“Ricki and the Flash” hits theaters today!
Meryl Streep takes on a whole new gig – a hard-rocking singer/guitarist – for Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody in Ricki and the Flash. Streep, Mamie Gummer, Rick Springfield, Director Jonathan Demme, Ben Platt, Hailey Gates, Nick Westrate, Bernie Worrell, Joe Vitale, Producer Marc Platt, Producer Mason Novick, Producer Gary Goetzman, Executive Producer Ron Bozman and Executive Producer Adam Siegal all attended the New York premiere of the film this week at AMC Lincoln Square presented by Clinique.
Other notables in attendance included Morgan Freeman, Laverne Cox, Pat Cleveland, Selenis Leyva, Jackie Cruz, Carmen Carerra, Lea DeLaria and Jennifer Esposito, to name a few. Read what the cast had to say about working on the project below:
Mamie Gummer
What’s one thing we should take away from this film?
I would say to pick up the phone. You know, the old fashioned call your mother thing.
What was it like collaborating with Jonathan?
It was wonderful! He’s got such passion and enthusiasm for everything that he does. I have wonderful respect for him and his devotion to film and young filmmakers.
What was your favorite scene to shoot?
I think it was the big family dinner scene because at that point my mom, Kevin, and I had been house bound. It was nice to get out into the world and be able to play in a bigger sand box.
What do you do everyday that makes you happy?
I walk in New York. A lot.
Was working with your mom easy or difficult?
It was alright. It was actually easier than I had anticipated. She’s the consummate professional and she’s respectful to everyone on the set and that included me, which was great.
Gabriel Ebert
Tell us about your character in the film.
I play a guy called Max in the film and I am the young, perhaps cruel hearted, man who leaves Mamie Gummer’s character at the beginning of the film and sets off the events of her depression that sort of lead to Ricki coming back home to visit.
So you played a villain?
I do I guess, a little bit, yeah!
What was it like working with the cast and Meryl?
Yeah it was an amazing treat, and I’m also a huge Jonathan Demme fan so to be able to walk into work and work with these Titans I was definitely taking mental notes watching the way Meryl Streep was working, watching the way Kevin Klein was working.
Any notes that you can share?
Everyone gleans what they can … for me she had a very solitary, vigorous way of working and he was always looking around for a spur of the moment, and I’m sort of more a spur of the moment kind of guy myself, but I really enjoyed watching the way that they each dealt with things, and sometimes if a take would go awry, the way that they would react to it and some improvisations happened that were really surprising and so it was just a treat, I was trying to take it all in and not get ahead of myself.
And what was one of your favorite scenes?
Well this is going to be the first time that I’ve seen it. I only play one scene in the film … so far that’s my favorite scene. I don’t know if that’s going to be the case when I watch it.
What else do you have coming up?
I mostly act in plays so I’ve got a play that I’m gonna start in a couple of weeks that’s gonna be at Studio 54 in the fall called Thérèse Raquin and I’ll be starring opposite Keira Knightly so that’s very exciting.
