Moviefone Editorial

Tag: America Ferrara

  • Anne Hathaway Talks ‘WeCrashed’

    Anne Hathaway 'WeCrashed'
    Anne Hathaway for Apple TV+’s ‘WeCrashed.’

    Premiering on Apple TV+ beginning March 18th is the new drama series ‘WeCrashed,’ which was created by Lee Eisenberg (‘Bad Teacher’) and Drew Crevello, and directed by John Requa (‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’) and Glenn Ficarra (‘Focus’).

    The series stars Oscar winner Jared Leto (‘Dallas Buyers Club’) as Adam Neumann, co-founder of WeWork, and Oscar winner Anne Hathaway (‘Les Misérables’) as his wife, Rebekah Neumann. The series follows the rise and fall of WeWork, one of the world’s most valuable startups at the time.

    In addition to Leto and Hathaway, the series also features America Ferrera (‘End of Watch’), Kyle Marvin (‘The Climb’), O.T. Fagbenie (‘Black Widow’), and Anthony Edwards (‘Top Gun’).

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Anne Hathaway about her work on ‘WeCrashed.’

    You can read our full interview with Anne Hathaway below, or watch a video of our interviews with Hathaway, Jared Leto and Kyle Marvin in the video player above.

    WCPpfas6

    You can read our full interview with Anne Hathaway below, or watch a video of our interviews with Hathaway, Jared Leto and Kyle Marvin in the video player above.

    Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your approach to portraying Rebekah Neumann in this series?

    Anne Hathaway: Well, thank you very much. It was fun. I did the same amount of work that I always do preparing a character. The fact that I had a voice recording of Rebekah and that she’s a real person definitely helped in terms of giving me an aim for what I wanted the voice to sound like. But I have to say she didn’t drop in until I met Adam Neumann, played by Jared Leto. There was something about the strength of their relationship and the love story that we were trying to tell that she came alive inside of me when her partner was there. That was really cool and felt very right for who they are.

    MF: Can you talk about the process of fleshing out the character of Rebekah Neumann’s backstory in order to figure out who she was at the time that this story takes place?

    AH: Well, I worked with an amazing researcher who I work with on different projects called Amy Hammond. I worked with Amy for the first time on ‘Les Misérables.’ Every time I get the opportunity to work with her, I find that it just raises everyone’s game on the project. She did at a lot of background information.

    Not a lot about Rebekah is known. So, I made sure I really understood her world and the world that she came up in and what would’ve been normal for her, that maybe is not the same as the way I was brought up. To understand that certain things that might seem unusual to most of us, to her, might not have been remarkable, because my goal with playing this woman was not to judge her, but to understand her.

    That research really helped me get insight into her. I also took a lot of the interviews that she gave, where she speaks very openly about her spirituality and the books that have had a huge influence on her. I made sure that I read those too.

    MF: Finally, the series really focuses on the relationship between Adam and Rebekah Neumann. Can you talk about developing the dynamic of that relationship with Jared Leto?

    AH: You would think that we sat down, and we had meetings and we strategized about how to do this love story, but the truth is he’s just a really fantastic actor and it just sort of happened. He came in and I just believed everything that he was, and I was in my character as well. It was just there, there was just this chemistry that I think exists between Adam and Rebekah in real life. So, we just kind of tapped into it. Then Jared and I, we never really talked about it. There was never a strategy to it, but we just kind of kept it going, you know?

    Every once in a while, we would check in over text and I was just really grateful. It was a really positive, crazy, fun experience. Whenever we would kind of come up for air and check in with each other, it was just always, “I’m so grateful to be doing this with you. I’m having such a great time.” So, we just kind of supported Adam and Rebekah’s love by keeping it very loving between the two of us.

    ‘WeCrashed’ premieres March 18th on Apple TV+.

    Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway 'WeCrashed.'
    (L to R) Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway in Apple TV+’s ‘WeCrashed.’

  • Jared Leto Talks ‘WeCrashed’

    Jared Leto WeCrashed
    Jared Leto for Apple TV+’s ‘WeCrashed.’

    Premiering on Apple TV+ beginning March 18th is the new drama series ‘WeCrashed,’ which was created by Lee Eisenberg (‘Bad Teacher’) and Drew Crevello, and directed by John Requa (‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’) and Glenn Ficarra (‘Focus’).

    The series stars Oscar winner Jared Leto (‘Dallas Buyers Club’) as Adam Neumann, co-founder of WeWork, and Oscar winner Anne Hathaway (‘Les Misérables’) as his wife, Rebekah Neumann. The series follows the rise and fall of WeWork, one of the world’s most valuable startups at the time.

    In addition to Leto and Hathaway, the series also features America Ferrera (‘End of Watch’), Kyle Marvin (‘All Wrong’), O.T. Fagbenie (‘Black Widow’), and Anthony Edwards (‘Top Gun’).

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jared Leto about his work on ‘WeCrashed.’

    WCPpfas6

    You can read our full interview with Jared Leto below, or watch a video of our interviews with Leto, Anne Hathaway and Kyle Marvin in the video player above.

    Moviefone: To begin with, is there a scene in ‘WeCrashed’ that you shot that is completely different than the way it was written in the script, that you were able to make better on the day of filming?

    Jared Leto: Well, I don’t know how brilliant it is, but the food fight wasn’t scripted at all. I think it’s in the show. There was one point we were in a boardroom meeting, and I just, for some reason, I looked over at Kyle and I just had this instinct to start throwing the food, the platters, the stuff, and that we were in such a crazy moment of abandon and energy. I looked at his face, then at the food. He looked at me, and we just started hocking the food. I think at one point there was a salami flat on his eyeball, but it was quite unexpected and fun.

    MF: Can you talk about your approach to playing Adam Neumann and how you discovered the voice for the character?

    JL: That’s a great thing about telling such a modern story. There was so much material. I was really just buried in it. So, I love that. I love the research. I love to learn. I’m fascinated by the characters that I plan and being part of this was really fun because there was so much to draw from including incredible podcasts, and a couple of books. There’s a documentary, there’s all kinds of stuff, and I was just buried in it. I also worked with a great team of Israeli people developing the accent and the voice. The voice is a really important part of who he is, who he was, and how he communicated his ideas and he interacted with people.

    I love a weird start. When I’m on set and especially on ‘WeCrashed,’ I often try to break scenes, you know? You try and fail because from those moments, you can build back together something with an enormous amount of truth and magic. So, it’s always good to start off with something quite a little broken.

    MF: Finally, when you break a scene like that, are you doing it because you want to see what you can get out of the other actor, or because you want to see what you can do differently in that moment?

    JL: It’s a very astute and smart question. Sometimes both. Sometimes if a scene’s not working, you could try that sometimes. I always just think it’s a good habit in general, but to surprise yourself is a beautiful thing, too.

    ‘WeCrashed’ premieres March 18th on Apple TV+.

    Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto in 'WeCrashed'
    (L to R) Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto in Apple TV+’s ‘WeCrashed.’
  • Eight Great Summer Vacation Movies

    Eight Great Summer Vacation Movies

    Meatballs

    16072
    Sometimes overlooked in favor of other “slobs vs. snobs” comedy classics from the same era, like Animal House and Caddyshack, this was Bill Murray’s first starring role, and the feature directorial debut for Ivan Reitman. Murray stars as Tripper, head counselor at Camp North Star, a bargain-basement summer camp in Ontario. Murray takes the lonely Rudy (Chris Makepeace) under his wing while still overseeing a group of oddball counselors-in-training as they have their own romances, pull pranks on the camp’s director, and take on wealthy Camp Mohawk in a yearly tournament. It’s ultimately a sweet story, without ever getting quite as crass as some of the era’s other films starring Saturday Night Live alumni. ‘Meatballs’ would turn out to be hugely successful, spawning three mostly unrelated sequels and countless knockoffs.

    Wet Hot American Summer

    9824
    If ‘Meatballs’ saw plenty of lesser imitations, ‘The State’ alumni David Wain and Michael Showalter stepped up with a satirical take on summer camp movies. Although it bombed at the box office, it’s since become a cult classic, spawning two series on Netflix (one prequel and one sequel). There’s an amazing cast here, including Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, Christopher Meloni, and David Hyde Pierce, plus other alumni from ‘The State,’ such as Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black, and Joe Lo Truglio. There’s a plot here about the camp putting on a talent show, counselors in love, and a falling piece of Skylab that threatens everyone’s lives, but it’s really just an excuse to see some stars and future stars show off some great comic chops.

    Dirty Dancing

    4518
    For those that haven’t gotten around to seeing this classic, it’s easy to write off ‘Dirty Dancing’ as sappy romance. But that would be wrong. It’s an emotionally satisfying coming-of-age story about Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) and her steamy summer romance with dancer Johnny (Patrick Swayze). The dancing is terrific, Grey and Swayze have terrific chemistry. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and based on her own summer trips to the Catskills, Baby’s adventure starts because she and her family are taking a summer vacation at Kellerman’s a tony resort. Baby sees hints of classism between some of the staff, and she finds herself drawn more to the working class staffers instead of the Ivy League-bound waiters. The film subversively gives Baby agency, letting her pick her own friends and make her own choices in her sex life; she has a summer fling with a sexy dancer and isn’t punished by fate for it. That was fairly groundbreaking in 1987, and is (sadly) might still be considered unusual in some corners even now.

    National Lampoon’s Vacation

    887
    This is another film that started a franchise, but the original version is still the best. Based on screenwriter John Hughes’ own National Lampoon story about a disastrous road trip, the movie focuses on the Griswold’s drive from Chicago to California for a visit to a thinly-veiled version of Disneyland called “Wally World.” Chevy Chase puts in a legendary turn as Clark, the increasingly obsessive patriarch of the Griswold clan. Clark is going to have a great road trip with his family whether they like it or not, and if he becomes Ahab in a station wagon, then so be it. Beverly D’Angelo hits just the right notes as Clark’s wife Ellen, as does Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron as their children Rusty and Audrey. Chase and D’Angelo would return for sequels, and it became a running joke that Rusty and Audrey would be recast in every subsequent film. This first adventure sees car trouble in the desert, an unwanted passenger, a temptress in a Ferrari, and a visit with Cousin Eddy (a reminder of when Randy Quaid was funny). It’s filled with laughs, but it will definitely make you think twice about future family road trips.

    Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

    19138
    Based on the best-selling YA novel by Ann Brashares, this is the story of four teen girls, best friends since childhood, who are about to spend their first summer apart. But before three of them leave town, the quartet go shopping and find a pair of jeans that magically fit each one of them. The four decide that they’ll share the pants for the summer, and while each of them have these mysterious jeans in their possession, their individual summers are upended. Blake Lively, America Ferrara, Alexis Bledel, and Amber Tamblyn play Bridget, Carmen, Lena, and Tibby (respectively). The movie captures the charm of the novel, in no small part because of the charisma and chemistry of the stars, and it’s ultimately a heartwarming tale about female friendships and the bonds young women make that can last a lifetime.

    Girls Trip

    20087028
    The annual Essence Music Fest takes place in New Orleans every 4th of July, and that’s the backdrop for Ryan Pierce’s (Regina Hall) attempt to reunite with three of her friends from college. Pierce is a bestselling author and lifestyle guru, poised to be “the next Oprah.” She’s scheduled to speak at the festival, so she invites her college friends to join her, in the hopes of rekindling their friendships. These other three have lives of their own now; Sasha (Queen Latifah) is a celebrity gossip blogger, Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith) is a working single mother, and Dina (Tiffany Haddish) is still party-girl Dina, all these years later. These four actors are great together, but Tiffany Haddish is a revelation here, stealing the movie and never giving it back. The film isn’t afraid to remind us that women can and do party hard, but it doesn’t lose sight of these friends repairing burned bridges and reaffirming their love for each other.

    Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

    Uya6FAeGPtVqkWKvSILvg4
    One of the casualties of quarantine is that this film didn’t get a proper theatrical release. That’s a shame, because as funny as this movie is, it would have been even more side-splitting with a big audience. Make no mistake, this movie is straight up bananas from beginning to end. Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo wrote the script and star as Star and Barb, two middle-aged best friends that talk a bit too much, they can be both clueless and timid, but once they hit Vista Del Mar, the movie all but explodes into mayhem. To describe too much would be to take away some of the stunningly insane jokes packed wall-to-wall across the entire film. But suffice to say you may never look at Jamie Dornan the same way again.

    The Endless Summer

    30550
    This is one of the first and probably still the best surf movie ever made. Director Bruce Brown follows two surfers, Robert August and Mike Hynson, as they leave Southern California and travel to surf spots around the world, including South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Tahiti, Senegal, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Australia. Brown’s breezy narration is a far cry from the stiffer voices heard in most documentaries at the time, and it lends an inviting tone to the gorgeous cinematography of the both surf action and the local landscapes. This documentary might help non-surfers understand the appeal of surfing more than any other film ever made, and the idea of an “endless summer” means its welcome on any day of the calendar year.

  • Female Filmmakers in Focus: director Elza Kephart discusses ‘Slaxx,’ plus a look at ‘Traveling Pants 2’

    Female Filmmakers in Focus: director Elza Kephart discusses ‘Slaxx,’ plus a look at ‘Traveling Pants 2’

    Welcome to Female Filmmakers in Focus, where you will find a recommendation for films directed by women to seek out each week. This week features the horror film ‘Slaxx,’ an interview with the film’s co-writer and director Elza Kephart, and pairing with another film about magical pants: Sanaa Hamri’s ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2’

    ‘Slaxx’ (2021) – Co-written and directed by Elza Kephart

    Director/co-writer Elza Kephart on the set of ‘Slaxx’

    ‘Slaxx’ follows wide-eyed teenager Libby (Romane Denis) on her first shift at supposedly eco-friendly fashion boutique Canadian Cotton Clothiers or CCC. Stuck working a night shift on the eve of the launch of a new product – super shaper jeans that shift to fit anybody type, Libby learns what we all learn on her first job: work sucks. Co-workers can be jerks, managers egotistical, PR girls cold, company policy absurd. However, as the night progresses she quickly learns that the evil that lurks behind corporations may be even more sinister. With campy gore reminiscent of Italian Giallo slasher films, ‘Slaxx’ is filled with terrific horror set pieces and an ending shot you won’t long forget.

    tru0YxaNw2vcKOXyNG2yt

    Read on for an interview with ‘Slaxx’ director/co-writer Elza Kephart

    Inspired by films like ‘Star Wars’, ‘Back To The Future’, and Italian horror films of the 60’s and 70s, Elza Kephart started writing scripts when she was a teenager. After graduating from film school at Emerson College, Kephart worked on the sets of American films shot in Montreal. She made her feature film directorial debut with 2004’s ‘Graveyard Alive: A Zombie Nurse in Love.’

    Moviefone: Why did you decide to tell a story about the dark side of fast fashion?

    Elza Kephart: I’ve always been really fascinated and repulsed at how corporations manipulate and convince us to buy things that we don’t really need. It wasn’t always about fast fashion. It’s been about body creams to dolls to Cheetos. It was a general hatred of corporate brainwashing that’s been with me for many years. My co-writer Patricia Gomez worked in retail, so when we came up with the idea for ‘Slaxx’ we decided the right setting for it was a retail store. I did research into fast fashion and when I realized how horrific it actually was, it seemed like a natural fit for a horror film.

    MF: Did you always think you’d be a horror filmmaker?

    EK: I’ve always loved horror. I’ve always liked darkness. I started reading Agatha Christie when I was young and my friends were reading The Babysitter’s Club. To me, if there wasn’t a death in what I was reading, I wasn’t interested. So I’ve always just really loved the genre. I loved Anne Rice and Chistopher Pike and all that stuff. Making horror films came about after college. I didn’t think I was necessarily going to make horror films, but then Patricia and I decided to make a zombie movie together as a joke, which became my first feature. I did visual research to prep myself for that film ‘Graveyard Alive: A Zombie Nurse in Love’, which was a 1960s-set B-movie. As I started to watch all these films again, I had been going to Fantasia (a horror film festival in Montreal) since I was young, I realized this is what I loved. I love these dark weird, disturbing tales. These were the kinds of stories I wanted to tell.

    MF: What do you hope audiences take away from this film?

    EK: A couple of things: First, I hope people enjoy it as a gory insane horror film. I want people to laugh and to be entertained, to watch killer pants come to life! Second, I hope people come to think about their consumption habits, that instead of buying something new, they first ask themselves if they really need it, and if they do, whether they can buy it second hand, repurpose or trade it. And if they can’t, then to try as much as possible to buy from companies that are ethical. I think we’ve been brainwashed by corporations to buy without thinking so it’s really important for people to realise that they have real power in not buying, in not giving in to the lure of buying things we don’t need. Choosing not to buy can become a political act! It’s crucial that, because of the looming climate and ecological crises fueled in part by over production and over consumption, we must rethink our relationship to consuming if we are to survive as a species.

    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008) – directed by Sanaa Hamri and written by Elizabeth Chandler

    (L to R) America Ferrara, Amber Tamblyn, Blake Lively, Sanaa Hamri, and Alexis Bledel on the set of ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2’

    Moroccan-American filmmaker Sanaa Hamri cut her teeth directing music videos for icons like Prince, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Lenny Kravitz, and Christina Aguilera. Her feature films include ‘Something New’ stars Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker, ‘Just Wright’ starring Queen Latifah and Common. She’s also directed countless episodes of television, including more than a dozen episodes of ‘Empire.’

    If you want more pants that miraculously fit any body type try ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.’ A direct sequel to the first film directed by Ken Kwapis and written by Delia Ephron Elizabeth Chandler, both are adaptations of books by Ann Brashares. They follow four friends – Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), Carmen (America Ferrera), Bridget (Blake Lively) and Lena (Alexis Bledel) as childhood friends who come of age apart from each other. The first film in the franchise follows their first summer apart ever, the second follows them the summer after college. Over the course of the films, the magical pants don’t murder anyone, but rather give these girls confidence to grow into the women they’re destined to become, while also reminded them they’ll always have each other when things get rough.

    34939