ABC will be debuting the comedy Galavant on Sunday, January 4, 2015 at 8pm ET/PT and the new action series Marvel’s Agent Carter on January 6th at 9pm ET/PT. The network also announced Once Upon a Time will be back after its midseason break on March 1, 2015 and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will return to the primetime schedule on March 3rd.
The Thursday night schedule of Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and Grey’s Anatomy will be back in place beginning January 29th.
Here’s the details on the two new shows, courtesy of ABC:
Galavant – Screenwriter/executive producer Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love, Tangled) unites with Broadway and Hollywood award-winning musical team—composer Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast) and lyricist Glenn Slater (The Little Mermaid, Tangled). Once upon a time, the dashing hero, Galavant (Joshua Sasse), lost the love of his life, Madalena (Mallory Jansen), to the evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson). Now, our fallen hero is ready to take revenge and restore his “happily ever after.” But it won’t be without a few twists and turns along the way.
Marvel’s Agent Carter – It’s 1946 and peace has dealt Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy finds herself stuck doing administrative work when she would rather be back out in the field, putting her vast skills into play and taking down the bad guys. But she is also trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life, Steve Rogers – aka Captain America. When old acquaintance Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper, Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger) finds himself being framed for unleashing his deadliest weapons to anyone willing to pony up the cash, he contacts Peggy — the only person he can trust — to track down those responsible, dispose of the weapons and clear his name. He empowers his butler, Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy), to be at her beck and call when needed to help assist her as she investigates and tracks down those responsible for releasing these weapons of mass destruction. If caught going on these secret missions for Stark, Peggy could be targeted as a traitor and spend the rest of her days in prison – or worse.
I have known Brit Marling for a long time now. I saw both Another Earth and Sound of My Voice at Sundance 2011 and she said I was the first person to see both. I’ve been interviewing her for multiple websites and features, so she remembers me and our continuing discussions. And I’ve been pitching her to play Supergirl. You see it, right?
This weekend you can see Marling in The Better Angels, the directorial debut of A.J. Edwards. It tells the story of young Abraham Lincoln (Braydon Denney) growing up. Marling plays his biological mother, Nancy Lincoln. When she was in Los Angeles to discuss The Better Angels, I got a chance to speak to her again, and we pretty much picked up right where we left off.
Brit Marling: “Tell me some stories, or I’ll tell you some, whichever you prefer.”
Showbiz Junkies: I do have a story. I saw the film Christopher Denham directed, Preservation.
Brit Marling: “I haven’t seen it yet.”
It was great.
Brit Marling: “Oh, good. I can’t wait to see it.”
Did you know he was a director when you worked with him on Sound of My Voice?
Brit Marling: “I didn’t know. I knew that he was interested in directing and I think Chris is capable of, my goodness, anything. He’s so smart and so talented. I’m really excited to see this film. In Sound of My Voice, he just blew me away. I think we’ve talked about this before, that scene where Maggie breaks him down.”
The apple?
Brit Marling: “Yeah, when they’re all sitting in that circle about throwing up the apple. Chris was just like right there every time. Every take on his side, every take on my side, just this full unrestrained feeling. That’s not easy to cull up even once, let alone 24 times in a row. So I think he’s a magnificent actor and I’d love to see what he’s doing as a director.”
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there is going to be a Supergirl TV show.
Brit Marling: “What?”
I know this is different than I had planned. I thought it would be a movie.
Brit Marling: “Doesn’t matter.”
I know TV is a much longer commitment, but would you audition for the Supergirl pilot?
Brit Marling: “Who’s making it?”
I think Zal should direct it.
Brit Marling: [Laughs] “Let’s talk to Zal. We should give Zal a call and we should be like, ‘Hey, Zal. What do you think about this?’ I think TV’s really exciting. I’m fascinated by that landscape. There are so many awesome things on right now and really great characters that can develop over time. I’d be totally open to doing the right thing in television, the right story.”
I think this is the first time we’ve spoken for a film you acted in without writing. As an actor, are you good at memorizing lines?
Brit Marling: “You know, I am very good at it. I did this job with Danny Boyle in London recently in which it was six hours of storytelling. Sometimes the lines would come overnight and it would be a lot. These characters talk very fast. It’s a British comedy so it’s lots of dialogue and lots of speeches. You would have to look at it that night and in the makeup chair in the morning and just be ready to go because there wasn’t time to do more than two takes. That was really intense and by the end of that six months, I was in a place where I could read a scene twice and just be ready to go. My memorization skills have seriously improved, yeah.”
Is it easier when you’ve written the script?
Brit Marling: “Certainly, because you’ve been with those words for so long that they’re kind of second nature, but sometimes it’s harder when you’ve written the script because you’ve spent so much time in the writers world, which means you’ve lived the story from every character’s perspective. When you come into act, you have to let go of all of that information. You have to let go of all of those points of view that you once occupied to write the story in order to just live in your own, so that can be tricky.”
As an acting gig, did you audition for The Better Angels?
Brit Marling: “I didn’t. I read the script. Hilda, my agent, sent me the script and I thought it was really beautiful. Then I spoke with A.J. [Edwards] on the phone and I was so moved by what he wanted to do and how clear it was in his mind. I was really moved by the fact that he’d found these kids in Kentucky to play Lincoln and his sister and that they were untrained kids he’d cast at drama workshops in public schools, living in rural parts of Kentucky.
I loved the idea that he was going for a kind of authenticity and realism and then also that he just wanted to look at this slice of life that was so early on. I’ve never seen a biopic do that. You’re so used to the biopic being all about the accomplishments and the glory. This biopic was like no, I’m going to take you to a time that very little is known about and I’m going to give you a really impressionistic understanding of what happened in those mysterious formative years that made this man who he was. Yeah, I was gung ho from the beginning.”
Was A.J. doing it like Mike and Zal did, making their own movies?
Brit Marling: “I think every first time director has a different approach. I think one of the things that was really exciting about A.J. is that he had spent so much time with Malick that he was incredibly confident. He just could see exactly what he wanted. Sometimes he would even camera operate himself. He just had an idea in his mind of what it was and he was able to communicate that to everyone around him and get everybody on board for this vision. And he created a really safe space on set.
It felt like you had time traveled to that period and were living there. There were no lights. There was almost no apparatus. There were no trailers or tents. You could barely even see where craft services was, it was so lost in the woods. So every day you came to set, if it was freezing rain, you were in the freezing rain. You’re barefoot in almost every scene and you had to really connect with nature and live in this space. Then A.J. was there very unobtrusively, witnessing and capturing it all with a D.P. who’s wildly talented.”
I had a chance to speak with Diane Kruger and she told me how they basically never stopped filming. So she was in character in between takes and if she decided to get up and sweep the floor, she did that in character and I think that’s in the movie. Was it like that for you?
Brit Marling: “Yeah, especially because the relationship with the kids was so important in this and the kids weren’t trained. So for them, action and cut didn’t mean anything, so it stopped meaning anything for you as well. Like, I was Braydon’s mother from the first moment I met him, all the way ‘til the day I left. That was the relationship that you felt even at lunch. I felt like I needed to make sure he was eating his vegetables. That’s a maternal instinct that I haven’t had in my real life yet but you found it there in that space and certainly lived in it and tried to make the kids feel that this imagined world was a bubble that we were all gonna just stay in until the last day of shooting.”
Was The Better Angels the first period piece you had ever done?
Brit Marling: “It was. Keeping Room was the second.”
Are they similar periods?
Brit Marling: “That was the Civil War and that was set in South Carolina, but interesting in that they were both wanting to be really true to the world. Both of them, the directors were really interested in the accents not being what people think it sounded like then but actually being what it sounded like then, which isn’t always the most pleasant sound. It’s certainly stranger than what you think of as a more common Southern accent, stranger and more specific.”
Is the accent the key to doing a period piece, or are there a lot more factors?
Brit Marling: “I think it’s about a real surrender and about letting go and about using the space to help you let go. Like, I remember feeling during both of those movies that I didn’t want to be on my phone too much, and I stopped checking my e-mails often. I didn’t want to have a relationship with my computer because it felt anachronistic to where you were all day long. I think also A.J. was really good about creating a space that allowed for that kind of time travel. I mean, that log cabin was built to specification and it was only with materials that they would’ve had them. The costume designer was wildly talented. A lot of it was hand sewn. This corset that she made must have taken her days to do all this hand stitching and the actual reeds that they would have used as a corset in that period underneath the fabric. Nobody ever saw that corset, but every morning when I put it on, I felt like I was being cinched into that character. Those things help you time travel.”
Your 2013 convocation speech for Georgetown is on YouTube so I watched it. Did you give a speech when you graduated as valedictorian?
Brit Marling: “I did, yeah. Hopefully nobody filmed that.”
What did you talk about in that speech and no one filmed it? No one anticipated this might be worth something?
Brit Marling: “It’s somewhere in the archives, maybe. If I remember, I think it was a bit of a provocative speech. I think some people really loved it and some people didn’t like it so much, because I think I had said that I felt that perfectionism was really dangerous.”
It totally is!
Brit Marling: “And getting straight As can be dangerous.”
“Perfect” is a corrupt concept.
Brit Marling: “It is a corrupt concept and it also can mean that you’re not challenging the system enough, that you’re sort of accepting it wholesale. So I think I talked about that a bit which I don’t know if people enjoyed it or if it ruffled some feathers.”
I want to hear that speech, but in 2013 you talked about how important the relationships you form in college are. It breaks my heart when I hear kids saying they’re going to skip college because they’re going to miss out on those relationships. Have you felt any impact in encouraging kids to go to college and form those relationships? What do you think of this rejection of college?
Brit Marling: “It’s such an interesting question. I think kids on the whole are in a really challenging time. I think with my generation there was more of a linear path that you thought you could follow. Work really hard in high school, get good grades, go to school, go to college, try to get into the best university you can, get a really good GPA, get great summer internships, get a good job. It will be meaningful.
I think a lot of our generation walked through those steps and realized that meaning wasn’t in the places that it had been promised to us. I think that the generation underneath us, the 15, 16-year-olds right now are looking at college and being like, ‘Wait, how is this all going to work if kids with undergraduate degrees are having a hard time finding jobs?’ Even kids with graduate degrees are and what are the careers and jobs that are even meaningful? Does everybody have to go into finance to survive?
I think there’s just a lot in question right now about how to construct a meaningful life and what that looks like. I don’t think the relationship between hard work and solid work ethic and leading a good and fulfilled life is as clear or obvious or true as it used to be. I think we’ve had a hard time recovering probably from what has happened in the economic collapse and what continues to happen. So I don’t know. I feel for those kids and I hope that they find ways to make those relationships, because the one thing I think is for sure true is you need people. It’s hard to achieve things on your own and there’s this great mythology in America in particular about what the individual is capable. But usually for every individual ‘success story’ you look at, there’s all kinds of people that were behind that. It’s never just one person.”
After college has certainly changed, but I hope people still go to college, however they apply it differently now. I think you nailed it. It’s about the relationships you form. I wonder if there’s just some nefarious mastermind trying to sabotage people forming those relationships by planting the seed of skipping college. Yet I was lucky my parents paid for college. College is expensive.
Brit Marling: “It is and it’s hard to be sure you’ll get out of that debt later. No, I agree with you that community is a really big deal. I think people desire meaningful community. I think you feel that you’ll find it online, Instagram or Twitter, all these different ways in which people form digital communities. But I think that that doesn’t have the same import or it’s not as solid as real relationships in real time. Certainly college creates that.”
Some wonderful connections can happen online. Kevin Smith just made a movie based on a Twitter campaign from his podcast, but it’s not a substitute.
Brit Marling: “No, it’s not a substitute. That’s a really good way of thinking of it. It’s an interesting addition but it’s dangerous if the addition is mistaken for a substitute.”
I also learned from that speech that the original title of The East was The Daydreams of Spies?
Brit Marling: “That was actually a different story. That was a different story of a film we did not make, have yet to make. That was the first film Zal and I wrote together, a film called The Daydreams of Spies.”
What sort of spy movie was that then?
Brit Marling: “Well, Fred, if I tell you…”
Oh, you might still make it one day?
Brit Marling: “Yeah, we will make it one day I hope.”
Are you writing anything now?
Brit Marling: “Yeah, I’m actually trying to take some time this fall to finish writing a couple things. I like to try to do a couple things at once so that if you hit a wall with one of the stories and you can’t quite figure out where to go with it, you can give it a break and go look at another story instead. They kind of have a way of cross-pollinating each other. The East, Sound of My Voice and Another Earth were actually all written around the same time. It just took a while to get them made.”
I’ve never told you this before, but I’m Franchise Fred.
Brit Marling: “You’re Franchise Fred?”
That’s what they call me because I believe there should always be sequels to everything, indefinitely.
Brit Marling: “I agree. I agree with you. Any good movie, I just watched Basic Instinct the other day for the first time and I was like, ‘I want the Basic Instinct sequel.’”
There is a Basic Instinct 2, you know. With Sharon Stone.
Brit Marling: “What happens in it?”
Catherine Tramell’s still up to her old tricks. Unfortunately it’s not very good because the story behind it is they were going to cancel the film, but Sharon Stone sued them so they decided to just make the movie rather than settle the lawsuit. That’s the movie that came out.
Brit Marling: “Was Michael Douglas in it?”
No, they couldn’t get him. It’s a new guy, David Morrissey.
Brit Marling: “I don’t think I can watch it, Fred, because I was so into the first one. I thought her performance in it is breathtaking. When he first comes down and finds her there by the water, that look she gives him, she was occupying a place of really interesting female confidence. It wasn’t an obvious femme fatale. That performance was really something else.”
That’s amazing that you just saw that for the first time.
Brit Marling: “But you know, I’m sort of like that. I started watching movies really in college. That’s when I really got into film. I watched movies growing up but not with the attention or rigor of somebody who wants to make them. It was only in college that I started to think, oh yeah, I’m interested in filmmaking. Then I was trying to play catch up but I’m behind.”
But just because Basic Instinct 2 wasn’t good, I still think they should make Basic Instinct 3 and keep trying to tell good stories about Catherine Tramell. There’s always another good story to tell.
Brit Marling: “You think? You really think that’s true? I know what you mean about sequels to things that don’t full resolve.”
No, I think if something resolves, those characters have more adventures.
Brit Marling: “I’ll tell you what I would like a sequel to. Princess Bride with Robin Wright-Penn now. What happened to Princess Buttercup.”
Yes! So where I was going with Franchise Fred, is there any news on the Sound of My Voice trilogy or Mike’s script to I, the film he wrote before I Origins?
Brit Marling: “I don’t know. We’d have to talk to Mike about that but you’re right, that’s certainly a movie that could use a sequel. So it’s waiting in the wings for us.”
Can we ever see The Recordist?
Brit Marling: “You know, Zal just brought that up the other day. I think that that’s out there somewhere. People are seeing it. I think it’s at the AFI or something. Let me get on that for you, Fred. I’m going to tell Zal. I’m going to be like, ‘Fred would like a copy of The Recordist.'”
Miranda Lambert wins Album of the Year for Platinum with producers Chuck Ainlay and Frank Liddell during ‘The 48th Annual CMA Awards.’ (Photo Credit: Donn Jones / CMA)
Miranda Lambert took home four awards including Album of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year while Luke Bryan earned his first ever CMA Award, snagging the Entertainer of the Year trophy, at the 48th Annual CMA Awards held on November 5, 2014.
Lambert’s wins now make her the top female winner in the history of the CMA Awards. “I don’t even know what to say. I just can’t believe I’m standing here,” said Lambert while on stage. “I can’t believe this is my life, that this is my job. Thank you, fans, for that.”
Bryan’s win in the night’s top category took him by surprise and backstage he spoke about what it meant to earn his first CMA Award. “I have longed and sought for many years to get one of these in my hands,” said Bryan. “To get the respect of the CMA Board and all its voters and win this is a ginormous deal. It’s something that I could not express when I was out on stage when I was winning it. I can’t help but in the back of my mind want some of that respect from this body of people. I’m just really humbled.”
2014 CMA Awards Winners:
Entertainer of the Year
Luke Bryan
Album of the Year Automatic, Miranda Lambert
Produced by Chuck Ainlay, Frank Liddell, and Glenn Worf
Female Vocalist of the Year
Miranda Lambert
Male Vocalist of the Year
Blake Shelton
Song of the Year
“Follow Your Arrow,” by Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally
Single of the Year
“Automatic,” Miranda Lambert
Vocal Group of the Year
Little Big Town
Vocal Duo of the Year
Florida Georgia Line
New Artist of the Year
Brett Eldredge
Music Event of the Year
“We Were Us,” by Keith Urban featuring Miranda Lambert
Music Video of the Year
“Drunk on a Plane,” Dierks Bentley (directed by Wes Edwards)
Marco Polo executive producer Daniel Minahan explains that Marco Polo’s adventures are so legendary that there is a wealth of good material to explore in the new Netflix series coming on December 12, 2014. “It’s also so fascinating because it is partially legend and partially historical,” says Minahan in the new behind-the-scenes video from the upcoming action adventure series.
And series creator/executive producer John Fusco says that most viewers will be surprised to learn the incredible true story of Marco Polo, calling it more compelling even than the mythology.
The cast is led by Lorenzo Richelmy as Marco Polo and features Benedict Wong, Joan Chen, Chin Han, Zhu Zhu, Olivia Cheng, Claudia Kim, Mahesh Jadu, Tom Wu, Remy Hii, Uli Latukefu, and Rick Yune.
Lorenzo Richelmy in ‘Marco Polo’ (Photo by Netflix)
The Plot:
In a world replete with greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry, Marco Polo is based on the famed explorer’s adventures in Kublai Khan’s court in 13th-century China.
Nickelback will be on the road in 2015, kicking off their lengthy No Fixed Address tour on February 14th in Allentown, PA. The group’s planned 61 concerts spread out all over the U.S. and Canada, with stops set to include Toronto, Nashville, Omaha, Tampa, and Los Angeles. The 2015 tour will be in support of their new album, No Fixed Address, dropping on November 17th.
Tickets for the tour go on sale on November 15th via livenation.com, with a special pre-sale taking place for fan club members on November 7th.
NICKELBACK’S NO FIXED ADDRESS TOUR – NORTH AMERICAN DATES
* Date includes special guests, The Pretty Reckless
Feb. 14 Allentown, PA PPL Center*
Feb. 15 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena*
Feb. 17 Ottawa, ON Canadian Tire Centre*
Feb. 18 Montreal, QC Bell Centre*
Feb. 21 London, ON Budweiser Gardens*
Feb. 22 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre*
Feb. 24 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena*
Feb. 25 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center*
Feb. 27 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena*
Feb. 28 Moline, IL iWireless Center*
March 02 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center*
March 03 Sioux Falls, IA Denny Sanford PREMIER Center*
March 05 Omaha, NE CenturyLink Center*
March 06 Minneapolis, MN Target Center*
March 08 Winnipeg, SK MTS Centre*
March 10 Saskatoon, SK SaskTel Centre*
March 12 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome*
March 13 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place*
March 15 Vancouver, BC Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena*
March 22 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
March 24 Charleston, SC North Charleston Coliseum
March 25 Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
March 27 Tampa, FL MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
March 28 West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre
March 31 Lafayette, LA Cajundome
April 01 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
April 03 Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion
April 04 Austin, TX Austin360 Amphitheater
April 07 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
June 19 Portland, OR Sleep Country Amphitheater
June 20 George, WA The Gorge
June 23 Wheatland, CA Sleep Train Amphitheatre
June 24 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
June 26 Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
June 27 San Diego, CA Sleep Train Amphitheatre
June 30 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheater
July 01 Phoenix, AZ Ak-Chin Pavilion
July 03 Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay Events Center
July 05 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
July 07 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
July 10 Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheater
July 11 Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Center
July 14 Des Moines, IA Wells Fargo Arena (on sale TBA)
July 29 St Louis, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
July 31 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
Aug. 01 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
Aug. 04 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
Aug. 07 Darien Lake, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
Aug. 08 Hershey, PA Hershey Park Pavilion
Aug. 11 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Aug. 12 Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion
Aug. 14 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
Aug. 15 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Arena
Aug. 18 Mansfield, MA Xfinity Center
Aug. 19 Bangor, ME Waterfront Park
Aug. 21 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
Aug. 22 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
Aug. 25 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
Aug. 26 Virginia Beach, VA Farm Bureau Live
Aug. 28 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
Aug. 29 Atlanta, GA Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood
Celebrating Gone With the Wind’s 75th anniversary in 2014, film buffs know only two original cast members survive. The first and foremost, of course, is Olivia de Havilland, now 98 years old and living in Paris. She played the beloved Melanie, the sweet one. She’s outlived the film’s stars Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable as well as the rest of the formidable cast that included Ann Rutherford, Evelyn Keyes, Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, and Leslie Howard.
But there is another of the cast members still alive today at the age of 82. He’s actor Mickey Kuhn, who played Beau Wilkes, the very young son of Ashley Wilkes and his wife Melanie. As Melanie lies dying, Howard was worried Mickey might not be up to the emotional scene and be able to cry on cue. Director Victor Fleming told Howard not to worry. As they began the scene, Fleming asked Mickey how he would feel if his own little puppy died. That did it, and as Mickey came onto the set, the flow of tears began and he completed the scene with acting veteran Howard in one take. Sometimes kid actors aren’t so bad!
Theodore Michael Kuhn was born September 12, 1932 in Waukegan, Illinois, the same town in which radio/television/film comedian Jack Benny was born. It was the depth of the Depression and jobs were hard to find. Mickey and his family pulled up roots and moved out to California where his father found work in Los Angeles. By coincidence, Mickey inadvertently became a money maker when 20th Century Fox discovered him at age two and cast him with current box office favorites Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell (who later established the fame Racquet Club in Palm Springs for celebrities) in the film Change of Heart.
He took a few years off to attend school and returned to the studios in 1937 at age five to appear in Paramount’s A Doctor’s Diary with Sidney Blackmer and Helen Burgess.
Mickey hit paydirt in 1939 when he appeared in six pictures, including GWTW and Juarez with Bette Davis and Paul Muni. He had the luck to appear in many prestigious pictures during his career. Between 1940 and 1945, he made four more pictures in between his school studies. His 1941 entry was One Foot in Heaven starring Fredric March and Martha Scott, which received an Academy Award nomination as Best Picture. In 1945 he again was cast in one of the all-time great hits, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (20th Century Fox) as directed by Elia Kazan and photographed by the great Leon Shamroy. The film starred James Dunn as an alcoholic father to a large family and Mickey was part of the family unit. Both Dunn and moppet star Peggy Ann Garner took home Oscars. Garner got a Special Award as outstanding child actress. Other film greats in the movie were Dorothy McGuire and Joan Blondell.
At age 13, Mickey played ‘Junior” in the Dick Tracy RKO film, also made in 1945. His co-stars were the beautiful Anne Jeffreys (later a hit in the Topper series) and Jane Greer. The year 1946 saw Mickey entering the Paramount lot to act with the formidable Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas, Lizabeth Scott, and Judith Anderson in the taut melodrama The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers. This film continues to have many showings on television.
Three Little Girls in Blue (1946), a musical made at 20th Century Fox with June Haver, dancer Vera-Ellen, and singer Vivian Blaine had Mickey playing a farmboy. Magic Town (1947) starring James Stewart and Jane Wyman brought Mickey right up to his next big film.
Director Howard Hawks was filming his iconic Western Red River (1948) with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift (age 28). Mickey was now 16 and the correct age to play the boy in the film, and Hawks gave him the job. Others co-starring in Red River were Joanne Dru, Coleen Gray, and Walter Brennan (the only actor to ever win three Best Supporting Actor Oscars during his career).
Mickey did some assorted pictures before he was cast in Broken Arrow in 1950 as a character named Bob Slade. It was a star vehicle for James Stewart and newcomer Jeff Chandler as well as a showcase for 20th Century Fox starlet Debra Paget to show off her assets. Chandler received an Oscar nomination for his role.
Ironically, in 1951 Mickey was cast opposite Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire as a sailor. He is the only male actor to have appeared with Leigh in both of her Oscar-winning films, a mere dozen years apart. Mickey was a strapping 19 years old at the time of the reunion.
During this same period, Mickey’s interests also turned to the stage. With film roles few and far between, he felt that perhaps the theatre was for him. He performed at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse as well as many theatres in the Hollywood area. Not seeming to get anywhere in show business he joined the Navy in 1951 and served four years. When he got out of the Navy he got into television acting and did several shows for Alfred Hitchcock Presents as well as making the films The Savage Wilderness (1955, Columbia) with Victor Mature, Guy Madison and Anne Bancroft, and Away All Boats at Universal in 1956 with Jeff Chandler, George Nader and Julie Adams.
His personal life picked up around this time and he met and married his wife, and the couple had two children. Wanting to improve his lot in life, he attended Cal State Northridge and LA Valley College which led him to hold an assortment of jobs.
More or less giving up show business, Mickey joined American Airlines in an executive position and was assigned administrative manager at Boston airport. He retired from American in 1995. He now spends his time as a guest at various film festivals where he tells tales of what it was like to be part of the most famous film of all time, Gone With the Wind.
Minnie Driver from NBC’s ‘About a Boy’ (Photo by Chris Haston / NBC)
Minnie Driver’s now a part of NBC’s upcoming live musical production of Peter Pan Live! airing on December 4, 2014 at 8pm ET/PT. Driver will be narrating the musical and will also play the adult Wendy Darling.
She joins a cast that includes Allison Williams as Peter Pan, Christopher Walken as Captain Hook, Christian Borle as Smee and George Darling, and Kelli O’Hara as Mrs. Darling.
Driver’s definitely not a stranger to musicals having starred in the big screenplay adaptation of the hit Broadway play, Phantom of the Opera. She’s also a recording artist and her latest album Ask Me to Dance features songs by Neil Young and Stevie Wonder.
“We’re thrilled to have Minnie as part of this Peter Pan adventure,” said Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment. “She appears in the final emotional scene when Peter returns to the Darling home years later only to realize Wendy is now grown up and has a daughter of her own, but you’ll also hear her voice throughout the movie since Adult Wendy is also our narrator. She’s a classy addition to our wonderful cast.”
NBC also announced The Making of Peter Pan Live! special will air on November 26, 2014 at 8pm ET/PT. According to the network, the special will feature rehearsal footage, stunt training, and a look at the costume design process.
Michael Shannon at the 37th Deauville American Film Festival (Photo by Francois Durand / Getty Images)
Bloom just confirmed Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and Oscar nominee Michael Shannon have been cast to star in the dramatic film Elvis & Nixon. Shannon will be playing rock and roll legend Elvis Presley while Spacey will take on the role of President Richard Nixon in a film based on true events.
Elvis & Nixon has Liza Johnson (Hateship Loveship) attached to direct. Joey Sagal, Hanala Sagal, and Cary Elwes wrote the script.
“It’s almost hard to fathom this story which evolved in the oval office between these two extraordinary men. It’s almost too good to be true,” said BLOOM’S Alex Walton.
“After the enormous success of The Butler I have a deep affection for films set in the White House as does the public. To work with Shannon and Spacey on this movie at the height of their careers is a dream come true,” added producer Cassian Elwes.
The Plot:
Two men at the height of their powers, conscious they could not stay on top forever, both ripped with fear of the inevitable, sharing one famous private moment in the Oval office. Elvis & Nixon recounts the morning of December 21st 1970, when the King of Rock’ n Roll (Michael Shannon) showed up on the White House lawn to request a meeting with the most powerful man in the world, President Richard Nixon (Kevin Spacey). He had a very urgent request: to be sworn in as an undercover Federal Agent at large. This intimate moment in the Oval office between two men at the height of their powers has never been told.
Matt Ryan as John Constantine in ‘Constantine’ (Photo by Quantrell Colbert / NBC)
One of NBC’s breakout fall shows is the new dramatic action series Constantine based on the “Hellblazer” DC Comics property and developed for the small screen by Daniel Cerone (Dexter) and David S. Goyer (screenwriter of The Dark Knight trilogy). The cast is led by Welsh actor Matt Ryan who tackles the title role of John Constantine: demon hunter and master of/dabbler in the dark arts. Constantine’s soul is damned to hell, but nevertheless he fights the good fight to protect the innocent.
In our conference call with Ryan, he discussed what it is that sets Constantine apart from other comic book adaptations, how he went about approaching the character, and which character he’d most like to see make an appearance on the show.
Matt Ryan Constantine Interview:
You’re playing a character who people already know from comic books or from the movie. How is that different in your preparation?
Matt Ryan: “It’s different in the fact that there’s so much source material which is a great thing, actually. It’s different and it’s a great thing when you create a character because you start from scratch and you kind of build it from the ground up. But with this you have such amazing source material that you can keep on going back to that and keep on finding new things. […] So many amazing writers have written him and they all have their own little takes on him, so it’s great that you have the opportunity to have so much material in terms of viewing and keep on going back to.
With that wealth of material to dig into, was there one thing in particular that you really latched onto about John, like who he is and how that provided entry into the character?
Matt Ryan: “I think basically the history is obviously very important to any character. When you create a character, normally you create a whole backstory for him, no matter how big the role. I think that all the backstory that you get throughout the comics, all the flashback stuff, the stuff of his family, his sisters, his niece and all the aspects is fascinating.
His relationship with all the Newcastle crew is something that you can root the character in, you know? So that was kind of probably the most important thing for me is the backstory, really, which was something that you build upon from there.”
Can you take us a little bit through the casting process? How did you come to learn about this part and how extensive was the audition process for you before you got it?
Matt Ryan: “Oh wow, it was quite a ride to be honest with you. I was doing Henry V in London in the West End with Jude Law and the Michael Grandage Company. And at the audition – it was pilot season obviously, so there were a lot of auditions coming up – so Kate Dowd was casting it in the UK so I went in for an audition, did a tape, we sat at the table. I actually had really long hair and a big bushy beard. I can remember my agent calling me and saying, ‘Look, they really, really like you they can’t really see past the beard.’ I was like, ‘Well, you know, I’m in the middle of a play. There’s not really much I can do about that.’
Matt Ryan as John Constantine (Photo by Paul Drinkwater / NBC)
What was my favorite – I’d been on a movie […]about four or five years ago or something, and I actually bleached blonde my hair for that so it was kind of a similar look. But by that time I think I’d already done about four or four tapes or something, you know, with different notes. I already had a conversation with Daniel [Cerone] and David [S. Goyer] as well via Skype to give me notes and stuff.
I kept on doing all of these tapes but still I had this big beard. And then I was going to kind of try and get a night off the play to fly over to test. But, unfortunately, due to some circumstances with a member of cast in the play, I wasn’t able to take a night off. So I kind of had to let that test go really, in a way. I think they used my tapes or something, but I think they couldn’t see past my beard. So I think everyone went back to the drawing board and started looking again.
And then they came back about a kind of week or so later and said, ‘Look, we still really like you and we want you to retape.’ So I retaped again and I ended up doing about six audition tapes or something. And I think one of the notes which was really funny was my agent said that David Goyer had mentioned that we really liked Sasquatch…he’d seen the beard. And, eventually the play ended.
I ended on a Saturday night when I would have the wrap party so to speak, of the play and jumped on a plane first thing in the morning, flew over. I think it was a holiday in America on that day so all of the hair salons were shut. I had to have a friend of mine come over and cut my hair. Then the next day I went in and tested and then went to the network testing process.
I eventually got there, man. It was quite a ride, to be honest with you. You know, it was quite a long process. It’s definitely the longest kind of audition process I’d been through. It was such a thrill then when I actually got the job, you know?”
How did you develop a different accent for John?
Matt Ryan: “I mean to be honest with you, because John’s originally from Liverpool and then he’d been in London a lot and it’s a comic book so it’s kind of up for grabs, you know? I talked to a lot of the guys about it, but I thought that the main thing that was important was for me to kind of try and get the essence of John rather than kind of playing an accent. But then I didn’t want to do something that was exactly the same as my accent. I just wanted to kind of make a kind of sort of nod to him, really.
First, I think I was in a play in London. I worked on doing this with a London accent for a while and there was something that just wasn’t sitting right with it. And then I started playing around with a kind of a Northern accent, a British Northern accent which is a lot stronger than the one that I’m actually doing now. And it kind of felt right because it felt like working class and kind of gritty and it was in the right ballpark. But at the same time, I didn’t want to just spend so much time playing an accent and making him all about an accent. So what I decided to do was just concentrate on the essence of the character and then kind of giving the kind of subtle nod.
I changed certain vowel sounds and just (decided) to give a node to him then. So it’s kind of a Northern accent based on some Liverpudlian sounds, but obviously it’s not a strong Liverpudlian accent. I don’t think that that would kind of be very accessible for a network show on television. But, you know, I’d like to think that there’s a subtle nod in there to where John comes from.
And, also, I’m from Wales but my accent isn’t exactly very strong Welsh anymore because I’ve traveled so much. I left Wales when I was 19 and John left Liverpool when he was younger as well. I kind of took that balance of if he’d left somewhere when he was younger, then he’s traveled and so I just added a subtle nod of Northern.”
Are there characters or storylines from the comics that spook you?
Matt Ryan: “My favorite is the Dangerous Habit one. That was one of the first I read when I first got the part. And there was only two and a half weeks to prep for the pilot and obviously I hadn’t read 300 or so comics. I can remember thinking at the time, ‘Wait, we can’t do this yet. I have to read every single comic before we do it.’ I didn’t feel that I was going to do it justice without reading all the comics. But the Dangerous Habit run was my favorite and, also, probably the most scariest as well, because the fact that it’s lung cancer and it’s a very human story and that kind of scared me quite a lot and was also one of the reasons why it was my favorite.”
Can you talk a little bit about your character’s relationships with Zed, Manny and Chas, and what’s coming up in the next few episodes?
Matt Ryan: “Yeah, sure. Well with Chas, Chas is John’s oldest friend and closest friend and the only one who’s been around for [a long time] and who hadn’t died, although Chas does die but he has an extraordinary gift so he keeps on coming back. But what’s great about Chas is that he kind of provides a logic to John, whereas John is kind of someone – he’s an addict. He’s a demon addict, if you like. He kind of provides a grounding to John. And also he’s helpful in fist fight as well. You know, he’s kind of the brawn to John’s brain. And John’s scrappy, you know? He’s not afraid to get into a fight. But at the same time, Chas could probably help him out in a lot of situations there.
With Manny, what’s really interesting is they’re almost like two gunslingers kind of standing opposite each other that need each other but they could shoot each other at any time. With this relationship there’s a kind of conflict there. They both kind of don’t really kind of want to be in each other’s company particularly. But they know that they to and that they’re both useful to one another. So I think there’s a really interesting kind of conflict there.
What we see with Manny developing is that John and Manny, Manny helps John and kind of how that relationship sort of develops is there’s a very interesting dynamic, actually…I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say about it…between them. After about episode four John and Manny their relationship takes a shift and moves in a slightly different direction. But it’s a kind of uneasy kind of relationship which makes for kind of a lot of tension and a lot of conflict.
Zed, she’s a feisty one, let me tell you. She’s great because she’s someone who gets in John’s face, doesn’t take any of his s**t. She’s not afraid to smack someone in the face when it comes down to it. She also has this unique ability which is very useful for John. They need each other as much as the other. But at the same time, there’s a chemistry between them which could develop into something more. She’s mysterious. She has a mysterious background.
What’s interesting about these two characters is they work together on some level but then they’re both reluctant to reveal each other’s past to each other. So, you know, there’s a constantly kind of looking out of the corner of each eye with each other which is really interesting. Then there’s the kind of sexual chemistry between them as well which leads to a really kind of fun play in between the two of them. That relationship throughout the series will kind of develop in a very interesting way, I must say.”
What character from the comics would you like to see on the show?
Matt Ryan: “Well we get to see a bunch of the Newcastle crew. We meet Gary Lester, we meet Anne-Marie. But I would most like to see Satan, to be honest, the first of the Fallen. But I think that would take a while for us to try to get there. He’s probably the biggest one, right? So to have that showdown it goes back to that Dangerous Habits one again. It’s that whole bit where you face the devil and it turns out to be holy water and all that. When I read that I was like, ‘This is awesome,’ you know? So, probably Satan.”
What do you feel sets Constantine apart from other shows of its kind?
Matt Ryan: “To be honest with you, I think it’s down to the central character of John. And that’s what made the comic books unique, you know? The kind of anti-hero, working class anti-hero, wisecracking street magician. He’s someone who sacrifices his friends to get what he needs, but you still love him as well because he has this compelling urge to save humanity even though he does it with a cigarette and a whiskey all the time. I think it’s him, and then in effect the relationships that he has with the other characters around him. I think that’s kind of what’s unique to him.
He really is an anti-hero; he’s not a superhero in tights. He’s a working class man that is for the people. I think that really kind of sets him apart.”
Max Joseph’s feature film directorial debut, We Are Your Friends, has found a home at Warner Bros. Pictures, with the studio announcing today they’ve acquired domestic distribution rights. Working Title Films and Studiocanal’s dramatic film stars Zac Efron, Emily Ratajkowski, and Wes Bentley, and was written by Joseph and Meaghan Oppenheimer based on a story by Richard Silverman.
“We are so thrilled to finally be in business with Working Title, and know this is the beginning of a great relationship. The same can be said for Max, a wonderful new voice who will, hopefully, make many movies here. It is also thrilling to have our dear friend Zac back, as well as Emily, who will appear in Entourage, and Wes, who is so wonderful in Interstellar,” said Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production.
“The breadth and depth of our slate allows us to proudly bring features from every genre, scope and scale to our audiences, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to usher in Max Joseph’s fresh, raw image of a love story set in today’s modern-day music scene,” added Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.
And writer/director Joseph said, “I couldn’t be happier to have Warner Bros releasing my first feature film. Having their passion and expertise behind We Are Your Friends is a dream come true.”
The Plot:
We Are Your Friends is about what it takes to find your voice. Set in the world of electronic music and Hollywood nightlife, an aspiring 23-year-old DJ named Cole (Efron) spends his days scheming with his childhood friends and his nights working on the one track that will set the world on fire. All of this changes when he meets a charismatic but damaged older DJ named James (Bentley), who takes him under his wing. Things get complicated, however, when Cole starts falling for James’ much younger girlfriend, Sophie (Ratajkowski). With Cole’s forbidden relationship intensifying and his friendships unraveling, he must choose between love, loyalty, and the future he is destined for.
