Articles & Interviews – Page 19

Review: ‘The Americans’ Season 4 Brings Grave Consequences, Long Coming

For every fan who’s enjoyed the thrills of Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields’ FX drama for the past three seasons, get ready to reap the rewards.

Much has been made over the past three years regarding the stubbornly stagnant ratings for “The Americans,” a critically-adored, award-winning, indisputably excellent period thriller that somehow hasn’t been able to crack into the mainstream. And while it’s still a crime punishable by TV exile to not be watching this bar-setting drama, the time has come, with Season 4, to move past berating others and accept what’s in front of us. We are the audience. We are the fans. We are the loyal few. And we’re about to get our reward.

Or is it comeuppance? No matter what you call it, the consequences levied against the Jennings family after years of sliding by largely unscathed are coming. The Season 3 cliffhanger — where Paige (Holly Taylor) shared a secret that’s never before been out in the open before — set up showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields to let the dominos fall, and while it’s never quite clear through the first four episodes provided for review exactly where they’ll fall, a more imminent threat than ever hangs over the new season. Continue reading Review: ‘The Americans’ Season 4 Brings Grave Consequences, Long Coming

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‘The Americans’: Producers, Stars Talk Season 4 and Possible End Date

Exec producer Joel Fields said Saturday during the Television Critics Association press tour that the writing staff has been surprised at how long it’s taken to move through the early 1980s. The FX period drama revolves around covert Soviet spies played by Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys.

Fields was pressed as to whether he and exec producer/creator Joe Weisberg have an end date for the series in mind — in terms of the number of season on FX and the chronological year in the storyline. In the past the pair have hinted that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 would be a logical end point for the story rooted in the last gasp of the Cold War.

The upcoming fourth season, which bows March 16, returns with the storyline picking up in 1983. Using the three-act drama metaphor, Fields said he feels like the show is “coming to the end of its second act” at the close of season four. He suggested that the tale of Philip and Elizabeth Jennings might be wrapped up with a fifth or sixth season, but he also stressed that there was no concrete decision on the span of the series. Moreover, there’s no certainty about renewals from FX.
Continue reading ‘The Americans’: Producers, Stars Talk Season 4 and Possible End Date

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‘The Americans’ Could End After Fifth or Sixth Season, Says EP

The pressure is building in The Americans.

When the FX spy drama starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys returns for a fourth season on March 16, it will largely focus on the threat of bioweapons and the Jenning’s big secret getting out. Executive producer Joel Fields, on hand at the Television Critics Association winter press tour to promote the series, suggested that he and creator Joe Weisberg are about two-thirds of the way through the story they want to tell.

Fields acknowledged on stage that he isn’t sure how long the series will run. “What we do know is that if you were to think of it as a three act story structure, it feels like we’re coming toward the end of the second act. Whether it takes a fifth season or a sixth or fifth season to tell the rest of that story, we’ll discover as we start to dig into next season’s work,” he said, adding later in the panel: “I really don’t have an answer about how many seasons except that we’ll do what’s right for the storytelling and we always seem to surprise ourselves.” Continue reading ‘The Americans’ Could End After Fifth or Sixth Season, Says EP

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Keri Russell & Matthew Rhys: Inside Their Love Story

Their spark was instantly undeniable.

The Americans stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys have starred opposite each other on the FX spy drama since 2013. And as their characters contended with the intricacies of a KGB orchestrated marriage, Rhys and Russell embarked on a real-world love story off screen.

Now, while the pair films the show’s fourth season in New York City, they’re anticipating the arrival of a baby together.

In 2013, Russell split from ex-husband Shane Deary – with whom she has a son River, 8, and a daughter Willa, 4 – after seven years of marriage, with her rep telling PEOPLE at the time: “The separation is amicable, and their focus is on their children.”
Continue reading Keri Russell & Matthew Rhys: Inside Their Love Story

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Entertainment Weekly Scans

Thanks to my friend Ali I have added scans from Entertainment Weekly Reunions issue.

GALLERY LINKS:
– Photoshoots Entertainment Weekly – October 16 2015

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Felicity costars reunite for the first time (in bed) for EW

Scott Speedman can’t find his pants. The actor gamely traded his clothes for a set of pj’s to hop into bed with his Felicity costars Keri Russell and Scott Foley. It’s the first time the trio have been in the same room since the cult-favorite WB show wrapped in 2002, though you wouldn’t guess it from watching them joke around and reminisce. The laughter continues when the actors settle in on a nearby sofa. Speedman — having been unable to locate the bottom half of his outfit — sits down in just a shirt and black boxer briefs. (Note: 1990s dreams really can come true!) “Scott Speedman is currently in his underwear,” narrates Russell. Foley grins: “Keeping things nice and cool, huh, buddy?” Speedman responds with an unconcerned shrug.

Isn’t that, like, just soooo Ben Covington? Created by J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, Felicity spun the story of Felicity Porter (Russell), who, on a whim, ditches the premed life her parents planned for her and follows her longtime high school crush, Ben (Speedman), across the country to attend school in New York City. Before we had Team Jacob and Team Edward, there was Felicity’s epic love triangle throughout her college years with her RA, earnest and bookish Noel Crane (Foley), and dreamy yet emotionally complicated Ben. The drama ran from 1998 to 2002, capturing a specific late-’90s/early-’00s angst that’s carved a permanent place in fans’ hearts. “People still come up to me and tell me how much they like Scandal and follow that up with ‘But I was always Team Ben,’ ” says Foley. Does the reverse happen to Speedman regarding Team Noel? He gives his best Covington-like grin: “Nope.” Continue reading Felicity costars reunite for the first time (in bed) for EW

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‘Felicity’: Where Are They Now?

Keri Russell (Felicity Porter)

Then: Keri Russell played Felicity Porter, a smart girl who turned down attending Stanford’s acclaimed pre-med program to follow her high school crush, Ben Covington, to the University of New York. While in the Big Apple, Felicity comes into her own, maturing and becoming a grounded, independent woman as the show progresses.

Now: After Felicity, Russell starred in 2006’s Mission Impossible III with Tom Cruise, playing a fellow MI6 agent. She made mid-2000s cameos on Into the West and Scrubs, and hit the big screen in 2007’s August Rush, 2013’s Dark Skies, and 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Her most recent projects include a starring turn in the FX drama The Americans and a role in The Free State of Jones, an upcoming movie set during the Civil War.

Source: http://www.ew.com

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The Gotham 60: Influential New Yorkers in Entertainment and Media

Power Couple: Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys

She’s been America’s sweetheart since the “Felicity” days. He’s a handsome Welshman with the Richard Burton gene for charisma and charm. Russell and Rhys have scored knockout performances during the past three seasons as a pair of covert Soviet spies in a terribly complicated marriage on FX’s 1980s-set drama “The Americans.” After two years of playing a multitude of characters on the show, love blossomed when the wigs and costumes came off. Russell and Rhys are now often seen out and about in New York with Russell’s young children. And the pair are inseparable at industry events, which can only have FX execs thanking their lucky red stars.

Source: http://variety.com

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ContentMode Interview

ou have a pretty full plate of commitments and responsibilities. How do you stay energized?

Caffeine, booze and makeouts. and dancing. But to clarify- dancing around my house, usually alone, usually to my kids dismay.

How do you prepare for days like today (shooting this fashion editorial) when you need to be animated and vibrant? It must be tricky sometimes in your profession to always be “on”. How do you shake off the bad days and blue moods, when you have to perform? (Conversely, how do you go from a buoyant mood to doom and gloom when that is called for?)
Music sometimes helps with a mood ,and hopefully the writing informs the scene. I’m lucky to work with a lot of people right now that really interest and inspire me creatively that helps enormously.

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Keri Russell on ‘The Americans’ Graphic Tooth-Pulling Scene and 5 Other Emmy Contender Quickies

“My favorite aspect of the show has so little to do with them being spies,” actress says of FX espionage drama

For Keri Russell, sometimes filming a compelling scene can be like pulling teeth. Literally.

With Emmy nominations voting underway, TheWrap spoke to Russell, star of FX’s period spy drama “The Americans,” about Season 3’s highlights.

Among them: An excruciating scene during which her TV husband Philip (played by Matthew Rhys) yanks a chomper out of her mouth with a primitiveness that would make the dentist from “The Marathon Man” wince.

TheWrap: What was the toughest thing you had to do this season?
Keri Russell: The tooth-pulling scene [from the episode “Open House”]. It was such an abstract scene … But luckily Tommy Schlamme directed the episode and had a really clear idea of how he wanted to do it. And I just love working with him. So I just kind of came in with no expectations and just went for it, with whatever he said. His whole take on it was he wanted it to be like a really intimate, almost sex scene. So we just kind of did that. And luckily Matthew [Rhys] is so good. Continue reading Keri Russell on ‘The Americans’ Graphic Tooth-Pulling Scene and 5 Other Emmy Contender Quickies