15 Life Lessons We Learned From 'National Lampoon's Vacation'
Tag Archives: Questions and Answers
Questions and Answers With Ken Jeong
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Innocent pedestrians would be forgiven for crossing to the other side of the street at the sight of Ken Jeong. After all, the 43-year-old actor is best known for playing the criminally insane Leslie Chow in the successful "Hangover" trilogy. (This when he isn't playing the often equally insane Senor Chang on the NBC series "Community.") For many, the enduring image associated with Jeong's name is that moment in "The Hangover" when he jumped out of a car trunk, naked and screaming, and wrapped his legs around poor, innocent Bradley Cooper's neck. Yikes.
Jeong gets to say "toodaloo motherf***ers" to Mr. Chow in this weekend's "The Hangover Part III," acting as the movie's central antagonist and main provocateur. The man himself couldn't be further from his character, however: In conversation, the father of two is earnest and nice. He even maintains his medical license. (Jeong was a physician before he decided to pursue acting and comedy.)
We caught up with Jeong ahead of the release of "The Hangover Part III" to talk about the franchise's finale, Harry Potter and (the lack of) Mr. Chow impersonators. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Questions and Answers With Luis Guzman
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Perhaps the most prolific and reliable character actor of the last 20 years, Luis Guzman is nothing short of an American treasure. Think of your favorite movie right now — was Luis Guzman in it? There is statistically a 23.9% chance you just said "Yes." That's Luis's career in a nutshell. No one plays the goofy, lovable criminal, sidekick or law enforcement officer better than Guzman, and everyone in Hollywood knows it — that's why he's been in approximately 5,891 movies since 1990.
Guzman recently co-starred in "The Last Stand" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Johnny Knoxville, where he played a deputy sheriff to Schwarzenegger's head honcho. "The Last Stand" is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
Luis recently spoke with NextMovie about "The Power of Love," turning down Adam Sandler's private jet, and "Do It." Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Questions and Answers With Greta Gerwig
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Single young women of New York City, get ready for your mom to worry about what your day-to-day life is like! (And just when we'd explained to her that it's not like "Girls," too.) Everyone else, brace yourselves for your new favorite indie charmer: "Frances Ha."
Greta Gerwig plays the titular Frances, a 27-year-old modern dancer prone to scabby knees, bouts of wild movement in front of fountains and white lies about her employment status — but it's cool, she readily admits, as she's "not a real person yet."
The film, directed by Noah Baumbach and co-written by Baumbach and Gerwig, will finally hit limited release on May 17 after running the festival circuit in New York, Toronto and Telluride last fall. The agonizing six-month gap between festival screenings and the official release date, however, was better than letting the finished film sit on the shelf until spring, Gerwig told NextMovie.
"Once your baby's ready, you've gotta get it out," she said of the film, though she admits to "kind of weeping on the other side of the phone, saying, 'Well, I can't wait another six months for this to come out, why can't we just release it right now!'"
NextMovie caught up with Gerwig in New York ahead of the black-and-white film's release, talking about "Frances Ha," classic films and, perhaps most importantly, how women can pee in the great outdoors without incident. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Questions and Answers With Alice Eve
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Alice Eve used to just be out of your league, but now she's out of your galaxy, man.
Yes, the striking blonde whose sudden bra-and-underwear appearance in the "Star Trek Into Darkness" trailer may have given you whiplash from running the YouTube scrollbar back so quickly (to find the hidden link to the posters, of course) has noted babe qualities, having starred in 2010's "She's Out of My League" with Jay Baruchel and played movie star Vince's future wife on HBO's "Entourage." However, that glimpse of skin you catch in the trailer is about all you get — Eve's character, Dr. Carol Marcus, is a science officer on board the Enterprise, and, refreshingly, does not serve as anyone's love interest.
We caught up with Eve before this week's release of the film to talk Trekkies, geekery and bromances. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Questions and Answers With Simon Pegg
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English actor Simon Pegg has enough geek credits on his resume to earn a lifetime pass at Comic-Con. He's played an unwitting zombie fighter in "Shaun of the Dead," the best friend to an alien in "Paul" and will fight an army of blue-eyed somethings in this summer's "The World's End." It's Pegg's role as Scotty in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" films, however, that really endears him to the Hall H crowd.
Pegg returns this week as the wisecracking intergalactic mechanic in "Star Trek Into Darkness," the follow-up to 2009's immensely popular reboot of "Star Trek." As the crew of the Starship Enterprise faces a mysterious villain (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) hell-bent on destroying Starfleet, Scotty serves as the moral backbone of the team, not to mention its most persistent source of comic relief.
NextMovie caught up with Pegg ahead of the May 17 release of "Star Trek Into Darkness" and chatted about everything from intergalactic drinking pals to whether J.J. Abrams' other "Star" franchise will keep him from trekking once more. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Questions and Answers From Tribeca: Jack Reynor
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Before stepping into the spotlight as the new young hero in the fourth installment of the "Transformers" franchise, Jack Reynor would like to spend a little time talking about "What Richard Did." Nope, "Richard" is not one of Jack's friends — it's the new indie import from Ireland he stars in that screened at the Tribeca Film Festival this week.
The 21-year-old Reynor plays Richard, a high schooler whose life seems to be skimming along a golden road until a fate-changing accident the summer before his senior year.
Of course, we couldn't let Reynor go without asking him a few questions about "Transformers." Read on for Reynor's prediction for the number of explosions in the action movie, his favorite things about New York and an in-depth discussion of Mark Wahlberg's third nipple. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Questions and Answers From Tribeca: Zoe Kazan
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There's plenty of Zoe Kazan to go around, petite though the actress may be. There's enough of her, in fact, to play two roles — three, depending on who you ask — in "The Pretty One," which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Kazan pulls a Lohan, playing both halves of a set of identical twins, then the role of Sister A pretending to be Sister B after Sister B dies and Sister A is mistaken for her. (It's complicated.)
While buzz for "The Pretty One" is just beginning, Kazan is no stranger to critical praise: Just last year, she turned in a phenomenal lead performance opposite real-life boyfriend Paul Dano in "Ruby Sparks," which she also happened to write.
NextMovie caught up with the 29-year-old actress in New York before the premiere of "The Pretty One" and chatted on siblings, bagels and the mystical Lindsay Lohan. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Questions and Answers from Tribeca: Emma Roberts
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Emma Roberts is figuring it out. Julia Roberts' niece, the daughter of actor Eric Roberts, the 22-year-old star of "Adult World" is grappling with living in the world as, well, an adult. When NextMovie caught up with Roberts at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City the day after the film's premiere, the actress was picking at a bunless burger and a heap of fries, bemoaning the blisters her heels had given her the night before. "Someone should do a shoe break-in service where they break in your shoes," she said.
Shoe problems aside, Roberts' career is standing tall: She's graduated from her "Nancy Drew" and "Aquamarine" kiddie film days to solidly received indies like "Adult World" and "It's Kind of a Funny Story," and a memorable supporting role as Ke$ha-like Riley in Rashida Jones' "Celeste and Jesse Forever." Her career is maturing as she does.
In "Adult World," Roberts plays Amy, a would-be poet who literally runs away from home when her parents refuse to continue paying contest entry fees for her amateur verse. She makes rent money at a porn shop (guess what it's called) alongside scruffy manager/cute dude Alex (Roberts' real-life boyfriend, "American Horror Story" star Evan Peters), while pestering an enigmatic has-been poet (a hilariously befuddled John Cusack) to mentor her, hoping the two can reverse their career trajectories and meet in the middle.
In addition to Roberts' million-dollar shoe-softening idea, NextMovie chatted with her about "Adult World," being a terrible roommate and her deep obsession with bagels. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Questions and Answers With Julia Stiles
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Julia Stiles has proven she can handle pretty much any genre. She ruled the teen rom-com scene with "10 Things I Hate About You" and "Save the Last Dance." She took action as Matt Damon's co-star in the fast-paced "Bourne" series. She was perfect as the horrified mother of one creepy kid named Damien in "The Omen." But now Stiles is taking on one genre she wasn't even aware existed: apocalypse comedies.
In her latest film, "It's a Disaster" directed by Todd Berger, available now in VOD and in theaters April 12, four couples meeting for Sunday brunch find themselves stranded together when they receive news that the world is ending. Stiles plays Tracy, a doctor who's introducing her new boyfriend Glen (David Cross) to her three best friends and their significant others. While her biggest initial fear is whether her friends will approve of her new beau, she soon realizes passing the friend test is the least of her worries at this couple's brunch. (Check out the film at its official site.)
NextMovie sat down with Stiles in her hometown of New York City to chat about the film, awkward brunches, and how a ukelele could help in an apocalypse scenario. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Questions and Answers With Kristin Chenoweth
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Kristin Chenoweth is the very definition of a multi-hyphenate: She sings, she acts, she dances, she writes, she makes people guess what's in the "mystery Oscar box." She's a big talent in small (4'11"!) package. Today, her newest film, "Family Weekend," is out in theaters and VOD. She plays an overworked mom who is taken hostage by her jump roping prodigy daughter (Olesya Rulin) after missing one too many competitions.
NextMovie sat down with Chenoweth (and her dog Maddie, "named after the actress Madeline Kahn") in New York City prior to the release of "Family Weekend." We learnedher opinions on breastfeeding, getting mistaken for Cameron Diaz, her favorite small spaces to fold herself into and so much more. Get More »
Filed Under: Features Interviews
