It was so much fun to work with him and super rewarding.
What’s left to explore? You have such a colorful filmography.
I just want to play complex, relatable characters. I want to find really good material. When I look at female characters from the ’70s from Ellen Burstyn or something like that, that would be the perfect world I would want.
Variety also raved about Mary’s performance in Alex of Venice.
