With an Academy Award (The Piano), two Emmys (Roe Vs. Wade and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom), tons of Best Actress industry and critics’ awards and countless hit films to her credit – Broadcast News, Raising Arizona, The Firm — the ultra-talented and super-sexy 5’ 2” Holly Hunter(a 51-year-old trapped in a 30-year-old’s well-toned body) knows a great role when she reads it.
In this conversation with Earl Dittman, Hunter opens up about the psychology of her character on the acclaimed cable crime drama, Saving Grace, her favourite quotable movie line (hint: it’s one of her own), and why she has kept her private life so, well, private. Plus, this week’s DVDs and Blu-Rays, all after the jump.
When the part of Oklahoma City detective Grace Hanadarko dropped in her lap, Hunter knew she couldn’t pass up playing the ballsy, jaded, no-nonsense cop who’s also a hard-living, promiscuous and self-destructive forty-something — with Earl, a tobacco-chewing, “Last Chance” angel by her side — in the groundbreaking series Saving Grace. “There are parts that just jump out at you from the page, and Grace was one of those,” Hunter admits. “She lives such a complex life, from her work to the people she loves. But, she always manages to keep her head above water. Grace is a survivor, and I love that about her.”
Before you get too deeply involved in the new season of Saving Grace(which begins airing this week), you might want to catch up on some of the complexities and dramas that took place in Detective Hanadarko’s world in Season 2. Grace, who is fiercely dedicated to her job, investigates everything from kidnappings and homicides to her own personal links to the infamous Oklahoma City bombing. While her winged advisor Earl is constantly pushing her to ask for salvation, Grace is forced to deal with the marital problems plaguing her partner and lover, Ham, the safety of her family members, as well as the demons in her own mind.
Can you actually believe that episodes for another season of Saving Grace start airing this week? What has it been like for you to have a role in such a great cable series?
“Few actors get the unlimited number of opportunities like the one I have. And I’m aware of that, and grateful for that, because I’ve been around now for a while. I’ve had some mind-bending opportunities as an actor. There have been a handful, and Saving Grace is definitely one of them.”
After making movies for most of your career, how were you lured into doing a cable series?
“The script — it was just outrageous and magical. I read this script and I wanted to be her, and I didn’t want anyone else to be her. Grace is also an endless, bottomless character, and I’m having a lot of fun exploring her. It’s a privilege to play someone so vital and so full of life. She’s so up for any opportunity for fun.”
Just a couple of decades ago, most film actors — especially Academy Award winners like yourself — would have never done a television series. Doing a TV show was considered a career no-no. What helped to change that perception, both within the industry and for you, personally?
“Cable. I have to say that after I did Broadcast News [1987] and it was successful, both critically and in the box office, the very next thing I did was a TV movie of the week [1989's Roe vs. Wade]. In the 1980s, television was already expanding in terms of it not being a punishable place for feature film actors — there was no segregation like there had been for television. Now that the desegregation of television is complete, I would say the reason why is cable. Of course, you do have the occasional, unbelievable story of George Clooney [on ER]. But really, cable changes the horizon.”
Looking through the DVDs of the past two seasons of Saving Grace, you can’t help but fall in love with Grace. If you had to describe Grace Hanadarko to someone who knew nothing about her, what would you say about her?
“I think that Grace is an examination of a whole person. Grace is one of the reasons I love fiction. All of us, in our lives, we need a departure from our own lives to see humanity. You know, we’re capable of a lot. We’re capable of great agony, great nightmares and great horror and great fun — and great fantasy, great desire and great appetite. I think as an artist, that’s what I love it for. Grace has a lot of fun. Perceiving sex is fun, and Grace has a lot of it. [Laughs] She is not conventional. Her desires for expressing herself as a woman are not conventional by society standards, or by a physical code. I mean, she doesn’t live by those constraints. That’s one of the things that makes her the volatile, unpredictable, and unharnessed creature that I perceive her to be.”
What’s it like on the set with such talented co-stars as Leon Rippy, Laura San Giacomo, Kenneth Johnson, Bokeem Woodbine, Dylan Minnette, Gregory Cruz and Lorraine Toussaint?
“I love them, there’s real love there. I appreciate them, and I love them. But we all work slightly differently, one from the other. And I’ve learned stuff from them. I’ll steal stuff from them. [Laughs] I love how they approach their own work. It’s just a comfort level and the intimacy level that we all have with each other. The fact is, the show is a success, and that amplifies the experience. When you are on something, when you are involved with something that’s seen by a lot of people, that exponentially enhances the experience of doing it.”
“Spontaneous” is probably one of the best words to describe Grace. Are you anything like her in your own life? If not, do you wish you were more like Grace?
“Grace taps into the spontaneity of life where that’s impossible for most us of the rest of us. I think she looks at life as a great opportunity rather than looking at life from a place of anxiety or fear. She looks at life from a place of inspiration instead of warding it off. I think most of us look at life from a slightly defensive standpoint. I try not to do that.”
As the mother of toddler twins (born 2006), how are you able to balance your private life with your now very busy career schedule?
“The truth is I don’t have much of a life except for Grace. But the great thing about this particular thing is that we do 13 episodes and then we’re done. The downtime is pretty cool. The time I’m working is very intense. It’s intense, but manageable.”
You’ve always been pretty tight-lipped when it comes to discussing your personal life. Why is that?
“I’ve always tried to steer clear of bringing my personal life into my professional life, because it’s just not me. I just like to do the job, talk about the work and go home. However, there are so many people in Hollywood who don’t mind going the opposite route. They don’t mind talking about all aspects of their lives. They are very promotive kind of people. I’m not a person who likes to go around promoting themselves.”
What has been most fulfilling for you in your career?
“There’s not just one. I’ve had experiences that are unrepeatable, original experiences — you know, doing Raising Arizona, Broadcast News, The Piano. I mean, throughout the course of my adult life, these are all experiences that I can’t compare with one another. They are original life-changing experiences. So after I did The Piano, I didn’t say, ‘I’ll never have an opportunity like this again, why don’t I go kill myself!’ I took it all as something that was fully enriching, and made me richer.”
You just mentioned Broadcast News and so many people, especially journalists, love that film. In real life, have you ever said the classic line — “You buried the lead?” – to someone?
“That’s so funny! I say it quite often. It’s a touchstone line that means you took a long while to get to what’s real and important in this conversation. I say it all the time! All the time to people.”
I know you don’t usually like to watch your own movies, but what happens when you are flipping through the channels and a movie like Broadcast News is on? What do you do?
“I hate to admit it, but I watch it. It is such a classic and such a hysterical movie. It’s funny you ask that, because even though I never watch myself on TV, I was in a hotel room recently and it came on. I finished watching the whole movie.”
Do fans still talk about the film when they come up to you?
“All the time. I still get people who say I should have picked Albert Brooks over William Hurt. I just say Bill Hurt is pretty attractive and sexy.”
How did you first get into acting?
“When I first got to New York, I did nothing but work as an extra. I became a temporary professional extra. It was a great way to make a living. I had no inhibitions. I was doing extra work for television. I was doing extra work for movies. It was a way to make a living that was not waiting tables. I was interested in acting, period. However, when I moved to New York, my imagination was slightly stunted. I was not a far-reaching, ambitious creature. I’m very ambition as a person, but not really. My ambition is much more in my work than in the projectory of my career. I just wanted to act, but I didn’t judge anything past that. I guess I’ve just been lucky or have had a guardian angel.”
Saving Grace: Season Two DVD Bonus Features: The featurettes”Have a Little Faith: The Successes of Saving Grace” and “The Wrap Party Red Carpet”, hosted by Dylan Minnette.
On DVD this week:
Friday the 13th: Killer Cut
A new, improved Jason Voorhees is back in the cinematic rebooting of the Friday the 13thfilm franchise. With a buffed-up hockey mask, sleek, shiny machete and seven new, impressive ways to slaughter the visitors of Crystal Lake, filmmaker Marcus Nispel (the man who revamped The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003) has “reimagined” the story of Jason’s resurrection in a way that absolutely slays all of the original’s sequels. In the new version, the party gets started when Clay Miller (Supernaturalstar Jared Padalecki) goes looking for his sister — guess where — at Crystal Lake. As the body count starts to pile up, Miller and his friends begin thinking she may have become on of Jason’s victims. Although it may sound like old hat, the new Friday the 13th is as tense and unpredictable as ever, and there’s nothing B-movie or low-budget about this remake. And, if you think this new version is killer, wait until you pick up the DVD or better yet, the Blu-ray, which oozes with such bloody bonuses as an extended cut of the film, a digital copy, three featurettes, additional scenes, trivia track and a chance to sneak a peek at the upcoming horror film Trick ’r Treat on BD-live.
Burn Notice
Have you ever wondered what happens when a government operative or secret agent is fired? Well, if they aren’t the recipient of a bullet to the back of the head, they get “burned.” An espionage pink slip comes in the form of a “burn notice” — which gets them blacklisted from holding down any other spy gig, leaves them broke and erases all aspects of their work and personal lives. Never really thought about what becomes of sharpshooters, CIA operatives and moles when they are shown the proverbial door? You will after watching Burn Notice, a series that is part thriller, part comedy. The series stars Jeffrey Donovon as ex-intelligence agent Michael Westen — who is always explaining to viewers the intricacies of the spy world, what’s it’s like to have an ex-IRA operative as a girlfriend (Gabrielle Anwar), a former FBI agent as a best bud (Bruce Campbell) and a hypochondriac mom (Sharon Gless). In Season Two, actress Tricia Helfer (the blonde bombshell Cylon from Battlestar Galatica), joined the cast as Michael’s murderous new boss, Carla, who is constantly hampering his search for those who burned him, endangering his new job as a private investigator and threatening his very life. With Season Three having just begun its summer run, the time is right to pick up Season Two on Blu-ray or DVD, because they are filled with such bonus features including cast and crew commentaries, gag reel, several featurettes, deleted scenes and Easter Eggs.
The Three Stooges Collection Volume Six: 1949-1951
What could be more hysterical than a Three Stooges short with Moe, Larry and Shemp gouging eyes, slapping heads, tweaking noses and pulling ears? How about two DVD discs filled with 24 of their most classic, funny bone-tickling antics and slapstick gags? In this sixth volume of their Columbia Pictures short segments — released between 1949 and 1951 — Larry Fine, Moe Howard and Shemp Howard (who resumed his Vaudeville role as the third Stooge when Curly was forced into retirement because of illness) are back in some of the funniest bits of their career (all digitally remastered and chronologically organized) from “Hokus Pokus”, “The Ghost Talks”, “Three Hams On Rye”, and “Dopey Dicks” to “Pest Man Wins”. In Volume Six of a multi-disc collection that traces the most influential comedy teams of the 20th century during their tenure at Columbia (1934-1957), Shemp hits his comedic stride and takes Stooges ridiculousness to a whole new level. Need proof? How about the critically-acclaimed “Watch Don’t Throw That Knife”, a completely improvised short in which the trio are stuck in a single room and have to create laughs with themselves household items? That is what true comedy is all about.
Family Guy: Volume Seven
Next to the Simpsons, there is no funnier animated family on television than the Griffins. Uncouth, warped, politically-incorrect but surprisingly big-hearted, Volume Seven exposes all the uncensored hilarity and hi-jinx the Griffins encountered as they took on the world in their fifth and sixth seasons. A hit with fans of animation and off-beat humor, Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy, much like The Simpsons, boasts many celebrities as fans. And these A-list stars can’t wait to add their voices to the wacky, far-out antics of the Griffin household (that includes befriending Jesus after discovering Him working at a record store). In this three-disc DVD and Blu-ray collection (with such bonus features as audio commentary, deleted scenes and extra footage), celebs appearing alongside tthe normal Family Guycast (that includes Seth Green, Mila Kunis, and creator Seth MacFarlane) are Jackass star Johnny Knoxville, longtime The Price Is Right host Bob Barker, Andy Dick of The Andy Dick Show, stand-up comic and movie star Sinbad, Gossip Girlregular Chace Crawford, singer/comedian Frank Sinatra Jr., Barry Manilow, actor James Woods, and the hottest (figuratively) comedic actor in films today, Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Zack and Miri Make a Porno).
The Diary of Anne Frank 50th Anniversary Edition
To this day, no story has earned the place in history as well as in hearts and souls of people around the world the way The Diary of Anne Frank has. The real-life diary the young Jewish girl who tragically perished in a Nazi concentration camp has sold more than thirty million copies, has been translated into 67 languages, and is considered one of the most important texts of the 20th century. The story was transformed into a major motion picture in 1959 by two-time Academy Award-winning director George Stevens. The Diary of Anne Frank– starring Millie Perkins, Joseph Schildkraut, Shelley Winters and Diane Baker — recreates the lives of two Jewish families who hid from the Nazis in a tiny Amsterdam attic for two years. A story of faith, love and the strength of the human spirit during one of the darkest periods of our history, the DVD and Blu-ray of The Diary of Anne Frank 50th Anniversary Edition(released to coincide with what would have been Anne’s 80th birthday) include all-new bonus features that speak to the film’s cinematic history, the letters that were shared between George Stevens and his son during the making of the film, a reflection by the film’s surviving stars, audio commentary and several more featurettes.
Operation Valkyrie
If you thought you knew everything about Lieutenant Claus von Stauffenberg’s real-life plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler from last year’s Tom Cruise vehicle Valkyrie, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Featuring Sebastian Koch in the lead role of Lt. Claus von Stauffenberg, Operation Valkyrie(which originally premiered on German television and took home a Best Film award) delves deeper into the events that led up to the botched attempt to kill Hitler. Based on exhaustive research, the film recreates how the original mission, dubbed “Valkyrie Operation,” put Stauffenberg in charge of heading into Hitler’s wartime bunker to place a bomb-carrying briefcase underneath a meeting table. Although the bomb did detonate, the mission failed, Hitler survived and Stauffenberg and many of his high-ranking officers were executed. The inspiration for 2008’s Valkyrie, the Operation ValkyrieDVD includes “The Making of Operation Valkyrie” featurette.
The Secret Life of the American Teenager: Season Two
In the second season of this pop culture phenomenon — starring Molly Ringwald, Shailene Woodley, Francia Raisa, Greg Finley, Josie Bissett and John Schneider — the secret lives of these particular teenagers are filled withnumerous twists and turns, both romantically and personally. From secret marriages, first-time births to turbulent relationships with their elders, American Teenager continues to tackle the problems of today’s teenagers with honesty, a little dose of humor and a whole lot of heart. Reminiscent of cult hits as My So-Called Life and Freaks & Geeks this innovative series appeals to both the young and old. On DVD, The Secret Life of the American Teenager Season Twoalso includes a music video by The Strange Familiar and two behind-the-scenes feautrettes.
Now on Blu-ray:
Lost: The Complete First Season: The High Definition Collection
Lost: The Complete Second Season: The High Definition Collection
Ready to relive the fateful crach of Oceanic Flight 815, the bloodthirsty jungle polar bears or the fatal judgments of the Island’s Smoke Monster? Thanks to breathtaking 1080p high definition picture and 5.1 uncompressed sound, you can feel like you are smack dab in the middle of the Island or searching through the Hatch with Jack, Kate, Sawyer, John and “the Others” during the first two seasons of this Emmy-winning drama. Believe me, the Island has never looked this lush nor have the roars of the Smoke Monster garnered more terror than they do on these Blu-ray collections. Lost: The Complete First Season BDSpecial Features: Unaired Lostflashbacks; five behind-the-scenes featurettes; bloopers; deleted scenes; audition tapes; SeasonPlay; Seemless Menus; commentaries withcreator J.J. Abrams and cast members Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly and Josh Holloway and the “On Set With Jimmy Kimmel” special. Lost: The Complete Second Season Special Features: Never-before-seen Lostflashbacks; five compelling, “all-access” featurettes; bloopers; deleted scenes; audition tapes; SeasonPlay; Seemless Menus and commentaries with filmmakers and cast.
Generation Kill
A brutal and totally raw insider’s look at the first 40 days of the Iraq War with the Marines of the First Recon Battalion, this seven-part miniseries exposed the triumphs and the struggles — shoddy supplies, an unknown enemy, government bureaucracy, a frustrating chain of command — of the contemporary American war. Special Features: Military Charts; Chain of Command Chart; Mission Maps; two featurettes; Eric Laden’s Video Diaries; deleted dialogue and audio commentaries.
John Adams
The winner of 13 Emmy Awards and 4 Golden Globes, this engrossing, thought-provoking seven-part miniseries about America’s second president, one of the leaders behind the Revolutionary War and one of the men who helped to shape the American Constitution (starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney), John Adamsis a spectacular saga of one man who dreamed of making a nation. Special Features: The “Facts Are Stubborn Things” historical guide; two featurettes and “Who’s Who In History” biographies.
Spaceballs
Who could forget comedian, writer and director Mel Brooks’ hysterical spoof of Star Wars? A big screen comedy classic, Spaceballs features the late John Candy in arguably the most hilarious (certainly the hairiest) performance of his short career. Crude, rude and laugh-packed — that’s Spaceballs. Special Features: Outtakes; theatrical trailers; “Making of” and John Candy documentaries; four featurettes and a text and photo still galleries.
Miracle
Much like the feel-good, big screen sports nail-biters The Rookie and Remember the Titans, Miracleis offers another chance to stand up and cheer for the underdogs. Miracle recounts how hockey coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), led 20 ordinary kids to an unlikely victory against the Russians at the 1980 Olympics. Special Features: Three featurettes; “MiracleESPN Roundtable with Linda Cohn’; outtakes and audio commentary with director Gavin O’Connor, DP Dan Stoloff and editor John Gilroy.
The Greatest Game Every Played
Directed by Bill Paxton, The Greatest Game Every Played features Transformersstar Shia LaBeouf as real-life amateur golfer Francis Ouimet, a working-class teenager that beat the odds by defeating golf pro Harry Vardon at the 1913 U.S. Open Championship. Special Features: Three featurettes; a vintage television broadcast from 1963 commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ouimet’s victory; plus two audio commentaries, one with Director Bill Paxton and a separate track with author, screenwriter and producer Mark Frost.
Friday the 13th Part 3
In the third installment of the original Friday the 13thfilm series – in “Is that machete about to cut off my head” 3D — another group of unsuspecting camp counselors become a part of Jason Voorhees bloody legacy. Isn’t it about time to mark Crystal Lake off your summer vacation list? Special Features: 3D version of the film (including 3D glasses); four featurettes and the original theatrical trailer.
