Showing posts with label Press Junket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Press Junket. Show all posts

Friday, December 18, 2015

{#FridayFlick} Reco @danishgirlmov Highlights from #TheDanishGirl NYC Advanced Screening event + Actor Talk Back! #movies #theater


With the holiday shopping season in full swing, the few times I have found myself last minute shopping or a last minute addition to my gift list to shop for, I have always made it a point to catch a movie as a way to unwind after shopping.

If you find yourself needing a break from the holiday shopping madness and find yourself by a theater playing The Danish Girl, I definitely recommend you go see it!

ABOUT:

The remarkable love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener (portrayed by Academy Award Winner, Eddi Redmayne ["The Theory of Everything" - which I reviewed HERE] and Alicia Vikander ["Ex Machina"], directed by Academy Award Winner Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech," "Les Miserables"). Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

I had the opportunity to attend an Advanced Screening with Actor Talkback with co-star Alicia Vikander who portrays Gerda in the movie. The Advanced Screening was hosted by the dynamic duo  - Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein - we call "The Moms" in the Dolby 88 Screening Room in New York City!

On my way to the theater, this was my view:


Holidays in New York City takes on a magical quality and so many buildings and business go all out and put up such beautiful holiday trees!

The building where the screening took place also had a beautiful holiday tree indoors (and a coat clothing drive bin!):


We arrived to Coffee and Danishes of course! And we got to leave with a copy of the book - which I can't wait to dive into!


If you want to pick up the book too, check out our friends over at Amazon for a copy!


The movie is both powerful and moving and holds nothing back, for me seeing Eddie Redmayne dive into another equally intense role was fascinating to watch. He has a way of immersing himself in his roles and portrays the nuances of each of his characters perfectly. As convincing as he was as Stephen Hawking, he is as powerful and emotionally giving as Lili Elbe. There is actually no weak performance in the bunch, and Alicia Vikander who plays Gerda, gives the role the strength that is needed while never losing track of the vulnerability.

What stays with me after seeing it is how Gerda an independent spirit and tough girl in her own right, so easily not just accepts what is happening so much as becomes his immediate advocate and champion. I don't think most women could handle the situation the way Gerda does. With a love and friendship for her partner that is so strong she puts her own pain aside to be the friend that he needs during a journey of discovery and unknown.

Matthias Schoenaerts who plays Lili's old friend Hans Axgil also gives a very strong performance. (And of course much like anything with children and animals - the pet dog is a little scene stealer in his own right!)

After the film there was a talk back with Actress Alicia Vikander who portrays Gerda.

Left: Denise Albert, Center: Alicia Vikander, Right: Melissa Musen Gerstein
Much like Gerda, Alicia is very grounded and centered - just slightly more 'soft-spoken'. It was interesting getting her thoughts and insights into Gerda, and of course behind the scenes about the movie you don't see on film.

I am going to include the video of the Q&A, but there was a moment during the Questions and Answers where someone in the audience shared how much she related to the story and to Gerda, Alicia was very moved, and after the Talk-Back I was touched to see that Alicia made it a point to connect with the person who made the comment. I managed to capture that moment and couldn't resist sharing it here:


I hope neither of them mind, but this was such a poignant moment and one you don't always experience during press junkets and actor talk-back experiences. Just a real, raw moment and a genuine 'non-posed' connection.


One of the pro photogs in attendance managed to nab her for this shot and since I was close enough and thankfully my DSLR didn't take forever to warm up I managed to nab it too! I can see why the camera loves her, there is something just naturally 'soulful' and expressive about her.

Here is the Video of the Talk Back:



MY TAKE:

I think it's good for millenials to know that Bruce aka 'Caitlyn Jenner' is not a 'pioneer' in the world of Transgender, and seeing someone live through one of the first gender change surgeries and getting a such a raw and honest glimpse into that process was fascinating! This story is moving and powerful, but it's the way the subtle moments - like watching Lili learn to emulate the things women do naturally - a flirtatious gaze, smile or glance - and then the ramifications of doing so, her ease with managing the perfect cat eye, how lucky she was to have such a fierce partner and warrior in her Gerda.

This is definitely a bring your Kleenex type of movie but it's a good one!

Will you be catching any movies this Holiday Season in the Theater? Which ones?

˙·٠•● Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•● Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•● Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ●•●•٠·˙

FTC Disclosure:  This is NOT a compensated/sponsored Post, All opinions are 100% my own! Tickets were provided for Editorial Consideration. This post also contains affiliate links. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR, Part 255 - Guides Concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising, you may check our Giveaway and Disclosure Page for additional information regarding Ascending Butterfly Disclosure.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Find out what The Fitzgerald Family Christmas starring @Ed_Burns have to do with @themoms and @pagesix! #fitzmas #Mamarazzi

Fitzgerald Family Christmas Poster 01 Mamarazzi WATERMARKED
Theatrical Poster for the movie 'Fitzgerald Family Christmas'

So Ascending Butterfly finally gets invited to a Page Six worthy event, and she couldn't attend! What's a Butterfly to do? Research Last Minute Cloning Options, Make a rally cry to the heavens? Never to fear, Mama Butterfly is always near and she stepped in for me and covered a very special Mamarazzi event for the movie screening of Ed Burns latest movie release The Fitzgerald Family Christmas which he also wrote the screenplay for AND directed! 

Synopsis/About Fitzgerald Family Christmas

With The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Ed Burns returns to the working-class, Irish-American roots of The Brothers McMullen. Reuniting with McMullen co-stars Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), and Mike McGlone, along with Noah Emmerich (Little Children, Beautiful Girls) and Kerry Bishé (Newlyweds, Red State), Burns seamlessly weaves an ensemble story of adult siblings dealing with the desire of their estranged father (Ed Lauter, The Artist, The Longest Yard) to return home for Christmas for the first time since he walked out on his family 20 years ago. Family rifts emerge, and like with any family, Christmas brings a mixed bag of complicated emotions and dynamics. Alliances form, old wounds are reopened or glossed over, and the possibility for a new hope and forgiveness emerges.

Con la Navidad de la familia de Fitzgerald, quemaduras vuelve a las clase trabajadora, raices de irlandes-estadounidense de los hermanos McMullen. Reencuentro con co-estrellas McMullen Connie Britton (de Friday Night Lights) y Mike McGlone, junto con Noah Emmerich (ninos pequenos, las chicas guapas) y Kerry Bishe recien casados (rojo), quemaduras perfectamente teje una historia de conjunto de hermanos adultos relacionados con el deseo de su padre (Ed Lauter, el artista, The Longest Yard) para regresar a casa para la Navidad por primera vez desde que salio de su familia hace 20 anos. Surgen divisiones familiares, y como con cualquier familia, la Navidad trae un grup heterogeneo de emociones complejas y dinamicas. Formulario de alianzas, reabrio viejas heridas o alto, y surge la posibilidad de una nueva esperanza y perdon.

Pre Screening Excitement:

Tea from Ed Burns Mamarazzi Fitzgerald Family Christmas event WATERMARKED

Corn and Co Popcorn at Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Screening WATERMARKED 

We got the chance to try out some awesome teas and got bags of very delicious popcorn! Cheese flavored, Salt and Vinegar Flavored and Wasabi!

The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 01 WATERMARKED
Left: Melissa Gerstein Right: Denise Albert

The Questions and Answers:

The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 02 WATERMARKED
Left: Melissa Gerstein, Center: Ed Burns, Right: Denise Albert

One of my favorite parts of Mamarazzi movie Screenings with The Moms is the opportunity the bloggers in attendance get to ask questions of one of the film's stars! It reminds me of my 'pro' film critic days on Press Junkets, but thankfully with much less travel because the screenings are much closer to home! It's definitely been a month of 'hollywood hunks' here at Ascending Butterfly this month, first getting to interview Gerard Butler regarding his new movie Playing for Keeps and now getting the chance to ask Ed Burns questions about The Fitzgerald Family Christmas!

The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 03 WATERMARKED
Ed Burns being interviewed during a Questions and Answers Sessions post  film screening of The Fitzgerald Family Christmas in New York City
Q. What did you draw upon in your own personal life that came out on film and in the writing of The Fitzgerald Family Christmas?
Ed Burns: "A lot of people think these films, especially “The Brothers McMullen” are autobiographical. It is in fact that the Fitzgerald family comes from the exact same place that I came from — working class, Long Island, Irish-Catholic from that neighborhood. So certainly, who I am, how I was raised and the people I was friends with are a big part of who these people are. That said, any of the major plot points I never pull from my family's experience for the simple reason that I don't want a Christmas like this one!"
There are some little things that I pulled from my family and extended family. For example, my wife's tradition, which I never heard of before, is to all wear matching pajamas on Christmas Eve. So I was like all right, I'm going to steal this for the film. And it's something we do now with our kids.

The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 04 WATERMARKED
Ed Burns being interviewed during a Questions and Answers Sessions post  film screening of The Fitzgerald Family Christmas in New York City
Q. Would you ever put Christy in your movies?
Ed Burns: Christy said on our very first date: 'Look, for the last 10 years I've been offered dozens of parts in movies. I don't want to be an actress so if you want a second date promise me you won't ever ask.' So I never have.

The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 05 WATERMARKED
Ed Burns being interviewed during a Questions and Answers Sessions post  film screening of The Fitzgerald Family Christmas in New York City
 
Q. Is it true that you're going to do a 20th reunion of “The Brothers McMullen?

Ed Burns: We're going to do a sequel, I just started writing the script. The plan is that the first movie came out in 1995 and ideally we'd like to get it out by 2015. It's going to be a good one.

The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 06 WATERMARKED
Ed Burns being interviewed during a Questions and Answers Sessions post  film screening of The Fitzgerald Family Christmas in New York City
Q. What inspires you to write your films?
Ed Burns: They come from different places. I acted in a movie last year with Tyler Perry called “Alex Cross” and he had just re-watched 'The Brothers McMullen.“ And he said your first two movies were so successful that had to do with these Irish-Catholic families and you haven't gone back there in 15 years. Take a look at what I'm doing, the empire I'm building. You have to super serve your niche. Your audience loved those two movies, give them another one. The minute he said it I knew he was right so I started writing the screenplay for “The Fitzgerald Family Christmas.“

The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 07 WATERMARKED
Ed Burns being interviewed during a Questions and Answers Sessions post  film screening of The Fitzgerald Family Christmas in New York City
Q. Do you think your focus has changed making movies, writing since having kids?
Ed Burns: To be quite honest, I've never sat down and thought about myself as a husband and a father when I was writing a screenplay. So now my oldest is 9 years old, so this will be the first script that I'm really looking at fatherhood, marriage, child-rearing. That said, there's no way that being a father and a husband hasn't changed the way I thought about my parents, my friends' parents and the challenges they must have experienced and what all parents must deal with. That definitely shaped the writing in this but it wasn't something that I consciously sat down to do.


The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 08 WATERMARKED
Ed Burns being interviewed during a Questions and Answers Sessions post  film screening of The Fitzgerald Family Christmas in New York City
Q. How do you balance it all?
Ed Burns: Both of our jobs require us to travel. And I made a decision at a certain point that if I want to be the dad I want to be that means I have to stay in New York. So that means I have to focus more on my filmmaking, which I can control and keeps me in town. But I sort of said, I won't go take an acting part that will take me to Australia for four months. And I'm lucky that I'm not just an actor because having to make those decisions would be difficult

The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 09 BOOSTED
Ed Burns being interviewed during a Questions and Answers Sessions post  film screening of The Fitzgerald Family Christmas in New York City
 
Q. When you're on the set and your kids have something and you're late, do you ever feel guilty as a working dad?
Ed Burns: All parents these days feel guilt. When you're the director, you call the shots, so if there is something that is very important that I need to be at, we schedule around it. I also think you have to have the healthy perspective that kids want to see their parents work, be engaged, happy and satisfied, even little kids. We don't need to be there as much as we think we need to. They're OK.

The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 10 WATERMARKED
Ed Burns being interviewed during a Questions and Answers Sessions post  film screening of The Fitzgerald Family Christmas in New York City
 
Q. Would you let your two children follow in your footsteps? 
Ed Burns: The rule is after 18 we'll help them do what they want to do. Get through high school, get into college. While you're in school, if you want to pursue acting or modeling or photography, we'll help you. But nothing until 18


Check Out The Video Here:





Fitzgerald Family Christmas is available on Video on Demand and in theaters starting December 7th!

If you want to get Social about The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, you can follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #fitzmas

Special Thanks to Mama Butterfly for covering for me! Here is a picture of my mom with Ed Burns (Cool right?) I think my fellow Beauty Mavens will understand when I post about exactly where I was instead! ;-)
 
The Moms intro Ed Burns Fitzgerald Family Christmas Mamarazzi 12 WATERMARKED
Left: Mama Butterfly! Right: Ed Burns!
 

  ˙·٠•● Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•● Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•● Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ●•●•٠·˙


FTC Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post, no monetary compensation has been received by Ascending Butterfly to share our recap of the movie or our experience, we attended a private Press screening and had the opportunity to interview Ed Burns at that time.