USA: Michelle Pfeiffer, Chris Pine, and Elizabeth Banks premiere in "People Like Us" at the Los Angeles Film Festival
Record ID:
220853
USA: Michelle Pfeiffer, Chris Pine, and Elizabeth Banks premiere in "People Like Us" at the Los Angeles Film Festival
- Title: USA: Michelle Pfeiffer, Chris Pine, and Elizabeth Banks premiere in "People Like Us" at the Los Angeles Film Festival
- Date: 17th June 2012
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 15, 2012) (REUTERS) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) VARIOUS OF ACTRESS MICHELLE PFEIFFER AT PREMIERE FOR "PEOPLE LIKE US" IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES ACTOR CHRIS PINE POSING FOR PICTURES PFEIFFER AND PINE GREET EACH OTHER ON RED CARPET PFEIFFER AND PINE POSING FOR PICTURES VARIOUS OF ACTRESS ELIZABETH BANKS POSING FOR PICTURES CUTAWAY OF PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS MICHELLE PFEIFFER, SAYING: "It was one of the reasons I actually took the part, you know, and I hadn't really gone there in a long time. And I was happy to do it, and it was appropriate for the part, but once I was in there and kind of doing it, I have to say, you know, it did play a little bit of havoc with my ego, but you know, it's over now." MICHELLE PFEIFFER SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS MICHELLE PFEIFFER, SAYING: "Yeah, he says that I change a little when I go to work so I'm sure I wasn't pleasant." CHRIS PINE SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR CHRIS PINE, SAYING: "Michelle Pfeiffer is a beautiful woman. So it is kind of odd that she's playing my mom and there's that Freudian component. She's a wonderful woman, she's a great actress, and I think her beauty sometimes distracts from the fact that she's really, really talented. There's a great emotional range that Lillian, the character in the film that she plays has to hit, and she did a really fantastic job at it." PAN FROM CHRIS PINE TO MICHELLE PFEIFFER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR CHRIS PINE, SAYING: "I don't know, I had a friend that had to make a difficult decision about knowing something about, I always think it's if you know something about a relationship, that say a friend of yours is dating someone and they've cheated on them, is it your place to kind of go in and say something? Is it their business? I always think that's kind of a quandary that I've never had to face, but I've known people that have had to do that." ELIZABETH BANKS SPEAKING TO A REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS ELIZABETH BANKS, ON CO-STAR CHRIS PINE, SAYING: "He's very handsome it's very hard... It's not very hard to be his brother. I mean his sister. I can't even talk around him, that's what he makes me do." VARIOUS OF ACTOR AND DIRECTOR MARK DUPLASS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR AND DIRECTOR MARK DUPLASS, ON FILMING SEX SCENE WITH ELIZABETH BANKS, SAYING: "That's just what guys say because they don't want to admit that sometimes they actually like the sex scenes, and I'm sorry, Elizabeth Banks is very beautiful, and so it was technical, but there was a moment when your lips viscerally touch someone else's lips, and you can't help but be like 'IEEE,' but that does go away quickly when you realize that there are 25 sweating dudes around you in the crew, so it kind of ruins the moment." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS ELIZABETH BANKS, SAYING: "We had a lot of fun, Mark Duplass and I, shooting our sex scene, I have to say. But it was because we were going for the ridiculous, not anything particularly romantic." VARIOUS OF "PEOPLE LIKE US" DIRECTOR ALEX KURTZMAN ON RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALEX KURTZMAN, DIRECTOR OF "PEOPLE LIKE US," SAYING: "Well, I met my half sister when I turned 30, and that's what kind of blew the doors off my life and started this whole process of writing the movie about it, and you know, it took eight years to kind of separate truth from fiction, and what parts of my life I was going to put in, and what parts of my life I had to invent for the story, and it was a wonderful process." VARIOUS OF CAST AND DIRECTOR POSING FOR GROUP PHOTO
- Embargoed: 2nd July 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA4RGVSLEPMO54WBCLLEKE8YN9K
- Story Text: It was another star-studded night for the Los Angeles Film Festival with the red carpet premiere of new film "People Like Us."
Co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks and Mark Duplass gathered for the film's debut in downtown L.A., along with the writer and director of "People Like Us," Alex Kurtzman.
The film tells of a journey of discovery that a fast-talking and debt-ridden salesman undergoes when his father suddenly dies. He must confront his estranged family in order to settle his father's estate, and in the process discovers that he has a 30 year old sister that he had never known of. Charged with dispersing the will, he is charged with giving his long lost sister a portion of their father's estate, and they end up creating a lasting connection.
Michelle Pfeiffer has built a career on playing glamorous women in films like "Scarface" and "Batman Returns," where she sizzled as Catwoman, but for "People Like Us," her character, Lillian, required her to ditch the glam for an emotional woman in grief. Pfeiffer didn't wear much makeup and the costumes for the film were scaled down from her usual red carpet wardrobe, a change which she welcomed, for the most part.
"It was one of the reasons I actually took the part, you know, and I hadn't really gone there in a long time. And I was happy to do it, and it was appropriate for the part," says Michelle Pfeiffer, on playing a non-glamorous role. "But once I was in there and kind of doing it, I have to say, you know, it did play a little bit of havoc with my ego, but you know, it's over now."
She says that working on films that require her to play damaged characters makes it difficult to not take her work home to her husband, writer and television producer David E. Kelley.
"Yeah, he says that I change a little when I go to work so I'm sure I wasn't pleasant," says Pfeiffer.
Chris Pine confesses that he found it somewhat awkward to have the beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer playing his mother in the film.
"Michelle Pfeiffer is a beautiful woman. So it is kind of odd that she's playing my mom and there's that Freudian component," says Chris Pine, of his on-screen mother in the film. "She's a wonderful woman, she's a great actress, and I think her beauty sometimes distracts from the fact that she's really, really talented."
Actress Elizabeth Banks feels similarly about Chris Pine.
"He's very handsome it's very hard... It's not very hard to be his brother. I mean his sister. I can't even talk around him, that's what he makes me do," says a stumbling Elizabeth Banks.
The film required a sex scene between Banks and co-star Mark Duplass, and although most people say filming sex scenes is awkward, Duplass, himself a writer and director, says that's not the case.
"That's just what guys say because they don't want to admit that sometimes they actually like the sex scenes and I'm sorry, Elizabeth Banks is very beautiful, and so it was technical, but there was a moment when your lips viscerally touch someone else's lips, and you can't help but be like 'IEEE'," says Mark Duplass. "But that does go away quickly when you realize that there are 25 sweating dudes around you in the crew, so it kind of ruins the moment."
"People Like Us" is based in part on an autobiographical experience of screenwriter Alex Kurtzman, who traded in his extensive resume in blockbuster films ("Star Trek," "Mission Impossible III," "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen") for writing and directing a character driven drama about people who are family but don't know it.
"Well, I met my half sister when I turned 30, and that's what kind of blew the doors off my life and started this whole process of writing the movie about it, and you know, it took eight years to kind of separate truth from fiction, and what parts of my life I was going to put in, and what parts of my life I had to invent for the story, and it was a wonderful process," says writer and director Alex Kurtzman.
"People Like Us" opens in theaters June 29. The Los Angeles Film Festival runs through June 24. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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