His movies, The Cider House Rules and Chocolat, went on to receive Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards as well. Last month, Lasse returned to the Miami International Film Festival where he accepted the Career Achievement Tribute Award. Additionally, he brought with him his first Swedish movie since making My Life as a Dog. He brought The Hypnotist to screen at this year’s festivities.

We had a chance to sit down with the director and speak with him about The Hypnotist, as well as his career. You can read the highlights and listen to the entire CYInterview below:

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Lasse admitted that the Miami International Film Festival is his favorite film festival because this is where it all began for him with My Life as a Dog. Reflecting on accepting this year’s Career Achievement Tribute Award, he said this:

“It’s a lovely full circle little thing. Since I think it’s really all started here it’s great to kind of at least close this circle of my life with my Swedish film. I haven’t made a Swedish film since My Life as a Dog so I find it ironic to be back with my next Swedish film here.”

He had this to say about that film, The Hypnotist, which he screened at this year’s festival:

“It was a story that had a great family drama within it and with a great part for my wife. It also had a thriller element that I was interested in experimenting with because I have never done a thriller before, so those two things and the possibility of going back to Sweden and Stockholm to spend time there. … It’s the joy of telling stories about real people, the interactions of real people and to show people emotions and situations that they can recognize and relate to.”

With a set of Academy Awards nominations, Lasse says he still has Oscar ambitions:

“Well, of course. I don’t mind that circus at all. I had a lot of fun, had, went on that circuit for like two, three years in a row. It’s a lot of hard work, the publicity part of it and I don’t envy too much those who do it year after year ‘cause it takes a big chunk of time out of your life, but I wouldn’t mind at all that type of recognition. I just need to make that type of movie again and hopefully I’ll get to do it this summer.”

CYInterviewing Lasse Hallstrom

In reflecting on his two Oscar nominated films, The Cider House Rules and Chocolat, he shared with us some memories of both movies:

“It’s a film I’m proud of [The Cider House Rules]. I love that whole year, getting to know John Irving and the producer Richard Gladstein and being able to condense a novel of 700 pages together with John Irving. It was just a lovely year of my life. I’m proud of the result. … That’s a lovely shooting memory [Chocolat]. We spent a couple of months in France in a little village called Flavigny-sur-Ozerain and had again the time of our lives right there.”

On what he wants people to take away from his work, Mr. Hallstrom offered this:

“I hope they’re entertained and maybe a little moved and that they recognize themselves in here and there.”

You can find more information about the Miami International Film Festival at their official website here.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com

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As one of the nation’s leading Latino entertainers, the actor shared with us his thoughts on the state of Hispanic entertainment in America. He also spoke with us about what his career has meant to him and why his Oscar ambitions have dimmed.

You can read the highlights and listen to the entire CYInterview below:

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This year’s Miami International Film Festival was the first for John. One of his earliest acting roles has a Miami connection; he was on an episode of the hit TV show Miami Vice in the 1980s:

“I remember I was like 18 years old. They flew me down here and this was a really defunct, you know nobody was here. We shot in one of the hotels on the strip. It was, nobody, not a soul in an empty pool with me and Don Johnson and Michael Phillip Thomas.”

Staring in El Paseo 2 [English Translation: The Trip 2], the actor says this is his first full length Spanish language movie. The film is a sequel and was a huge commercial success in Colombia. He explains why it was so popular in his country of origin:

“They see themselves. I mean, you know most movies are foreign and it’s one of the few movies that’s really positive image about the local culture and they see themselves you know. This was the biggest opening of any movie in Colombia. It beat Skyfall; it beat The Hobbit; it beat everything. And so, you know, there’s a really healthy movie industry in Colombia.”

As one of the Latin community’s leading entertainers over the last two decades, Mr. Leguizamo gives us his thoughts on the state of Hispanic entertainment in America:

“There’s a real hunger in the United States for Latin people to see themselves in comedies, in dramas. They’re dying to see themselves. You know when I tour with my one man shows, I mean, 70 percent of the crowd is Latin, you know everybody else is white and Afro American, but they pay crazy dollars to see somebody telling their tales. … They’re not enough programs dedicated to telling Latin stories and once you get that and you get it really competitive, it’s gonna boom, it’s gonna be a huge boom. I mean, we have $1.3 trillion dollars of buying power in the U.S. alone. That’s not even including Central and South America. That’s just in the U.S.”

CYInterviewing John Leguizamo

From Carolto’s Way to Collateral Damage, Moulin Rouge to Romeo and Juilet, Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything to the Ice Age Franchise, John has had a chance to show off his talents in many genres. This is how he sums up his career:

“I always wanted to do something challenging. I mean that was always my M.O. I always wanted to be challenged, you know and that’s what I did. I went out for the most difficult roles, stuff that would shake up my world and I enjoyed that. You know it really fed me.”

Though his performing career will likely continue for years to come, the actor admits his Oscar ambitions have faded:

“Not as much. You know, I don’t know, something happens you get to a certain age, you’re like you know the thing that you dreamt, you thought the Oscars were the greatest and to think and realize it’s not really. A lot of movies win that I’m really not that enthused about or actors win that I’m not crazy about. So it just becomes more realistic.”

You can find more information about the Miami International Film Festival at their official website here.

You can follow John Leguizamo on Twitter here.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris is available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.

You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.

You can read the highlights of, or listen to the entire new CYInterview, with the Bullet to the Head actor, below:

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The Voices for Children Gala raises money for its not-for-profit foundation. The organization works to ensure that all children who are abandoned, abused or neglected have an appointed Guardian ad Litem (legal advocate to represent their interests.) Discussing his thoughts on the event, Christian said this:

“I’m very excited about it. It’s an event honoring Voices for Children, which is a very important charity in the Miami Dade community. It helps to give children a voice that are stuck in the court systems that don’t have somebody to speak up for them.”

The actor, a fairly new resident of Miami, continues to lend a hand at various area charitable functions. In that regard, he had this to offer:

“I’m a new member of the community and to get the opportunity and to be asked to be apart of something as special as I felt this was, was a real honor and I met all these people here last year. Yolanda Berkowitz, she’s certainly a great leader for this organization and it’s fun to sit on the board with her.”

When asked about the favorite movie role of his career, Christian said his favorite role was not one of his:

“Favorite movie role? Indiana Jones. Not one of mine, but that’s one that I loved.”

CYInterviewing Christian Slater

You can find more information about the Voices For Children Foundation at their official website here.

Christian Slater’s official website is here.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris is available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.

You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.

Energetic and fun, Nadia has an acting background in soap operas and comedy. She hopes to cross over into the American market. Below you can read the highlights and listen to our entire CYInterview:

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Two years ago, Nadia moved to Miami from Mexico and the opportunities starting coming. She’s going to be in a new production, put out by the American, Spanish language, television network Telemundo:

“I really hope to really do the crossover to be more for both markets, Latin American, American market. I actually am producing a TV show too and I have a lot of plans for that and I’m still like doing soap operas and comedy. … This soap opera is gonna be one of the biggest projects for Telemundo. I’m not like, I can’t tell a lot of details about that, but it’s gonna be very entertaining. Because this character, she is a maid and she’s like very afraid of her señora. So it’s gonna be so much fun, because she always do bad things and she always like screw up everything. So it’s comedy and that’s my specialty.”

Given the opportunity to host Fashion for Charity was a great thrill for Nadia. Her effervescent personality shines through, as she continues to accomplish things in the acting world. Hopefully, we will soon see her crossover into English language acting terrain.

“Everything is possible, everything. With the attitude, with the belief that you can do the things, it’s possible. It’s like no matter what the people say, no matter what the obstacles that you think you have, you can go through and you can get it.”

CYInterviewing Nadia Escobar

You can follow Nadia Escobar on Twitter here.

You can find more information about Fashion for Charity clicking here.

You can find more information about the YWCA of Greater-Miami clicking here.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris is available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.

You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.

You can read the highlights and listen to the entire CYInterview, with Christian Slater, below:

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On what supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation means him, Christian said this:

“Any opportunity to come and lend my support and be a part of it is, it’s definitely a worthy organization. I love it. … Every time I’ve done one of these Make-A-Wish events, it’s always been incredible. I mean, meeting these kids and seeing what they’re going through, it definitely opens my eyes to making dreams possible.”

When it comes to what he loves most about Miami, Mr. Slater says the climate is just right:

“I’m definitely a warm climate person. So I’m all about the warmth. It’s very nice. … Strangely enough L.A. is very cold. Yeah, it gets very cold. So Miami, really is just the right temp for me.”

CYInterviewing Christian Slater

For more coverage of the Make- A-Wish Foundation Gala see here and see here.

The official website of the Southern Florida Chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation is here.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris and Jay are available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.

You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.

Ms. McCoy has experienced her fair share of ups and downs in life. However, unlike others who sanitize the narrative of their lives – eliminating the bumps and bruises they have suffered – LisaRaye is refreshingly candid, readily admitting the mistakes she believes she has made and expressing a sincere desire to learn from them.

LisaRaye was formerly the First Lady of the small Caribbean island nation of the Turks and Caicos Islands. She was married to Prime Minister Michael Misick, that country’s leader at the time. Ms. McCoy says she was not in love with him. Their separation and subsequent divorce made for a host of allegations. Though her life might have seemed that of a princess, at least from the outside, she confides that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

Away from the world of entertainment, LisaRaye has been spending some of her time being politically involved, as shown when she recently released an image demonstrating her support for President Obama, which reportedly received over one million views.

We had the chance to speak with the lovely Ms. McCoy for 25 intriguing minutes. You can read the highlights and listen to the CYInterview below:

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Speaking candidly about mistakes she has made and what she has learned, LisaRaye sums herself up this way:

“I am one of those chicks that have gone through a lot and I am one of those chicks that can really honestly say to you, ‘Been there; done that.’ You can’t really tell me nothing if you ain’t been nowhere. If you ain’t done nothing and you haven’t been through any hardships, you can’t. Why are you telling me something? You don’t even know. You haven’t even felt it. When you go through a certain amount of pain in life, you know that you don’t want to go through it ever again. So you do whatever it takes not to feel that anymore.”

Like many performers who reach stardom, the actress admits she prioritized the wrong things. She worried about playing to a perception of who she thought people wanted her to be:

“It’s the build you up to tear you down kind of thing and so now you just have to be ok with self, because I was a victim of that. When I first did Players Club, I thought, oh I gotta look like Diamond to be recognized. I need long hair, I need the makeup, I need all that. And now I don’t need any of that. It’s no longer important to me. I’m prioritizing things totally different now, you know. And, but, it is because I lived through it. I didn’t step over it. I lived through it.”

The former First Lady of Turks and Caicos Islands recently released a photo demonstrating support for President Obama. The photo shows LisaRaye sitting on a desk, against a chalkboard. On the board, in writing it says numerous times, ‘I got Obama’s back.’ She talks about why she wanted the photo taken in a classroom setting.

“Education is my thing with kids. So I said, ‘I want to be a teacher and I want to sit in this classroom and I’m gonna say, this momma has Obama’s back.’ You know, ‘Why don’t you kind of thing?’ and urge the people to vote and exercise their right to vote and that’s gonna be my way of paying homage to the campaign, to Obama, to the presidency and to voting.”

Actress LisaRaye McCoy’s photo in support of President Obama

Though she might be a supporter of President Obama, she has no problem standing up for her former Single Ladies costar, actress Stacey Dash. When Ms. Dash announced she was supporting Mitt Romney, it created a backlash – with lots of hateful words cast in Stacy’s direction. LisaRaye says it is wrong to believe any ethnic group must universally hold the same political beliefs:

“When I heard that and when I saw that you know, I’m a person who tries very hard not to judge because I don’t want to be judged. And so to me I was like, come on guys. You know that’s her opinion, that’s her right whoever she wants to vote for is her. I think the only reason why she got such a backlash is because she’s a black woman and you automatically you know think she’s supposed to vote for Obama because he’s black too. That’s not necessarily true. What her life has been has moved her to support Mitt Romney. We don’t know what she got going on. We don’t know if she’s a multimillionaire, billionaire and she don’t mind paying extra taxes. We don’t know that. … My hats off to whomever does whatever. … I don’t know why they came down so hard on her.”

As mentioned, LisaRaye was the First Lady of Turks and Caicos Islands, married to then Prime Minister Michael Misick. Though there were a variety of allegations surrounding their separation and divorce, Ms. McCoy has spoken, in the past, about finding positives during her time as First Lady of that Caribbean nation. However, even with the prestige of the position she held, she now looks back and wonders what she was thinking:

“Oh yeah. Oh damn. Hell yeah. I shouldn’t have ever gotten married you know. Because I married under God’s vows and it wasn’t true. I did not feel that way and so it was doomed from the beginning and although I justified it by saying, ‘Oh I knew why we got married. We knew what it was and it was our commitment to ourself.’ We still got married under those same vows in which people hold sacred and we did not. We were dating in our marriage and that was our agreement and although I had, was dating him before we agreed to get married and there was definitely a chemistry there and definitely a love there, but I wasn’t in love. I wasn’t.

We were dating to get to that point. That was backwards and I had to accept that and had to accept my responsibility in what it is I did. I know one damn thing, when I get ready to do it next time, I’m damn sure gonna do it right. … Sometimes I felt like a princess in a glass house because I left my career, I left my friends, I left my family and I went over there to support him and I had no one for me you know.”

LisaRaye, as the beautiful stripper Diamond, in The Player’s Club, had as a boss a strip club owner, played by the late Bernie Mac. She speaks about her talented friend, now gone:

“Back in Chicago there was a place called Cotton Club that even the models use to do fashion shows, the comedians use to do shows there and singers had a jazz band and a front and everything. And every time Bernie Mac would be doing the show you know, he would come up with that little Robin Harris voice, you know and he was like, ‘I’m gonna be a star one day. I’m going to be doing this some place else.’

And at the time I was modeling so we both wanted to do something. I just didn’t know at the time what I wanted to be and I came out to L.A. before he did and he called me and said, ‘I’m coming out there sis. I’m coming out there. I’m ready.’ And I was like, ‘Ok. Come on out.’ And he actually ended up doing The Kings of Comedy and then having his show and then we were actually on the same lot, which was CBS, together, and I would go over to his set and he’d be like, ‘I told you so. I told you.’ And I was like, ‘Yes. Look at us. We are in Hollywood.’”

LisaRaye McCoy’s official website is here.

LisaRaye’s official Facebook page is here.

LisaRaye’s official Twitter page is here.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris and Jay are available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.

You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.

In this CYInterview, Ms. San Giacomo discusses Least Among Saints, in addition to discussing her acting career in general. You can read the highlights and listen to the entire CYInterview below:

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In Least Among Saints, Laura plays a social worker who is tough on the outside but tender on the inside. The actress reflects on what she learned about social work while preparing for this role:

“Everyone starts with a, an ideal of helping people and helping kids and changing the world and through the course of seeing a reality and some pretty tragic human condition and also having to follow proper policy and procedure and being overwhelmed with the amount of people in need, it can create a certain amount of hardness I guess and also sometimes you need that distance from your emotion to be able to treat a person or see a situation with the right objectivity.”

Least Among Saints is about a boy whose mother dies and whose father is not around. It is a commentary on children who lack parents who can provide guidance and serve as role models. There appears to be a dearth of movies like this on today’s cinematic landscape. I asked Laura about this and she gave her thoughts:

“I have no answers to these really profound questions, if I did, I would be running things. Let me tell you, I would be changing some things. You know, I don’t know. It seems to be sort of a toss of the dice, what is really gonna hit the collective conscience, what is really gonna make that splash and sort of go from a little film into a big film that so many people want to see or are compelled to see or are compelled to watch that story. And it happens every once in a while and it’s just about the tenor and the feeling and the emotion and the mirror of the film just really hits people.

And I certainly hope that this film does that, but I just don’t know that I have any answers. I think that a lot of times people want to escape and there’s nothing wrong with that through comedy or through drama; we hold up a mirror so that people can see something of the human event, something of the human condition and sometimes it’s through comedy and sometimes it’s through drama and hopefully a little bit of both or whatever. But that’s all we can do is just keep practicing that storytelling.”

Many will recall Ms. San Giacomo’s role as Kit De Luca, playing alongside Julia Roberts as her best friend in the movie Pretty Woman. Looking back on the film more than 20 years later, Laura reflects on the controversy the movie was greeted with when it was released in 1990:

“Well, it always surprises me that it resonated so much with people. I mean that’s the thing is you just never know. I feel that it’s great to make people laugh; it’s great to make people think or feel something. We got a lot of slack about that being, movie about hookers and a lot of people spoke up about that and it made me feel really bad because everybody gets to you know have their story told and everyone has feelings and every human being has a story, everyone’s got a story and people didn’t like that it had a happy ending and they felt that it influenced some people in the world in a really bad way, but it also had a profound effect on people in a joyous way too that didn’t take it so seriously or as a actual representation of what society should be like.”

1990 was a big year for the now veteran actress. In addition to Pretty Woman, she had the female lead, opposite Tom Selleck, in Quigley Down Under. Laura thinks back about that project:

“Tom is really a, an old world gentleman. He was so gracious and such a gentleman and it was really a pleasure to be around him. He’s such a, he has such a love of all things horse and cowboy, that it’s really wonderful to be around anyone who is getting the chance to be immersed in one of their passions. So that was really fun actually.”

In comparing her lead role in Quigley Down Under and her supporting role in Pretty Woman, Laura says the projects were polar opposites:

“I mean, we were in the middle of a desert in Australia. So it was a very physical film in that way and then we were on Hollywood Boulevard in the middle of the night in high heel shoes. So, it, kind of polar opposites, kind of polar opposites in a very short time in my life to experience you know being on the opposite ends of the world and a different century and a different, totally different milieu. There was actually no comparison I think.”

In reflecting on her decades long career, the actress talks about what she’s learned along the way:

“I think that it’s a very interesting life and journey. We know that we’re getting into when we get into it and we’re young that it’s going to be a life that has a certain amount of challenges and gonna be kind of a gypsy life and there’s something kind of wonderful and adventurous about that and it’s going to be a life of self-examination and to create these bridges between yourself and these characters. It’s also going to be an examination of the human spirit and the human condition in all these stories that you read about all these different people and so that is a really lovely part of being an actor.

And then also to be surrounded by people who do the same thing, who are always seeking to find the truth, who are always searching to find the meaning of the metaphor, who are always looking to express in metaphor, who are always wanting to bring the truth for people to watch so they can feel something and reflect on their own lives. So in that way I think that it’s been rewarding and frustrating in certain aspects of life. But I also have, I’m very fortunate to have a son and so he also is a big part, I mean actually the most important part of my life. So I get to focus on him a lot and that makes me smile.”

Least Among Saints opens in theaters October 12th in New York and Los Angeles and expands to a wide release on October 19th. You can find more information about the movie at the official site here.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris and Jay are available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.

You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.

With the passing of her friend and costar Sherman Hemsley – known to millions as George Jefferson – earlier this year, Marla is one of the last surviving members of the cast of The Jeffersons. To the end of his life, Sherman and Marla discussed possible projects they could work on together. The Jeffersons served as family for Ms. Gibbs. That sense of family continued into 227, which she produced. As Ms. Gibbs talks about those shows and her television run spanning 15 years, as Florence and Mary, you’d think you were living it with her.

You can read the highlights below, as well as listen to the entire 25 plus minute CYInterview, as Marla Gibbs reflects back on her career, TV history and life experiences that can be learned from:

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This Saturday night, October 6th, Marla will be part of a one night live performance that includes a long list of great actors, musicians and dancers. The event is called Storytales which will feature performances of author John Edgar Wideman’s work and is directed by Cedering Fox. The show is at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, California. She talks about what to expect from her performance:

“My performance is called The Witness and it’s about a lady who’s sitting on her balcony watching another terrible event that happens too often in her neighborhood and I’m so excited to be doing this production with so many actors that I admire.”

When it comes to her decade long run as Florence Johnston on The Jeffersons, Marla says the show was all about love. She recalls a story from when she was in Italy, explaining how the character of Florence is known by people worldwide:

“I want them to take away the fact that this show really was based on love and we really did reflect experiences of the public. So when they look at it they could see themselves and we crossed all barriers. … I went to Sardinia, Italy and when I stepped into the station people started running towards me saying, ‘Florence, Florence.’ And I said, ‘Oh my goodness.’ I didn’t know whether I was in danger or whether it was wonderful. As they got to me and I realized they were saying Florence. It was very exciting and very gratifying because you don’t, especially when you’re not doing the show anymore you don’t think that people, you forget rather that people know you all around the world. So when you step into another medium it is just so exciting and so gratifying to get the love from these people and they all say we love you. I just received so much love as Florence.”

Her famous exchanges – filled with her wisecracks and insults – with George Jefferson played by Sherman Hemsley, make for some great examples of television comedy. Marla explains how she and Sherman worked so well together, on those memorable exchanges:

“As I said to Sherman, ‘When your lips stop moving, I’ll start talking.’ Sometimes he would think he forgot the lines and I would remind him that his mind took a picture of them the first time he saw them and we’ve done rehearsal. I said, ‘ So they’re in there so stop saying you forgot them. Then they’ll come out.’ I said, ‘Just say something that makes sense and I’ll respond to you.’ Sherman was so great at setting me up that we could make something out of nothing. … You know you can’t hit a person unless they set you up and he was so good at setting me up. Sherman was so wonderful at setting me up and, of course, I set him up too ‘cause he’d come through with some classic retorts to me.”

When discussing the passing of Sherman Hemsley earlier this year, Marla says she spoke with Mr. Hemsley a few months prior to his death. They were always talking about working on new projects. She cannot believe that most of the cast of The Jeffersons has passed on:

“It was about four months before he [Sherman Hemsley] made his transition. We kept up with each other by phone. I called him every few months so and we’d talk and we talked about trying to do another TV show, come up with an idea for one. We never really did. … I sure miss Sherman every time, but of course one thing about TV, you live on forever ‘cause I can look and see Roxie and Franklin and Sherman and Isabel. I can look at the TV and see all of them just as though they were still here. … Because I know that we never die, our spirits just transcends our body; I talk to them sometimes. I’ll think of Roxie and I’ll just talk to her when I’m driving.”

Focusing on Isabel Sanford, who played the historic role of Louise “Weezy” Jefferson, Marla says Isabel was the queen of The Jeffersons. She recalls a prank that the entire cast played on Ms. Sanford who passed away in 2004. She says the cast was always trying to play tricks on one another:

“We were always doing things to each other and the director would be in on it sometimes. Isabel would fall asleep while we were doing notes or something in rehearsal and the director would say, put his fingers to his lips and say, ‘Shoot. Quiet.’ And then we would all tip out of the rehearsal hall and then call the rehearsal hall. The phone would ring and we would wake her up and everybody would be gone. So we’d do all kinds of things like that.”

At the end of The Jeffersons, it would only be a short time until Ms. Gibbs would be producing and starring in the lead role of Mary Jenkins on the television show 227. Once again, she brought her wit and timing to a role that garnered tons of laughs. But unlike Florence Johnston, who never had a male love interest, Ms. Gibbs says she fought to have a man for Mary Jenkins on 227. That man was played by actor Hal Williams:

“She was a transition from Florence to Mary. People would always say to me, ‘Why don’t they let you have a man? Why can’t Florence have a man?’ So I knew when I did 227 I needed to have a man. So I did and I fought for that and I got it. And because Hal Williams had done the play with me for six months I said, ‘We already have a relationship. We already have a chemistry. So all we have to worry about is making alive, bring the lines to life.’ So they came to me and said, ‘We glad you fought for this because we like it. We like it too.’ So I said, ‘Good.’”

With a show business career spanning multiple decades, you might think Marla has accomplished more in her life than even she could have imagined. But as life goes on, she says what you think you want and what you really want change. She always wanted to be a singer, but she ended up as an actress. She provides some interesting advice and reflection:

“We have the ability and the power to make our dreams come true, but you have to have the faith and you have to do the work. That the universe supports you in what you want to do, but you have to move. So I tell when you make one step, God will make two, but you have to make yours first in faith and you have to believe in yourself and you have to do the work. You have to study the craft if you want to be an actor. You really have to study the craft and understand that the show is the important thing, not you. And sometimes as we go along in a journey, we discover that what we thought we wanted to do is not what we wanted to do. …

I always thought I wanted to sing, which I did do a little of, but because when you’re singing, you’re asking people to take you. I was such a shy person that I was never able to divorce myself from my feelings and singing as I could in acting because I’m not asking you to like me, I’m asking you to like the character. The character has nothing to do with me in my head. Actually, it’s always some facet of you.”

Though the entertainment industry and television have substantially changed since she entered the business, Marla has learned to adapt and accept where the industry is today:

“Everything must change and you do what you can with the changes that are made. You can’t stop it. You can’t fight it. Everybody tries to go back to yesterday, but you can’t go back to yesterday. The only time there is, is now. So you have to stay in the now and you have to not judge so I don’t judge it. Somebody’s dream is coming true and I applaud them. My dreams came true and they applauded me. So things have changed. They cannot be the way they were.”

On what Marla wants people to take away from her life’s work and who she is, she offered this:

“I hope that they liked it, they believed it and that it was a form of love for them. As they keep telling me, they love Florence and so that makes me happy. I think they’re taking the right thing away from it. … That I’m the same as they. That I love and forgive and forgiving is just as important as loving and not judging, that I’m a person who does not judge. That means gossiping is off limits, unless it’s good gossip.”

You can find more information about Marla Gibbs and the rest of the cast for the Storytales event presented by WordTheatre taking place October 6th, 2012 in Hollywood, California at the Ford Amphitheatre clicking here. You can also call 323 461-3673 for more information and to purchase tickets.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris and Jay are available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.

You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.

Through his performances and accolades, Mr. Rush continues to spread awareness about the Australian acting and film industry. His good works have not gone unnoticed. In fact, the multi-award winner was named 2012 Australian of the Year.

Playing a variety of roles, from a pianist in his 1996 Academy Award win for Shine to being in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Geoffrey Rush is most certainly an actor for all seasons – a true pro.

In our CYInterview, Geoffrey speaks about some of his acting experiences, experiences all aspiring actors and dream seekers can learn from. Among topics we discuss are whether we will likely see him sing and win a Grammy, what it was like to meet the Queen and, of course, his new movie The Eye of the Storm, slated for wide release, in America, on September 21st.

You can read the highlights and listen to the complete 20 minute CYInterview below, with the great Geoffrey Rush:

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The Eye of the Storm is a movie based in Geoffrey Rush’s native Australia. In it, he plays an actor whose career is on a downward slide, while he deals with a mother near the end of her life. His mother, played by actress Charlotte Rampling, is not very supportive of her son’s career. In contrast, in real life, Geoffrey says his mother greatly supported his acting goals. He talks about that and the character, Basil, he plays in the film:

“As I became an actor in my early 20s, it was a little unheard of at that stage in Australia. We were relatively on a global level a bit of a cultural wasteland to a certain degree. So the idea of actually going into a profession as an actor seemed highly unlikely but circumstances allowed that to happen and my mother was very supportive of that…I had an interesting conversation with my mother one day when she revealed to me that she was always in her youth, she always hoped that she could’ve been, and she might’ve been influenced by American movies, I don’t know.

She said, ‘I would have loved to been a dancer in a troupe in a variety show and be in the company of all those kinds of people.’ Which I thought was quite interesting because I have very, very fond memories of my mother from my childhood. She was a great jiver you know and from when I was seven or eight, I can remember her always rolling up the rug and hitting the floor with her various dance partners and having a great sense of rhythm and I hope I’ve inherited a few of those genes… Basil is trying to assess where did his adult life go horribly, horribly wrong, which is why I think he makes the journey back to the country in the course of the film to his childhood home to see where things might’ve gone off the rails.”

With the setting for The Eye of the Storm based in Australia, Geoffrey says it means a lot to have a project filmed in his homeland:

“It means a lot. I mean I’ve tried to interweave, you know I started, my first major sort of Australian film roles happened in the mid 1990s when I was in my mid 40s. I’d spent most of my time, you know 25 years in the theater before that. So to suddenly find myself in a position where you know a reasonably good number of roles and quite diverse roles occurred and I’ve been trying to interweave them in and around international offers, it’s always that much more fascinating to go back and play out within the nuances of the psyche of your own landscape, your own country, your own place.”

As someone who did not achieve film success until his 40s, the now multiple award winning actor faced challenging circumstances but never gave up. To aspiring actors and others chasing a dream, Mr. Rush gives a fascinating answer to those wanting to achieve their goals:

“I’ve probably noticed just more recently, I’ve been doing more theater again for the last three or four or five years so, and particularly within Australia and some of those productions have made forays into New York. We came here with Exit The King to Broadway a couple of years ago and last year to the Brooklyn Academy and that was very exciting. So I’m now in a position where you know even on a film set, I look around and think, wow, I’m sort of pretty much the oldest guy here now; you know what I mean. It sort of sneaks up on you very quickly.

But I find it very stimulating and intriguing to be working with people in their teens, their early 20s, into their 30s to sort of see it’s a different context you know. I mean even not just the political/social differences that exist now, that the technological differences are huge in terms of means of communication and stuff. So I do get asked a lot by younger people you know what advice can you give and you know, there is no easy desk calendar aphorism, but I always say you know, remember for me if this means anything for you, being an actor is putting yourself into a state of imaginative play. It’s not about red carpets. It’s not about career movements. It’s not about celebrity you know and all of the trappings that tend to clutter up what the job description fundamentally asks of you.

You have to get to know your own imaginative parameters and develop your skills and what you can express vocally and physically. There’s, you know, a craft involved. At the same time I suppose I distill that down to, you know, follow instincts. Somewhere in the back of your mind there’s always gonna be a very strong instinct that helps you make decisive moments in the creation of your work or in the maneuverings of your career. There’s always gonna be moments where you’ll hit crossroads and have to make a decision is it the right fork or the left fork and be on high alert to sometimes take risk, sometimes find assurance, sometimes strengthen and develop something that’s already there. There’s a lot that needs to be processed.”

In 2010, his role as a speech therapist and friend to King George VI in The King’s Speech earned Geoffrey another Oscar nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actor. Last year, he had a chance to meet the daughter of King George VI, Her majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He looks back on that experience:

“That was an interesting experience because at that time I was in preparation to play Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Ernest. Not that I was gonna end up playing Lady Bracknell as the queen, but by coincidence I was sat at luncheon next to her majesty’s chief lady in waiting, who was a hoot. She was a great luncheon companion and you know as an actor, I like being in those unusual circumstances. It’s not every day you get to be invited to government house and all of their attendant formalities of that to be able to observe how that echelon of society works. So I was able to you know have a very rare and enjoyable experience and kind of in the back of my mind keep my antenna on high alert to see whether there was some little glimpses of truthful behavior that came from that particular class of society.”

By coincidence, in his 1996 Oscar acceptance speech for Shine, he talked about the dream dinner party and those unusual circumstances. He reflects back on what his Academy Award means over 15 years later:

“It becomes an adjective that becomes, in the media, attached to your name, but I don’t think it should ever be the key part of your calling card, I mean in brokering a new project or whatever discussions as random as they might be with other creative people who might be suggesting an upcoming project or a daring step to say, ‘Hey. Wouldn’t it be great to have a look at doing this?’ As is what happened with Fred Schepisi in Eye of The Storm. He said, ‘Look, I think I got the finance together. You should really take a good close look at Sir Basil Hunter and I think Judy Davis is on board.’ They’re the key processes I think.”

There are only a few people to have won the four major entertainment awards: Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy. One of those individuals is past CYInterview subject Whoopi Goldberg [see here]. Currently, Geoffrey owns three of the four. He does not have a Grammy and he has no future plans to try to complete the award foursome. However, some of Mr. Rush’s fans would love for him to take a go at singing.

“I couldn’t even tell you, I think there’s only a handful of people, I know Sir John Gielgud is involved in that and he probably got a Grammy because he probably recorded, he did a Shakespeare compilation show many, many decades ago for Ages of Man…But I don’t think you can set that up as a career path. You know, I, it’s unlikely that I would ever get into a recording studio as a singer, but in terms of spoken word, I don’t know, it would have be a particularly stimulating project. I’m not actively pursuing it to kind of fulfill that crazy idea of a challenge.”

As the 2012 Australian of the Year, Geoffrey is only the third actor to receive that honor. He contextualizes what it means to him:

“I suppose if I really put into context, it’s been an accolade in Australia that’s happened since 1960 and more often than not I suppose it’s awarded to someone that’s already prominent to some degree in public life. But in that 52 year history, there have only ever been two actors from film or theater. The first being Sir Robert Helpmann who was not only a notable internationally recognized ballet star, but also Shakespearean actor and probably known to a younger generation as the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

And the second was Paul Hogan back in the mid 80s. So in terms of let’s say how artistic endeavor or the arts industry or artistic life in Australia, it’s generally not regarded as the highest goal to strive for. You know even though we have an extraordinary history of great performers and internationally recognized people etc, etc. It’s been good for our industry to raise the credibility and visibility by having an artist given that particular award. So I sort of accepted gratefully in that respect.”

The Eye of Storm comes to a wide release in theaters in America September 21st.

You can find out more about Geoffrey Rush’s Australian of the Year award here.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris and Jay are available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.

You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.

Ms. Madsen speaks about many topics. You can read and listen to our CYInterview at the link below:

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In her latest role for the Rob Reiner film The Magic of Bell Isle, Virginia said in the production notes that she believed this project was how movies were formerly made. She believes Hollywood is not currently doing enough to push the viewer’s imagination. Ms. Madsen has some very candid words on the state of comedy movies and the entire American film industry:

“I love a lot of these big movies, but I like the ones that have a story. And I have a teenager and when I like take all of his buddies, sometimes you take ‘em all to the movies, and they’re really disappointed when it doesn’t have a good story and you know or they can tell and they won’t go. You know but it’s, I think they, there’s kind of a dumbing down of especially comedy. The dumbing down of romantic comedy is really disappointing to me that comedy’s become so negative and mean spirited.

I think as far as real stories; I think like real human stories like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, what a wonderful movie that is and The Magic of Belle Isle, I mean these are the kind of movies I think people are hungry for and over and over and over again we’re proven right. People will line up around the block to see these kind of movies, but we’re not getting the financing to make them and we’re not getting the kind of distribution we need to get the movie out there. So it’s really hard and it’s I think the first year even though I got to do one of these movies, it’s the first year that I felt really a little defeated you know about what’s the state of the American film industry.”

In The Magic of Belle Isle, Virginia plays a mother of three children on the verge of divorce and takes her children to her parent’s home. Her next door neighbor is a western novelist – played by Morgan Freeman – with a drinking problem. Freeman’s character believes his best days are behind him. Ms. Madsen says she could relate to her character:

“I related to that personally. I think one of the things that I identified with is that even though she’s had this blow in life you know, she’s, she was taken to her knees I think from this divorce and I think it was very unexpected, but she remains whole you know. She keeps her family intact…She believes that she needs nothing else but her girls and that became the key to the character.”

In the script for The Magic of Belle Isle, originally there was no kissing scene between Virginia and Morgan Freeman. However, she believed kissing Morgan made sense within the context of the story. She had not originally planned to tell anyone that the kiss was not in the storyline. However, her secret was blown by her fellow cast members in the project:

“It wasn’t in there. It just wasn’t in the script. I just did that. And I wouldn’t have told this story, I would have never have shared it except for that Rob [Reiner] and Morgan [Freeman] had been sharing it all over the place ‘cause I thought well, I don’t, I never kiss and tell. The truth is that it was; I saw this as a really beautiful romantic love story and I don’t think that they were all sure of that and so what was written was a nice farewell and I give him a kiss on the cheek and go back home to my nice home. Good nice little farewell.

But I was very, I thought it was more powerful than that, what was happening between me and Morgan and I saw that this love story, that’s not a man that you kiss on the cheek, that’s a man that you take in your arms and you, that’s a man that you really kiss really hard on the mouth. And if this was going to be the last time that I would ever see him, of course I would kiss him goodbye. You know there was nothing plutonic about what was happening with us. And so I kind of like, it just felt like I had to. I was just compelled to kiss him and I said, ‘Rob, I’m gonna try something. It’s just, just go with it and see what you think.’

And so you see it on film. That’s you know, Morgan’s look is exactly what happened. And then afterwards I was like, ‘Is that ok?’ And I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t feel absolutely that it was the truth of the scene. You know I would not have disrespected a fellow actor with something that didn’t match or but it was just so clearly what was meant to happen…And Morgan loved it and I was very happy.”

Her 2004 role in the movie Sideways garnered Ms. Madsen an Oscar nomination. She says she still has Academy Award dreams:

“Sure it is. But it’s not paramount. I mean it’s not, you know can’t go into any project with that in mind and because I don’t like when I see actors doing that in movies. It’s not genuine. You know like it’s, you know, I of course I would love to go home with the gold statue. I absolutely intend on it. I’ve wanted that since I was a five year old girl, first time I watched the Oscars on TV. But it’s not, you know, I don’t specifically look for scripts like that because as an actor I don’t know what they’re gonna do with my performance. I’m not editing the film.”

Finally, Virginia agrees with her fans who believe she has not received the acting opportunities she has deserved. Ms. Madsen says, however, she is in a much better position than she was a decade ago, when it comes to being in contention for roles.

“I agree with them and I wish that it wasn’t such a struggle for me you know, but that’s been my career. I’ve never been on the top of the list. You know I’ve always been, you know, but at times I’ve not been on a list at all. At least I’m on the list now and I’m in and you know there’s always a group of names and I’m always in the mix now and that’s all I can ask for because once in a while somebody like Rob Reiner is gonna put me first. And you know if I’m not first maybe I’ll be second, but I’ll still get in and that’s you know, I still keep working and I’m in a much better position than I was 10 years ago. So I’m very grateful for where I am…It’s a struggle, but if you really think about it, these are champagne problems. I mean I get to live my dream. I get to do what I love to do for a living. I play dress up for a living; you know what I mean. It really can’t be that bad.”

The Magic of Belle Isle opens in theaters July 6th and is currently on video on demand. You can find more information about the movie clicking here.

Virginia Madsen’s official website can be found clicking here.

You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com Chris is available for interviews to comment on anything featured on CYInterview.

You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.