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Tag: Tammy

  • Debbie Reynolds: Daughter Carrie Fisher to Present Her SAG Lifetime Achievement Award

    Debbie Reynolds: Daughter Carrie Fisher to Present Her SAG Lifetime Achievement Award

    Debbie Reynolds will be honored later this month with the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. She began her Hollywood career back in the 1950s and has appeared in more than 50 films since then. Some of her classics include Singin’ in the Rain, Tammy, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and How the West Was Won. Reynolds’ daughter Carrie Fisher will present her with the prestigious award.

    Fisher, of course, is best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars series of films. She penned a book several years back that many perceived as a diary of sorts, highlighting the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship she and Debbie Reynolds endured. Carrie Fisher insisted, however, that Postcards from the Edge, which later became a film starring Meryl Streep, wasn’t meant to depict the two.

    “The book has nothing to do with my mother and I. It mostly followed stories of drug addiction told by different people, so the movie of it had to completely change. I had to look for things in my life that would make good dramatic scenes, good performance pieces and embellish on that,” she said in 2012.

    The SAG Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates Debbie Reynolds’ extensive body of work and humanitarian efforts. Previous recipients include Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Ernest Borgnine, Betty White, and James Earl Jones.

    Fans can tune in on Sunday, January 25th at 8:00 PM on both TNT and TBS. Congratulations to Debbie Reynolds for this prestigious award.

  • Kathy Bates Likens Melissa McCarthy to Lucille Ball

    Kathy Bates has been around the Hollywood scene for some time and has seen actresses come and go. But she sees something very different and unique about her Tammy co-star Melissa McCarthy. The well-respected actress had some very flattering things to say about McCarthy, even comparing the Bridesmaids star to comedic genius Lucille Ball.

    The Oscar-winning actress recently told Tim Lammers that her main impetus for joining the Tammy cast was McCarthy.

    “The main reason for doing it was Melissa McCarthy. I had seen her in Bridesmaids, and I wish I could be as clever, wonderful and physical in comedy as she is,” Bates said. “I wanted to get to know her — I really wanted to understand her secret. I wondered, ‘How can she stay so real yet push the envelope the way she does, physically and comedically?’”

    Bates gave McCarthy the ultimate compliment in comparing The Heat actress to Ball.

    “I can see a comparison in her and Lucille Ball in the way Melissa fearlessly goes places that a lot of actresses wouldn’t go,” Bates said. “She’s nimble, quick and fearless. ”

    The 66-year-old actress portrays Lenore, a first cousin, twice removed to Tammy (McCarthy) in the film, which was co-written and produced by McCarthy.

    Bates conceded that even though McCarthy pushed the comedic limits of everyone involved, she still could not muster the same talent it takes to enter the ranks of the Bridesmaids star.

    “It was wonderful to pretend for a while that you can be as funny as she is,” Bates said, laughing. “When we were all doing our improv scenes for the film, we were just shameless trying to be as good as Melissa because she raises the bar — but of course, we fell short.”

    The film tells the story of Tammy, a fast-food worker who is having a really bad day and the fallout from that day. Allison Janney and Susan Sarandon star as Tammy’s mother and grandmother, and Sandra Oh plays Lenore’s girlfriend.

    McCarthy’s husband, Ben Falcone, directs the film and stars as Tammy’s boss. The couple married in 2005 and have two daughters together.

    Image via Twitter, Kathy Bates

  • Kathy Bates Talks “Blowing Up S**t” In New Film

    Kathy Bates might not be the first person you think of when the term “blowing up shit” is thrown around, but the veteran actress saw her share of it in the upcoming film Tammy, and she says it was a blast.

    Bates worked with Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon on the film, which centers on McCarthy’s luckless character and follows her on a road trip with her grandmother (Sarandon), who drinks like a fish and curses like a sailor. Bates plays a cousin who takes in the two women when their trip gets out of control. So out of control, in fact, that Molotov cocktails are involved.

    “I held one a little too long and it exploded in my hand. It was sugar glass, so you really had to throw it quickly once the end of the cloth was lit. It was fun to blow up shit–or pretend that you were blowing up shit–and not be arrested,” Bates said.

    Bates says the main reason she took the role was because of her admiration for McCarthy, and compared her to Lucille Ball.

    “The main reason for doing it was Melissa McCarthy. I had seen her in Bridesmaids, and I wish I could be as clever, wonderful and physical in comedy as she is. I wanted to get to know her; I really wanted to understand her secret. I wondered, ‘How can she stay so real yet push the envelope the way she does, physically and comedically?’ I can see a comparison in her and Lucille Ball in the way Melissa fearlessly goes places that a lot of actresses wouldn’t go. She’s nimble, quick and fearless. When we were all doing our improv scenes for the film, we were just shameless trying to be as good as Melissa because she raises the bar — but of course, we fell short,” she said.

    Tammy opens on Friday, July 4.

    Image via YouTube

  • Kathy Bates Discusses Role in New Movie ‘Tammy’

    Today, Melissa McCarthy’s newest movie, Tammy, hits the big screens. Tammy marks the screenwriting debut of McCarthy, best known for her role in 2011’s The Bridesmaids, and the directorial debut of Ben Falcone, McCarthy’s husband and frequent co-actor. While McCarthy could have used this opportunity to secure her potential as a lead actress in a major-motion film without the aid of a strong supporting cast, she chose to do just the opposite, loading the movie with a plethora of famous co-stars including Susan Sarandon, Dan Akroyd, Susan Oh, and Kathy Bates.

    While many may not have pegged Bates for a slapstick comedy such as Tammy, McCarthy and Falcone had envisioned Bates in the role from the beginning. In speaking about one of the scenes on a dock near the end of the movie, McCarthy stated, “It’s a scene we wrote for Kathy Bates, dreamed of her doing, she’s actually here doing it and now she’s summoned all of her power, which is a lot. It was a palpable, amazing feeling. It felt like a lightning bolt ripping through my chest.”

    For Bates, choosing to star in the movie was a no-brainer. “The main reason for doing it was Melissa McCarthy. I had seen her in ‘Bridesmaids,’ and I wish I could be as clever, wonderful and physical in comedy as she is. I wanted to get to know her — I really wanted to understand her secret. I wondered, ‘How can she stay so real yet push the envelope the way she does, physically and comedically?’”

    Fortunately, Bates was given multiple avenues through which to push the envelope while playing a molotov cocktail-throwing lesbian friend to McCarthy’s character, Tammy.

    “That [throwing a molotov cocktail] was really a blast, I have to say. I held one a little too long and it exploded in my hand. It was sugar glass, so you really had to throw it quickly once the end of the cloth was lit… It was fun to blow up s— or pretend that you were blowing up s— and not be arrested,” recalled Bates.

    Unfortunately for Bates and company, however, Tammy opens to harsh reviews from the critics. While some find the film too sappy towards the end, others feel the movie simply fails to be funny and relies too heavily on the same tropes McCarthy has portrayed time after time.

    If there is one bright spot, however, it is the relationship portrayed between Bates and Susan Oh, a relationship Bates tried to portray as accurately as possible: “It was important for me to be able to ad-lib how difficult it is, or was, especially 20, 25 years ago, for lesbian women to come out. I think almost more difficult than for men to come out as gay.”

    So, if you’re hankering for some Kathy Bates in your life, sit this one out and simply wait for American Horror Story to start back up this fall.

    Image via YouTube

  • Melissa McCarthy Will Get Star On Walk Of Fame

    Funny lady Melissa McCarthy will join the over 2,500 influential figures and get a star on Hollywood’s legendary Walk of Fame.

    The Oscar-nominated actress has etched out a comedic niche since her breakout role in 2011’s female-centric blockbuster Bridesmaids. McCarthy currently stars in the television sitcom Mike and Molly as one of the titular characters.

    She also scored a huge comedy hit with the female buddy cop movie The Heat alongside Sandra Bullock. The movie grossed almost 160 million domestically. Rumors are currently going around Hollywood that we can expect The Heat 2 sometime soon.

    McCarthy is also on the cover of this month’s Rolling Stone. Her latest comedy film Tammy comes out in theaters July 2.

    The Walk of Fame Selection Committee has released its entire Class of 2015 Star Honorees to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Maureen Schultz, Chair of the Walk of Fame selection Committee, said in a released statement, “We look forward to welcoming all our new honorees to one of the most popular tourist attractions in California.”

    Here is the complete list of selections for The Hollywood Walk of Fame 2015. Each person will have five years to arrange their star ceremony before they expire. No dates have been announced yet.

    MOTION PICTURES: Raymond Chandler (posthumous), Eugenio Derbez, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Garner, Peter Jackson, Bob Kane (posthumous), Daniel Radcliffe, Paul Rudd, Snoopy, Melissa McCarthy and Christoph Waltz

    TELEVISION: James L. Brooks, Ken Ehrlich, Bobby Flay, Seth MacFarlane, Julianna Margulies, Chris O’Donnell, Jim Parsons, Amy Poehler, Kelly Ripa and Sofia Vergara

    RECORDING: Lukasz ‘Dr. Luke’ Gottwald, Kool & The Gang, Pitbull, Al Schmitt and Pharrell Williams

    RADIO: Larry Elder

    James L. Brooks, who is the longtime writer/producer of The Simpsons and other comedies like As Good As It Gets and Broadcast News, will receive the terrazzo-and-brass star plaque.

    The Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard has been handing out stars to stars since 1960.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Melissa McCarthy Hilarious in ‘Tammy’ Trailer

    Melissa McCarthy is a hoot in the new trailer for her upcoming comedy Tammy, which costars Susan Sarandon as her alcohol-imbibing grandmother.

    The trailer showcases McCarthy’s unique comedic style and propensity for playing lovable losers. It opens with a classic dance routine by McCarthy to Coolio’s Ganster’s Paradise as she moves in to rob a fast food joint at the end of a very bad day.

    The Mike and Molly star plays a woman who succumbs to desperate measures after totaling her clunker car, getting fired from her thankless job at a greasy burger joint and finding her husband doing the nasty with a neighbor.

    McCarthy, 43, co-wrote Tammy with her real-life husband of nine years, Ben Falcone, who also directed the movie.

    The couple met as members of L.A.’s Groundlings comedy troupe in the late 1990s and have worked together on Bridesmaids, in which Falcone played an air marshal dealing with McCarthy’s antics.

    Tammy also stars Allison Janney, Kathy Bates, Sandra Oh, Dan Aykroyd and Toni Collette.

    Tammy will hit theaters July 2.

    Image via YouTube