DreamWorks Pictures has released a new trailer for the dramatic film The Fifth Estate inspired by the true story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and heading to theaters on October 18, 2013. Directed by Bill Condon, The Fifth Estate is based on the books Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy by David Leigh and Luke Harding.
The cast is led by Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and includes Daniel Bruhl, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Peter Capaldi, Carice van Houten, Dan Stevens, with Stanley Tucci and Laura Linney.
Triggering our age of high-stakes secrecy, explosive news leaks, and the trafficking of classified information, WikiLeaks forever changed the game. Now, in a dramatic thriller based on real events, The Fifth Estate reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization. The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) team up to become underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful.
On a shoestring, they create a platform that allows whistleblowers to anonymously leak covert data, shining a light on the dark recesses of government secrets and corporate crimes. Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world’s most legendary media organizations combined. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society—and what are the costs of exposing them?”
And for those who aren’t aware of what the Fifth Estate refers to, DreamWorks offers this explanation:
“The Fifth Estate refers to citizen journalism. Fifth Estate is used to describe media outlets (including the blogosphere) that see themselves in opposition to mainstream media (the official press) any class or group in society other than the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), the commoners (Third Estate) and the press (Fourth Estate). It has been used to describe civil society, the poor, or the proletariat.”
AMC Theatres is trying to help out federal employees who are affected by the U.S. government shut down by offering a free small popcorn at their concession stands. Making the announcement, AMC Theatres wanted federal employees to know that the offer is “good until common sense is restored in Washington D.C., or, more likely, until the shutdown ends or we run out of free popcorn.”
“There are hundreds of thousands of federal workers whose lives are being impacted,” stated John McDonald, executive vice president of Operations at AMC. “While we can’t do anything to resolve gridlock in Washington D.C., we can provide a few hours of entertainment, and free popcorn, while they wait to get back to work.”
In order to receive the free small popcorn (or a credit toward a larger size), federal employees must present their military ID or valid government identification. And per AMC, “the purchase of a ticket is not necessary to receive the offer.”
Taylor Kinney, Smokey, trainer Todd Warrick, and Jesse Spencer (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
The three dogs who made it to the finals of the Chicago Fire Top Dog Contest were each worthy of being named this year’s Top Dog. However, only one furry finalist could emerge as the winner. Dempsey, Smokey, and Wilshire were chosen to compete for the title, earning a spot in the finals over 100 other firehouse dogs, but when the votes were counted, it was Smokey who wound up in the top spot and is this year’s Top Dog.
Smokey is a Labrador/Retriever mix who works with the fire crew of Station 2 in Jacksonville, Illinois. As the winner of the Chicago Fire Top Dog Contest, Smokey will get a cameo role on an episode of NBC’s popular Chicago Fire series later this season.
Smokey took home the title by collecting 51% of the vote. Coming in second was Dempsey, a 2 1/2-year-old Boxer/Mastiff mix from Indianapolis. LA dog Wilshire – a Dalmatian – came in third.
Smokey’s Biography:
As a 6-month-old puppy, Smokey was inside a home that was engulfed in flames. Eventually, her lifeless body was brought out and, with the aid of firefighters and a veterinarian, was kept on oxygen for three days, hand fed, and nurtured. Now she is a training tool for school children and the community as the firefighters have taught her safety techniques such as “stop, drop, and roll,” among other civic duties the 4-year-old pooch performs.
Seventh Son was well represented during the San Diego Comic-Con, with actors Kit Harington (Jon Snow in Game of Thrones), Ben Barnes (best known for playing Prince Caspian), Jeff Bridges, and Antje Traue making the trek to the annual gathering of comic book/movie/TV fans and pop culture geeks. Legendary Pictures also brought director Sergey Bodrov to the Con to talk about what fans can expect from this fantasy film.
The Plot:
In a time long past, an evil is about to be unleashed that will reignite the war between the forces of the supernatural and humankind once more. Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges) is a knight who had imprisoned the malevolently powerful witch, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), centuries ago. But she has escaped and is seeking vengeance. Summoning her followers of every incarnation, Mother Malkin is preparing to unleash her terrible wrath on an unsuspecting world. Only one thing stands in her way: Master Gregory.
In a deadly reunion, Gregory comes face to face with the evil he always feared would someday return. He has only until the next full moon to do what usually takes years: train his new apprentice, Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) to fight a dark magic unlike any other. Man’s only hope lies in the seventh son of a seventh son.
Seventh Son Press Conference:
What was the appeal of Seventh Son?
Jeff Bridges: “There is a wonderful children’s book series and the first one is The Spook’s Apprentice, written by Joseph Delaney. I’m a big fan of myth and mythology and I saw this as a chance to make a modern-day myth. It also talks about good and evil. My idea is that good and evil are really different sides of the same coin.
I ran across a quote that really set me off. I thought, ‘If we can accomplish in turning people onto this idea, this would be something I’d like to be involved with.’ It’s from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the quote is, ‘If only it were so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But, the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being and who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?’ That rang true for me.
I think that’s something that is evident in the world that we live in today, and certainly in the past. It’s something that’s a work in progress for us human beings. As an artist, I see it as our task to help bring that dream of peace about.”
Kit Harington: “I wanted to do this film because I got to work exclusively with Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, which is something I really wanted to do when I found out the casting. It was a really exciting, action-packed role. It was a lot of fun.”
Ben Barnes: “I’ve done some work in the fantasy realm before, but I think a lot of films are presented as an allegory of good versus evil and they have very interesting subtexts. Not all too often are the characters really explored, to the point of what dilemmas they’re going through in their approach to what they’re doing. I think that whole concept of good versus evil, and are you evil if you’re attempting to kill or murder something that you believe to be evil, are dilemmas that these characters are struggling with, particularly my character, as an apprentice.
He’s somebody who’s new to it but knows that he’s meant for something more in this world. How exactly that’s going to play out is something that he doesn’t know. The idea of fate and destiny is painted on top of that, as well. There are a lot of interesting things, thematically.
And Jeff has been one of my heroes since I was very young. He is even more so now, since working with him.
I met Sergei in Los Angeles. We were sitting, looking out at the ocean and talking about all sorts of interesting things. He just presented me with this. I had managed to read one of the books at that point, and now I’ve read six of them. They are pretty interesting, special books. They’re quite microcosmic and particular to the north of England, but they have these incredible themes that run through them and these great characters. So, we’ve borrowed things from the book.
We’re not pretending to make an absolute, complete visual dramatization of the books. It’s something new and exciting. But, I knew that Sergei’s international vision for it, with ghosts and warlocks and creatures that turn into other creatures and witches, would be a really cool idea, and that the tone of it was going to be something very different from what any of us had done before. I’m excited.”
Did anything, in particular, you took away from the book help your performance?
Ben Barnes: “When the trailer came out, I was so excited to see it. I saw it on YouTube the first day it came out, and the first couple of comments below it – but then you try to avoid all of that stuff. I don’t go anywhere near reviews, ever, but it’s hard, even when you’re looking at a video because they pop up. They’re going, ‘Oh, no, they’ve ruined it! He’s supposed to be 13!’ And you’re thinking, ‘They’re so down on me already and I haven’t even done anything.’ But, sometimes these things have to be a visualization. Other people’s imaginations come into play and you have to reserve your judgment until you see the whole thing, in context and in its entirety. I think it’s going to be pretty cool.”
What surprised you the most about working on this film?
Jeff Bridges: “I remember working in Alberta we had such a wild time. We were on top of the world, on this mountain. There’s a place mentioned in the script and Sergei found it. No CGI was required. There it was. And we went there and shot, and we had a wild time being helicoptered in there. It was really terrific. It was an unusual experience.”
Ben Barnes: “There was the day of the lightning strikes. We were having to run and hide under the trees, but the trees were only two feet tall and it was raining. Every five minutes they had these mountain guides who were like, ‘Everyone under the trees!’ So 200 people went to hide under these two-foot shrubberies, looking up like, ‘Please don’t kill me, wrath of the weather!'”
Jeff Bridges: “And then there was an announcement that I’m not sure whether it turned out to be fiction or not, that said, ‘Be careful and don’t have any food out because there is a grizzly bear, just over the river.'”
Ben Barnes: “It was that same day. That was a terrifying day.”
Kit Harington: “I have worked in this genre before, but what was interesting about this project was working in a different category within this genre. People seem to forget there are different categories, sometimes. They group everything into fantasy or sci-fi, but within those genres there are other things. This was different from anything I had done. It was a wonderful mixture between dark and light. It has the elements of the children’s novel in it, and it also has the elements of what horrible acts can be done by humans. I thought that was a really interesting mix to play with.”
Jeff, what was your favorite day on the set?
Jeff Bridges: “The one that I recounted, up on the top of that mountain, was pretty wild. It was the last day and everything came to a peak. As I often do on my movies, I was taking my pictures. I don’t have that book together yet, but you’ll see those shots and you’ll see the top of the mountain I’m talking about. Another time was very unusual when I got terribly sick.
I was down for 10 days with a terrible bronchial infection, and they put me on steroids. If you’ve never been on steroids, they’re very bizarre. I didn’t know what to expect, but it gives you all kinds of bizarre emotions. And you can’t just stop taking them. You have to taper them down. So, I worked for a few days on these steroids and that was pretty amazing. I was manic. It was very crazy!”
If you could take home any one object from the world of this movie, what would it be?
Kit Harington: “I’ve got it! I stole it from the set. It’s this beautiful little necklace that I wore. Our wonderful costume designer styled it after something she had. It was a little pouch with a little Bible in there that was from China or something. It was all very compact. She made a few of them to be worn, and I ran off with it at the end of the movie.”
Sheryl Crow performs at LP Field during CMA Music Festival 2013. (Photo Credit: John Russell / CMA)
Sheryl Crow didn’t get off the Greyhound in Nashville, with guitar case in hand and a heartful of dreams.
Actually, though, in a way, she did. She didn’t arrive by bus, but otherwise she could relate to the excitement and apprehensions that many new arrivals feel as they first set foot in Music City.
Of course, Crow had certain advantages, having already achieved worldwide superstardom and earned nine Grammy Awards and six Platinum albums, including two that have reached triple and one, Tuesday Night Music Club, that’s seven-times Platinum.
Still, when she bought a place outside of Nashville about five years ago, she felt like an outsider, albeit a well-connected one. Drawn to Middle Tennessee by the lifestyle as much as its musical opportunities, Crow began reaching out to some of the folks she knew in town.
“I got to know several people through Kimberly Paisley,” she said. “She had a girls’ dinner and introduced me around. I started to make friends. Nashville is much like a small town. People don’t show up with casseroles, but they make sure that you’re finding your way.”
Kimberly’s husband, Brad, invited her to a writing session with Chris DuBois. “Talk about a crash course in songwriting!” Crow remembered. “Brad and Chris work over a long period of time to make sure their songs are right. And you can tell. Some of Brad’s songs are so beautifully crafted that it’s intimidating.”
Amusingly, DuBois has a mirror image of that first session. “It was very intimidating to write with someone like her,” he admitted. “Brad and I have always been big fans of hers, so just the thought of sitting down in a room with her was nerve-wracking.”
Everyone soon calmed down enough to write a haunting tune, “Waterproof Mascara,” about a mother’s sadness at not being all she should be for her young daughter. That was the start of a series of songs written by Crow with DuBois and other Nashville stalwarts, 12 of which wound up on Feels Like Home, her newest release on Warner Bros. and, by her own description, her first true Country album.
“There are songs from my old catalog that are ‘too Country for Country,’” she said. “‘All I Wanna Do’ has that feel from the intro to the outro. It’s the same with ‘If It Makes You Happy,’ ‘Strong Enough to Be My Man’ and ‘Can’t Cry Anymore.’ But there’s also a lot of stuff on the new record that doesn’t sound like Country. One of them is ‘Waterproof Mascara’; another is ‘Crazy Ain’t Original These Days’ (written by Crow, Al Anderson and Leslie Satcher). And that’s OK too, because the Country format now encompasses a lot of things.”
“When I first started, every label in L.A. said, ‘We don’t know what to do with you. You’re too Country. You’re too blue-eyed soul,’” she recalled. “I feel like I’ve always been like a suburb of Country Music — and now Country Music has grown and engulfed my suburb.”
Crow revels in the freedom she now feels. “A lot of the songs I had written in the name of rock ‘n’ roll were devoid of range,” she observed. “I can sing range; I just haven’t had the opportunity, because I haven’t been able to write those songs. People ask me, ‘Who are your favorite Country singers?’ Well, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly (Parton) and Emmy (Emmylou Harris), who are all big-range singers. Tammy (Wynette) was a big-range singer. So is Connie Smith. So it’s such a treat to go out and play ‘Give It To Me’ (Crow and Jeff Trott) and ‘Waterproof Mascara,’ songs that have a big range, and pull an audience into a song they’d never heard before.”
No stranger to writing with others, Crow had to adjust to methods that are unique to Nashville. “People here write in threes,” she said. “I’d never experienced that before. I think it’s probably because the objective is to get the song finished in order to up the percentage of getting cuts — not in a bad way, but obviously, you’re going to get a better chance to get it recorded if it’s finished.”
Crow insists that Country has allowed her to put more of her true self into her music. Some of that has to do with how the format mixes the lead vocal. Crow’s co-producer, Justin Niebank, realized the best thing he could do for her on Feels Like Home is let her hear herself as clearly as possible.
“I’d gotten so used to producing myself that the last thing I would concentrate on was being a vocalist,” Crow said. “But Justin gave me the freedom to just walk up to the mic and sing. I never actually heard myself sound so good in my headphones. Who could expect that I’d feel so inspired at a job I’ve been doing for 20 years?”
“As simple as it is, the headphone mix is one of the great missing links in making records,” Niebank said. “When people put on headphones, it should sound like a record. Putting up microphones and running them through mic pres ain’t the gig; it’s getting the headphones so when people put them on, they’re blown away.”
Crow’s embrace of the Country lyric tradition makes Feels Like Home a career milestone. “In my early days, I masked almost any true emotions in a narrative,” she said. “I would create a character and hide behind her. Now I’m older and I love writing from the first person. It doesn’t put me in fear. I feel differently about my art. My life informs my art in different ways than it ever has before. So now, I like making people feel prickly with an emotion.”
James Spader returns to series TV after a successful run in The Practice and Boston Legal with NBC’s The Blacklist. The series, which was one of the most anticipated new shows of the fall 2013 season, has earned rave reviews from critics and viewers alike.
In it, Spader plays Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington, an ex-government agent who is one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives. He turns himself in and offers to help hunt down a blacklist full of terrorists, mobsters, and spies if he’s allowed to work directly with FBI profiler Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Keen (played by Megan Boone). Why did he turn himself in and what’s his connection to Elizabeth? Those are secrets yet to be disclosed on the new drama airing Monday nights at 10pm.
In support of The Blacklist, Spader took part in a conference call with journalists to discuss what the audience can expect from the show in upcoming episodes.
James Spader The Blacklist Interview
Are we ever going to get into the details of what sort of nitty-gritty bad, horrible things he’s done in the past?
James Spader: “Yes, I think that’s going to be sort of eked out slowly over the course of the episodes. A sort of overall history lesson? I don’t think it will ever happen on the show. I think it’ll be over the lifespan of the show that you start to discover more and more about him. […]The first episode after the pilot is really the transition from him being a prisoner to working out the parameters of his deal with the FBI and the Department of Justice. And then, of course, they take on a case immediately.
But from that point – right away, you see he’s now moving freely. He is still living his life away from the FBI and in subsequent episodes, you see small samplings of him still conducting his nefarious affairs.”
You chose to shave your head for the pilot episode. How did that feel?
James Spader: “It felt wonderful. I had my hair long for, I think, the last few projects that I had done. It felt like the right thing for him. It was an idea that I instigated and I think it was the right choice. It just seemed to fit his lifestyle and he’s someone who has to move and travel lightly and move swiftly, and it seemed eminently practical for him.”
Do you have any regrets?
James Spader: “No. Well, we’ll wait and see. It’s still early autumn here. In fact, we’ll wait and see…ask me again in January.”
What attracted you to the project when you first read the script?
James Spader: “You’ve seen the pilot?”
Yes.
James Spader: “Well, that character. I just thought, first of all, that he seemed like he’d be great fun to play in the pilot but he also just seems like he’d sustain over the course of the season and even over the course of multiple seasons. I just think there’re so many unanswered questions and it felt like it would take a long time to answer the questions. And for me, just from a completely selfish point of view, that was enticing because it opened the door to all sorts of surprises as time goes on.”
How far in advance do you know where his story is headed and as an actor, do you like to know or would you rather have that unfold for you as well?
James Spader: “It really depends on the medium I’m working in. I mean, in theater, you know everything going in. In film, you know a little bit less but still an awful lot. And in television, you know very little. And I think that’s fine for me. I mean, you know, working in theater or film or television are three different sorts of jobs for an actor and I accept them as such. I think that the volume of material on a television show is so vast that I think that it helps in a way if it’s surprising from week to week.
You know, I’ve never been a big TV watcher. And so for the first time, when I first started working on the series, I got the feel of what it felt like to be a viewer. I was so anticipatory about the next script that was going to come in and then what direction we’re going in and how the story might unfold and how relationships might evolve or what kind of mess we might be getting into next. And with this show, it just seems like the possibilities for that are limitless.
I mean, it has sort of an inherent surprise factor in this show just because you know so little going in. So I really like that aspect of it a great deal. I also just like being able to find the piece of material that tries to marry successfully something that’s sort of growing and fun to watch and then also can be very dark and quite serious, but also at times can be funny and humorous and irreverent.
This show sort of marries those things very well and I like that because it’s just more exciting and compelling, I think, from an actor’s point of view. It’s just a much more compelling job.”
Red turns himself in to the FBI but we don’t know his motivation for sure. Is he going to be above board with them or does he still have some criminal activity going on that the FBI may actually be unwittingly helping in with?
James Spader: “I think it’s a combination of all the things you just discussed. I know that he still has criminal activity that’s going on, whether the FBI – how much the FBI is going to serve that or not remains to be seen. And there certainly is an agenda in terms of the targets that he’s picking and there absolutely is an agenda in terms of the direction that he’s taking this little group.
But, you know, I think his main focus is really Elizabeth Keen and I think it was just much about having her join his life as me joining hers. I think that it seems to be the one way that he seems equipped to be able to bring to light [and] prove that he knows about her life that she’s unaware of.”
How did the choice to embrace a fedora come about?
James Spader: “Well, it really, I think, came about from a few different things. It came from, first of all, just sort of what Reddington looks like, and that’s a byproduct of his life. We didn’t want him to look as if he’s from any specific style of fashion of any given year or from any given place because he’s someone who would compile his wardrobe from around the world. People dress differently in different parts of the world and he has been on the move for a couple of decades now, if not longer.
And, you know, he travels lightly but he has to wear clothing that’s practical. He has to be someone who’s dressed to go straight from the jungle to a banker’s office and be able to be comfortable and appropriately dressed for both.
We also wanted it to be timeless and difficult to place in terms of place or time. And lastly, you know, because of geography and where he is, people who travel to distant places, hats are part of their lives. Because in different places on earth, people wear hats for different reasons. Sometimes to keep their head warm but sometimes to keep the sun off. And I think he’s used to that and so he’s adopted it. I think it was a look that came out of sort of the practicalities of his life, and that’s what we arrived at.”
What do you say to the people who are comparing the relationship of Red and Elizabeth to that of Hannibal and Clarice Starling?
James Spader: “You know, I understand that based on the pilot because you know so little and also because of the imagery in the pilot with somebody who’s shackled to a chair in a big containment cell and this young FBI woman coming in. And there seems to be what might be perceived as a sort of obsessive compulsion that the criminal or the shackled guy has about her. That disappears rather swiftly starting, after [the second episode] in that after he’s come to an arrangement with the FBI, he’s now moving freely again and he’s no longer a guy shackled to a chair in a containment cell.
But also it’s very different from the sort of obsessive sort of psychopathic obsession about this woman. He clearly has a very real, given one-sided, but very real relationship with her and has intimate knowledge of her background and her past.
I think it’s a lot more than just fixating on somebody and finding out everything you can about them. He really knows this woman and he knows of her background. He knows of her family. He knows of her present life. I think the similarities between these two things that you’re referencing disappear very quickly.”
Is it very freeing and liberating to go to work every day as this character and channel all your devious teaming impulses, maybe get them out of your system before you go home back to being a civilian again?
James Spader: “Yes is the answer to that. I will say this: as you were posing the question to me, I think of whether I feel free as I’m going to the set this morning and I don’t feel free because I think we’re still…this is a startup business. You know, starting a new show is a startup business and therefore, there’s nothing free and easy about it yet. You know, maybe in five or six more episodes when things smooth out a little bit and we’re not at 6s and 7s so much. Then maybe I might feel a little free.
But I must say it’s quite fun to go and play this guy, and I look for that in the things that I’ve picked over the years. I look for things that are very different from my life and things that are curious and idiosyncratic to me, and then I like to find if I’m able just a little bit to step into a world that I know very little about. That’s great fun. And then it allows you to dispense of it quite easily when you go home at night and jump into your own life and spend time with your family.”
There’s some speculation that Red is actually Elizabeth’s father. What are your thoughts on that?
James Spader: “I don’t really have any thoughts on that because I don’t think he is, but I don’t know for sure. You know, I think that’s something that, first of all, I wouldn’t divulge what the nature of their relationship was to you in any case, no matter what it was, because I think that’s something that the only way one earns that information is to watch the show. But I know that that’s been something that’s been posed to me in the past, and it’s always seemed – I’ve always been surprised when faced with that as a possibility as an outcome because it seems too easy. But, you know what? Maybe it’s a very circuitous route back to the simplest answer of all. So we’ll have to wait and see.”
How long do you think it will take for Elizabeth to maybe find some trust in Red and really start working with him?
James Spader: “I think it starts happening quicker than she’s even aware of. I mean, first of all, it’s hoisted upon her so she sort of has to accept that lot. But I think also she finds herself sort of compelled to be doing that in spite of either her intuition or her better judgment. I think, in a way, there’s something that compels them to each other, and in subsequent episodes, she wrestles with that. She wrestles with the fact that he’s in her life, like it or not. And he’s not just in her life because of this work; he’s in her life because it’s becoming abundantly clear he’s part of her life.”
You just mentioned that Red being Elizabeth’s father would be too simple but we also have learned at the end of the pilot episode that there’s something weird going on with her husband. Could there be a connection between Red and her husband?
James Spader:“You’re going to have to watch just a couple more episodes and you’ll start to see more and more. But I don’t think there’s anything that’s alluded to in any of the episodes that aren’t either by design for what’s going to unfold next or a purposeful misdirection to lead you down the wrong path so that you’ll be better surprised when you arrive at the right path.”
Poster for ‘The Blacklist’ (Photo by: NBCUniversal)
Is there any particular scene or moment or something coming up that you’re excited for people to see?
James Spader: “You know, the three episodes that follow the pilot are all very different and now I’ve now seen the fourth and the fifth episode. They’re all very different or quite different from one another in terms of the nature and tone of the different episodes, but also the form of them are different from one another, and also what you learn about these people as you start to learn more is very intriguing and compelling – and it involves everyone. It involves everyone. There’s no one who’s left out of it.
I think that the writers have done a great job in terms of that, in terms of balancing what you learn and what you don’t learn and then how you learn it and whether what you learn is right or wrong. I think it makes for a show that is pretty unique to me just in that episodes can stand alone and yet they also feed a greater story and, therefore, for people who stay with the show, I think there’s much more satisfaction than just a straight procedural because of that. You’ve got this greater story that you’re invested in and the characters are invested in and that at the end of the day, I think that’s ultimately what the show is about.
The week-to-week episodes are to serve this life that’s unfolding in front of you and that life is Red Remington and Elizabeth Keen and that’s inclusive of every aspect of their lives. It’s inclusive of Reddington’s life away from her but also it’s inclusive of her entire life, whether it be her background, her past, her parents, her childhood, her relationship with her husband, her future. I think it’s exciting that way, the way that the sort of standalone episodes can feed the sort of [threaded] story, and the [threaded] story also serves the weekly episodes.”
Is there anything, in particular, you did for this role to prepare or research or anything?
James Spader: “You know, I read some stuff about the world that Red Reddington lives in and I just buried myself into the material at hand, and also people that I know that live and work in our world. Also, just a lot of conversation with the writers, and you spend a lot of time sitting and talking about backstories but also future stories and sort of the shape of things.
The great thing about a television story also is a lot of those things start to take shape as you’re just making the show. You know, who people are and how they behave given different sets of circumstances on a television show seems to be more fluid certainly than it would be in stage or in a film, but it’s something that evolves and grows as the show becomes its own entity.”
When you play characters that are sort of in the darker end of the spectrum, and in this case, you’re playing Red and then you’ll be going on to play a character like Ultron, how do you get into each individual one and kind of come up with different shades of antagonism or shades of villainy to play? How does your thought process work?
James Spader: “You know, I look to the story and I look to the influences or relations in whatever that character’s life happens to be. And I also look to see what their everyday life would be like and how that would inform who they are, and also try and look at what sort of person can live that sort of life. All those things sort of come together and marry with a given set of circumstances in the story and on the page, and there’s a character. I try and approach things from all directions. You know, I really try and be open to that. Sometimes you’re working backward and sometimes, you’re working forwards. And sometimes, you have to look at something from both perspectives to get a handle on something.
Sometimes you look at somebody and how they behave in a given set of circumstances and it leads you to who they are, and that would be what I mean by working backward. And sometimes you look at sort of who they are and where they come from and it leads you to how best they might behave in those circumstances. I try and look at both and then say if they made up with one another, then I think I’ve got a scene.”
Can you explain what the blacklist is?
James Spader: “The blacklist is just a name that Reddington gives to a sort of freeform and very fluid list of targets, but there is no list. It’s just in his head and the targets can sometimes be quite spontaneous based on whatever’s going to serve his greater agendas. I think sometimes the targets are more calculated and I think at other times they’re not. Sometimes they serve an immediate purpose.”
Will we see one person be checked off that list every episode?
James Spader: “I pause only because we’re at the beginning of what could be an indeterminate lifespan of a show so it’s hard for me to answer that with any kind of absolute. But I know that there’s a very real desire that there at least be a case that’s pursued on a weekly basis. But, you know, I presume also that certain cases might last a couple of episodes or longer. I don’t know. As the it unfolds, I’m sure that will change and develop. I’m not sure whether it’s always just going to be the person of the week.”
How much input do you have or do you want to have on the scripts?
James Spader: “I seem to be having just enough and I couldn’t take on any more, that’s for sure. Our schedule is too oppressive to be able to take on any more. But just enough to be able to do the scenes and try and feel like we’re making them right.”
Red is a very ambiguous character and people don’t trust him and he knows they don’t trust him. Is there a difference in how you approach playing somebody who is ambiguous to the people around him and to the audience and to somebody who the audience knows deep down is a decent person like, say, Alan Shore from Boston Legal, who does devious things but we know he’s solid?
James Spader: “That’s a big question. It feels more like three questions, but I think to address the first part of it in terms of trust, you know, he lives in a world and moves through a world and works in a world where trust is a very fragile and delicate thing. He very often has to conduct business and he very often has to conduct his life on simply trust because there’s no rule of law in his world.
And, therefore, trust is something that I think he has a great understanding for. I think he knows when to recognize when it’s there and he can recognize when it’s not in ways that maybe others aren’t quite so [facile] at. I think it just may be because of the fact that he’s faced with it with such dire straits so much of the time.
You know, and a lot of his feelings in his life, he’s having to trust his wife and the likes of others in any given set of circumstances and therefore the stakes of that trust are so high. But, you know, by the same token, I think he’s fully aware of the fact that he’s dealing with, in this relationship at least, he’s dealing with a whole group of people who don’t trust him at all. But it’s interesting to watch how he gains small, little finger and footholds into their trust and that’s something that develops with time. Probably with him, it takes a great deal of time.”
Does that affect how you play him, the trust or lack thereof in each interaction?
James Spader: “To a certain degree. I mean, I’m conscientious of that to a degree but I also have the luxury of knowing when he’s being forthright and when he’s not. I think that he’s much more forthright than I think people are aware of. I think it’s very easy to project an awful lot onto him and have preconceptions about him that may go unproven.”
How is filming your role in Avengers: Age of Ultron going to impact your involvement with The Blacklist? Is there a staggered schedule?
James Spader: “I’m hoping that it’s going to be a fairly smooth transition but, you know, I don’t know. We’ll wait and see how long The Blacklist plays, whether it plays a full season. If it plays a full season, then I’m sure I will be packing my bags in the last few days of our production on The Blacklist in preparation to get over to London and start shooting The Avengers.”
What intrigued you about working with Joss Whedon and the rest of the Avengers team? What was the sort of neat little hook that made you say, “I want to go from Blacklist to this gig?”
James Spader: “Well, I met with [Kevin Feige] a couple years ago and just told him that I would love to come into that world at some point if the circumstances were right. And I don’t know, it was for a lot of reasons. There was a time in my life where I used to go over to my friend’s house when I was a kid and I hadn’t read any comic books at my house and he had trunk loads of them.
I used to go over there and bury myself in his room with his comics and devour them. And then I sort of put that down in my life and [began to pick] it back up again. And then I have three sons and a couple of them along the way have shown a real keen interest in that sort of world and so before it was too late, I wanted to try and see if I could be part of it.
It just seemed like something… You know, it’s one of the great luxuries as an actor is you’re able to participate in projects that even the process of making the thing or the world you’re entering is so foreign to you and that foreign world, in many cases, forces you to work in an entirely different way and the challenge becomes so different. And I was intrigued by that. You know, I’ve been doing this a long time and it seemed like it would be great fun to do something that I have no frame of reference for, and there you go.
The right thing came along and Kevin Feige called up and said, ‘I found just the thing,’ and Joss Whedon gave me a call and said that he really wasn’t thinking about anybody else for it and that he thought it would be great fun to do. And so here we go.”
WWE Goes Pink with Susan G. Komen (Photo: Business Wire)
All the WWE Superstars and Divas will be wearing pink as part of the WWE and Susan G. Komen “Rise Above Cancer” campaign and in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness month. The new “Rise Above Cancer” t-shirts, hats, and headbands will help raise money for breast cancer research, with the WWE donating 20% of the retail sales price to the Susan G. Komen foundation.
The special “Rise Above Cancer” t-shirts will be sold through December 31, 2013 at WWEShop.com.
“I am proud that WWE’s partnership with Komen has expanded to include all WWE Superstars and Divas,” stated WWE Superstar John Cena. “WWE’s global platforms combined with the full force of our roster will bring critical awareness for this devastating disease.”
“WWE Superstars and WWE Divas are providing an important public service by reaching millions of WWE fans – women and men – with breast cancer education and information, while raising funds that keep our work vital,” said Dorothy Jones, VP of Marketing. “We’re grateful for WWE’s commitment to this cause, and to WWE fans for their enthusiastic support of Komen’s mission to end breast cancer.”
Last October, the WWE raised $1 million through their breast cancer awareness campaign.
Susan G. Komen is the world’s largest nonprofit funder of breast cancer research, and funds community outreach programs, public advocacy and global programs. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death among women in the United States. There are 2.9 million breast cancer survivors in the United States today. For more information about Susan G. Komen, breast health or breast cancer, visit komen.org/wwe.
April Bowlby and Brooke Elliott star in season 5 of ‘Drop Dead Diva’ (Photo by Richard Ducree / Copyright 2013)
Drop Dead Diva returns for the second half of season five on October 6, 2013 at 9pm with five new episodes starring Brooke Elliott, Jackson Hurst, April Bowlby, Justin Deeley, Lex Medlin, and Margaret Cho. According to Lifetime, the new episodes of the one-hour comedy/drama will introduce guest stars Illeanna Douglas, Peri Gilpin, Richard Kind, Jaleel White, Doug Savant, and Rebecca Mader.
Returning guest stars include Sharon Lawrence, Faith Prince, Nancy Grace, Wallace Langham, Natalie Hall, Annie Ilonzeh, and Jason Kennedy.
And for those into connecting via social media, the cast and crew – Executive Producer Josh Berman, Jackson Hurst, April Bowlby, Kate Levering, Justin Deeley and Lex Medlin – are set to take part in a Facebook chat on Sunday, October 13th at 8:30pm ET leading up to that night’s new episode.
About Drop Dead Diva‘s Season Five:
Picking up on this summer’s mid-season finale, Jane (Elliott) defends a former socialite, but her tactics put the firm in financial jeopardy and threatens its very existence. Meanwhile, Owen (Medlin) and Stacy (Bowlby) explore impending parenthood after Owen agrees to be her sperm donor. As the season continues, Grayson’s (Hurst) relationship with Nicole (Ilonzeh) develops further as Paul (Deeley) makes a play to convince Jane to move on and begin dating again.
And Teri (Cho), Jane’s faithful assistant, continues to shine while helping her with both work and her ever-complicated personal endeavors.
Oh no…I knew this was going to happen. According to HauntWorld, this year’s scariest attractions have upped the quality of their special effects, the overall fear factor, and clowns. Yes, clowns.
“We’re seeing an interesting theme this year with haunted houses as they look to bring in these visitors – a lot of old-fashioned creepy themes are making a comeback, with a resurgence in scary clowns, old schoolhouses and haunted motels,” revealed Larry Kirchner, owner of www.HauntWorld.com. HauntWorld.com is the largest Halloween resource and online directory of haunted houses and activities, and the criteria for making its annual list of the top haunted attractions is based on whether the attraction has innovative themes, the quality of effects and actors, as well as the level of detail.
“Haunted house owners are going over the top – bigger, better, and scarier than ever because they’re no longer competing with only other haunts in their area, but with haunted houses across the country. Visiting and traveling to haunted houses is now an American phenomenon as people are using sites like HauntWorld to find the best haunted attractions,” said Kirchner.
Among this year’s winners are an attraction with ancient zombies, a ’60s-themed haunted motel, and a full-on circus complete with a ringmaster.
Top Professional Haunted Attractions: 2013
1. 13th Floor, Denver, CO www.13thfloorhauntedhouse.com
2. Bates Motel, Philadelphia, PA www.thebatesmotel.com
3. Headless Horseman, Ulster Park, NY www.headlesshorseman.com
Benedict Cumberbatch can be heard voicing Smaug, Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly have chemistry as elves Legolas and Tauriel, and there’s plenty of sword fighting to be seen in this new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Directed by Peter Jackson, this second trailer for the second film of The Hobbit franchise showcases the action and makes it appear there will be a lot more going on in this sequel than in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Led by Martin Freeman and Sir Ian McKellan, the cast also features Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, John Bell, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Luke Evans, and Stephen Fry. Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Graham McTavish, Michael Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Ken Stott, and Aidan Turner also star.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens in theaters on December 13, 2013.
The Plot:
The film continues the adventure of the title character Bilbo Baggins as he journeys with the Wizard Gandalf and thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield, on an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. Having survived the beginning of their unexpected journey, the Company continues East, encountering along the way the skin-changer Beorn and a swarm of giant Spiders in the treacherous Mirkwood Forest.
After escaping capture by the dangerous Woodland Elves, the Dwarves journey to Lake-town, and finally to the Lonely Mountain itself, where they must face the greatest danger of all—a creature more terrifying than any before, which will test not only the depth of their courage but the limits of their friendship and the wisdom of the journey itself—the Dragon Smaug.
