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Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Latest Movie News From Moviefone

Latest Movie News From Moviefone


Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams Reveal That Sh** Got Real Shooting 'Manchester by the Sea'

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"Manchester by the Sea" argues that grief isn't something you get over, but rather something you learn to live with. And it is a lesson that broken men like Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) struggle to master -- and that's okay.

Writer-director Kenneth Lonergan's Oscar contender -- it's all but a lock for a Best Picture nom -- centers on Lee's attempts to re-enter his old life after his brother suddenly dies and leaves Lee to care for his surviving son, Patrick, played by Lucas Hedges. Along the way, Lee is forced to reconnect with his estranged wife, Randi (Michelle Williams) and relive the tragedy that both tore them apart and prevents them from ever reconciling.

Moviefone recently sat down with all three stars where they revealed the challenges of telling this story that is as real and raw as it gets.

"Manchester by the Sea" opens in select theaters Nov. 18.

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New 'Hidden Figures' Trailer: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae Break NASA Barriers

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An untold story is finally being unveiled.

"Hidden Figures" is due out in January, and the film shines a light on three brilliant African-American women: Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe). As we can see in the new trailer, released Wednesday by 20th Century Fox, the biopic shows just how hard the trio had to work to become part of the team that made John Glenn's game-changing orbit around the Earth possible.

The preview is inspiring, to say the least. It highlights the women's journey across racial and gender lines to play a key role in the space race. We see them fight to be recognized, even when doors literally close in their face."Hidden Figures" is directed by Theodore Melfi and also stars Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, Glen Powell, and Kimberly Quinn. The film hits theaters on Jan 6.

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James Corden Locked Down the Queen of Pop for Carpool Karaoke

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BRITAIN-ENTERTAINMENT-MUSIC-CINEMA-BEATLESIt was only a matter of time.

James Corden has managed to line up Madonna, the Queen of Pop, for a "Carpool Karaoke" segment to air during an upcoming episode of "The Late Late Show." The legendary musician and the late-night TV host got together Wednesday to film the segment, according to Variety.

Madonna posted a picture of the duo on Instagram, writing that she was "riding around Manhattan with this Hunk of Burning Love." She also made specific mention of "Carpool Karaoke," so don't worry, they weren't just joyriding. "Late Late Show" executive producer Ben Winston tweeted out the same picture, along with the caption "New York shoot day. New carpool soon."

Unfortunately, neither Madonna nor Winston revealed when we can expect to see the pop icon's segment. Nonetheless, it's bound to be good. Madonna is more than qualified to carry on the "Carpool Karaoke" tradition, which has featured superstars like Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Adele, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even First Lady Michelle Obama.

"The Late Late Show" airs weeknights on CBS at 12:35 a.m.

[via: Variety]

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Samantha Bee's 'Full Frontal' Gets a New Season, New Night

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Turner Upfront 2016 - Show"Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" is going to show us more.

The TBS news comedy got people talking -- and more importantly, watching -- with its first season, so naturally, the network wants more. TBS announced Wednesday that it has renewed the Samantha Bee-hosted series for a second season, set to kick off next year. Come 2017, "Full Frontal" will move to Wednesday nights.

The renewal sounds like it was an easy decision. "Of course we're picking up the show," said Thom Hinkle, TBS' senior vice president of original programming, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "In less than a year, Sam has become one of the most talked-about personalities in all of television and 'Full Frontal's audience continues to grow."

Bee, a former "Daily Show" correspondent seemed thrilled by the news, in spite of the fact that it will keep her from taking a cabinet position in the new administration, as she joked in a statement. Luckily, there's one thing she'll be free for: hosting the White House Correspondents Dinner. She volunteered for the job and shared that she "already bought the dress."

Whether or not that pans out, we'll get more of her hilarious commentary throughout the remainder of Season 1, which remains on Mondays until its early December finale. We'll then have to wait for a few weeks for the "Full Frontal" Season 2 premiere on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.

[via: The Hollywood Reporter]

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'Grey's Anatomy' Season 13 Midseason Finale Will 'Divide' the Hospital

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ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" - Season ThirteenBig things are coming to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, and it sounds like some could cause major changes.

"Grey's Anatomy" star Kevin McKidd recently opened up to Variety about the upcoming midseason finale, and he teased an "explosive" episode that will show the hospital "in a divide." What's to come "shifts the game" for multiple characters, including possibly his own, Owen.

*Warning: There are spoilers ahead.*

The latest Grey Sloan drama will stem from multiple sources. For one, there will be a massive medical disaster that leaves the doctors overwhelmed by the number of patients needing care. As the staff tries to cope, it will also come out that Dr. Eliza Minnick (Marika Dominczyk) has been brought in as a possible replacement for Richard (James Pickens Jr.).

"A lot of the doctors start to take sides," McKidd tells Variety. "The hospital in general is in a divide -- kind of like this country right now."

One person not involved in that particular hullabaloo, though, is Owen because he already has "so much drama in his personal life." He recently discovered that his wife, Amelia (Caterina Scorsone), doesn't want kids, which is what McKidd calls "a deal-breaker situation." We already saw the same issue destroy his previous marriage to Cristina (Sandra Oh).

"For Owen, he's dealing with his worst nightmare. ... I'm worried for him. I'm worried for them," says McKidd.

On top of all that, it still looks like Alex (Justin Chambers) could go to jail. No wonder McKidd describes the episode as "dramatic" and "very intense." Expect plenty of cliffhangers to keep you agonizing over the fate of your favorite characters during the break.

"Grey's Anatomy" airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

[via: Variety]

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Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

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Ellen DeGeneres ShowTelevision and film luminaries Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Cicely Tyson, and Lorne Michaels are among this year's recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor.

The White House announced that this year, President Barack Obama had named 21 individuals, all of whom "have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

In the official release, the White House noted that DeGeneres made TV history when her character on on "Ellen" came out as a lesbian. Hanks, De Niro, and Tyson's bios referenced their many awards accolades.

Other honorees include basketball legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan, philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, singers Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen.

The awards will be presented at the White House on November 22.

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The CW Announces Midseason Premieres for 'The 100,' 'Originals,' More

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The 100The post-apocalyptic world of "The 100" will be back in February.

The CW announced midseason premiere dates for several returning shows, including the sci-fi drama, which returns Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 9 p.m. It takes the place of fall freshman "Frequency"; its fate and that of fellow newbie "No Tomorrow are unclear. But poor ratings and lack of buzz point to cancellations for both.

The series finale of "The Vampire Diaries" airs Friday, March 10. Spinoff "The Originals" takes its 8 p.m. timeslot the following week. "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" ends its second season Friday, Feb. 3, and "Reign" slides into its place the following week.

The CW will debut one new series in midseason -- "Riverdale," an edgy take on the Archie comics gang. It premieres Thursday, Jan. 26 at 9 p.m.

The last outstanding returning series is "iZombie," and fans will have wait until Tuesday, April 4 at 9 p.m. for its third season.

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IMAX Celebrates 'Bayhem' in 'Transformers: The Last Night' Featurette

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TransformersWhat would a Michael Bay movie be without fireballs, explosions, wrecked cars, and people sprinting away from all of the above? Not a Michael Bay movie, that's for damn sure.

The first trailer for Bay's "Transformers: The Last Knight" is due any day now, but before it's released, Paramount gives fans a sneak peek at the movie in a featurette about the director's collaboration with IMAX. Bay's love of big, noisy action set-pieces has helped push IMAX camera technology. The director's style (aka "Bayhem") might be derided by some, but it's hard to argue with the impact that he's made on action movies.A bit of footage from "Last Knight" is included in the featurette. There's Bumblee in a high-speed chase, Anthony Hopkins at Stonehenge, and a glimpse of the flashback involving King Arthur.

"Transformers: The Last Knight" is set to open in theaters June 23, 2017.

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Brad Pitt Faces Betrayal in New 'Allied' Clips

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AlliedBetrayal is never easy to face, especially when it's coming from your own spouse.

That's the dilemma Brad Pitt finds himself in the first of two clips from the World War II drama "Allied." He plays a Canadian intelligence officer who teams up with a French resistance fighter (Marion Cotillard) on a dangerous mission against the Nazis in North Africa. They eventually fall in love and get married, but in this clip, Pitt learns that he may be sleeping with the enemy when his commanding officer accuses Cotillard of being a Nazi spy.

And if she is, the officer orders Pitt, "You will execute her with your own hand, and if we discover that you are an accomplice in any way, you will be hanged for high treason, Wing Commander Vatan. Do you understand?"The next clip takes place earlier in the movie, when Pitt and Cotillard are preparing for their mission with some firearm testing:"Allied" opens in theaters November 23.

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Oscar Talk, Kenneth Lonergan Interview: CAN'T WAIT! Podcast Ep. 5

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Oscar Talk, Kenneth Lonergan Interview CAN'T WAIT! Podcast Ep 5So many Oscar contenders, so little time.

In this week's nearly Rachel Horner-free episode of CAN'T WAIT!, the Moviefone crew (Tim Hayne, Phil Pirrello, and Tony Maccio) do their best to filter through the onslaught of current Oscar frontrunners and come up with some best guesses as to who and what will be nominated. (Spoiler alert: All categories belong to the 1995 comedy classic "Heavyweights." Not really, but you'll get the reference if you listen to the podcast.)

Director Kenneth Lonergan joins the podcast in the midst of our Oscars analysis, chatting with Phil about topics ranging from his Oscar-buzz-worthy "Manchester by the Sea" to his love of "Star Trek" and how it plays into the Casey Affleck-starring drama. Phil may or may not have called him Kenny. Also, apologies for the audio quality this time around -- we're still working out a few kinks with the on-location sessions.

After mentioning a few more Academy Award-worthy movies that we haven't seen but would like to at some point in our lives, we venture into recommendation territory. Noticeably absent Rachel Horner blesses us with her recommendation(s) from the road, while Tony and Phil offer up their picks from the comfort of the studio. Tim, on the other hand, contributes nothing.

CAN'T WAIT! A Movie Lover's Podcast Episode 5

Here's the rundown:

  • Intro: 0:00 - 0:49
  • Oscar talk: 0:49 - 22:36
  • Kenneth Lonergan interview: 22:37 - 40:39
  • More Oscar talk: 40:39 - 58:18
  • Recommendations: 58:18 - 1:04:13

Total runtime: 1:04:13

Subscribe to the CAN'T WAIT! podcast:

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'Game of Thrones': Arya Tells Critics to 'Just Leave' in Meta Deleted Scene

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If you think the violence, nudity, and profanity on "Game of Thrones" is "gratuitous," well, Arya Stark has a special message for you ..."Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season" is now out on Blu-ray and DVD, and a video including 11 minutes of deleted scenes is making the rounds on the Internet. You may have already seen the scene with Lady Olenna Tyrell, but there's a lot more, including a waaaaaaaaay longer version of the Westeros play in Braavos.

During the play, two Mrs. Dursley-like spectators sniff to each other in distaste, before Arya Stark tells them off.

Spectator: "Violence and profanity. How original."

Arya: "Why don't you just leave, then?"

The two women later laugh during Ned Stark/King Robert scenes -- which Arya does not like, since they make her father look bad. The women do eventually leave after the Tyrion/Sansa wedding night scene, which reveals play Sansa's breasts, calling the nudity "utterly gratuitous" and "disgusting and unacceptable."

So, yeah, GoT is calling out its own critics.

Warning: Brief nudity in video:What's really gratuitous and unacceptable is the length of that play scene. They were right to chop it down.

"Game of Thrones" Season 7 is now shooting for a summer 2017 premiere.

[via: Huffington Post]

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Harry Potter Actor Pitches 'Dean Thomas Standalone Movie'

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If you could sift through the Pensieve of actor Alfred Enoch, you'd see much more about Dean Thomas's past and future than the "Harry Potter" films could reveal.

Enoch was the latest guest on EW's Binge podcast, and he talked a lot about his popular Gryffindor character -- reacting to J.K. Rowling's original plan to name Dean "Gary"; discussing backstory that did not make the films; and speculating on what Dean Thomas and his buddy Seamus Finnigan are doing today.

The "How to Get Away with Murder" star was in seven "Harry Potter" films, all except Part 1 of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." He told EW Binge hosts Marc Snetiker and C. Molly Smith that he wished Dean's backstory had been showcased in the films -- including how Dean grew up believing that his parents were Muggles but his biological father was a wizard in hiding who never revealed the truth to his mother before he died."I was cheering for all of this to come out," Enoch said. "I was like, 'What a great story!' But that was one of the difficulties of the films, and this is something people — initially at least, before the films became canonical, for want of a better word, in their own right; or before the films became legit, which seems like an odd thing to say, but at least in the eyes of fans — the first couple times people were like, 'Where's Peeves? How could they cut out this? How could they cut out that? How could they cut out the other?'"

Enouch said he remembered there being something like 10 hours of footage for the first movie, which they obviously had to cut down. "So much has to go." Then he had his brainstorm.

Alfred Enoch: "Oh, I just had a thought. Maybe they should do like what they're doing with Star Wars, the 'Rogue One' thing."

Marc Snetiker: "A Dean Thomas standalone movie."

C. Molly Smith: "I'd watch that."

Alfred Enoch: "A Dean Thomas standalone movie! That's essentially what I'm pitching. You've outed me. I thought I was making it more subtle."

Hey, we're down to watch any and all Harry Potter standalones. For the record, Enoch thinks it's "nuts" that Dean was going to be named Gary ("Wow, Gary? No, I can't work with Gary") and he praised J.K. Rowling for making the "right choice" to stick with Dean.Where is Dean now? "I think he's all right. I think he's doing pretty well." Enouch said he probably has a family. "He and Seamus go and watch the Quidditch on the weekends." Just a nice, normal life.

Listen to the full podcast for more. Would you watch a Dean Thomas standalone movie? Maybe they could do web shorts on Pottermore for various characters. Luna and Neville could use their own solo stories, at the very least.

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'Once Upon a Time': 'Changelings' Is Game Changer for Belle & Rumple

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Things are looking grim for Rumbelle in "Once Upon a Time" Season 6, and the latest teases make it sound like things are about to get even worse.

"Once" is off this Sunday, November 20 for the American Music Awards, but it returns Sunday, November 27 with Season 6, Episode 8, "Changelings." Apparently it's going to be a big episode for Belle (Emilie de Ravin) and Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle).

Adam Horowitz tweeted a script tease, entirely focused on Belle and Gold:

A fan asked TVLine for some Rumbelle scoop, and the resulting tease has us nervous:

Pretty pretty please, something about Once Upon a Time? Particularly about Rumbelle? —Valeria

As relayed by yours truly in this week's Facebook Live edition of "Ask Ausiello," Once co-creator Adam Horowitz had this to say about the piece I did juxtaposing Disney's Beauty and the Beast trailer with the sad, sad state of their Storybrooke iterations: "The audience doesn't know where we're headed with Belle and Rumple, but no matter how dark things get, the show doesn't go bleak. It's still about hope, and it's always darkest before the dawn." If you are now thinking, as I am, "Gee, 'dawn' then must be right around the corner," I am hearing the next episode, airing Nov. 27, is in fact quite a game changer for Rumple and/or Belle.

A game changer, eh? The "and/or" is a bit confusing, but nothing about this show or Rumbelle's "love story" (has to go in quotes at this point) is straightforward.Here's ABC's synopsis for the November 27 episode:

"Changelings" - In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Rumple collects Jack and Jill's son as bait to lure a powerful being to him. Back in Storybrooke, Gold tells the Evil Queen that she must kill Zelena, and the EQ makes a decision that will change her relationship with her sister forever. When Belle discovers Gold's plans for their son, she convinces Hook and Emma to help her steal squid ink that can immobilize him, and, as a result, Belle is left to make a sacrifice that will affect the lives of everyone in Storybrooke. Meanwhile, Jasmine finds a genie-less lamp that she hopes to use to save Agrabah, and Aladdin finds a way to be her hero.

Here's the promo:It was also revealed that Jaime Murray will be guest-starring this week, and the way TVLine shared that news has us even more worried about Rumbelle:

"In the ninth episode of Season 6, titled "Changelings" (and looking very ominous for Rumple and Belle), the Brit beauty will be playing the Black Fairy, TVLine has confirmed."

OK, so they have our attention. The next episode is a big one for Rumple and Belle. (Are you worried about the baby? We're worried about the baby.) What would be a good result at this point, after so much control and abuse? A happy ending for them seems impossible.

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Jimmy Fallon Ranks His Four Favorite 'Gilmore Girls' Characters

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Jimmy Fallon has revealed that is a "Gilmore Girls" fan, and he is Team Jess. So mark that down as another win for Milo Ventimiglia. Fallon is actually still developing his Stars Hollow obsession -- since he told "The Tonight Show" audience that he's been watching the series every night before he goes to bed -- but he already has a list of favorite characters, and he ranked them last night.

Fallon said he's now making his way through Season 4; he has three seasons left, and only 10 days until the premiere of "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life." He's pretty sure he can find the six hours a day to finish that marathon. Although he's Team Jess, Jess did not make Fallon's list of favorite characters. Fallon shared his list, then amended it to four, but sort of cheated by saying it was basically for supporting characters, excluding Rory and Lorelai Gilmore.

Here are Jimmy's top five four:

5. "The mayor dude. He's always funny, you know, the town guy, Taylor. He's always like 'Lorelai, no one is in charge of our pumpkin patch this year....' He just makes me laugh every time I see him.'"

4. "Luke. Come on. He's a good man, he's a man's man. He fixes things, he's a cool dude. He has one-liners, he's kind of grumpy, but you know he's got a big heart."

3. "I'm gonna skip three. You know what? Top four. It's my game. Top four people."

2. "My man Kirk. He's the funniest. He's unbelievably funny, one of the best actors out there."

1. "Number one, obvious. My girl Paris Geller. That's my favorite character. I love Paris. Paris is smart. She's got the brains. But she's having a little tough time right now in college. She's kind of seeing a little wild side of Paris. I'm a little concerned."

Watch the full video:No Sookie? Or Emily? Michel? Lane? Guess every character can't be your favorite, but he had room for one more to make it a real top five. Anyway, fans started sharing their own top four favorites in the YouTube video comments, if you want to check them out.

"Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life," which has been getting some positive early reviews, streams Friday, November 25 on Netflix. And if Jimmy Fallon really likes Paris Geller he might enjoy this fan theory about her.

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Kyra Sedgwick on Her 'Edge of Seventeen' Reunion and What Has Her 'Scared Sh*tless'

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Screening Of STX Entertainment's "The Edge Of Seventeen" - ArrivalsKyra Sedgwick continues to close strong.

In the alternately hilarious, prickly, and moving film "The Edge of Seventeen," the actress has a choice supporting role as Mona, the widowed single mother of sullen, sharp-tongued high schooler Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) whose already cynical attitude gets raised to a new Defcon level when her brother starts dating her one and only friend. When she isn't preoccupied with her own everyday woes, like her dating life, which send her into occasional tailspins, Sedgwick's character does what she can to keep the peace and struggles to understand her increasingly embittered offspring.

It's another in a long line of affecting performances from Sedgwick, a standout film role after her acclaimed stint on television starring in "The Closer." And she's not done with TV, either: not only does she step behind the camera to direct Lifetime's coming of age movie "Story of a Girl" (starring her husband, Kevin Bacon), she's set to headline the upcoming ABC drama "Ten Days in the Valley," playing the overworked producer of TV potboilers whose life is turned upside-down by the mysterious disappearance of her daughter -- all of which she dives into in a candid chat (complete with reflexive curse word) with Moviefone.

Moviefone: I think, maybe, the most interesting and complicated human relationship is mother and daughter.

Kyra Sedgwick: Oh, me too!

Maybe even more so when it's a single, solo-parent mother. What was interesting to you about delving into this character and this relationship?

I love characters that are complicated, and Mona is very complicated. I think it takes a certain kind of person to really have empathy for her and what she's going through. I definitely think that, as a mother, it's really hard when your kids reflect back to you the deep insecurities that you have about yourself, and that they're suffering through the same kind of pain that you went through. I think it's so hard to separate as a parent, their journey from your own.

Mona is a person that has no one to talk to about that. I think that, honestly, I don't know that she really should have been a parent. But so many people have kids who shouldn't be parents. So I think that she really lost the better parent, and she knew it too. She knew that her husband had the way in with the kids, and she really doesn't. But I do. I think it's reflected beautifully and very, very honestly.

I think that we try so hard. Being a parent is the hardest job -- oh my God, it's so hard, and it continues to be hard. You think when they're infants, OK, it's going to get easier. And it's the greatest thing ever, don't get me wrong, but my kids are 27 and 23, and if they have a bad day, I have a terrible day, you know what I mean? And in your wise mind and in your mature mind, you're like, "I've had some bad days, too, and I got through them, and it's OK." I learn from my pain, but the truth is, you don't really want your kids to have any pain.

I met your daughter, Sosie, when she was having her whole Miss Golden Globe experience. For you to see that, here she is stepping into this industry -- you've been through it yourself. Is it harder as a mom knowing what she's walking into, or is it easier having done it yourself?

I don't know if it's harder or easier because it's my experience. I can tell you I didn't want her to be an actor for a really long time. But once she actually decided to do it, I was like, what's my problem? I've had a great life as an actor. I've worked with the most extraordinary people. I've traveled all over the world. I've gotten to love my work, and not dread going to work every day. So what's my problem? Why am I so negative about it?

I had to do some real deep soul searching about that. She's had some knocks, for sure, but she's also had some success. So that feels really good, too. I think if she had nothing but knocks, I don't think I could handle it. I just don't know. It's hard. It's so hard when the people you love are struggling, even though you know that the only way you grow is through struggle. So it's complicated.

It must have been at least a little bit of a relief that, as your kids were coming into their own, your TV show "The Closer" came along, and that you got to have another great spike in your career as they were finding their own path.

Yeah. That's true. That's true. I feel for the people whose kids leave and suddenly they go, "What am I going to do with my life?" It is like a job you get fired from. When they get older, you really do, on some level, get fired. So yeah, I've been really lucky that I've been able to have a very full career, and also wake up first thing in the morning and know that's what I am as a mother. That is what I am.

What was the fun watching James L. Brooks sprinkle his fairy dust on this new filmmaker, Kelly Fremon Craig -- something which you've seen before, early in your career, as he did it with Cameron Crowe on "Singles."

Yes, that's right! It's funny because I read "Singles," and I met with Cameron Crowe a million years ago, and I was like, "This is the most amazing thing." I knew of the connection of he and James Brooks, that they had sort of a mentor/mentee relationship. So when this came along -- well, first of all, he's one of my idols, James Brooks. Every single movie he's ever done, directed, written, or produced, is extraordinary, and special, and unique, and authentic, and painful, and funny, and everything that life is. Those were always the kind of movies that I wanted to be in when I first started acting.

So it was pretty extraordinary when I heard that he was producing this, and that they had a mentor/mentee relationship. And I read it and I thought, "This is a totally fresh voice" -- which Cameron Crowe was as well -- "and is doing it better and with more layers than anybody else, and that really understands the drama and the comedy of life."

It was very important to me -- I actually bought a book in 2007 called "Story of a Girl" that I just finished directing. It was a teen novel, a young adult novel. The reason I bought that book in 2007 was because I felt like there were no films for teenagers that really reflected what it's like to be a teenager. There was "Twilight," and movies like that, that were like a fantasy. And I just felt so much like, growing up, I had so many things reflected back to me in the films that I saw that helped me to process what I was going through in life. That's what I feel like as artists and as art, people who seek out art in any form is because we're trying to process what we're living through.

So I was so happy and so grateful that someone else thought this was important to talk about as well. So I would do anything to be a part of it. And he's remarkable, and he's a remarkable soul. You see him and he's joyful, but he also has deep pain, and he's very funny, and he knows what's funny. Oh my God, to make Jim Brooks laugh is like ... I don't know if any of the actors have talked about it, but there's nothing quite like getting a guffaw from him, because you think to yourself, "I know that was right in the pocket." I've always felt that true comedy comes from pain. So you just know you've gotten it right when you make him laugh, because his comedy is all based in pain.

There was a big announcement this summer that you're coming back to television. Tell me about your new TV show, "Ten Days In the Valley."

I know. It's crazy. I'm scared. I'm scared sh*tless, to be completely honest with you. Can you say that on Moviefone?

Absolutely!

No, it's scary, because I had such a remarkable situation: that family, that world, that I didn't know anything about TV before I started "The Closer." It was a phenomenon in so many different ways. At the time, for me, for a female-led show, of a woman of a certain age, who wasn't 20. So I don't know. It's a great script. It's written by a Canadian -- I seem to be having a lot of Canadian people in my life right now: I just shot ["Story of a Girl"] in Canada; this movie shot in Canada ...

Anyway, it's a thriller. It was originally conceived as a 10-episode show. It'll be on ABC, where I think they're really embracing a lot of the cable-type shows but they're more accessible on ABC -- like "American Crime" is extraordinary. Hopefully, it'll be a very real story about this woman, who's actually a showrunner. She writes and is a creator of this TV show, and it's kind of "Day for Night," kind of "Chinatown." It's a thriller. It's like a film noir kind of thing.

I hope it's wonderful. It's a leap of faith, these things. You read one script and you meet the people and you go, "OK. Skydance is the studio and ABC is the network. We're getting a lot of autonomy. We have Carl Franklin directing the first episode, who's amazing and wonderful and knows that film noir, L.A., 'Devil in a Blue Dress.'" Yeah, so I feel like I'm in good hands so far.

Tell me about what's going on with your directing career. Do you think you're going to direct some of the show as well?

I don't know! This is the first time I've ever directed. I've never directed before. So it was an extraordinary experience. We were shooting a day of reshoots on ["Story of a Girl"], on this movie, when I told James and Kelly about it. What's so amazing to me is the generosity that you get from, especially other female directors. They're so happy that you're doing it. There's no weird competitive thing. They're just, like, jumping up and down out of their skin as excited for you, probably even more so than you are.

It was an incredible experience. I'm desperate to find something else. Frankly, the idea of going in front of the camera again scares the crap out of me on so many levels. I didn't even want to come today because it's so nice being in the background. It's so nice creating a space where people can do great work, but, like, not having pressure on you in that way. Although, directing is pressure, but it felt like less pressure somehow. We'll see if the movie's any good -- I'll keep my fingers crossed! I like what I shot, so we'll see.

What do you feel your strength was as a director? Do you have a sense?

I definitely was working with the actors, and knowing what they're going through, and being able to talk to them about history, and character, and motivation, and all that crap. But what surprised me as a director is that I actually had an an image language that I didn't think I had. A language of imagery that I definitely didn't think I had!

I was like, "I'm going to let the DP do that," but I knew what I wanted. I knew how I wanted to see it in my head. I didn't realize that was the language of film. Just say what's in your head, and then letting them set it up for you, and then going, "That's not quite what I had in my head. How about let's try this?" Then you go, "Wow, that actually works. I didn't even know that it would, but it does." It was very exciting. Like, shockingly, at 51, I suddenly feel like I have a new career.

"The Edge of Seventeen" opens in theaters nationwide November 18. "Story of a Girl" is slated to premiere on Lifetime in 2017, and "Ten Days in the Valley" will air in 2017 on ABC.

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