Wonderland talks to some of Hollywood’s emerging acting talents and uncovers their upcoming projects.
As fans of the TV series Scrubs will attest, it was all change with the ninth season of the medical comedy. Recently joining the cast of the Emmy-winning show is Dave Franco (younger brother of James), who has been quietly building a career with numerous roles in film and American TV. While the future of Scrubs currently stands in the balance, Franco is keen to keep himself busy and will appear in Noah Baumbach’s forthcoming Greenberg, in which he parties with his real-life friends and snorts cocaine with Ben Stiller – “something you don’t say every day.”
Attending the world premiere of Greenberg at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Franco took to the city but was perplexed by the regimented German approach to clubbing. “I did notice that when you’re at a club and there’s music going, everyone – every single person – is facing the DJ and everyone is dancing by themselves. That was interesting.” Interesting, yes, but also a blessing for Franco. “I am a terrible dancer and so I didn’t have to embarrass myself in front of any girls.”
Although he has been acting for a large part of his life, acting is a profession Michael Angarano arrived at by chance. “My mother owns a dance studio and there was a photographer taking pictures for her clothes book and they ended up putting me in front of the cameras because the model didn’t show up. Turns out I was very photogenic,” he laughs. A child modelling contract with Ford Models followed, which led onto commercials and television with the transition to the big screen in 2000 with Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous – and all by the age of 11. Since then Angarano has worked with directors David Gordon Green and Jared Hess, and is currently working with Steven Soderbergh on his latest project Knockout. He will also be playing the love interest to Uma Thurman in Max Winkler’s Ceremony.
“I would probably be going to school for something – I don’t know what,” Angarano says when asked what he would be doing if he hadn’t followed the acting path. “I didn’t really find myself to be the best student even though I was reasonably smart,” he ponders. “I’m not disenchanted. I am extremely lucky.”
“I hate that!” squeals Riley Keough of the moment it comes to dress up and take to the red carpet. “It’s my least favourite part,” she confides. Having won the role of Marie Currie in The Runaways, however, red carpet premieres are something the young actress will surely get to grips with. A former model, daughter of Danny Keough and Lisa Marie Presley and therefore granddaughter of Elvis, Keough is very excited about The Runaways – her first foray into acting. Though the film revolves around the lives and antics of a band (Keough plays twin sister of The Runaways’ lead singer Cherie Currie – played by Dakota Fanning), the fact that her first film has a music theme is purely coincidental.
“I definitely have a connection to music and I love music a lot, but professionally I love acting and I’m passionate about it as a career,” she says. And although Keough may have famous family credentials, she definitely worked hard to get the part. “I auditioned for it and got a call back and then another call back and then screen tested and then got the part,” she beams. “It was my first audition.”
“We broke down a door together – which is a great bonding moment for anybody,” says Jennifer Lawrence of her scene with Jodie Foster, who she was directed by and acted with in upcoming comedy The Beaver. But working with such established actors like Foster and Mel Gibson (who plays the lead in The Beaver) is something Lawrence takes in her stride. “I never felt intimidated,” she says of her famous co-stars. “You see [Foster] in Taxi Driver and you know she is other-humanly, but when you meet her it is impossible to be star struck because she doesn’t act different or weird at all. I can go and film movies with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster and Charlize Theron – that’s my job – and then I come home and have my normal life.”
Although Lawrence emphasises she would not let her acting career define her as a person, she can’t see herself doing anything else. “I don’t feel like I had a choice. I grew up in Kentucky, where being a movie star in LA doesn’t really enter the mind as a possibility. But when it started becoming real it was like, ‘That’s why I love attention so much and study people and record everything they do.’”
“I haven’t spoken to him since he got Thor,” jokes Liam Hemsworth of his older brother Chris, who he lost out to for the lead role in Kenneth Branagh and Marvel Studio’s superhero movie. His jealousy is, however, just a joke. “It’s a friendly rivalry,” he says. “We definitely push each other to do better. If he gets a part over me, I’m as happy for him to get it as for myself.”
Having moved across the Pacific to LA, the Australian actor is taking steps to build his career from Australian TV actor to Hollywood star. First up is romantic drama The Last Song opposite singer/songwriter/actress Miley Cyrus – someone he admits to having chemistry with on and off screen. “She was great to work with. She’s such a good person, really professional, and she has achieved so much for her age. It’s kind of incredible,” he says. And how was the experience of taking his first lead in an American film? “It was beautiful weather and we were shooting on the beach all day – it really was like a summer holiday and a really good time in my life. I’m excited for people to see the film.”
Polish actress Alicja Bachleda was born in Mexico, where her father was a professor at a University in Tampico. Her family moved back to Poland when she was young, but Bachleda now spends her time between the USA and Europe. “I’m a very European soul, so I go back and forth and I enjoy being in different places,” she says. “Travel is one of the lovely aspects of my job, but right now I would call Los Angeles my home.”
With a busy work schedule, international travel and having recently given birth to her first child (with Colin Farrell), how does Bachleda find the time to relax? “I have to remind myself,” she admits. “I am so happy to devote myself to others and especially my little son, but it is important to find those minutes every day to be attached with your inner self and be relaxed. Yoga helps.”
Amber Heard has been building up an impressive film CV since her breakthrough in 2008’s All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, with recent parts in blockuster comedies Pineapple Express and Zombieland. In her forthcoming film, The Rum Diary, she heads the cast alongside Johnny Depp.“It was fantastic!” the actress exclaims. “Johnny is not only a brilliant actor, but he is a really kind person.”
Coming from Texas, Heard moved to LA to pursue a more fast-paced life. “I am a very restless person and I want nothing more than to do and see different things. Travelling is such a big part of it, but after shooting for the majority of the year, I love to do domestic things like cook when I’m home.” Amber Heard certainly sounds like she would make an ideal housewife. “That is horribly, horribly stereotypical of you,” she scolds. “But yeah!”
“Scott Pilgrim, for me, was more of a learning experience than any other film I’ve done,” says Johnny Simmons of his experience playing Young Neil in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. “There’s a lot of comedic elements and I was working with Jason Schwartzman, Michael Cera and Edgar Wright – all these big influences in comedy – so I was trying to understand how ‘funny’ works. It was great to sit and learn for a while.”
‘Funny’, in a sense, is the way Simmons discovered he landed the part in the film, as he was notified via Facebook. “Six months went by and all of a sudden I got a message on Facebook from Edgar saying, ‘I’d love to meet for a coffee. By the way, I’d love to offer you the role’. I called my manager and said, ‘Is this for real?’ and it wasn’t some poser or faker and I got the movie.” Another upcoming project includes playing historic character John Surratt in Robert Redford’s Lincoln assassination drama The Conspirator – and similar to his notification to winning the role in Scott Pilgrim, Simmons thought he could have been victim of a prank. “This is the first film I didn’t audition for. I was completely shocked when I got the call. Working with a legend like Robert Redford was like... I need to find a new word for incredible.”
Despite starring in various horror films – The Ring Two, Final Destination 3, Black Christmas – Mary Elizabeth Winstead insists she is not worried about being pigeonholed. “Horror movies are a lot of what’s being made right now and what people love to see. As long as the material is interesting and elevated from the usual running around screaming, then I’m all for it.”
Leaving the slasher flicks for the time being, Winstead is taking the lead female role in Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs The World, where she plays Ramona Flowers, the love interest to Scott Pilgrim who must defeat all of her evil former lovers. “I feel like Ramona is a sad character; she creates mayhem wherever she goes and these guys obsess over her,” she explains. The training process for the film saw the cast put through an intensive course of martial arts, rollerblading and music practice. “We trained for three months before we started filming and it was really fun – like some crazy summer camp!”
After this foray into action-comedy, what next for Winstead? More horror – with a prequel to The Thing. “I see it a bit more sci-fi with horror elements in it,” she rationalises. “But it is definitely in the horror realm.”
[Originally published in Wonderland Magazine Issue 22, April 2010. Photography Kenneth Cappello]
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