Amy Adams wants to play Galinda in "Wicked"

Whereas most celebrities take pains to hide their personal relationships from the press, 34-year-old Amy Adams brings hers along to breakfast. This morning, she has shown up for an interview at her local Sunset Boulevard eatery with her betrothed, actor Darren Le Gallo, in tow. “He was hungry,” she explains with a sunny smile. Adams made her name playing a character with a similar sense of cheerful openness in 2005’s indie hit Junebug. As the pregnant motormouth Ashley, the only member of a deeply Southern family to welcome a new sister-in-law into the fold, she won the hearts of audiences at Sundance and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also established herself as the go-to girl in Hollywood to play a wide variety of persevering optimists, including Giselle, the fairytale beauty lost in New York in Disney’s 2007 musical comedy Enchanted.

At today’s breakfast, Adams has much to smile about, given her two starring roles alongside Meryl Streep, first in John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt and next in Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia, due out this year. She also recently wrapped Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, in which she plays Amelia Earhart. While Adams’ fiancé sketches an elaborate crowd scene on the paper tablecloth, the strawberry-haired ingénue quotes Gershwin, reflects on life in her 30s and sheds a few—mostly happy—tears.

Cristy Lytal (MM): You grew up in a big family. How did that affect your career choice?

Amy Adams (AA): I think the type of family I was raised in had more of an effect on my career choice. We were always encouraged to find something that we wished to do and then try and excel at it.

MM: How did you decide to become an actress?

AA: I always wanted to perform. I did musical theater until I was 24, as a dancer. Usually, it was the featured chorus role, but then I got the lead part at the dinner theater, and that was my launch pad!

MM: What was dinner theater like?

AA: It smelled… at least, occasionally. They should really remove the fish dishes, because that is not pleasant! (laughs) I actually loved it. I didn’t know anything else, so for me that was my Broadway. I took it very seriously and it’s a big part of why I was able to have the stamina to keep going out here in L.A. when things weren’t going well. I’m a worker bee.

MM: Do you want to do more musicals?

AA: I’d do exclusively musicals if they’d let me, because musicals are perfect in that every one of them has a comedic element, a dramatic element and singing and dancing. “Who could ask for anything more?” to quote Gershwin! Usually I don’t have Darren here, and now he’s just blushing for me.

MM: So what swayed you to come to L.A. 10 years ago as opposed to Broadway?

AA: I worked on a film, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and I had a really good time. It coincided with a pulled muscle, and I was tired from eight shows a week. So I thought, ‘Well, maybe I’ll go to L.A. for a little while and see how it goes.’

MM: It went well considering you soon found yourself in 2002’s Catch Me If You Can. Did being in a Steven Spielberg movie change your fortunes as an actor?

AA: It wasn’t like I had all these roles that were available to me, but the reason I was considered for Junebug is because the director saw me in Catch Me If You Can. For me, as an actress, my personal breakthrough was Junebug. It was the year when I learned that I wasn’t willing to be unhappy to be an actress. I was turning 30 that year, and I was thinking, ‘What do I want? This is my life.’

MM: So you were unhappy before that?

AA: I was too consumed with the ins and outs of my career as opposed to enjoying the work. Doing Junebug helped me really get back to enjoying the work and realizing that I do want to be an actress, and if that means nobody ever sees anything I do, that’s got to be okay. If that means I teach during the day and do a play at night, that’s got to be okay. I had to stop defining success by how society defines success.

MM: It’s ironic that as soon as you made your peace with relative obscurity, Junebug flung you into the spotlight.

AA: That was so bizarre. I remember being at Sundance the day after the awards ceremony. We were walking down the street at night and the snow started falling, and it was the most beautiful thing. I just thought… Oh no! You caught me on a weak day. It was just a… [crying]beautiful moment. Something changed. To see the way that character affected people just blew me away. People really opened up to me because of Ashley, and I was so honored by that. It is a very common thing, miscarriages and pre-term births. I just don’t think people allow women to grieve for children that were never born.

MM: That’s very true.

AA: At the time I was doing it, both of my sisters were pregnant with their first kids and one of them was having a hard pregnancy. She was having a lot of pre-term contractions and was on bed rest, so it was just a crazy year. I don’t know why I’m emotional, but that was probably the most impactful thing that’s ever happened in my career. It opened up a lot of opportunities for me to get to do all sorts of things. I got to do Enchanted! I read that, and I was like, ‘Sorry other girls, nobody else is going to play this.’ I felt like I had been in training my whole life to play Giselle.

MM: What extra work goes into a musical?

AA: I trained for three or four months to do the recording; I was determined not to have to bring in someone else to sing for her. The musical numbers, they can take about two weeks, and it’s so tedious. The big white dress had steel hoops, because it was so big that anything else would collapse.

MM: Do you think the animated version of Giselle looks like you?

AA: She looks like a Disney version; they bring out the best in you. If Darren were to do a drawing of me, it probably wouldn’t be quite as flattering. But it was really cool to see how they captured my movements, how I informed the animation and how they informed me.

MM: How did you create that sense of profound dislocation when Giselle crawls out of the manhole into New York City?

AA: I was listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. I wanted something that had that really dreamy, druggy, crazy quality, where you just felt so out of your element and that you’ve been on some strange journey.

MM: Have you used music to help you get into character lately?

AA: Well, oddly enough [Night at the Museum 2 director] Shawn Levy does it. He’ll play music during scenes that don’t involve dialogue, like when Amelia Earhart sees the entire Air and Space Museum and rockets and what happened after her and she is so inspired. It made so much sense to me, because I’m such a musical person.

MM: So were you filming in the actual National Air and Space Museum?

AA: We shot exteriors at the Smithsonian in Washington and at the Lincoln Memorial; they built the interiors of the Smithsonian. The sets were enormous… It was so beautiful, and all of these paintings are going to come to life. I love special effects movies.

MM: It must be more fun to watch them than to act in them, though.

AA: It’s challenging, but I was doing it with Ben Stiller. If you have someone there with you, it makes it a little easier; you don’t feel quite as silly. There’s a lot of talking to nothing—talking to Xs—and jumping over things that aren’t there. But Ben has such a sense of play about him that you’d forget things weren’t there.

MM: Is there room for play and improvisation on a movie that big and effects-driven?

AA: Ben Stiller and Robin Williams together? That is something to be seen. I was trying so hard and the more that I tried to be really stoic, the harder Robin laughed. I would be trying to carry on with the scene. Robin’s like, “And the girl! The girl keeps going! Ahahahaha...” I still get completely weirded out working with these people I saw in movies growing up. I’m like, ‘I need to be so professional.’ I turn into a bit of a try-hard, you know.

MM: Let’s talk about Doubt, which John Patrick Shanley adapted and directed based on his own 2005 Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play. How did you get involved?

AA: I was working on Sunshine Cleaning with Emily Blunt and, oddly enough, she brought it to me. I flew myself to New York and fibbed to John Patrick Shanley that I was already there and met him. I think they had someone else in mind, but I just stayed on it. I’m not like that about every role, but I needed to do this. I’m so attracted to stories of faith—I always have been—and this was such a smart film and such a beautiful play. John Patrick Shanley’s words are so powerful and amazing and I just hadn’t read anything like it. I knew it was an amazing opportunity to really learn something about myself as an actor—and as a person. Of course, the opportunity to work with Meryl and with Philip [Seymour Hoffman] again in that way, that was just terrifying and challenging.

[My character], Sister James, is such a voyeur. Even though she’s a catalyst for what happens, she’s almost like the audience. She’s watching this happen and trying to make a decision about what she believes, on what side she falls, and to sit in that room and get to be a voyeur in the scenes with Philip and Meryl—it doesn’t get any better than that. It was an amazing opportunity to learn something about myself. It was something I knew I would be really proud to be a part of. Without sounding too self-aggrandizing, I think it’s an important film. It’s timeless.

MM: You were raised Mormon?

AA: For a while, yeah. I think that had more of an impact on my values than my beliefs. When you’re raised in that sort of environment, with the “golden rule,” that always carries over. Religious guilt carries over, too. You can’t really misbehave without feeling badly about it—at least I can’t.

MM: Was it shocking to leave the church after your parents divorced?

AA: It was and it wasn’t. When you’re young, you don’t necessarily understand religion. It just seems like it’s more of a community feeling. Being one of seven children, there was always a community. But I missed Sunday school and the arts and crafts. I don’t think a child’s brain can really grasp religious concepts without being indoctrinated a little bit. I remember being really upset because my grandfather drank coffee. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, Grandpa’s going to hell for drinking coffee!’ I cried in Sunday school. But religion can be a positive thing in people’s lives. It provides an amazing support system if you embrace it. There’s always that part of me that wishes that would have been enough, that I could have been happy with that.

MM: In Doubt, religion doesn’t give people much peace of mind or certainty at all. You and Meryl Streep play nuns who begin to suspect the parish priest of pedophilia.

AA: I don’t have the answer of whether he did it or didn’t do it. John Patrick Shanley never told us. We’ll never know the truth.

I think each person’s going to take his or her own experience away from the film… The film kind of represents what’s going on in the country right now: Are we looking for someone to move us forward or are we looking for someone who believes in the old way of doing things? So I’m curious to see what people think.

MM: You followed up Doubt with another project co-starring Streep. Did you learn anything from working with her?

AA: I don’t appear on screen with Meryl in Julie & Julia, so I’m happy that I had the experience of Doubt to learn about her as an actress. Her skill level is just… it’s Meryl Streep! It’s not a fluke, it is 100 percent genuine talent and dedication and work ethic. It’s good for young artists to remember the work ethic of the actor. So much celebrity is “celebrated” without an acknowledgment of the work that goes into it. What I find in common with Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep and so many of these established actors that I’ve worked with is that you can see why they’re there. They’re professionals. We’ve lost so much of that in celebrating fame.

I don’t want to speak for everybody, but I think a lot of young actors need to step it up! I don’t want to read any more stories about people not coming to the set or showing up late. It’s so disheartening and it puts a bad light on all actors. It makes it seem as though the profession is kind of a lark and it’s demoralizing to hear that. On the other side of it there are people like Meryl and Philip, who are examples of true professionals.

MM: In Julie & Julia, you’re playing a real-life woman who decided to cook every single one of Julia Child’s recipes. Why did she do this?

AA: She was turning 30. It was something to do to give her a reason to wake up in the morning. It was after 9/11, when everybody was really looking for a sense of purpose.

MM: Did you have to brush up on your cooking skills to portray her in action?

AA: I took cooking lessons. I cooked through all the recipes that I had to cook for the film. I made bruschetta, I boned a duck, I trussed a chicken, I made hollandaise sauce and mayonnaise and poached eggs. I learned how to cut properly. Doing that film really did change my attitude about cooking. I see it now as a creative pursuit and something so relaxing—a wonderful thing to do at the end of the day instead of a burden.

MM: What initially attracted you to the role?

AA: It was that whole thing of turning 30 that I so identified with. You know, she’s already married, she’s got a life, she’s got a job, but she still doesn’t really feel a true sense of purpose or worth. So that was something I identified with and a story that I don’t think women get to see a lot.

MM: Turning 30 is a difficult milestone.

AA: Twenty-seven to 30 is weird. It’s been the weirdest time in my life as far as self-evaluation.

MM: So do you have any dream roles you’d like to play?

AA: Galinda from Wicked. I’d love to play Elphaba, I just don’t think it’s suited for me. I’m always attracted to roles that are just wrong for me, like Aldonza in Man of La Mancha. It’s like, ‘Let’s see: The odds of you playing a Spanish whore are not very good.’ So at some point you have to go with your strengths and not lament the person you will never be.

MM: You’ve certainly become a bit of a specialist in playing optimists.

AA: There’s something about the destruction of innocence that I find fascinating. I feel like I’ve played other types of roles, though. I did Sunshine Cleaning, where I’m not optimistic at all. Or maybe I am. Maybe it’s just my face.

MM: Well, in Sunshine Cleaning, you do play someone who keeps on going despite tough circumstances, namely having to clean up crime scenes.

AA: I’m definitely attracted to people who try to make the best of it. That’s what I’m attracted to in life, as well. I tend not to like people who wallow.

MM: Is that a bit Mormon?

AA: It could be.

MM: Cheerfulness is a virtue?

AA: Yes, I would say so. That’s in my genes.

MM: It’s not in Catholicism. You don’t have to be cheerful. You can wallow and still be considered virtuous, like Meryl’s character.

AA: That’s true. I look forward to playing those characters as I evolve as a person and as an actress. I think I have certain physical limitations that it’ll take some age to get over.

MM: Where to next?

AA: Right now I’m on a bit of a hiatus getting ready to open Doubt. I’m excited about that, to see people’s reaction to it. I hope it sparks conversation and debate; it’s fun when a film can do that.

MM: Long-term plans?

AA: Maybe New York. I would like to go away and get all craggy out of the public eye. I’m looking forward to aging out of the ingénue. I’m looking forward to my Helen Mirren and Judi Dench years.

SOURCE: Moviemaker (Fall 2008) by Cristy Lytal | Published January 22, 2009

Amy Adams : not so innocent abroad

Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams tells Lesley O'Toole that although she's genetically happy, she is nothing like the wide-eyed naif of her roles

Art does not often imitate life, except in the case of double Academy Award nominee Amy Adams. Her biggest film yet, 2007's latterday fairy-tale blockbuster Enchanted, saw its singing-dancing heroine find herself and her prince. In real life, Adams - who earned her first nomination for teeny indie Junebug in 2006 and her second this year for a film its polar opposite in every regard, Doubt - has enjoyed much the same trajectory. Last year she became engaged to her boyfriend of six years, actor and painter Darren Le Gallo. This year she has a serious shot at winning her first Academy Award in the unpredictable Best Supporting Actress category.

If she does, she will have many people to thank: her large family for starters (she has six siblings) and not least Emily Blunt. The pair play screen sisters in the upcoming Sunshine Cleaning but it was Blunt who first got her hands on the script for Doubt, the heavyweight film version of John Patrick Shanley's Tony Award-winning play. She recognised that Sister James, a pivotal, wide-eyed character in the tale of a priest in Sixties New York accused of abusing one of his young male charges, was tailor-made for Adams and encouraged her friend to pursue it.

In her short but meteoric rise to fame, Adams has become synonymous with the role of the innocent (Junebug, Enchanted, Charlie Wilson's War ) and she admits it is a character trait she relishes.

"But even more so, the ruin of innocence is really fascinating to me. What I really love about Sister James is that at the end of the film, although she is changed, her spirit of compassion and her faith is intact. She will move forward smarter, maybe a little bit more untrusting of people, but her trust of God and her trust in herself is stronger because of the situation."

In many ways, Adams, 34, might be talking, albeit unintentionally, about her own personal and professional path. Coming hot on the heels of that enchanting blockbuster ($339m worldwide), Doubt has changed Adams' life. She can thank her own tenacity for that. Having wholeheartedly endorsed Blunt's exhortation that she should play the role, Adams flew to New York and phoned Shanley, also the film's director, to say she happened to be in town and could they meet (this after she had been told another actress was already attached in the role). It is not, she says, that she is wildly ambitious, rather that she was simply doing what she has always done.

"This is my profession and I have been paying my bills from it since I was 17, along with Hooters (an American food chain famed for its waitresses' scanty outfits), The Gap and temping. Even when I was acting I was sometimes going on 13 auditions a week and I did work, I always paid my bills. The necessity of that has always kept me in it somehow. If I'd had another option or if I'd had parents who were in a position to help me, I might not have been so resilient."

Born in Italy, where her army father was based, Adams is "in the middle" of the seven children he and her former bodybuilding mother raised before splitting when she was 12.

Prior to that the entire family was actively involved in the Mormon church which she says colours her personality to this day. "It's a valuable trait to be cheerful in the Mormon church," she laughs, cascades of auburn curls moving with her. "Being happy, kind and obedient is valued almost above anything else."

But Adams is not simply another attractive, perky actress, according to one who should know, her Doubt co-star Meryl Streep. "You've been seduced by a performance that's just masterful. And playing good is probably less fun in general. That's what Amy did. And she was so prepared. Trust me when I say it's not that usual in younger actors."

No wonder then that Streep wholeheartedly gave her blessing to Adams' starring opposite her once more in the upcoming Julie and Julia about a woman (Adams) who resolves to create every dish from book by famed American cook Julia Child (Streep).

And of course Adams returns the complimentary favour. "Meryl is just the coolest lady ever although watching her in the last scene of Doubt was when I kind of realised I would never be her. Of course she's funny and witty and smart and has a great vocab but she's also really generous and accepting. Plus she taught me to knit."

Insisting that she was never academically inclined at school, Adams did excel at sport, particularly athletics and gymnastics and later announced that she was planning on studying dance. Before she could, she found herself a job in musical theatre, first in Colorado where she and her siblings were living with their mother after their parents separated and then in Minnesota where she also won her first tiny film role in Drop Dead Gorgeous.

It was her co-star Kirstie Alley who encouraged Adams's move to Hollywood and, when she won a role in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me if You Can, she thought she was set. Oddly, all she effectively gained from the film was a signed photo of DiCaprio for her dinner theatre friends who had demanded one should she "ever work with Leo".

No wonder then that even before filming Junebug, a film with a budget of less than $1m and, on paper anyway, not much chance of being seen by anyone, Adams had resolved she was done with Hollywood and would move to New York.

"It wasn't necessarily that I was going to leave the business but I was thinking, 'Maybe it's not a good match - me and TV, me and film - maybe I need to go back to stage'. I was always happy there. It was more about a search for happiness because I'd put so much importance on my career and getting the job and getting people's approval.

"It had become very unsatisfying because that's never guaranteed: the job, or approval or being liked. Even if you're working all the time that's not guaranteed. So I was just looking to find a new way to identify myself."

The change she was looking for happened, randomly as these things so often do, before her surprise Oscar nod for Junebug. "Even before Junebug hit Sundance. I was already in a new place. I would have been okay if I'd moved to New York and pursued stage. I'd already made the decision that it wasn't the be-all and end-all that I had to be a successful film and TV actress." So what did happen?

"Something just snapped," she announces - in Hollywood, where else - with an endearing, disbelieving laugh. "We just don't know how it happens but one day you wake up and you're like, 'No, I'm not going to do it like that any more. I'm done'. It's that thing where you wish you could figure out how you got there but one day you're just somewhere different."

The fairy tale, though, was still far from its joyous culmination. Certainly Adams revelled in her first Academy Award nomination though it did not lead to a clutch of offers she could not refuse. Instead, she filmed three episodes of The Office, played the "gorgeous woman" in the film starring Jack Black's band, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, had a small role in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky and Bobby and then filmed a short film directed by her old acting teacher, Pennies, which also included Darren Le Gallo. Though she had recently ended a relationship and announced she was unready for another, Adams' prospective beau would not take no for an answer. Last year he proposed on a horse-drawn carriage in New York's Central Park.

She jokes now that she doesn't remember the proposal itself because she was so focused on lines for her next day's filming. She is clearly not being euphemistic then when she describes her fiance as "so patient and understanding. So generous and lovable. Trust me, in our relationship, I'm not the good girl, I'm definitely the problem. He's so kind. He's like, 'I would never say that to you' and I'll say, 'That's because you're much nicer than me'."

Their wedding plans are progressing slowly. "We're both not in a hurry after six and a half years of being together, so we are obviously not moving fast . But we're going to try to do it this year. I got the wedding magazines and I panicked. According to the To Do List, I should have my location, the dress and the florist reserved. So I was just, like, forget it."

But for now, marriage is not her most pressing concern, which is reconciling burgeoning fame with everyday life. "I'll pick up my allergy medication and the pharmacist will say, 'I love you'. I'll be like, 'I'm just glad I'm not picking up something embarrassing.' Suddenly you realise you're not a private person any more. It's okay, just jarring, to realise that everything you do can be scrutinised or evaluated. But don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful for where I'm at."

Source: The Independent

Random quotes : Amy Adams talks "American Idol"

Amy Adams says she's glad "American Idol" wasn't around when she was growing up because she is convinced it would have destroyed her dreams of stardom.

She wouldn't have been able to stop herself from turning up to auditions, but admits they probably would have ended in disaster.

"I would have taken my ill suited pop voice and gone in and sung some musical theatre song, and they would have put it on air, and I would never, ever have ended up here," she says.

"I would have humiliated myself publicly and probably slunk off and done something else with my life."

Not sure she would have humiliated herself on "American Idol" but I'm glad things turned way better for Amy.

Amy Adams receives Oscar nomination

Not surprisingly, Amy Adams has been nominated for her supporting performance in "Doubt" opposite her co-star Viola Davis who did a lot of screaming to express her excitement on Oscar nomination morning, which she spent at the Four Seasons Hotel.

"I screamed in my husband's ear. He was sitting next to me," Davis said. The same was true when she called her mother back in Rhode Island and left voicemails for her sister and messages on some friends' answering machines. Davis lauded the ensemble effort that brought Doubt to life. "You are only as good as your partners," she said about the slew of acting nominations the film earned. And she has no time and reason for feeling competitive with fellow Doubt star Amy Adams, who also earned a nomination. "I love her too much and respect her too much," Davis said. "She is so wonderfully nuanced, and I am just happy we both got nominated."

Other nominees in the "Supporting female role" include Penelope Cruz, Taraji P. Henson and Marisa Tomei. Kate Winslet was nominated in the "Lead female role" so Amy does have a chance to win this time!

"Miss Pettigrew" French poster

"Miss Pettigrew lives for a day" is finally coming out in theaters in Paris. It's being released on February 25, 2008 and the new poster looks quite lovely! The slogan at the top of the poster says "there is no age for fairy tales" and it looks as though they are trying to put Amy under the spotlight with a photograph very close to what we could see in "Enchanted". Here's a link to the French official website: http://www.misspettigrew-lefilm.com.

Amy attends "Doute" Premiere in the city of lights

Just a quick update to inform you that I didn't go to the "Doubt" Premiere in Paris yesterday evening because I was working outside of town so I couldn't make it in time. Gutted - especially because I was told it was not really crowded. *sigh* Anyways -- You can see a photograph of Amy arriving at the Theatre Edouard VII below or a few more pictures here. Not sure what to think of the hair, but I do like the dress!

I would also like to share two important links to Amy Adams websites :
- Amy Adams Fan, featuring the superb "Enchanting Amy Adams" forum where you can chat about everything Amy with very friendly fans
- EnchantingAmy.com, opening on January 31st and owned by Lisa

Have a nice day everyone & take care :)

Amy Adams buys a house with future husband

Hey everyone - before I get started on this new blog entry about Amy Adams, just wanted to thank you all for your lovely "welcome back" messages.; reading them truly made my day! I already know I won't be able to update the blog every day like I used to, but I'll try my best to do it at least once or twice a week. Anyways - back to what interest us more: Amy Adams.

I've just been informed that Amy has bought a house with future husband Darren Le Gallo. I have no idea where it is located, but my personal guess is on L.A as she spends most of her time there. I could be totally wrong though. She told PEOPLE magazine that given the slumpy economy, any time she wants to buy anything, she thinks: "This could be a whole set of towels or an extra cushion on my bed!' I'm being very practical now that I bought a house."

Despite suddenly being thrust into the limelight, in 2006 for her Oscar nomination in "Junebug", it wasn't as dramatic a change as the one Amy experienced last year with Enchanted so she's very cautious about her private life.

"Before Enchanted it was very manageable,'' she says. "Suddenly you realise you are not a private person any more. But it's OK ... it's just jarring, you know, to realise everything you do can be scrutinised.''

Amy Adams and co-star Meryl Streep attended a special screening Friday of "Doubt" at Brown's Hotel in London (see picture above and video here). They have now both arrived in Paris where they're going to present the drama "Doubt" Monday evening at the Theatre Edouard VII.

Source: People, The Daily Telegraph

Amy Adams to attend Parisian Premiere of "Doubt"

Announcement x-posted on the "Amy Adams Fans" forum:

Hey guys!

Long time no see - how's everyone? God I miss you all! I've been pretty busy lately due to my new stressful job (I hate coming home late and leaving awfully early in the morning!) but I'm hoping to come back online more often. I know I have not updated this blog for a while and I apologize for it.

Sounds like it's been amazing for Amy these past few months. What did I miss? I was so excited to learn about her Golden Globe nomination! Seeing her work recognized on a regular basis for such a high distinction is wonderful. Bring on the Oscars!

Just wanted to inform you that the French Premiere of "Doubt" is on Monday January 19, 2009 in Paris. Meryl Streep, John Patrick Shanley and Amy Adams are all attending. They are expected to be on the red carpet at 7:30PM. Movie starts at 8:30PM. Here's a picture from the Theatre (they're going to put a giant screen). I'll try to leave work early as it is not very far from where I am.


Anyways- I better go or I'll be late for work! Take care everyone ;o)

Stephany xx

Amy Adams and James Marsden sing "Let's' Misbehave"

Amy Adams and "Enchanted" co-star James Marsden attended the fourth annual "A Fine Romance" on November 9th -- the marriage between movies and Broadway, benefiting the Motion Picture and Television Fund.

The program launched with Jonathan Groff, then Kristin Chenoweth and Hugh Jackman duetted "Anything You Can Do" from "Annie Get Your Gun" from the stage into the audience -- preceded by the film's version. Neil Patrick Harris followed, as footage of Frank Sinatra's weddings to Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow, then Alan Cummings and a clip of the Rock Hudson wedding. Amy Adams and James Dearden convinced us on on "Let's' Misbehave." The incomparable Donna Murphy and Zachary Levi followed the footage of Jimmy Cagney carboning, "I"m a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Give My Regards to B'way."

The screens lit up with footage of "West Side Story," and Audra McDonald and John Lloyd Young convinced us we were in a B'way palace. Everyone delivered like it was opening night on the Great White Way. Catherine Zeta-Jones returned in a slinky silver gown to deliver "Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine" from "Showboat" as footage showed the showboat -- as I saw it filmed -- steaming through Lot 3 of MGM (now a retirement community). Victor Garber and Donna Murphy gave us a lotta "Little Night Music" to recall fondly. James Marsden a la Frank Sinatra was backed by a gorgeous chorus line and "I Could Write A Book." And we could write a rave. Kristin Chenoweth took us memorably to "The Little Shop Around The Corner." And "Carousel" made an auspicious turn with Audra McDonald and Hugh Jackman as "If I Loved You" was again loved by this 2008 audience.

A timely (Proposition 8) theme was noted by Mauceri as he introduced the "Hairspray" reprise with the energetic Elijah Kelly and a dancing chorus of 12. Katherine proved terrific tap terping as well and at 9:45 the entire cast finale'd to "That's Entertainment." It certainly was. The show was produced by Dan Jinks and Lauremce Mark. Adam Shankman directed and choreo'd...Wolfgang Puck's platoons served the pre- and post-party but Wolfie was not on hand, as he was helping his son Byron celebrate his Bar Mitzvah with his friends at the Pacific Design Center. The adults helped him launch the day at Spago after the religious service. Mazel tov.

Source: Variety

Amy Adams attends "Doubt" Premiere with Meryl Streep

Actresses Amy Adams and Meryl Streep arrive at 2008 AFI Fest Opening Night Film Premiere of Miramax Film's "Doubt" held at ArcLight Hollywood on October 30, 2008 in Hollywood, California. Aren't they cute?

Pictures of Amy Adams at the Hollywood Film Festival

Amy Adams and Darren Le Gallo arrive at the Hollywood Film Festival's Gala Ceremony held at Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 27, 2008 in Beverly Hills, California.

Amy Adams is crowned "Queen of Shaba"

Variety reports that Amy Adams will star in the indie drama "Daughter of the Queen of Sheba" for producers Susan Cartsonis and Matt Williams (What Women Want).

The script, written by Karen Croner based on the bio of NPR correspondent Jacki Lyden, centers on how a woman uses her mother's madness and delusions to empower herself.

Lyden was NPR's first correspondent on the air in the aftermath of 9/11 and went to Afghanistan soon after the Taliban fell. She's working on a book about the secret lives of a small group of Iraqi friends and reported on the slaying of her translator by an American soldier.

Amy Adams and fiance Darren Le Gallo in NYC

I know that those pictures are old but they are way too cute to just be ignored. It shows Amy with her fiance Darren Le Gallo on the set of 'Night At the Museum 2' in NYC.

Amy and James Marsden to attend Broadway tribute

Amy Adams is invited to attend an All-Star Tribute to Hollywood and Broadway on Saturday, November 8.

It's an evening of celebrity performances honoring musicals from stage and screen. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hugh Jackman are co-hosting.

Celebrities performing and/or attending include Amy Adams and her 'Enchanted' co-star James Marsden, Kristin Chenoweth and Amy's very good friend Zachary Levy from the TV series 'Chuck'.

Alan Cumming, Sandy Duncan, Victor Garber, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Elijah Kelley, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy and John Lloyd Young are also expected.

The event will take place at Sony Pictures, Stage #30, 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA. Celebrity arrivals will start at approximately 7:15 p.m.

"Doubt" to open AFI Festival 2008

An unfinished version of "Doubt", a period drama starring Amy Adams will replace "The Soloist", which Paramount pulled after moving the pic's release to March 2009, at the AFI Festival 2008.

The movie is still being finished, but we were so excited to show "Doubt" and help our friends at AFI FEST and the American Film Institute at the same time. We couldn’t possibly pass up the opportunity,” said Miramax president Daniel Battsek.

Amy Adams, Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman have all been invited to the Premiere. The AFI Festival runs October 30 - November 9.

Source: Variety.

OFF-TOPIC: this message is directed to Dan. I received your email and tried to reply twice but each time I got a failure delivery notice in return. Any idea why's that happening and how I could get back to you?

Amy Adams attends 2008 Journalists Awards

Amy Adams has just completed voice-over work in "Julie & Julia".

She is also expected to attend the 2008 Courage in Journalism Awards in Beverly Hills this evening. Red carpet arrivals start at 6:15pm.

Renee Zellweger, First Lady Maria Shriver and Eugene Robinson will be presenting. Christiane Amanpour is Mistress of Ceremonies.

Other celebrities in attendance include Maria Bello, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Diablo Cody, Kimberly Dozier, Diane English, Ginnifer Goodwin, Desiree Gruber, Angie Harmon, Catherine Maladrino, Rachel Nichols, Victoria Principal and Kerry Washington among others.

Amy Adams in talks for "Leap Year"

Just when we start to think Amy Adams is taking a break from acting (after all, there's a wedding coming up!), we hear about a new project. This one is not yet set in stone but negotiations are close to a deal says The Hollywood Reporter.

Amy is in talks with Spyglass Entertainment to star in "Leap Year", a romantic comedy about an uptight woman who travels to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on leap day, February 29th.

Harry Elfont and Deb Kaplan ("Made of Honor") wrote the screenplay, though no director is on board. Shooting begins mid-February.

I'm so excited to hear that Amy is going to star in a new romantic comedy. I think she's great in this genre. Who would you want to be her male co-star in "Leap Year"? I'm voting James McAvoy or Darren LeGallo !

Sunshine Cleaning: The Trailer

Amy Adams and Emily Blunt co-star in "Sunshine Cleaning". It looks GREAT :)

"Sunshine Cleaning" hits Virginia Film Festival on Nov 1

The Virginia Film Festival returns for its 21st year from Oct. 30 through Nov. 2.

Richmond-based screenwriter Megan Holley and producer Glenn Williamson will introduce "Sunshine Cleaning", starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, whose script received a Governor's Screenwriting Award at the 2003 Virginia Film Festival.

It's on November 1, 2008 at 7pm at Newcomb Hall. Click here for more info.

Amy Adams & Celebrities in PSA

In one of the latest PSAs encouraging people to vote, Amy Adams and other celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Natalie Portman and Leonardo DiCaprio use reverse psychology and tell us “DON’T VOTE!”

To register to vote or to learn how to vote early, visit DeclareYourself.com.