The A.V. Club - Interview

Features: Interview: Woody Harrelson

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -0600

Woody Harrelson last worked with Rampart director Oren Moverman on 2009’s The Messenger, which scored two Oscar nominations: Moverman and his co-writer for Best Original Screenplay, and Harrelson for Best Supporting Actor. There was buzz that Harrelson’s portrayal of corrupt, violent LAPD officer Dave Brown in Rampart would merit similar recognition, but perhaps the Academy didn’t appreciate his complete inhabiting of an abusive, racist, womanizing deadbeat dad and generally unrepentant bad person. Both Moverman’s film and Harrelson’s performance (he’s in every scene) are unsettling and relentlessly downbeat. Not since Natural Born Killers or The ...

TV: Interview: Karl Pilkington

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Thanks to the Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais has become a household name in the U.S., while those who follow his work in television have quickly become familiar with his writing partner, Stephen Merchant. In the UK, however, there’s a perpetual third man whose name turns up alongside those of Gervais and Merchant with considerable regularity: Karl Pilkington. Pilkington began as the producer on the duo’s radio show and quickly found himself on the air as a result of his unique—some would say idiotic—views and interpretations of the world around him. Since then, he has become ...

Music: Interview: Sharon Van Etten

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

There’s very little outwardly aggressive about Sharon Van Etten. Her voice expresses both outsized emotionalism and everyday intimacy; hearing her sing is like someone climbing into your head and reading your saddest diary entry. Her songs similarly deal in forlorn sighs and self-made promises to leave behind the past, no matter how tightly it grips. Her first two albums, 2009’s Because I Was In Love and 2010’s Epic, seem like the epitome of art that’s loved by small cults without ever making a greater impression. And yet Van Etten’s unassuming artistry has made a forceful ...

TV: Interview: Steven Van Zandt

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:01:00 -0600

In Steven Van Zandt’s varied career, he’s known almost equally for being part of two New Jersey institutions: He’s one of the more visible members of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, and he played Silvio on The Sopranos for its entire run. But “Little Steven” is also a songwriter and producer, and he gives new bands exposure via his Underground Garage label and SiriusXM satellite radio stations. His latest project is Lilyhammer, which debuts on February 6 on Netflix, when all eight produced episodes will be made available at the same time. The service’s first ...

Film: Interview: Ti West

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:01:00 -0600

At a time when independent horror movies have been pushed to the margins, director Ti West has carved out a place for himself as a smart, distinctive young genre stylist with a mastery of atmospheric old-school scares. After gaining a reputation with his 2005 killer-bats movie The Roost and his 2007 hunters-become-the-hunted thriller Trigger Man, West suffered a setback when his next film, Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, a splatter-camp sequel to the Eli Roth hit, was taken away from him in postproduction. But West came back strong with 2009’s The House Of The Devil, a retro-’80s satanic ...

TV: Interview: Theresa Rebeck

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -0600

Theresa Rebeck’s career in both television and the theater has been an immense success. On the small screen, she’s been a writer or producer behind many of TV’s best, quirkiest shows, from Brooklyn Bridge to Maximum Bob to NYPD Blue, for which she won both an Edgar and a WGA award for episodic drama writing. Her stage work has earned her a Pulitzer nomination for her play Omnium Gatherum (written with Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros), as well as acclaim for The Scene, The Understudy, and Mauritius. Her new play, Seminar, is currently playing on Broadway with Alan Rickman in ...

TV: Interview: Walton Goggins

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Actor Walton Goggins has starred in numerous films and guest-starred in many TV shows. He even produced an Oscar-winning short film, “The Accountant.” But he’s best known for two intense but very different roles on FX crime dramas. His work as loyal-to-a-fault (until he wasn’t) Shane Vendrell gave the classic cop show The Shield much of its bruised heart over the show’s run, especially in the series’ final three seasons. But his more recent (and Emmy-nominated) work as Justified’s Boyd Crowder, a Kentucky criminal who struggles with morality and finding his own path in life, has ...

TV: Interview: Lucy Lawless

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Some consider the STARZ hit Spartacus a glorified skin-and-sin show. Others might dismiss it as a low-budget swords-and-scandal saga. But beneath the show’s veneer is a beating heart that transcends genre and speaks to issues of power, loyalty, corruption, and people’s innermost desires. Lucy Lawless, who plays Lucretia on the show, has been a fantasy icon since her star-making role on the syndicated series Xena: Warrior Princess. From there, she turned up as a Cylon in the remake of Battlestar: Galactica, and in roles on Flight Of The Conchords, No Ordinary Family, Burn Notice, and Veronica Mars. At ...

Music: Interview: John K. Samson

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0600

John K. Samson’s songwriting was the driving force behind four albums by Canadian indie-rock band The Weakerthans, so it’s no surprise that his prosaic lyrics sit front and center on his first solo full-length, Provincial. Ditching The Weakerthans’ folk-rock amalgam in favor of more delicate, orchestral-rock arrangements, the album collects songs from a pair of EPs and supplements them with a handful of new tunes. True to its title, the album takes listeners on a tour of points both familiar (Winnipeg) and obscure (Riverton and Ninette) as Samson provides slice-of-life glimpses of small-town life. The A.V. Club ...

Music: Interview: Craig Finn

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Whether as the singer for The Hold Steady or the late, great Twin Cities post-punk outfit Lifter Puller, Craig Finn is known for plying his effusive storytelling craft in front of bands. So it was a learning experience when Finn set out to make his first solo record, Clear Heart Full Eyes, which comes out January 24. Recorded in Austin with Spoon producer Mike McCarthy, Clear Heart features the sort of colorful tales about down-and-out characters that have become Finn’s specialty, only this time, presented in a stripped-down, singer-songwriter vein. It’s starker, less optimistic, and not nearly as ...

TV: Interview: Marla Gibbs

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0600

Marla Gibbs had the sort of consecutive-series run that TV actresses dream of, jumping straight from 11 seasons on CBS as wisecracking maid Florence Johnston on The Jeffersons into five seasons on NBC as mother and wife Mary Jenkins on 227. Since then, she has continued to pop up on various other series—including a memorable turn as herself on an episode of Chappelle’s Show—as well as the occasional film role. On the occasion of reuniting with her former 227 costar Regina King for an episode of Southland, Gibbs spoke with The A.V Club, reflecting on her ...

Books: Interview: Chris Gethard

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0600

An audio version of this interview originally appeared on Bullseye, a weekly radio show and podcast hosted by Jesse Thorn. You can listen to it on select public radio stations, at the Maximum Fun website, and via iTunes. Chris Gethard first gained a following for his work at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York, where he staged a regular show with bizarre stunts. Once, inspired by his own battles with depression, Gethard advertised a contest to make a young, struggling fan a rock star for a weekend. True to his word, he flew a young comedy fan named ...

Music: Interview: Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

In the time it takes most bands to put out an album, tour, and start thinking about making a follow-up, 20-year-old Cleveland native Dylan Baldi left college, became a songwriter, formed a band, and put out several records. The second full-length LP by Baldi’s band Cloud Nothings, Attack On Memory, finds the burgeoning tunesmith boldly stepping up the craft he displayed on last year’s Cloud Nothings, which came out not long after Baldi first started tinkering with home-recording his zippy, hook-heavy punk-pop songs. Recorded with the assistance of Steve Albini and Baldi’s touring band, Attack On Memory ...

TV: Interview: Aisha Tyler

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

An audio version of this interview originally appeared on Bullseye, a weekly radio show and podcast hosted by Jesse Thorn. You can listen to it on select public radio stations, at the Maximum Fun website, and via iTunes. Aisha Tyler has a wide variety of roles—comedian, actress, geek, pin-up, cartoon character, talk-show host. She started off her performance career as a touring stand-up, then segued into television with recurring roles on Friends, CSI, and 24. Along with hosting her podcast on dude-ly issues, Girl On Guy, and co-hosting CBS’ The Talk, she currently voices super-spy Lana Kane on the ...

Film: Interview: Steven Soderbergh

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Director Steven Soderbergh is serious about retirement. With three more movies in various stages of production—the male-stripper movie Magic Mike, due later this year, followed by the Blake Lively/Channing Tatum/Jude Law thriller The Side Effects and the biopic Liberace (with Michael Douglas in the title role)—the Soderbergh machine may be operating at full power now, but he plans to shut it down completely after next year. It would mark an abrupt end to a career that began with Soderbergh transforming the independent film business with 1989’s Sex, Lies, And Videotape and charting an eclectic and ...

TV: Interview: Jon Glaser

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Adult Swim’s Delocated is the rare comedy show that succeeds both as a sitcom and as a premise-heavy sketch. It debuted in 2008 with a pilot, then launched as a series in 2009 with seven 15-minute episodes centered on a grand joke: A guy and his family are stars of a New York-based reality show, but they’re also in the witness-protection program, requiring them to wear ski masks and modulate their voices. The show quickly went off the rails, until “Jon,” played by show creator Jon Glaser, was the only one left lurking around with a balaclava. The ...

TV: Interview: Ben Schwartz

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0600

Ben Schwartz made a big splash on Parks And Recreation when he showed up as Jean-Ralphio, Tom Haverford’s friend and applicant for the job of Ron Swanson’s assistant. But lacking any real assistant skills, Jean-Ralphio promised simply to get Ron into the hottest clubs and pad out his entourage with another over-the-top wingman. That faux-swagger continued each time Schwartz returned to the show, notably in the current season, as Tom’s business partner and primary financier of the media company Entertainment 720. Meanwhile, on pay cable, Schwartz is co-starring in House Of Lies, Showtime’s irreverent take on ...

Film: Interview: Crispin Glover

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0600

Crispin Glover is still perhaps most remembered as the geeky, gawky Layne from River’s Edge, the geeky, gawky dad from Back To The Future, and the silent badass from the Charlie’s Angels movies. But in spite of a lengthy roll of prominent film credits—most recently including memorable roles in Tim Burton’s unmemorable Alice In Wonderland and a hilarious role in the generally non-hilarious Hot Tub Time Machine—his heart has never been in Hollywood. He’s far more invested in his own filmmaking, and the tours that take him around the country to present his work ...

TV: Interview: Anna Deavere Smith

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:00:00 -0600

For nearly all of Let Me Down Easy, which premieres on PBS’ Great Performances Friday night, Anna Deavere Smith is the only person onstage. Yet through her, nearly two dozen people have their say, from a rodeo bull rider to Tour de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. Working from her own interviews, Smith recreates not just their words but also the rhythms of speech and gesture, embodying their spirit as well as their thoughts. Where her earlier works Fires In The Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles focused on the aftermath of race riots—the former sparked by a ...

Books: Interview: Daniel Handler

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:02:00 -0600

Daniel Handler knows how to stay busy. As a children’s author under the name Lemony Snicket, he wrote the 13-volume, bestselling A Series Of Unfortunate Events novels, plus a series of standalone books, including Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid, The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming, and 13 Words. As a musician, he’s written songs with Stephin Merritt and played accordion in Merritt’s bands The Magnetic Fields and The Gothic Archies. He’s scripted two movies, Rick and Kill The Poor, and wrote an early draft of the 2004 movie Lemony Snicket’s A Series ...