- Title: USA: Shirley MacLaine and Jack Black premiere "Bernie" in Hollywood
- Date: 18th April 2012
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (APRIL 18, 2012) (REUTERS) ( ** BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) ACTORS SHIRLEY MACLAINE AND JACK BLACK POSING FOR PICTURES WITH DIRECTOR RICHARD LINKLATER AT SCREENING OF "BERNIE" MEDIA MACLAINE AND BLACK POSING FOR PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR JACK BLACK SAYING: "It's a true story, a case that went to trial about 14 years ago. Yeah, Bernie Tiede, he's in prison right now, and this is his story, with his best friend, and he was the servant to Margie Nugent, played by Shirley, and it's a very complex tale -- a strange relationship that ended badly, to say the least." MUSICIAN MOBY POSING FOR PICTURES ACTRESS ALISON LOHMAN POSING FOR PICTURES CUTAWAY OF MEDIA ACTOR JOHN HAWKES POSING FOR PICTURES SHIRLEY MACLAINE AND JACK BLACK POSING FOR PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR JACK BLACK SAYING: "We thought that it would be fun to come together to the premiere as a date." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS SHIRLEY MACLAINE, SAYING: "We're more than friends, only his children and I know, and it's so." POSTER FOR "BERNIE" WITH JACK BLACK (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR JACK BLACK, SPEAKING OF FILM'S POSTER, SAYING: "Yeah, you know, that's -- I shouldn't look so maniacal. I do look like a psycho, that's not what we intended when we made the movie. But that... (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHIRLEY MACLAINE, SAYING: "No, he has those tendencies, that's why he's so talented, because he can think and do anything, and he does." PAN FROM ARCLIGHT THEATER TO MACLAINE AND BLACK (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS SHIRLEY MACLAINE, SAYING: "She might be the meanest and the most irascibly difficult, yeah, more than 'Steel Magnolias,' so I think she kind of deserved to get something, maybe not death sentence, but she deserved something rather strong, yeah. It was interesting to me how he put up with it and why he put up with it for so long, it's a story about you'll put up with anything if there's money involved." JOURNALIST ASKS IF IT'S A CAUTIONARY TALE, TO WHICH JACK BLACK RESPONDS: (SOUNDBITE) (English) JACK BLACK, SAYING: "Money is the root of all evil, yet again proven." (SOUNDBITE) (English) JACK BLACK, SAYING: "But evil spelled backwards is 'LIVE'." MACLAINE AND BLACK POSING FOR PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHIRLEY MACLAINE, ON HER UPCOMING APPEARANCE IN 'DOWNTON ABBEY, SAYING: "Love Maggie Smith, we're going to run off together, she's moving to Timbuktu, which is basically where I live, give her a new environmental stimuli, I love her." POSTER FOR "BERNIE" WITH PULL OUT TO MACLAINE AND BLACK
- Embargoed: 3rd May 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa, Usa
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVABDOXVG0C4INQJKPIN7R16A9ZI
- Story Text: Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine play an unlikely duo in a relationship thatterribly in "Bernie," and the pair decided to keep up appearances by arriving together for a special screening of the dark comedy in Hollywood on Wednesday (April 18).
"We thought that it would be fun to come together to the premiere as a date," said Black, speaking to reporters.
"We're more than friends, only his children and I know," added Shirley MacLaine, coyly.
Also attending the premiere at the Arclight theater was director Richard Linklater, who directed Jack Black's hit 2003 film "School of Rock," Musician Moby, actress Alison Lohman and actor John Hawkes.
The film is based on the true story of Bernie Tiede, a former mortician and funeral director who confessed to killing wealthy 81-year-old widow Marjorie Nugent in Carthage, Texas.
Tiede, portrayed by Black in the film, had left his job at a funeral home to move in with and care for Nugent (MacLaine), whom he later claimed was verbally and emotionally abusive. After killing her using a shotgun, he hid her body in a freezer and carried on living a normal life for several months, until a local district attorney (played by Matthew McConaughey) became suspicious and launched an investigation.
For Shirley MacLaine, who is no stranger to playing cantankerous women in films like "Steel Magnolias" and "Terms of Endearment," for which she won an Oscar, she says the character of Marjorie Nugent stood out from the rest.
"She might be the meanest and the most irascibly difficult, yeah, more than 'Steel Magnolias,' so I think she kind of deserved to get something, maybe not death sentence, but she deserved something rather strong, yeah," said MacLaine.
In the end, the story is a cautionary tale about money and the lengths people are willing to go to for it.
"It was interesting to me how he put up with it and why he put up with it for so long, it's a story about you'll put up with anything if there's money involved," MacLaine said.
"Money is the root of all evil, yet again proven," added Black.
"But evil spelled backwards is 'LIVE'," quipped MacLaine.
MacLaine also talked about her upcoming stint on the third season of the award-winning British television series Downton Abbey, where she is set to play the mother of Lady Grantham. She remained mum about most of the plotlines, but volunteered some information about Maggie Smith, who plays Lady Grantham's mother-in-law in the show.
"Love Maggie Smith, we're going to run off together, she's moving to Timbuktu, which is basically where I live, give her a new environmental stimuli, I love her," says Shirley MacLaine.
"Bernie" premiered in November 2011 at the AFI Fest (American Film Institute), will begin a limited run in select cities starting April 27, 2012. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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