Overview
Six years after an affair with the 15-year old daughter of the priest who was his mentor, a former youth minister, now an ex-con and recovering addict, returns to his hometown seeking redemption, only to find that his past will not let him go.
Genre
DramaRelease Date
December 10, 2013 (VOD)Studio
Straight Up Films
Alicia Witt - Fan Questions
QDo you think you'll ever star in another TV show, or do you like doing movies better?
A
i love playing roles that i can sink my teeth into, that i can fall in love with. if the next one of those that finds me is on a tv series, i'd be thrilled to get to play her for many episodes/many years! movies are so fun because you play a role you love and then you get to move on... but sometimes you don't want to... on tv if it's a role you love, you don't have to say goodbye after only a few months.
Q
Having a history of being a prodigy is there an advatage in Adulthood(besides being bothered by such questions) Or at some point does it become meaningless, or even a liability?
A
i played piano and was doing well in that at an early age, as well as reading/writing etc... but i think those are just characteristics of who i am. i've always hated the 'prodigy' term :)
Q
What are the chances to see you as the main female character in a comedy?
A
i would be so into that! especially a super over the top farrelly bros/monty python type comedy! i love ridiculous silly comedy!!
Q
Hi Alicia! Where u a singer first or an actress?
A
i made my first movie at the age of 7; i had already begun playing piano at that time but hadn't started singing yet! but for all of my adult life, singing has been one of my favorite things to do, and i've always wanted to perform my own songs. it's only been in the last 4 1/2 years or so that i've been finally focusing on that, and now i can't imagine my life without it! thank you for listening...
Q
any interest n doin another tv gig like cybill? loved the small bit u did n twin peaks, seems they ended with u playn the piano a couple episodes also. 21/2 men last i saw ya. back n the movies also,
A
i would totally do a series if i loved the character and the writing! would be fun to get to dive into a role for years instead of just a few months as with a film. mad men, shameless, nurse jackie and modern family are a few of the shows i'm watching now.
Q
What has been your favorite/most interesting role in TV or film?
A
there have been so many... the one i'm going to shoot in may might end up being my favorite yet, can't wait to share it with you all! some of the ones i've loved most have been claire in 'playing mona lisa', cheryl on 'FNL', rosalind in 'the mentalist' and bonnie in 'fun'! basically anytime i get to play a role that's far removed from who i am as a person... or one that's very close to what i'm going thru personally.
Q
Do you ever use a pouty face to get what you want?
A
never! i'm much more direct :)
Q
I've read that you turned down the role of Mary Jane Watson in the Spider Man series. If true, I have 2 questions. Why? And do you ever regret that decision? You'd have made a fabulous MJ ...
A
of course not! that's a crazy internet rumor. i would never turn it down! I was one of the initial finalists for the role and auditioned for sam raime opposite tobey macguire (along with mena suvari, jamie king, etc etc) but none of us got the role. much later, they auditioned kirsten dunst and she got it. but of course it would've been a blast! (and thank you!)
Q
What's the biggest role you auditioned for and didn't get?
A
hmmm! well i never talk about all of those, the same way i never mention who else was in the running for roles i DID get, because i think it's bad karma somehow. but here are 2 that have been already mentioned in the press: i nearly played the role of sydney in 'scream', and the studio ended up deciding against it. and i was called back to read with tobey macguire for the role of mary jane in 'spiderman'. (however, to hopefully debunk a weirdly persistent internet rumor: i was not offered the role and didn't it down!)
Q
In interviews, prior to Spiderman's (2002) filming, both Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire said you were a lock to play Mary Jane. You would have been perfect for the part! What happened?!
A
i don't think either of them said that specifically! i never was offered the role, in any case. would have loved to have played mary jane. as it was, i had auditioned for sam raimi once at the time that he mentioned in an interview that he was 'seriously considering' me for the role, but after i and 5 other girls read with tobey for a chemistry test, they decided that none of us were what they were looking for and continued to meet with people.
Q
Has having grown up by a mother of hair so storybook long afforded some quirkier-than-otherwise, more-memorable-than-otherwise childhood memories?
Such as?
~ Ring Alexander
Such as?
~ Ring Alexander
A
the vision of my mother sitting in the kitchen for hours with her newly washed hair draped over several towel-covered chairs, watching television as it dried, is one i will not forget!
Q
What was the biggest role you auditioned for and didn't get the part?
A
i've auditioned for so many! it becomes such a big part of your life as an actor, and i've been auditioning on a regular basis for the last 23 years, so there have been so many well-known films/tv projects i've gone in on, of course. and of those, there have definitely been some that i was very close to getting and it didn't happen (i don't bring those up, but spiderman and scream are two that have been well publicized). what's interesting though is how many are very sought after at the time, and then the movie is a flop or the tv pilot doesn't get picked up. the lesson is just to stay level headed if possible and take each moment as it comes. and i really believe we get what we are supposed to and that there are enough roles to go around!
Q
are your breasts real?
A
hellz yeah! i'm proud of em too!!
Q
A small film director offers you the role of a lifetime, the same week Micheal Bay offers you the role of Bebop, a jive talking robot who constanly says "Whazzup!" and $20 mil. Which role do you take?
A
oh... you said the role of a lifetime??? welllllll. in that case, i'd be 'whazzup'-ing for a few months and take my friggin $20 mil; and i'd tell the film director i would finance the film if he'd wait a few months to shoot it. booooya!
Q
How much they pay you on a movie?
A
you would be ASTONISHED at how much it varies! i've done films that were super low budget but that i loved, where they pay me $150 a day (recently, believe it or not) if it's a SAG Ultra-Low Budget film, or then there are films where the payday is handsome and i can stow it away to pay my mortgage for awhile, so that i can do films for $150 a day again :)
Q
What was it like working with Madonna on 4 Rooms?
A
ooh i had the biggest girl crush on her! i was 19 and i was playing her girlfriend so i was totally agog over her. she gave me the t-shirt i wore in the film on the first day we showed up for rehearsals, and also a tiny costume jewelry necklace that i still have. one bummer: we had a lovely kiss in a scene in the film that didn't end up getting filmed! we rehearsed it though so i have pics. ran out of time for shooting it at the end of our second to last day and i was devastated! each segment only had 5 shooting days so it was pretty tight.
Q
How do actors and actresses (who essentially work on a contract basis, film-to-film) go about getting health insurance? Has it been a problem in your career?
A
oh we are lucky, SAG/AFTRA, the film actors' union, takes care of us in that way. that is, if you make enough money per year. that's one of the many reasons why residuals are so important for working actors; in years where you have less work or work that pays less, the residuals from past work re-running is often what you need in order to keep your health insurance. (good random question! thanks!)
Q
Would you ever post a pic of your boobs on the internet, and will you ever do full frontal nude scenes in movies? That would be awesome.
A
yes but it might explode people's eyeballs with the degree of awesomeness! i wouldn't want to be responsible for that sort of carnage.
Q
Some women in your profession are offended when referred to as an "actress" versus an "actor". How do you feel about this? I think sometimes it's absolutely necessary to identify gender i.e. "actresses get such poor roles".
A
i prefer actor! we don't use gender specific terms for other professions, i.e. singer, doctor, server, etc. (i mean you could say waiter/waitress but that's old fashioned right?) i like that SAG awards define it as 'female actor' or 'male actor'. for example, when i was starting out as an actor and i used to say i was an 'actress' the next question was always, 'and what do you do for a living' haha. i feel like 'actor' just denotes that you take it very seriously and it's as much your job as any other career/profession.
Q
Simple question what's your view on excessive violence in today's films, do you think the blood and gore go over the top
A
i do not like excessive violence. really hate it... i'm always cowering in the theatre and covering my eyes at those parts. and i tend to avoid films (and projects) that i know are based on that. that being said, the violence in 'drive' with ryan gosling was tremendously over the top but oddly compelling in a sick way... it seemed somehow almost necessary to understand what that character was going thru. so i think gratuitous violence for just the sake of it is really yucky... but if it's telling the story in a needed way then it makes sense.
Hi Alicia, When you did the movie 'FUN' did you see your acting career growing as it has? How much control do you think actors have over shaping their careers? Do you think it's luck or choices that make up an actor's body of work?
A
i had NO idea when i did 'fun' that it would even get seen, let alone go to sundance and change my presence in the film world in such a big way. so proud of that film. but really the one big thing i've learned after all these years is that there really is (usually) no great big crowning moment... no one lifechanging event. you can be in the biggest film in the world at the moment (which i've never been) and then ten years later be begging for a supporting role to pay the bills. seriously! it is a huge combination of luck and perseverance and not taking the same role again and again, i'm convinced... the actors with the most lasting careers (such as kate winslet for one example) have played such a wide variety of roles and really parlayed their good fortune into a sturdy place in the business by doing so.. and i think a large part of that is being smart and strong enough to turn down jobs that aren't good enough in the moment when you're being offered so many.
What is your favorite film of all Time?
A
hard to choose just one! but 'American Beauty' is one of my all time favorites. just saw 'Searching for Sugarman' and that's on my list now too.
Q
Hollywood seems unusually rife with examples of nepotism these days, Dakota Johnson's casting in 50 shades of gray and any recent film starring the spawn of Will Smith come readily to mind. This favoritism extends to both sides of the camera, how many producers/directors turn out to have famous parents ie Ivan Reitman's kid or Francis Ford Coppolla's daughter are straight forward examples of how famous parents can help one land in a director's chair. There are of course exceptions, you for one and Johnny Depp come to mind (although he was roommates with Nicolas Cage which certainly helped). Under such circumstances how can a talented actor or director with NO connections hope to get that much coveted "lucky break"? What do you feel is the RAW TALENT/LUCK and CONNECTIONS ratio in Tinsletown? When I see a guy like Jonah Hill I think, hey he made it on his own! Then I find out he grew up best friends with Dustin Hoffman's son and dated his daughter and I guess the ratio is like: 15/85.
A
you know... as far as being blood related to someone who's already successful, we obviously have no control over that. the connection thing? it's interesting. if you're good at, and work hard at, what you do and you are surrounded by others in the same position, then doesn't it only make sense to collaborate? the more time i spend in this business the more i realize that's not a weakness. sitting back and getting things handed to you is another story and often doesn't last very long. i think that hard work and talent DO pay off... you just have to think outside the box a lot of the time and if you look at most of the very successful people in the business, they've done a combination of both. that's my opinion!
More Q-and-A HERE
You have read this article Alicia Witt
with the title Alicia Witt: Away From Here Official Trailer (2013). You can bookmark this page URL https://duk78.blogspot.com/2013/12/alicia-witt-away-from-here-official.html. Thanks!
