Rachel McAdams - Rachel's News/Appearances #5 - Page 5

NZOCFan · 03-13-2008, 03:10 AM

Hopefully it's next year so we can stretch it a bit, if she's having her break.

water lilies · 03-13-2008, 08:04 PM

Hee, I hope so too. I'll take some Rachel news/appearances here and there rather than have a long extensive drought.

NZOCFan · 03-14-2008, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Rachel McAdams returns to the pastBy Bob Strauss
Article Created: 03/14/2008 12:31:39 AM PDT

Rachel McAdams had a great run of movies a few years back: "Mean Girls" and "The Notebook" in 2004; "Wedding Crashers," "Red Eye" and "The Family Stone" in 2005. Since then she's been choosing her projects carefully, and this year's the payoff. We'll be seeing the versatile Canadian actress in the best-seller adaptation "The Time Traveler's Wife" and the military drama "The Lucky Ones," but first up is the just-released "Married Life."

An unpredictable indie production in which she plays a young platinum blond widow pursued by both an older married man (Chris Cooper) and his playboy best friend (Pierce Brosnan), it's McAdams' second 1940s-set romantic entanglement, following "Notebook." The movies otherwise couldn't be more different in tone and temperament, even clothes and hairstyles. Somehow, though, McAdams seems perfectly at home in each of them.

Q: Do you prefer period or contemporary pieces?

A: I like both. I wouldn't say I lean more toward one than the other. But it's certainly great to time-travel that way and get to play out those lives.

Q: You look so much like a '40s-era gal.

A: I have an old-fashioned face! I guess so. Makeup artists have said, "Oh, this person has a very period face." I've never really thought about it much. But I just really admire the grace that women had then. They had a lot of class; I like the class.

Q: The clothes really help define your "Married Life" character, Kay.

A: They were all clothes that I would wear today. But they were really well-made, and from the time. The clothes lent to a certain way of sitting and standing and walking, and the hairstyle and makeup "" they really do dictate so much. But there are other times when I love to slouch. That's where I'm most comfortable; you just have to stay on top of it.

Q: Did you think about how Kay would have been morally judged?

A: People keep bringing that up and I keep forgetting that Kay did anything wrong! I keep going back in my mind; did I miss something?

We never talked about it like that. We never talked about her as being flawed or making wrong choices or being a bad person. We just focused on what Kay wanted and needed; that was the driving force.

Q: Do you think people were more romantic in the past?

A: I actually feel like we have more of an obsession with romance nowadays. You don't just stay with the guy that you met in high school. There is more of a sense of seeking out that one person that is perfect for your life on every level "¦ which, obviously, is impossible to find.

Q: Do you live in Toronto because you want to avoid the industry obsession?

A: No, I really enjoy the time that I spend here in L.A. It's a nice break from the snow. Cheating winter this year; I feel kind of bad about it. Spring just doesn't have the same je ne sais quoi when you don't torture yourself through the winter. But that said, I really enjoy my time here, and I hope I get to keep coming back.

Credit

Rachel sighting..

Quote:

Rachel McAdams, at Luna Park on La Brea. The too-cute Canadian dined with friends at the colorful Miracle Mile eatery, sharing salads, grilled artichokes and rice. Lest you think this is way too typical of an H-town starlet to split such an already healthy smattering of snacks, R.M. and chums ordered a make-your-own-s’mores dessert. Damn, so the girl can chow down on chocolate and still look so fab? Wish I could tell ya she spilled soda all over her shirt, got lettuce stuck in her teeth or skipped on the tip. But no—Rach-babe’s still perfect, the bitch.

water lilies · 03-14-2008, 06:05 PM

Thanks for the articles.

Quote:

Issue Date: March 16, 2008

On the Phone with ...Rachel McAdams

The rising star, who dropped out of sight for three years, talks about love, infidelity, her new movie -- and what exactly she's been up to.

By Monica Collins

Just when Rachel McAdams was being touted as the next Julia Roberts, the Canadian-born actress dropped out of sight in 2006 and bought a house in Toronto. She had generated lots of buzz in blockbusters such as "Wedding Crashers" with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, "Mean Girls" with Lindsay Lohan and "The Notebook" with Ryan Gosling. She and Gosling became a red-carpet couple before their romance ended last year. (He reportedly now keeps company with Michelle Williams, Heath Ledger's ex.)

McAdams' sabbatical from Hollywood means that she has not appeared on the big screen since 2005. Although vague about why she took a break, McAdams suggests that she was not getting offers for projects that appealed to her. "I did wonder if I would ever work again, but I tried not to think about it," she admits. "I did what I needed to do and hoped it all would work out."

McAdams says she was motivated to return to movies by the script for "Married Life," a new retro-noir film about marriage and its discontents. McAdams plays Kay, an enigmatic beauty caught between a married man with murder on his mind (Chris Cooper) and his bachelor best friend (Pierce Brosnan). And she's now back in L.A. shooting "State of Play," a political thriller with Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Helen Mirren.

USA WEEKEND recently caught up with her on the phone (and by e-mail). Here are excerpts:

How did "Married Life" entice you from your time off?
So many scripts are halfway there, but this was fully formed. The interesting thing about Kay is that there's something ghostly about her, floating on the edges of these people's lives. Yet she was the catalyst. I really liked that.

Do you imagine marriage as a minefield of secrets, as suggested in "Married Life?"
You never really know the person you're sleeping beside. You have a right to your secrets, but that's very difficult when you're supposed to be someone's partner.

At 31, you've never been married. Would you like to be married and have children?
I would love to have kids someday; I actually can't imagine not having them. My parents have been married for 36 years. They [Lance, a mover, and Sandy, a nurse] have a pretty honest, straightforward relationship that I hope to have myself.

In "Married Life," you're a bleached blonde. What's your natural color?
Venetian, which is a nice way of saying dirty blond. I like to be able to roll out of the bed and stay out of the salon.

Speaking of staying out of the salon, what did you do during your sabbatical?
I bought a house in Toronto. I spent time there with my family members and friends. I traveled to Europe. I started doing yoga. Actually, I really got into yoga -- Kundalini -- and love it. I also started a website with friends [greenissexy.org].

How involved are you with the website?
I noticed that you're identified simply as "Rachel" on it.

Two very good friends and I run, design and research the content for the site, so it's practically a full-time job. And we have other full-time jobs, too. Megan is also an actress, and Didi's a musician, but we are all passionate environmentalists.

How do you live green?
I don't own a car. In Toronto, my bike is my car.

You decided against appearing on a Vanity Fair cover with Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson when you found out that nudity was involved. Do you have any regrets?
No. I think at that time, it was the right decision for me.

What about nudity in films?
Nudity for fictional characters is as normal and mundane as eating breakfast. What bothers me is our culture's obsession with nudity. It shouldn't be a big deal, but it is. I think this overemphasis with nudity makes actors nervous. There's the worry about seeing one's body dissected, misrepresented, played and replayed on YouTube.

Interview with Rachel McAdams talks about love, infidelity, her new movie | USA WEEKEND Magazine

NZOCFan · 03-15-2008, 05:22 AM

I just recently went on her website, and noticed they had changed the pictures. Or maybe it's been there for awhile and I hadn't noticed.

water lilies · 03-15-2008, 12:21 PM

They got her age wrong again though.

I haven't been on the website in a while.

Wingster · 03-15-2008, 09:55 PM

thanks for all the links/interviews

water lilies · 03-16-2008, 11:56 AM

Read this over at IMDB:

Quote:

Entertainment Weekly - March 21 issue:

THE MUST LIST
Ten Things We Love This Week

#1 - Rachel McAdams in 'Married Life'

Where have you been? After a two-year hiatus, the actress makes a graceful return as a woman so entrancing, she inspires a smitten married man to plot his wife's murder."

NZOCFan · 03-17-2008, 03:51 AM

Quote:

WHERE HER HEART IS
Canada's Rachel McAdams is a real sucker for romance, and she's at it again with her new release, Married Life. She may be one of Hollywood's fastest-rising stars, but when it comes to choosing roles, her philosophy is simple: 'When love isn't involved, I'm not as interested'
BOB STRAUSS

March 17, 2008

LOS ANGELES -- Something I said really tickled actress Rachel McAdams - or what I said was so goofy she couldn't let me live it down. Regardless, we had a lot of laughs. It's not often you get to do that with one of Hollywood's hottest rising stars.

Noting that a number of current television and movie notables were born, like her, in London, Ont. - Crash director and Oscar winner Paul Haggis, David Shore, the creator of TV's smash House M.D., even her Notebook co-star and Oscar-nominated former boyfriend Ryan Gosling - I simply asked, what's in the water up there?

"What's in the water of London, Ontario?" McAdams repeated, laughing heartily in her black cocktail dress and strappy, thick-heeled shoes. "I don't know! It's like there are a lot of Australians in Hollywood and a lot of Brits. I don't know if there's just another quality from living somewhere else that you bring to the screen. I'm not really sure, and I don't feel that differently as a Canadian from an American.

"Or a London-vicinity Canadian, specifically," she added, starting to chuckle again. "That's funny, there's something in the water ..."

Actually, McAdams, grew up across the county line in St. Thomas, Ont., and what she does onscreen apparently knows no boundaries. She was mean and funny in, well, Mean Girls, and The Family Stone. Sweet and funny in Wedding Crashers. Romantic as all get out in The Notebook, and again in a very different way in her latest release, Married Life (which opens Friday) and presumably will be again in the upcoming The Time Traveler's Wife. She was scared out of her wits but persuasively resourceful in the thriller Red Eye, and will tackle political and social themes in two other forthcoming films, The Lucky Ones and State of Play.

Then there was all that Shakespearean stuff, onstage and off, in her recurring appearances in the successful Canadian TV series Slings and Arrows.

You can trace some of that aptitude back to London's Original Kids Theatre Company, which she attended after her early interest in figure skating waned. "The first half of my life, I was definitely more sports-driven," McAdams explained. "But if you haven't decided that you're going to train for the Olympics by the time you are nine years old, then it's a hobby. ... hen I discovered theatre, and that became something I wanted to pursue my whole life.

"In London, where the water is funny," she says, "I went to a children's theatre group - more for young adults, I guess - and started doing Shakespeare one summer. The following summer, I did Greek classics and just got a real education in theatre in a very non-confrontational, fun way. And I guess that's where I got bit. Then I decided I would pay a lot of money to be a trained actor, so I enrolled in York University's theatre program. And it paid off."

In the case of Married Life, that payoff would be more artistic than monetary. The low-budget movie set in 1949 is part infidelity melodrama, part murder mystery and occasionally a farce, but all of it feels grounded in realistically quirky human nature.

McAdams plays Kay, a blond beauty whom a middle-aged man, Harry (Chris Cooper), has fallen in love with. Their affair is more emotional than sexual, just the opposite of Harry's relationship with his wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson). Meanwhile, Harry's caddish friend Richard (Pierce Brosnan) makes moves on Kay when his pal's not around. Nothing about this romantic quadrangle turns out the way you might expect.

"It's very grown-up," McAdams enthusiastically notes. "I read the script and I thought, this is a very mature film. It's not easy, but it's well-crafted. The dichotomy of that, I thought, would be a great experiment. The characters were roughed-out enough that they're interesting, but there was a lot to explore still."

"Rachel is extremely ambitious with the emotional life of her characters," says Married Life director Ira Sachs (Forty Shades of Blue). "There's also this emotional level that I think she has as an actress which is just beneath the surface. It's something that the audience wants more of, and on that level, she really understands the nature of what it is to be a movie star, which is to provide something but, also, to hold something back."

You feel a bit of that when talking to McAdams. She doesn't discuss her personal life (she and Gosling reportedly broke up last year), but she's happy to share her views on romance. Not surprisingly, she likes hers to have a little mystery.

"I think relationships are incredibly complex and unique and there are no right answers," McAdams said. "I don't think you can ever know your partner inside and out. And I wouldn't want to, personally. I think that keeps love exciting. When you wanted to be with an individual in the beginning, you appreciated them for the things that you didn't know about. So you want to keep some of that, right?"

No wonder McAdams was drawn to The Time Traveler's Wife, the adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's best-selling novel about a man, played by Eric Bana in the movie, who jumps back and forth to various periods in his life and the effect that has on his marriage.

"I love romance," she admits. "I love romance in general and I love romantic films. I always will. And I hadn't done one for quite some time, so [Time Traveler's] felt like the right thing to do.

"I'd like to dabble in every genre. But I rarely enjoy a film that doesn't have some kind of love story to it. It doesn't have to be the focus and it doesn't have to be sweeping or typical. But when love isn't involved, I'm not as interested."

Love comes up a lot (even more than water) in conversations with McAdams. Asked about her fairly swift success in Hollywood, she gushes: "It's nice to be able to work and do what you love. And travel ... I feel incredibly blessed that I get to continue to do this and I hope I can always do it."

She has to be prodded for any complaints about her growing celebrity. There was some media tongue-clicking two years ago when she pulled out of a semi-nude Vanity Fair cover shoot with Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley, but she just says of it now, "It was the right thing for me to do at the time. No regrets.

"There's no handbook, there's no right or wrong way to do it," she added about managing stardom. "So sometimes you feel like you're just stumbling along and hoping for the best. But that's part of the fun, too."

For the moment, McAdams is keeping more or less rooted in Ontario. "I obviously travel for work, but my primary residence is in Toronto," she says. "It's close to all the people I love, and Canada's just home for me. It's where my heart is; it just is. I don't know that I will never live anywhere else. I'd like to try lots of different places. But I think I will always come home to Canada."

She takes a perfectly timed comic pause, before adding, "It's the water."

Essential McAdams

Education

Central Elgin Collegiate

Institute in St. Thomas, Ont.;

Toronto's York University.

Key roles
Slings and Arrows (2003)

Mean Girls (2004)

The Notebook (2004)

Wedding Crashers (2005)

The Family Stone (2005)

What's ahead:

The role of Clare Abshire in

The Time Traveler's Wife, slated for release later this year

McAdams is also set to star as a reporter in the Kevin Macdonald film State of Play

Quote

"When Wedding Crashers came out, everyone was hyped up, calling Rachel the new It Girl. I felt anxious about that because it's so diminishing to her talent... But her selectiveness shows wisdom greater than her years about her place in the industry. ...She has the opportunity to be this huge, huge movie star, but in her heart she's a character actress." - Tom Bezucha, director of The Family Stone, in an interview with Elle Magazine

-- Credit

water lilies · 03-17-2008, 07:32 AM

Great article.

It's funny that they mention 'The Lucky Ones' in her upcoming projects though.

mcgoslinginlove · 03-17-2008, 09:11 PM

haha its in the water.

NZOCFan · 03-19-2008, 02:36 AM

It's a shame she hasn't been asked about The Lucky Ones more so, during her rounds of press. We haven't heard much about it, so I'm very curious!

water lilies · 03-19-2008, 04:46 PM

It's the second article I've noticed where they listed her upcoming projects without mentioning that movie. I would have loved to hear what she had to say about this movie.

NZOCFan · 03-24-2008, 03:21 AM

Bits and pieces with Rachel and Russell, including a photo of them.

water lilies · 03-24-2008, 06:34 PM

Thanks for the link.


Fan Forum > Archived Celebrities > Rachel McAdams > Rachel's News/Appearances #5