William H. Macy

Jeremy Allen White Talks SHAMELSS Season 2, the Craft of Acting and Sex Scenes

by Christina Radish    Posted: February 3rd, 2012 at 1:30 pm

On the Showtime drama series Shameless, actor Jeremy Allen White plays Phillip “Lip” Gallagher, the second and by far the smartest Gallagher child, who has a penchant for trouble and a relationship with wild child neighbor Karen (Laura Wiggins) that is always threatening to break his heart. With an even further strained and more contentious relationship with his father than ever, Lip begins to realize that the more he fights to be his own man, the more he may end up just like his father, Frank (William H. Macy).

While at the TCA Winter Press Tour, Jeremy Allen White sat down with Collider for this exclusive interview about how lucky he feels to have such amazing material in Season 2, how the relationship between Frank and Lip will change this season, what he’d like to see Lip do with his life, how bizarre all of the sex scenes can be, and what working on this show with this cast has taught him about the craft of acting. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

William H. Macy Talks THE SURROGATE and SHAMELESS Season 2 at Sundance 2012

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 3rd, 2012 at 9:50 am

Led by a truly remarkable performance by John Hawkes, writer-director Ben Lewin‘s The Surrogate blew me away at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  The film’s based on the true story of Mark O’Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist with an iron lung, who decides that he no longer wants to be a virgin.  With the help of his priest (William H. Macy) and a professional sex surrogate (Helen Hunt), we follow on his amazing journey.  Trust me, The Surrogates is great on so many levels (which explains why there was a bidding war; Fox Searchlight won), and it’s definitely going to be a contender at the 2013 Academy Awards.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s review.

Shortly after seeing the film, I sat down with William H. Macy for an extended interview.  We talked about being at Sundance, his reaction to seeing the film with an audience for the first time, how he prepared for The Surrogate, his philosophy as an actor, karaoke, and a lot more.  In addition, with Macy currently starring on the hit Showtime series Shameless, we talked about what’s coming up on the second season, how he wrote the sixth episode, the writers room, how the second season is completely different than the BBC version, and what do people always want to talk to him about when they meet him.  Hit the jump to watch.

Showtime Renews SHAMELESS, HOUSE OF LIES and CALIFORNICATION

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: February 1st, 2012 at 10:57 am

While HBO made some big cuts from their original programming towards the end of last year, Showtime is keeping shows around as EW has learned that the cable network has given an additional season order to Shameless, House of Lies and Californication. Shameless gets a third season after its stellar ensemble cast, including William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum, has come through with a great second season while House of Lies, with Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell, has gotten stellar ratings to earn a second season while its first season is still in progress. Finally Californication is still going strong to nab a sixth season, but I don’t know if it will last beyond that. Either way, it shows that Showtime has faith in their shows and should please fans of all three series.

Sundance 2012: THE SURROGATE Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 26th, 2012 at 4:17 pm

In the movies, pretty adults are supposed to have sex.  The male lead and the female lead need to be our idealized selves in an ideal relationship and they need to have attractive people sex.  But in the real world, people find a way to fall in love and get it on even if they don’t have chiseled abs or amazing breasts.  And then there are those people where, due to their physique, we wonder if sex is even an option and we’re sure that thought has crossed their minds as well.  And no matter our physique, we’ve all probably wondered if we’ll ever find love.  Those thoughts—of finding love and sex—crossed the mind of writer and poet Mark O’Brien.  At the age of six, O’Brien’s body was ravaged by polio and he was placed in an iron lung, which he could only leave for a few hours at a time.  As John entered his 40s, he still hadn’t had sex or found love, and in Ben Lewin‘s The Surrogate—a movie based on O’Brien’s real experiences—he searches for both.  The Surrogate comes right up to the line of being painfully sentimental and mawkish, but strong direction and amazing lead performances make the film inspirational, funny, and genuinely heartwarming.

Sundance 2012: First Images from THE END OF LOVE, FILLY BROWN, THE FIRST TIME, and THE SURROGATE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 30th, 2011 at 2:16 pm

Today, the 2012 Sundance Film Festival announced their In-Competition line-up, and that means we’re about to get a boatload of new images from upcoming films.  After the jump you’ll find synopses and the first images from The End of Love (starring Mark Webber, Michael Cera, and Amanda Seyfried), Filly Brown (starring Gina Rodriguez, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Edward James Olmos), The First Time (starring Dylan O’Brien, Brittany Robertson, and Craig Roberts), and The Surrogate (starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, and William H. Macy).

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19 – 29th.

Comic-Con 2011: Showtime Panel Recap – New Trailers for DEXTER and HOMELAND; SHAMELESS Will Diverge from the UK Original in Season 2

by Tommy Cook    Posted: July 23rd, 2011 at 10:37 am

Comic Con 2011: At the Showtime Preview Panel, Michael C. Hall and company talked up the 6^th season of Dexter; William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum and John Wells teased the second season of Shameless; Morena Baccarin and Howard Shore discussed their new show Homeland. For all this, plus new trailers for Dexter and Homeland, hit the jump.

Comic-Con 2011: Showtime Announces Panel for DEXTER and SHAMELESS

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: June 22nd, 2011 at 11:28 am

Showtime has announced which of its series will be making appearances at this year’s Comic-Con. The pay-channel’s panel will include the hit show Dexter and their new series Shameless, as well as a first look at their brand new drama series Homeland. The Dexter panel will include Michael C. Hall, C.S. Lee, David Zayas and season six guest star Colin Hanks. Appearing from Shameless are William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum and more, including executive producer John Wells. Homeland stars Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin.

Hit the jump to read the full press release. The Showtime panel will take place on Thursday, July 21^st. Expect many more Comic-Con announcements in the coming weeks, leading up to our full coverage from the convention starting July 20^th.

Paul Schneider to Star in Broken Lizard’s THE BABY MAKER; Sienna Miller Reportedly Joins FREAKY DEAKY

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: May 27th, 2011 at 10:09 am

We have a couple quick casting notes to report.  First up, Paul Schneider (Lars and the Real Girl) will star in Broken Lizard’s new movie The Baby Maker.  While Broken Lizard will star and the troupe’s Jay Chandrasekhar will direct, the script was penned by Ice Age: The Meltdown writers Peter Gaulke and Gerry Swallow.  Per Variety, “Story follows a married couple who fail to conceive after months of trying, prompting the husband to enlist his friends’ help to rob a Pasadena sperm bank, where he made a deposit as a young man.  All of the Broken Lizard members are expected to co-star, with Kevin Heffernan playing the protag’s crazy best friend, who hooks him up with an Estonian master thief, played by Chandrasekhar. Other Broken Lizard members include Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske.”

Why the sperm bank wouldn’t simply give him back his own seed is beyond me.  I’m also surprised that sperm keeps for that long.  Logistics aside, Schneider is terrific actor and it will be interesting to see him play against the Broken Lizard gang.  Hit the jump for some casting news regarding the adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Freaky Deaky.

THE LINCOLN LAWYER Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 18th, 2011 at 7:09 am

The majority of Matthew McConaughey’s filmography for the last decade could be charitably described as “less-than-good” and uncharitably described as “an abomination”.  Even McConaughey seemed unengaged from the material in a way that seemed to say, “Yeah, these movies are crap, but I’ve got a million-dollar smile and unlike most men, I look even hotter when I’m sweaty so the ladies love me.  Enjoy Fool’s Gold.”  There’s a greasy charm to the majority of his performances and his rom-com “appeal” (I use that term loosely) has overshadowed his genuinely good work in more dramatic films like Lone Star and Frailty.

And yet it’s McConaughey’s smug huckster attitude that elevates The Lincoln Lawyer from a forgettable legal drama to a breezy, exciting thriller that’s ironically only slowed down when McConaughey lessens his bravado to take a swing at the story’s more dramatic beats.

Emmy Rossum Interview SHAMELESS

by Christina Radish    Posted: January 22nd, 2011 at 1:37 pm

Adapted from the British series of the same name, Shameless is the latest drama from Showtime that is already off to a successful start. The show follows Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy), a booze-addled, working-class patriarch to a brood of six smart, spirited and independent kids who would be better off without his misguided idea of parenting. While Frank is off bar-crawling and carousing around Chicago, eldest daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum) holds down the fort, taking care of the irreverent, endearing and resilient Gallagher clan, who are quite certainly a handful.

While at the Showtime portion of the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, actress Emmy Rossum talked about what attracted her to this television series, what she loves most about her character Fiona, making sex scenes fun and not taking them too seriously, and how much she enjoys being able to do and say just about anything on this show. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

SHAMELESS Series Premiere Review

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: January 9th, 2011 at 3:01 pm

We’ve seen the comedic exploits of middle class families like The Connors on Roseanne and The Bundy’s on Married with Children, But if the network sitcoms made great strides in depicting the more realistic, down-home families of America then Shameless runs a full-speed marathon in its focus on a struggling lower-to-middle class family. The Gallagher clan certainly isn’t living in luxury, but they make no effort to apologize for the way they live, and aim to do whatever they can just to keep the status quo. Well, at least the six kids in the family struggle to keep the family afloat while the patriarch, a perpetually drunk deadbeat, does about everything he can to make that near impossible. That may sound like the depressing premise for an indie drama on a festival run, but in this case it’s just the beginning of one of the most promising family dramas on television. Find out why after the jump:

New Trailer for THE LINCOLN LAWYER Starring Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Phillipe

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: December 21st, 2010 at 8:54 pm

Lionsgate has released a new trailer for The Lincoln Lawyer, an adaptation of the best selling novel by Michael Connelly.  Matthew McConaughey stars as Mickey Haller, “a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back of his Lincoln sedan.”  Ryan Phillippe, Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, Josh Lucas, John Leguizamo, Michael Pena, and Bryan Cranston also star.  Brad Furman (The Take) directs from a script by John Romano (Nights in Rodanthe).  Check out the new trailer after the jump.

Watch the First 20 Minutes of Showtime’s New Hour Long Drama SHAMELESS

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: December 13th, 2010 at 1:27 pm

As another season of Dexter came to an end last night on Showtime, the cable network teased the beginning of an all new series. Immediately following the season finale of Dexter, the first 20 minutes of the pilot for Showtime’s new series Shameless premiered. If you don’t watch Dexter, or you just plain missed the sneak peek, don’t worry, because Showtime has released the entire lengthy tease of the new series online for your viewing pleasure. Adapted from a popular British show of the same name, Shameless chronicles the exploits of the Gallaghers, a family of degenerates, made up of William H. Macy, Joan Cusack and Emmy Rossum, who seem to be constantly breaking laws and moral codes just to get by. Check out the sneak peek after the jump!

First Teaser Trailer for THE LINCOLN LAWYER Starring Matthew McConaughey

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: November 19th, 2010 at 9:51 pm

More Lincoln news! Okay, not really. This one involves the towncar. Lionsgate has released the first teaser trailer for The Lincoln Lawyer, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Michael Connelly.  The film stars Matthew McConaughey giving off a bit of an A Time to Kill vibe, along with Ryan Phillippe, Marisa Tomei, John Leguizamo, William H. Macy, Josh Lucas, and Michael Peña.  The plot revolves around a successful criminal defense attorney who does business from the back of a Lincoln Towncar.  He gets involved with a high profile case concerning a wealthy realtor from Beverly Hills (Phillippe).  Tommy Lee Jones was previously attached to direct and star in the film but dropped out over creative differences. Brad Furman (The Take) now directs from a script by John Romano (Nights in Rodanthe).  The Lincoln Lawyer will be released on March 18^th, 2011. Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

Myriad Pictures and Charles Matthau to Adapt Elmore Leonard’s FREAKY DEAKY; UPDATE: William H. Macy to Star

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 13th, 2010 at 12:53 pm

Myriad Pictures and Matthau Media are set to adapt Elmore Leonard’s comedic crime thriller Freaky Deaky.  Charles Matthau, son of the late legendary Walter Matthau, is set to direct.  Per Variety, “Freaky Deaky chronicles the exploits of two former lovers who are extreme radicals with a talent for bomb making. After several years and prison terms apart, they reunite to steal millions from an accomplice. But they draw the attention of police and a bomb squad, especially one cop with bomb training of his own.”  Production is set to begin in early 2011.

Leonard’s work has been the basis for popular films including 3:10 to Yuma, Get Shorty, and Jackie Brown as well as less-than-popular films like The Big Bounce and Be Cool.  Let’s hope that Freaky Deaky lands in the former category. [UPDATE: Deadline reports that William H. Macy will star.  Macy's latest film, Dirty Girl, was picked up for $3 million last night by the Weinstein Company after its Toronto Film Festival debut].

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