KeriRussellWeb

nd I’m back with more from my press day in NYC for Austenland. Besides chatting with director Jerusha Hess & Stephenie Meyer (Our round-table interview is here. Plus I have 1 on 1 interviews I’ll share tomorrow!) we talked with the cast that was in NYC for press-day: Keri Russell (really wish I hadn’t called her Felicity*), Jennifer Coolidge and JJ Feilds (Who, despite all the auto-correct attempts in the world, actually spells his name Feilds and not Fields) Continue reading Austenland interview with Keri Russell, Jennifer Coolidge and JJ Feilds

Idon’t think I’ve ever filled you ladies in on just how much I love Jane Austen—though I did share 5 little-known facts about her—but suffice it to say that if I had the funds to take an Austen-themed vacation to England I would already have gone, come home, and be planning my second, third, fourth trip back. So, yes, Keri Russell’s latest film, Austenland—a movie about a Darcy-obsessed woman who takes a vacation to England and experiences her own Elizabeth Bennet moment—definitely appealed to me. Even better, I got to chat with Keri about being a Janeite, her Felicity roots, and more. Listen in! Continue reading Keri Russell Talks Austenland, Those Empire-Waist Dresses, and Fave Felicity Moments With Us

Keri Russell won the admiration of many an adolescent girl during her four-season run as the star of “Felicity,” a teen drama focused on an awkward young girl’s adjustment to college life. Now those teen girls have grown up, are in their 30s, and get to see Russell embrace an adult fantasy reminiscent of the wistful ones many of us had years ago. Russell stars as Jane, a Jane Austen obsessive who blows an exorbitant amount of money to immerse herself in a Jane Austen reenactment resort in England.

The hilarious cast of supporting players includes Jennifer Coolidge, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, James Callis, Georgia King and Jane Seymour. Adapted from the novel by Shannon Hale and directed by Jerusha Hess, who previously brought us “Napolean Dynamite,” the film premiered at Sundance and opens tomorrow, August 16 in New York and Los Angeles with plans to expand. Russell sat down with Indiewire this week to talk about costume dramas, the state of women in Hollywood, and the multitudinous boobs. Spoiler alert: No one dies. Continue reading Keri Russell Talks ‘Austenland,’ Women in Hollywood, Costume Dramas and Boobs

If any actor on a freshman drama seemed a lock for an Emmy nomination, it was Keri Russell for her work as Soviet agent Elizabeth on FX’s ’80s-set “The Americans.”

Sexy, tough, and committed to the cause, Elizabeth started the series as a true believer, while her fellow agent and husband, Philip, was more ambivalent. But as the season progressed and Elizabeth suffered betrayals both big and small that first pushed her closer to Philip and then tore them apart, Russell’s work became electric and heartbreaking.

When the Emmy nominations were announced, Russell’s name was left out.

So it is surprising when she brings them up while discussing her new romantic comedy “Austenland.” More surprising is that she brings it up in reference to the lack of a nom for her co-star, Matthew Rhys.

“He’s so crazy good in it,” she says, still shocked. “I can’t believe he didn’t get nominated!”

Emboldened by her introduction of the topic, we submit that she did some pretty crazy good work herself. She looks at us as if we’re just crazy.

“Seriously, I have, like, long hair and some eyeliner,” she says. “But it’s crazy what he does.”

When Rhys is informed of this over the phone later, he verbally rolls his eyes. “She does everything in her utmost power to deflect attention away from herself,” he says from England. “She is genuinely modest and humble. But you get to the point where someone that talented, you want to go, ‘Shut up.’ ” More seriously, Rhys calls her “everything you’d want in a leading lady” and adds, “I’ve never heard her complain, the entire six months, even when she was beaten black and blue. She leads from the very top. She sets the pace, the standards, and the on-set decorum. But she does have great moments of irreverence, and she enjoys a glass of wine—sometimes at the wrong time of the day, so you know she’s human.” Continue reading Keri Russell Dons a Corset for New Movie ‘Austenland’