Interview: Can Ana de la Reguera Tame Kenny Powers?
If you don't yet know who Ana de la Reguera is, you soon will. She has starred opposite some of the hottest A-listers in Hollywood, and she just finished work on one of the most talked about movies for 2011 (Cowboys & Aliens). Currently she co-stars in the funniest show on television today (it's a scientific fact), HBO's Eastbound & Down, which airs Sundays at 10:30 p.m. I got the chance to catch up with Ana a few weeks ago, and we discussed her new life in the Funny Lane.Celebrity Extra: The other night I rented Cop Out, and I thought it was hilarious. How was it to work with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan?
Ana de la Reguera: It was great. It was a great experience just to watch them work together. They are so different. They come from different schools. They’d improvise a lot. I had a blast. I was a huge fan of Kevin Smith, so for me that was perfect for my career to be close to those people and to learn more about comedy. I worked in New York for one month last year in the summer, and I had the best time.
CE: What did you like most about working on that movie with them?
Ana: I like the freedom that Kevin gave me. The character was pretty much the girl who was really scared, and they save her and are taking care of her. I just thought it would be more interesting if more than being scared, she was mad and pissed about what was going on in her life, about what was happening to her. My whole part is in Spanish, and they couldn’t understand a word of what I was saying. So, Kevin just had to trust me, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, he doesn’t even know what I’m saying.” For me it was cool, but at the same time I was nervous, because I felt like everything depended on me — what I’m saying or that I’m doing the right thing, because they don’t know. I felt really good that they liked what I did and it worked out really well.
CE: Tell me about filming Nacho Libre with Jack Black where you played Sister Encarnacion. I have to tell you that this movie is one of my favorite comedies of the past 10 years — I laughed so hard in some scenes I was crying.
Ana: Oh, thank you! For me it was a blessing because I’m a nun. (Laughs) I’m kidding. We were in Mexico the whole time in a beautiful town called Oaxaca. So, the whole crew was Mexican. The only Americans were literally Jack, Jared (Hess, writer and director) and Mike White (writer). The rest of us were Mexican folks. It was really nice that they were adapting to us. I think Jared did a great job. He’s fluent in Spanish so he did a great job trying to get on the screen our culture and who were are, and he was very respectful about it. We had the best time. Oaxaca is one of the best places to eat, and so I gained a lot of weight because Jack is a good eater. He was eating the whole time.
For me, that movie was my big breakout. I was living in Mexico. I was an actress, of course. I already had a pretty good career there. From that moment I had almost 10 years acting, but I got the part without an agent or anything. I had a plan to go away to American to try to make it in Hollywood, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have the money. But then the movie came to Mexico and I got the part.
CE: That’s great that Hollywood came to you!
Ana: Yeah, but after that movie it’s been pretty hard. It’s really, really hard to keep working. There’s a lot of competition out there. There’s a lot of great Latina actresses out there competing for the same roles. Sometimes I have too much accent or I don’t look Mexican enough or sometimes I don’t have enough accent — it’s weird. I struggle a lot, but now I think I get it. After a couple of years, you learn how L.A. works.
CE: Now fans can catch you in HBO’s outrageous and HILARIOUS comedy, Eastbound & Down, which is hands-down one of my favorite shows out right now. What can you tell me about the part you play, Vida, as well as any plot points you can divulge?Ana: Well, you know that Kenny leaves April at the gas station. So, he basically disappears and wants to start over and wants to go to a new world, so he goes to Mexico. When he comes, I think it’s going to be really, really fun because his character is not that smart. I think he’s pretty ignorant. He’s in a completely new culture. His weaknesses are much bigger. He meets me there and I’m a singer. He thinks we have a connection because I sing Bob Segar songs, covers, but in Spanish the whole time. It was a lot of fun to record those songs. But I can’t tell you much; I don’t want to ruin the story.
CE: How on Earth do you keep a straight face playing opposite Danny McBride?
Ana: Oh my gosh. It is really, really hard. What helps me is I just block my mind, and I’m not listening to him. Because if not, there have been times when the crew couldn’t even work because they were laughing. The camera guy was laughing, and the camera moved because he was laughing. Those guys are really sweet and we improvised a lot. The way they work is we did the scene as it was written like two or three times, and then they just let us free. They let us do whatever we wanted and say whatever we wanted, and we just improvised over and over. I think that’s really a smart thing to do in a comedy show. Those were the hardest moments, because you didn’t expect what somebody was going to say or do. I had the best time. The people from HBO are the sweetest people. They were so nice to me. I couldn’t ask for more. Literally I had the best time of my life.
CE: All the comedic geniuses you’ve worked with, and you can keep a straight face. Directors should pay heed!
Ana: Yeah, I’m really good at it. You know why? Because what happened to me when I did Nacho Libre is — what I am used to is usually when you film in Mexico, the actual film is so expensive that you are not allowed to be laughing like we were doing (on Nacho Libre). How I am used to working is not being able to do very many takes because it’s so expensive, and we don’t have the budget to ruin the scene just because we were laughing. In Mexico, that would be so bad for the director that you are ruining the film, because we don’t have that much money to spend. For me, doing that is disrespectful to the crew. So, that’s why even though I know that I’m allowed to do it, I’m just trained that way not to laugh. I just try to keep a straight face all the time and then laugh after.
CE: I’ve read that although Danny plays a lot of asshole characters that he is really a nice person to work with.Ana: Yes he is. He and the directors, the writers and the producers were the nicest people, and they are all friends from college. The atmosphere on set was like you were just with friends all the time, and everything was really relaxed. He is the nicest most humble guy and so talented. Like really — he is really, really talented. I would love to work with him again. He’s pretty hot. He’s really smart and educated. He’s really different.
CE: What other projects do you have coming up?
Ana: I do a lot of dramas in Mexico. I have another HBO show; it’s for HBO Latin America that I did for a season two years ago. It’s going to be funny because I’m going to be on HBO in America and HBO in Latin America with different shows. It’s a show called Capadocia. It’s really dark. It’s a big drama.
And I just finished up a movie called Cowboys & Aliens with Jon Favreau directing, and starring Daniel Craig, Sam Rockwell and Harrison Ford. It’s an action adventure film that is really more unusual for me. I have this love story with Sam. It’s a very, very pretty role.
(pictures 2 and 3: Credit HBO/Fred Norris)
Jon Huertas: "Nathan Fillion Is Our Spanky"
Jon Huertas is one busy man. Aside from his busy schedule as Det. Javier Esposito on ABC's hit crime drama Castle, he is also quite a presence in Twitter-verse. He is auctioning himself off, so to speak, for TwitChange, the charity that is "changing the world, one tweet at a time." You can find Jon's auction here, where if you win the auction, Jon will follow you on Twitter, retweet at least one of your tweets to his followers and last, but certainly not least, he will invite the winner to the Castle set as his personal guest. His auction, along with the auctions of hundreds of other celebs, ends Sept. 25, so get on over there and help make a change!In the meantime, I had the chance to catch up with Jon and tried to get him to spill some details on the upcoming season of Castle, which returns for its third season Monday night, Sept. 20, 10/9c.
Celebrity Extra: You are most well known for your present role of Det. Esposito on Castle, although I know you've had other great roles previously. How did the role of Esposito come about for you?
Jon Huertas: I was in Africa for about eight months shooting that HBO miniseries Generation Kill, and I had just finished that. That was the first time I had played a character who was more like me. We were so much alike, me and my character in Generation Kill, that I wanted to do more of that. I wanted to be able to bring my own experiences in life to a role. Javier Esposito is kind of like a blank canvas. I went in and had my own take on it. Andrew Marlowe, the creator of Castle, responded to that. I was allowed to help create the character of Esposito, help create his back story. Javier has a formal military background. It was really an amazing process that a lot of actors don’t get to experience. I thought it was just an opportunity to be an artist in this industry as an actor.
CE: For me, the writing for Castle is just some of the best in the industry today, with each character being just as important as the "lead" characters.
JH: Oh absolutely. I’ve never been on a show that had such tremendous writing. I think Andrew came from the world of feature films, and in the features world you flesh out and develop characters, and you have only two hours to tell a story. In television, you have a ton of time to develop and play with characters. I think that’s Andrew’s whole vibe. I think he hires writers who kind of have the same mind-set. That’s why I think a lot of people fall in love with all of the characters of the show.
CE: One of my favorite episodes of last season was the one that focused on Esposito and his former partner, whom he thought was dead. You must have been excited when you got the script and saw the meaty part you had in it.
JH: Yes, definitely. When I read that script, people had been throwing hints at me on previous episodes: You’ve got a great script coming up; you’ve got a great script coming up. When I read it, I was just like, “Wow.” Will Beall, the writer who wrote that episode, is actually a former homicide detective. He and I have a lot in common. Me being former military; him being a former homicide detective. We kind of have the regiment — like it’s a regiment of life you have to live by, so we have that in common. We’ve always kind of bonded, and I think he really got me and got my character, and it was such a great experience to just be able to go a little deeper. I got to go a lot deeper in that episode.
CE: Aside from a lot of the serious subject matter of the show, you guys look like you have a lot of fun on the set.
JH: We have fun all the time. We’re like a bunch of kids who have been given the greatest gift in the world, and that’s basically recess and playtime all day long. We take advantage of it. Nathan and I and Seamus really, I think, we’re the three who are the biggest kids on set, and each kid is different, of course. We laugh so much on set, and we get along so well with the crew. The crew is also an amazing crew, and I think it’s because when we did the pilot, we all came together — the actors, producers Rob Bowman, Andrew Marlowe — and we said, "Let’s establish a no-asshole policy on the set." So nobody can be an asshole on the set. If they are, they get called on it and are told they better stop or they’re hitting the road, so nobody’s ever an asshole. Why wouldn’t you want to keep working on Castle?
CE: When I spoke with Nathan last year, he said that you and Seamus were his Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. What would you call Nathan?
J: Let me think. That’s funny, Nathan. I think I would call Nathan our Spanky from The Little Rascals. Yes — Nathan, he’s our Spanky.
CE: Give me a little tease; what can we expect for season 3?
JH: Well, for season 3 you can expect, from my character in particular, I’m going to have a little bit of an on-screen romance with another member of the cast, female member. A lot of people, I think, have been rooting for that. I’ve been told this happens for sure. Also, for the first episode, there’s a big surprise. Our first suspect in the murder that we are investigating, our first suspect surprises everybody. Other than that I think you are going to see a lot more fleshing out of the satellite characters — Seamus’ character, my character, Tamala’s character. There’s going to be a lot more of that.
CE: Can you tell me a bit about the charity you are involved with, Puppies Behind Bars?
JH: Puppies Behind Bars, I sit on the Board of Directors for that charity. It’s a charity that we train puppies from the age of six weeks to 18 months behind bars, in prison. Our inmates who are in this program, I think, are the best-trained dog trainers in the world. We have dog trainers who are world-renowned dog trainers who go into the prison and teach these guys how to train puppies. We give the puppies to servicemen who have suffered from PTSD, traumatic brain injury, even physical injury. These animals are amazing. They not only rehabilitate the veterans who get these dogs and help them through life on a daily basis, they also rehabilitate the inmates who are training them. These inmates now feel like they have purpose; they have a reason to be. They’ve been taken away from society for so long that they are finally able to give back to society.
Interview: Patricia Wettig Is The 19th Wife
Patricia Wettig first caught our eye as Nancy Weston on “thirtysomething,” the nighttime drama that broke ground on every front, paving the way for many series to follow in its footsteps. The “Brothers and Sisters” star is currently starring in the Lifetime original movie “The 19th Wife,” which premieres tonight, Sept. 13 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Patricia plays BeckyLyn, the 19th wife of Mormon Sawyer Scott, who is accused of murdering her husband.Daytime Dial: The role of BeckyLyn is different from any role I’ve ever seen you do. What was it about her — how did you connect with her — to made you want this role?
Patricia Wettig: I know! It is so different. It’s that fervor … that religion thing. My great-grandmother was married to a Methodist minister. And when I was growing up, she was the person I was closest to of anyone in the whole world. And she had a certain sternness about her and a certain way of doing things. But with me, she was always so loving and so kind and so soft. And nobody else responded to her like that. I don’t know what that was. And she died when I was 9 years old, and it was just such a huge loss to me. But I think it’s a little bit about her — that way about being so absolute in your faith. At least I hope I portrayed it that way. I haven’t seen the movie yet myself. Like the way she connects to her son, that underneath it all is this loving, touching place.
DD: That’s definitely what I was thinking of when you told me that with you she was very sweet and tender. I pictured BeckyLyn’s interaction with her son the moment you mentioned that, so it definitely comes off that way.
PW: Oh good! And Matt (Czuchry) was wonderful to work with. We just sort of had this instant chemistry, and that is such a blessing for an actor, I have to say. I thought that that was a really central thing for this part. And you never know who you’re going to be cast with. It was really lovely to work with him, I have to say.
DD: The way these people are thinking and living, it’s pretty way out there for most Americans. How did you relate?
PW: I guess I had to take it off of something in my own life. You have to personalize it in some ways because it is certainly not the way I live my own life and it’s not my religion. But I think I had to personalize it in the way that, what are the things that I have unshakable faith in? What are the things I would not put into jeopardy?
DD: I have to commend the writers of it and your performance of her, because she could have very easily been an unlikable character, but she wasn’t. During the jail visits, as we get to know your character, we get to see the pureness in her. You can’t not like her.
PW: Oh good. Yes, I do think it’s almost an innocence. Like a purity is how it was coming off to me on the page when I was reading it. It’s like she never really grew up and thought and formed her own thinking. And I think it’s really true for a lot of women in that sect; it’s almost like a brainwashing, like a blind faith. And other people say, well, that’s what faith is. It’s almost like being innocent and young and not looking at all the other possibilities.
DD: This is definitely going to be an eye-opener for some people as they watch this. We know what we read in the news, about Warren Jeffs, and we get the glamorized version with HBO’s “Big Love.”
PW: I like “Big Love” too, but that’s sort of the “fun” version of plural marriage. Look how handsome he is, and all of the three of the wives are so pretty. They do get into stuff, but still it all looks rather pretty to me. I don’t think it is pretty a lot of the time. When we talk about a 60-year-old man marrying a 15-year-old girl, that’s not pretty. That’s not OK with me. I’m sorry, but that’s not all right with me!
David Charvet Is The Perfect Teacher
David Charvet is well known to fans as a hunky lifeguard on “Baywatch,” but he stretched his fan base even further when he went on to star on the nighttime soap “Melrose Place.” Since then, he has been busy with his music career, being a father to his four kids (with fiancee Brooke Burke) as well as fitting in a movie here and there when his schedule permits. His latest movie is the Lifetime Movie Network thriller “The Perfect Teacher” (which airs Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. ET), where David stars as a good-looking young teacher who becomes the object of desire for one misguided student.Celebrity Extra: Tell me a bit about the movie and your role in it.
David Charvet: “The Perfect Teacher” is about an actual story that happened with a student and a math teacher. This is kind of an issue that happens a lot nowadays, where younger women, high-school girls, fall in love with their teachers. For me, it was kind of interesting to play a teacher, because I have never played one before. After having four children, I also wanted to play a father. So, for me, those two elements were really more interesting to explore as an actor.
CE: How could you relate to your character, Jim?
DC: Being a father is something I can really relate to and really wanted to play. The other thing was, he’s a good guy. He loves his family and he’ll do anything for his kid. He’s a hard worker and he has a lot of passion for life. I can really relate to that. I have a lot of passion for life and I really love to do everything at 100 percent. That’s the kind of character he was.
(Photo Credit: Albert Camicioli/Lifetime Movie Network)
CE: As a father of daughters, was it difficult for you to play a teacher who becomes the object of a young girl’s affection and fantasies?
DC: Funny enough, that was kind of the hardest thing for me for this role, to actually be able to justify that when this girl is coming on to me that I don’t completely see it. Obviously, Jim knew that she was kind of flirtatious, but that it wasn’t really going anywhere, especially with my girlfriend also being one of her teachers. I think that he’s figured it all out kind of toward the end. Sometimes I think that guys are like that. Guys aren’t always figuring things out right away, and it takes them a little bit of time, especially in the woman department. He honestly felt that she was a girl who was a little lost herself.
CE: How was it to work with Megan Park (“The Secret Life of an American Teenager”)?DC: Megan did a great job on this. I have to say that it probably was not the easiest role in the world, and I think she did really well. I actually saw the movie a couple of weeks ago, and I thought she played it right. Sometimes you can play this so over the top, and she didn’t do that. She kept it real. I think we all tried to keep it as true as possible and make it as real as possible, that if these circumstances really did happen we wouldn’t look like we were completely out there.
CE: What is the lesson learned from this movie?
DC: The biggest message is what can happen to somebody who is actually trying to do his job and be a good teacher. This is happening in schools today, so we are just kind of portraying a story that could possibly happen. I think it’s important for people out there, especially young kids, to realize that they could actually ruin someone’s life when their schemes get out of hand.
CONCERT REVIEW: Paramore's Honda Civic Tour
(by Celebrity Extra guest blogger Sarah Larson) Upon walking into the vast arena at the University of Central Florida in Orlando for a night of pop-punk delight, I was greeted with a fast-paced rendition of The Cardigans’ “Kiss Me” by openers New Found Glory, and immediately I knew it was going to be a good show.
The 2010 Honda Civic Tour featured rookie Swedish group Kadawatha, ’90s vets New Found Glory, femme duo Tegan and Sara, and stage-commanding headliners Paramore. Each band brought a growing sense of energy to the stage what with Kadawatha’s ear-popping vocals, New Found Glory’s dance tracks, and Tegan and Sara’s moody instrumentals. But Paramore reached the pinnacle of intensity with its veritable firecracker of a lead singer, Hayley Williams.
At no more than 5’1” with a black tank top monogrammed “B.O.Y.”, this orange-haired munchkin had the energy of a cocker spaniel and the vocal stability of Aretha Franklin. Her bubbly persona was absolutely mesmerizing, and her clear, perfected singing voice somehow remained so through a series of power ballads like “Decode” and “Pressure” (during which Williams head banged violently or sprinted across the stage … or both).
Halfway through the set, Paramore showed its versatility with a country-themed tribute to its Tennessee roots on a cover of Martina McBride’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough” and acoustic numbers “When It Rains” and “Where the Lines Overlap.” But the real treat of the show was the audio-visual overload that was its encore performance. Still flitting about the stage, Williams belted the chorus to her triumphant “Misery Business” (an adage for high school girls everywhere) as megatron graphics flashed the word “RIOT” and confetti the color of her hair began to fall. Needless to say, I was pleased to leave the arena with a head full of catchy tunes and a faint nostalgia of my junior prom … minus the bad DJ.
Interview: Marnie Schulenburg Discusses the End of As the World Turns
After 54 years and more than 13,000 episodes, the “World” will stop spinning for cast, crew and fans of the longest-running soap opera on television today. As the World Turns will air its final episode on Sept. 17. I caught up with Marnie Schulenburg (who has played Alison Stewart since March 2007) recently to discuss the show, those last days on the set and her plans for the future.Daytime Dial: When you heard the news that the show was going to be canceled, how did you react, and what was the general consensus around the set?
Marnie Schulenburg: I found out, I think it was right before Christmas, and I think it was solidified in January. That’s an awful time in general for people to find out, just because that’s supposed to be the happiest, giving time of year, and to know that your job and source of income is coming to an end is difficult for everybody. I’m younger, and I have less responsibility. I have a lot more freedom to be allowed to be out of a job. But a lot of the people on the show have lots of kids, or they have families, or it’s been their life. So, for me it was just sad watching people who had pretty much become my family for the past three and a half years go through that and the many different levels of what that means. From anger to sadness, feeling nostalgia to being sentimental — everybody has a different way of coping and dealing, and to watch people you love go through that is really difficult and sad.
DD: And like you said, you all really are like a family, so it’s like your family is being broken up.
MS: It really is, especially for the people like Don Hastings, Kathryn Hays and Eileen Fulton — the people who have been on the show since almost the beginning. Some people have pursued careers outside of the soap more than others. Some have kept busy with other projects, but those who really mainly focused on the soap and just had their families, it’s like the possibility of a career outside of that, they wonder, is that something that they even want to pursue? Is it time to retire? So, that is really difficult, too.
DD: A lot of actors, like those from Guiding Light, are finding work on remaining soaps. The cancellation of ATWT could give some actors new opportunities, and might even compel ATWT viewers to watch a new soap to follow that actor, creating higher numbers for the shows that do remain on the air.
MS: I feel like a lot of us are very versatile actors. I just read an article that quoted, I believe it was Les Moonves of CBS, saying that he wasn’t sure if there was a place for daytime anymore. The medium is changing. But since there are soaps leaving, then those viewers could then go over to another network and watch another show. That is very probable. But even with that being said, the viewership isn’t what it was even three years ago. We aren’t losing all the viewers; there are just different ways that they are watching our show, and it’s really difficult to monitor that and then prove to the networks that we are still maintaining popularity. I can tell them that half of my family and friends are TiVoing it and DVRing it or watching it online, but until we are able to monitor this source of how people are watching our show, what can we do?
DD: So, take me back to that final day of shooting. What was it like on the set?
MS: Once we found out, everybody went through different phases of coping: sadness to anxiety to anger to relief to whatever. But the last couple of days it was like, whatever stress people had, including myself, about where are we going and how were we going to make a living, that kind of melted away. Everything was relished. Everything was given respect, and it wasn’t rushed; it was honored. The last day, everybody clapped after everybody’s scene. Anytime anyone was done, we would all clap, and that was a wrap for them. That we were given that respect, that was really great.
There were an insane amount of pictures taken and a lot of crying. We did the last scene of the day with Don Hastings, Marie Masters and Kathy Hayes — three of the best, three really great people who started the show. When they were done, everybody came out and took pictures. Everybody on the show stayed, across the board, and we all made toasts for two hours — everybody toasting to one another and saying things that they made sure they wanted said. It was really beautiful.
DD: I know you can’t tell me how the show will end, but can you give me a little hint?
MS: It’s definitely going to be, I’d say for most of the people, a happy ending. For any character who doesn’t get one, I think they have pretty much already wrapped that up. Our fans are really in tune with the story lines and where they think characters are going to go. They are normally pretty much right on the nose with how stuff ends up. We want people to leave the show with a good feeling. It’s resolved and happy, and they can leave remembering the characters in a positive light. You won’t see anything extreme. They really want to keep it grounded, honest, compelling and resolved. A resolution for everybody to leave so they feel it has a poignant finish.
DD: Would you consider a role on another soap, or do you want to go in a different direction?
MS: If I got a job, I wouldn’t turn it down. I don’t think I’m going to go out of my way to pursue another job on another soap. I just don’t think it would be the same. I don’t think any show would ever be the same. ATWT changed my life. It changed how I am as an actor. I learned so much from it. I don’t think that anything could ever really give me that type of satisfaction.
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