Salon.com > interview http://www.salon.com Wed, 03 Jul 2013 01:14:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 “Ray Donovan” creator Ann Biderman: “I’m not interested in weddings and dresses and dating” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/30/ray_donovan_creator_ann_biderman_im_not_interested_in_weddings_and_dresses_and_dating/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/30/ray_donovan_creator_ann_biderman_im_not_interested_in_weddings_and_dresses_and_dating/#comments Sun, 30 Jun 2013 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13339826 "Ray Donovan," which premieres Sunday night on Showtime, is another antihero drama. It stars Liev Schreiber as the titular character, a Boston-born man whose entire family — his wife, kids and two brothers — has been transplanted to Los Angeles, where he works as a fixer, solving problems  — dead bodies in bed, blackmail, stalkers— for the rich and sometimes famous. In the first episode, Donovan's father, Mickey (Jon Voight, with a raging Boston accent), is released from prison, immediately goes and shoots the priest who molested one of his sons, and then heads out to L.A., where his son wants nothing to do with him. "Ray Donovan" is the creation of Ann Biderman, a lively, blunt-talking woman who also created and ran the great, recently ended, TNT cop show "Southland." I spoke with Biderman about "Ray Donovan," "macho" subject matter, and writing whatever the hell she wants.

With “Southland,” you made a cop show, and, obviously, there have been a lot of cop shows before. With “Ray Donovan,” there are lots of elements and tropes — Boston, boxing, gangsterism — that we’ve also seen before. Do you think about how to use these elements and address these genres in original ways? 

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/30/ray_donovan_creator_ann_biderman_im_not_interested_in_weddings_and_dresses_and_dating/feed/ 13 Is Obama slowly winning over Bill McKibben? http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/is_obama_slowly_winning_over_bill_mckibben/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/is_obama_slowly_winning_over_bill_mckibben/#comments Thu, 27 Jun 2013 16:55:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13338752 Following President Obama’s much-anticipated climate address Tuesday, many advocates were abuzz with praise for the president's speech. “The best address on climate by any president ever,” former Vice President Al Gore gushed of the speech, which outlined, among other things, the President’s plan to order the EPA to limit carbon emissions from new and existing power plants. “The most aggressive and promising climate plan to come out of the executive branch in years,” climatologist Michael Mann assented in a statement on Facebook.

In the midst of all the accolades, one wondered what Bill McKibben, one of the nation’s leading environmentalists (and Obama critics on the environment), would have to say about it. The head of the advocacy organization, 350.org, McKibben has sharply criticized what he has referred to as President Obama’s “waffling and contradictory” climate policy, particularly his refusal to take a stand on the Keystone pipeline, which would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta 1,200 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. Yet for McKibben, the speech on Tuesday seems to have represented a turning point in the President’s stance on climate change. “I thought he was straightforward, forthright, and clear,” McKibben told Salon.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/is_obama_slowly_winning_over_bill_mckibben/feed/ 26 Snowden joined contractor to spy on NSA http://www.salon.com/2013/06/24/snowden_joined_contractor_to_spy_on_nsa/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/24/snowden_joined_contractor_to_spy_on_nsa/#comments Mon, 24 Jun 2013 16:33:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13335413 In an interview published today in the South China Morning Post, leaker and international fugitive  Edward Snowden said that he joined the security consulting firm and private spy agency Booz Allen Hamilton in order to gain information he planned to release:

“My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked,” he told the Post on June 12. “That is why I accepted that position about three months ago.”

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/24/snowden_joined_contractor_to_spy_on_nsa/feed/ 36 “Naked and Afraid” producer: “We didn’t develop the show to be exploitative, ever” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/23/naked_and_afraid_producer_we_didn%e2%80%99t_develop_the_show_to_be_exploitative_ever/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/23/naked_and_afraid_producer_we_didn%e2%80%99t_develop_the_show_to_be_exploitative_ever/#comments Sun, 23 Jun 2013 21:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13333442 "Naked and Afraid," Discovery's new reality show premiering Friday, follows two different people each week as they are deposited in a taxing, remote wilderness environment where they have to survive for three weeks without food, water, shelter or clothes. When the first clips of "Naked and Afraid" hit the internet, the show got a lot of attention, as shows with naked people tend to do. It seemed like the latest series to push the bad taste envelope: "Survivor," but nakeder.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/23/naked_and_afraid_producer_we_didn%e2%80%99t_develop_the_show_to_be_exploitative_ever/feed/ 30 “Game of Thrones”‘ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Jaime’s “not a bad guy” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/09/game_of_thrones_nikolaj_coster_waldau_jaimes_not_a_bad_guy/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/09/game_of_thrones_nikolaj_coster_waldau_jaimes_not_a_bad_guy/#comments Sun, 09 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13319893 This season on "Game of Thrones," Jaime Lannister has a lost hand, fought a bear, and made a friend, all while taking a long, filthy journey, usually in captivity, across Westeros. Tonight, the third season of the show ends, with Jaime poised to finally make it back to King's Landing -- a King's Landing sure to be buzzing with the the brutal events of last week's Red Wedding. On the occasion of the finale, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the Danish actor who plays him, spoke with me about Jaime's friendship with Brienne, the character's "core values," all the places mud can hide on the human body, and acting with a bear.

How has it been to act without a hand?

It’s a little complicated, actually. I have three to four versions [of no hand]. The one in really wide shots, I can use my own hand. We can just hide that. That’s the easiest. But as soon as we get in closer, we can’t do that, so then they have a couple of fake arms that I put on just above my elbow. And then I have to hide my own arm down my pants, in my crack, and that’s a little uncomfortable. And then of course there was the scene we did in the bath, and that was a third version where I spent two hours having this arm attached, again above my elbow, but as a real second limb. And then a few times -- there’s a shot where I walk from the back and they have to use CGI to remove my real arm, so I was wearing this green glove.  I hope they come up with something smart for the next season.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/09/game_of_thrones_nikolaj_coster_waldau_jaimes_not_a_bad_guy/feed/ 8 Christopher Guest: “It becomes apparent in five seconds whether an improviser is going to bomb.” http://www.salon.com/2013/05/12/christopher_guest_it_become_apparent_in_five_second_whether_an_improviser_is_going_to_bomb/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/12/christopher_guest_it_become_apparent_in_five_second_whether_an_improviser_is_going_to_bomb/#comments Sun, 12 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13295402 Christopher Guest, the director of "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show," brings his very specific, finely crafted form of improvised comedy to television with "Family Tree" an eight-episode HBO series which begins Sunday and stars Chris O'Dowd as a man who becomes interested in investigating his ancestry, encountering any number of oddballs on his search (including Guest regulars like Michael McKean, Ed Begley Jr., and Fred Willard).

Guest, notoriously serious when just being himself, spoke with me about the show, the pervasive influence of "This Is Spinal Tap's" mockumentary format, and how he identifies performers who are up to the "peculiar challenge" of improvising on camera.

Had you been wanting to do TV?

No, no. I hadn’t been thinking about anything really, which is typical. I finish a project and I take some years off. And in this case, I did a bunch of music after my last movie. I did two records and two music tours, and then I began to think about things, and this idea popped in my head. And because this is a never-ending story, it really couldn’t have been a film. There was no finite end to the idea. So HBO made sense and is a place where you can get the support to do things the way you do them, which is kind of vital for me.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/12/christopher_guest_it_become_apparent_in_five_second_whether_an_improviser_is_going_to_bomb/feed/ 14 Elizabeth Warren Q&A: Students “deserve the same break that big banks get” http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/elizabeth_warren_students_deserve_the_same_break_that_big_banks_get/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/elizabeth_warren_students_deserve_the_same_break_that_big_banks_get/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 23:26:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13293181 “The U.S. government invests in big banks by giving them a great deal on their interest rates,” freshman Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in an interview with Salon on Wednesday afternoon (the transcript of which is below). “We should make at least the same investment in our students.”

Warren was discussing the first bill she has introduced in the Senate, a plan released on Wednesday to address the crisis of outstanding student debt – which topped $1 trillion this year, with over 37 million Americans owing thousands of dollars in higher education costs that could take decades to pay back.

Student debt is now the second-highest form of debt in America – behind only mortgage debt – with the number of borrowers and the average balance increasing 70 percent since 2004. Research from the New York Federal Reserve Board indicates that this has begun to have an impact on the broader economy, with young people burdened by student debt more reluctant to take out auto or home loans. And without congressional action, this will get worse: on July 1, interest rates on federally subsidized Stafford student loans will double, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. This will effectively raise costs for 8 million student borrowers by $1,000.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/elizabeth_warren_students_deserve_the_same_break_that_big_banks_get/feed/ 34 Drone victim: U.S. strikes boost al-Qaida recruitment http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/drone_victim_u_s_strikes_boost_al_qaeda_recruitment/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/drone_victim_u_s_strikes_boost_al_qaeda_recruitment/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13287107 On April 17, a 23-year-old Yemeni activist and journalist named Farea Al-Muslimi tweeted about a U.S. drone strike on his village, Wessab, which he describes as “the Yemen capital of misery with its beautiful mountains no one from outside remembers.” In the strike, five alleged members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were killed. The U.S. droned Yemen 53 times last year, tripling the number of attacks from 2011, and incurring a civilian casualty rate between 4 to 8.5 percent. On April 23, Al-Muslimi gave stirring testimony at the first U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the legality of drone wars.

In the exclusive conversation below, Al-Muslimi tells Salon about the drone strikes’ devastating toll on Yemeni civilians and how the current U.S. counterterrorism policy in Yemen is like “reading from a manual '10 Steps on How to Lose a War.'”

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/drone_victim_u_s_strikes_boost_al_qaeda_recruitment/feed/ 48 “The Americans’” creators discuss the season finale http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/the_americans_showrunners_discuss_the_season_finale/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/the_americans_showrunners_discuss_the_season_finale/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 03:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13287209 "The Americans," FX's excellent and exciting spy series about two married, deep-cover KGB agents, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, living in 1980s America, finished its first season in fitting fashion: with a finale full of, but never overrun by, action. The season ender contained not one but two covert missions, a sting, a high-speed car chase, and a shooting, but ended quietly, with the CIA momentarily foiled and Philip and Elizabeth, a bullet wound in her side, finally reconciled. Next season has near endless juicy material to explore: Nina, now a USSR double agent, is out to flip Stan; Elizabeth may want Philip to come home, but one of his alter-egos is still married to Martha; the Jennings' daughter is getting suspicious of her mother; and the Cold War is only escalating. "The Americans''' two showrunners, Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, also the series creator and a former CIA agent himself, spoke with me about the finale, season 2, the intentional lack of cliffhanger and those super wigs.

How much of what happened this season did you know was going to happen when you began?

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/the_americans_showrunners_discuss_the_season_finale/feed/ 7 Amanda Knox to Diane Sawyer: “I’d like to be reconsidered as a person” http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/amanda_knox_to_diane_sawyer_id_like_to_be_reconsidered_as_a_person/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/amanda_knox_to_diane_sawyer_id_like_to_be_reconsidered_as_a_person/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:07:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13285502 In her first televised interview since she was acquitted for murder in 2011, Amanda Knox sat down with ABC's Diane Sawyer to maintain her innocence. "I'd like the truth to come out. I'd like to be reconsidered as a person," Knox told Sawyer. “What happened to me was surreal but it could’ve happened to anyone."

Knox made headlines in 2009 when she was first suspected -- later, convicted -- of the grisly murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while the two were studying abroad in Italy. She was released from prison in 2011, but in March 2013, Italian courts overturned her acquittal.

“A Special Edition of 20/20: Murder. Mystery. Amanda Knox Speaks” airs on ABC at 10 p.m. ET Tuesday evening. The interview coincides with the release of her memoir, "Waiting to Be Heard."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/amanda_knox_to_diane_sawyer_id_like_to_be_reconsidered_as_a_person/feed/ 4 “How can the brain understand itself?” http://www.salon.com/2013/04/22/how_can_the_brain_understand_itself/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/22/how_can_the_brain_understand_itself/#comments Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13278034 From studies about the spiraling costs of diseases like Alzheimer's to headlines about President Obama's recent push for more neurological research, the brain has been in the news a lot lately. So tonight's premiere of the new show "Brain Games" on the National Geographic Channel (which, full disclosure, recently made a miniseries based, in part, on my book) is well timed. Hosted by Jason Silva, the program is a "Sesame Street" for adults, employing entertaining exercises and experiments that encourage viewer to explore their own minds in real time.

I talked to Silva about the new show, President Obama's research push and what we still do not know about the human mind.

Your show is predicated on the idea that many people do not really understand how their own brain works. Why do you think that is?

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/22/how_can_the_brain_understand_itself/feed/ 5 “Veep’s” creator: “I think politics just makes people go insane” http://www.salon.com/2013/04/14/veeps_creator_i_think_politics_just_makes_people_go_insane/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/14/veeps_creator_i_think_politics_just_makes_people_go_insane/#comments Sun, 14 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13268960 Armando Iannucci, the creator of HBO's "Veep," which returns for a much improved second season on Sunday night, is a master of the bureaucratic satire. Set in the world of politics, his shows, which also include the BBC's "The Thick of It," explore the hilarious ways that everyday banalities, crises and widespread incompetence grind everyone down, turning governance into a daily dysfunction. The glorious string of insults and curse words his civil servants are known for unleashing are the most creative and effective things they're likely to do on any given day.

I spoke with Iannucci, who is putting the finishing touches on "Veep's" second season in England, about giving Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) a little more power, and the time someone took him around the real West Wing and said, "This is where CJ would sit."

What’s different about the new season?

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/14/veeps_creator_i_think_politics_just_makes_people_go_insane/feed/ 0 John Slattery on joking at the doctor’s office http://www.salon.com/2013/04/08/john_slattery_on_joking_at_the_doctors_office/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/08/john_slattery_on_joking_at_the_doctors_office/#comments Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:12:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13264635 Roger Sterling was all over last night's "Mad Men" premiere: in analysis, at his mother's funeral, hiding out on a bed covered in fur coats, sobbing in his office, uttering some of the episode's best lines. ("This is my funeral!" is a pretty amazing thing to say at someone else's funeral, even if it is your mother's and you kind of have a point.) In an episode unduly focused on change and death— how do we change? Can we do it some way other than dying? — Don dealt with these heady issues the way he usually deals with things — tortured and silent— and Roger dealt with these heady issues the way he usually deals with things — arch, dry, ultimately emotional. John Slattery, who plays Roger, spoke with me about the first episode, directing and joking at the doctor's office.

Roger seems like he might be kind of adaptable, better suited to a new world, but there’s this problem: He’s just getting older.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/08/john_slattery_on_joking_at_the_doctors_office/feed/ 1 Kartheiser: “I’ve never been recognized” http://www.salon.com/2013/04/07/kartheiser_ive_never_been_recognized/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/07/kartheiser_ive_never_been_recognized/#comments Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13262704 Vincent Kartheiser, who plays the smarmy Pete Campbell on "Mad Men," was in quite a mood a few Saturdays ago. As he told Vulture, "I wasn’t in a good mood this morning. I was so depressed. Because it’s fucking Saturday and I’ve worked every day this week," and there he was working again, talking to journalist after journalist about the new season of "Mad Men," which begins tonight. Katheiser's displeasure was apparent when I got on the phone with him: I was greeted by the least energetic, most monotone "Hello" I've ever heard.

But Kartheiser warmed up a bit from there as he spoke about the new season, Pete's happiness and his hairline — just don't get him started about the Emmys.

Do you feel like Pete could ever just be happy?

Well, I think he’s had the revelation of having a malcontent personality disorder, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he can change it. I don’t know if he can ever be content. I don’t think that’s really in his genetic makeup, and I think that’s what he realized last year. Just realizing it isn’t going to push him toward happiness. I don’t think that’s the natural progression of things. I think he has a lot of revelations, but very few actual changes.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/07/kartheiser_ive_never_been_recognized/feed/ 8 Pelosi to Salon: They had to take me down http://www.salon.com/2013/03/22/pelosi_to_salon_they_had_to_take_me_down/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/22/pelosi_to_salon_they_had_to_take_me_down/#comments Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:40:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13249184 You remember the Republicans' 2010 midterm campaign message: Nancy Pelosi, engulfed in flames, demon-like. Nancy Pelosi, in charge, bossing you around with her crazy liberal values. An official "Fire Pelosi" bus tour sponsored by the Republican National Committee, and the specter of her leadership invoked in ad after ad.

All of this was a key Republican strategy in taking back the House, and while there were lots of reasons the Democrats lost and Pelosi was dethroned, it achieved the desired result. Since the next big electoral battle will be control of the House in 2014, and a Democratic win would presumably put Pelosi back in charge, expect to see more Pelosi boogeyman-ing.

"It didn't bother me, I figured they thought I was effective and therefore they had to take me down," Pelosi told Salon at the premiere Thursday night of "Fall to Grace," her daughter's HBO documentary on former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey. Still, she worries about the message it sends to other women who might be considering a run.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/22/pelosi_to_salon_they_had_to_take_me_down/feed/ 68 Sheryl Sandberg tells Salon: I was wrong about women http://www.salon.com/2013/03/11/life_can_make_you_into_a_feminist/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/11/life_can_make_you_into_a_feminist/#comments Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13224735 The new book from Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead," generated a controversy over the rigor of her politics before it even went on sale (which it does today). Salon spoke with her to discuss the book, its reaction and her own evolution as a feminist. Here's an abridged transcript of that conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.

So what’s your reaction to all of this?

[deadpan] Reaction to what?

Even before many people read the book, there’s been so much meta-reaction. What do you think, watching this from the center of it?

On a serious note, what I think is that these issues run deep. This is serious stuff. This is about who we are as a people and our expectations for our lives and our partnerships and our families, and I think people are really passionate about this. What I’m extremely worried about is stagnation and apathy, and the fact that women have had the same percentage of the leadership jobs in our country for 10 years and people don’t seem to notice or care. If this current debate gets us out of that, and makes us wake up and realize this, I think it’s a really good thing.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/11/life_can_make_you_into_a_feminist/feed/ 29 “In the real world we were kidding ourselves” http://www.salon.com/2013/03/03/in_the_real_world_we_were_kidding_ourselves/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/03/in_the_real_world_we_were_kidding_ourselves/#comments Sun, 03 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13217331 There was a popular theory for much of the 2012 Republican presidential campaign that Newt Gingrich wasn’t actually running for the GOP nomination – that he was instead leveraging the stature and visibility that comes with being a candidate to market his personal brand. Whether by brilliant design or complete accident, though, the former House Speaker managed to catch fire – twice – delivering a memorable blow to Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary before falling apart in Florida and fading from contention.

That rise-fall-rise-fall cycle neatly reflects the role Gingrich plays in national politics. He has an enduring knack for attracting attention and making himself relevant to the political conversation of the moment, even if most opinion-shapers in his party ultimately aren’t comfortable with him being their public face. So it’s no surprise that even as he nears 70, Gingrich is a vocal participant in the debate over the Republican Party’s direction, one who’s made news recently by taking shots at Stuart Stevens, the architect of Mitt Romney’s ’12 campaign, and Karl Rove.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/03/in_the_real_world_we_were_kidding_ourselves/feed/ 153 Mitt and Ann Romney to appear on “Fox News Sunday” for first post-election interview http://www.salon.com/2013/02/24/mitt_and_ann_romney_to_appear_on_fox_news_sunday_for_first_post_election_inteview/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/24/mitt_and_ann_romney_to_appear_on_fox_news_sunday_for_first_post_election_inteview/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:50:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13210442 Mitt and Ann Romney will appear on "Fox News Sunday" next week, marking the former Presidential candidate's first interview since losing the 2012 election. The interview gives more fodder for a rumor that Romney could be tapped as the next "Droid Fox News is looking for," but more than likely, the conversation will revolve around Romney's thoughts on the election and President Barack Obama's second term strategy:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/24/mitt_and_ann_romney_to_appear_on_fox_news_sunday_for_first_post_election_inteview/feed/ 5 Dermot Mulroney: “I forced myself on Mike White and wound up with a part” http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/dermot_mulroney_i_forced_myself_on_mike_white_and_wound_up_with_a_part/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/dermot_mulroney_i_forced_myself_on_mike_white_and_wound_up_with_a_part/#comments Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13202913 This season on the fantastic, unique "Enlightened," Dermot Mulroney has been guest-starring as Jeff, a respected investigative journalist who Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern) thinks is the perfect person to help her expose the corporate misdeeds of Abaddon, the company she works for. Amy, being Amy, approaches Jeff full of energy and cockamamie ideals, but instead of being rebuffed, he takes her seriously. Together, they are going to try and take Abaddon down. Mulroney has been on TV quite a bit lately. He was a guest star on "New Girl" last season and just had a cameo appearance in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch. Later this year, he will co-star in the much-awaited film adaptation of Tracy Letts' award-winning play "August: Osage County" alongside Meryl Streep, Ewan McGregor and Julia Roberts. He spoke with me about "Enlightened's" particular brand of humor, and the long history of being mistaken for Dylan McDermott.

How did you land a role on “Enlightened”?

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/dermot_mulroney_i_forced_myself_on_mike_white_and_wound_up_with_a_part/feed/ 0 ABC to air Amanda Knox’s first TV interview on April 30 http://www.salon.com/2013/02/12/abc_to_air_amanda_knoxs_first_tv_interview_on_april_30/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/12/abc_to_air_amanda_knoxs_first_tv_interview_on_april_30/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13198433 Amanda Knox, the media obsession who was wrongly convicted for the grisly murder of roommate Meredith Kercher while studying abroad in Italy in 2009, is ready to speak on-air about the tailspin her life has been in since then. The New York Times reports that ABC has successfully vied for Knox's first television interview, whose air date coincides with the release of her memoir, "Waiting to Be Heard."

The Knox case captured so much attention originally because of its incongruity: Knox, by all accounts, was a good student, attractive and described as quiet and kind by those who knew her. Yet when her roommate in Italy was found dead, police determined that the scattered evidence pointed towards her and her then-boyfriend, an engineering student named Raffaele Sollecito. Knox's ruling was later overturned, but not before she spent almost four years in jail, where she claims to have been sexually harassed by prison officials and was misdiagnosed with having HIV.

The Times reports that ABC has offered Knox "an hour in prime time; teases of the interview on 'World News,' the newly first-place morning show 'Good Morning America,' 'Nightline,' and ABC’s local TV and radio affiliates; and exposure on Yahoo through ABCNews.com’s alliance with that popular search engine." The interview will air on April 30.

 

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/12/abc_to_air_amanda_knoxs_first_tv_interview_on_april_30/feed/ 3