Category Articles & Interviews

Wednesday’s season finale of The Americans left viewers on the edge of their seat as Elizabeth (Keri Russell), not Phillip (Matthew Rhys), walked into a trap set up by the FBI that would’ve resulted in a striking blow to the KGB.

Believing the meeting with a possible intelligence asset is actually an FBI setup, Phillip decides to take on that mission himself, leaving Elizabeth to simply pick up a recording and then get the kids out of town. But it’s Elizabeth’s seemingly simple mission that’s actually the setup. Nina (Annet Mahendru) is able to deduce a coup is coming after Stan (Noah Emmerich) guarantees her extradition, but, because it’s the ’80s and there are no cell phones, the KGB is unable to warn their agents, resorting to more archaic methods to send the abort message. But when Phillip realizes the abort is meant for Elizabeth, he goes straight into the FBI’s trap to save her — and although they are able to escape, Elizabeth gets shot in the process.

Obviously, Elizabeth will survive into Season 2 — they’re not firing Keri Russell, ‘natch — but other characters’ fates are left up in the air, including Claudia (Margo Martindale) who was told she’d be reassigned, but risked her own life to save Phillip and Elizabeth after getting the abort signal. To get the scoop on Season 2, TVGuide.com turned to executive producers Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields. Continue reading The Americans Finale Postmortem: Who Survived Season 1?

Keri Russell may have the svelte figure of a secret agent, but the “Americans” star lacks a crucial quality that her on-screen persona possesses.

“I am literally the worst person at keeping secrets,” Russell told the May issue of Women’s Health. “I’d be the worst spy of all time.”

Russell, 37, opened up about the secrets of keeping her trim physique.

“[There’s] this really nerdy workout I do in my walk-through closet in our brownstone,” Russell said. “I do a workout video and use my own music — whatever is inspiring to me at that time, like Alabama Shakes, The Cure, or Mumford and Sons.”

And the actress doesn’t starve herself, either.

“The perfect weekend for me right now is sleep, sleep, girlfriends, glass of wine and a delicious meal with lots of food,” Russell said. “I am crazy for dessert. I eat everything. No one should be denied anything…just don’t eat the whole thing.”

In fact, Russell came to her moderation scheme later in life. In her 20s, the star confesses, she wasn’t a big fan of salad.

“I don’t think I ate a green vegetable until I was 30,” the former “Felicity” star joked. “I didn’t grow up with a mom who enforced that at all.”

These days, the actress is focused on keeping a balance between her acting life and parenting her two children, Willa Lou and River.

“It’s tough,” Russell admitted. “I try to quell my guilt by saying I’m a better mom if I’m interested in my own life. I’m not resentful. I can be really engaged when I am there. I like the yin and the yang of both worlds, and I think it would be hard for me to give up either one.”

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/

Keri Russell is abs-olutely fabulous.

The Americans star credits her “nerdy workout” – complete with personalized soundtrack! — for helping her stay slim and impressively toned.

Russell, 37, tells Women’s Health in its May cover story that she has “this really nerdy workout I do in my walk-through closet in our brownstone. I do a workout video and use my own music — whatever is inspiring to me at that time, like Alabama Shakes, the Cure, or Mumford and Sons.”

Plus, she says residing in Brooklyn offers a bonus workout — walking!

“That’s one of the great things about living in Brooklyn and in New York. You get to eat a big rich fatty meal but then you can walk home,” says Russell, who admits she didn’t start eating vegetables until about 30.

“I didn’t grow up with a mom who enforced that at all.”

The former Felicity star, who is mom to daughter Willa Lou and son River, 5, with husband Shane Deary, plays a Russian spy-next-door on the hit FX show that airs Wednesdays at 10, and when she’s training for her role as Elizabeth Jennings she isn’t afraid to break out of her indie workout groove.

“We did do a little fight training type stuff a few weeks before. I did get a bloody lip, which I am sort of proud about, in the boxing training. You should see the other guy though,” she jokes.

The funny, self-deprecating star admits it’s not easy juggling a career and motherhood, but carves out girlfriend time every few weeks and is honest about the difficulties of her competing demands.

“It’s tough,” Russell admits. “I try to quell my guilt by saying I’m a better mom if I’m interested in my own life. I’m not resentful. I can be really engaged when I am there. I like the yin and yang of both worlds, and I think it would be hard for me to give up either one.”

But she’s satisfied with her life for now, except for one thing — her rear-end.

“I’m not a complainer about age. I think my girlfriends all look so much better now than they did 15 years ago. But the thing I notice most is my butt. I used to have a really good, plump butt. Ugh — now my butt’s gone. I do wish I had my 25-year-old butt!”

Source: http://celebritybabies.people.com

It all started with a slap for Matthew Rhys. Trying out for “The Ameri-cans,” he took one in the puss from Keri Russell.

This new FX drama, which airs 10 p.m. Wednesdays, fo-cuses on two KGB spies posing as an ordinary American couple shortly after Ronald Reag-an became president.

As Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, they have a comfortable home in a Washington suburb, two sweet kids, a travel agency they run and, by all signs, a solid piece of the American Dream. No one would suspect they are Russian-born plants bent on burying the United States with subterfuge and brutality.

No one, that is, except their new neighbor, FBI agent Stan Beeman (played by Noah Emmerich with an infectious mix of cunning and dorkiness), who has recently moved in with his family across the street. He represents just one among the many threats of exposure, imprisonment or death they face daily.

“It’s an incredible balancing act to portray: the domesticity of their suburban lives and the struggle of their relationship as an arranged couple, and then the extreme spy stuff,” says Rhys. Continue reading Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys play Russian spies in the ‘burbs

In the new FX drama “The Americans,” Keri Russell plays the role of Elizabeth Jennings, a knockout K.G.B. spy living in America in the early 1980s. With the recent announcement of the show’s second season and a new movie in theaters now (“Dark Skies”), Russell’s one busy lady, but not too busy to chat with T about her new job, closet workouts and newfound love of mascara. Continue reading Face Time | Keri Russell

Keri Russell’s “comeback year” has the feel of a reinvention, a re-branding of the dainty young lovely who burst on the scene with “Felicity” back in the past century.

But as different as her flinty mom in the new film “Dark Skies” (not previewed for critics) might seem, as dangerous and “out there” as her Born Again Bolshevik sleeper spy is in TV’s “The Americans,” she refuses to label her return to public view a career makeover.

“The great think about disappearing is that people forget about you a little bit,” Ms. Russell says. “Your past is forgotten. You can come back as something fresh and new.

“These past two years, I’ve come back to all these interesting things that people might not have thought about me for in the past. They just happened.”

She stepped away from film and TV half a dozen years ago, getting married and giving birth to two children, who are now 1 and 5. At 36, she’s a different person — a mom, for starters. And it’s made her a different actress. Continue reading Motherhood changes Keri Russell’s outlook

The name of Keri Russell’s new film may be “Dark Skies,” but in reality, the light is shining brighter than ever on the acclaimed actress’ already successful career.

In a recent interview, Russell told me that she’s read several scripts in the horror and supernatural thriller genre, but there was really nothing that piqued her interest until the script for writer-director Scott Stewart’s “Dark Skies” rolled overhead.

“It’s one of those scripts that I read and instantly thought, ‘That’s going to work.’ It has all the rights for me. It’s scary, but fun scary, but at the core, it was like a family drama,” Russell said. “For me, those are the kinds of movies I like, where you believe in the family, first, to set things up, and then things start happening — like in a ‘Poltergeist’ vein. That’s more of what we were targeting.”

Opening in theaters nationwide on Friday, Russell and Josh Hamilton star as Lacy and Daniel Barrett, a pair of suburban parents whose peaceful existence is turned into a living nightmare as a mysterious alien presence invades their home and preys upon them. Continue reading Keri Russell thrilled to navigate ‘Dark Skies’

Dark Skies opens in theaters this week (Friday, February 22nd) and ShockTillYouDrop.com had an opportunity to speak with actress Keri Russell (The Americans) and producer Jason Blum.

Russell and Josh Hamilton star in the film as a suburban couple whose lives become a nightmare when a terrifying alien presence enters their home each night to prey upon their children. Increasingly isolated from skeptical friends and neighbors, the couple is forced to take matters into their own hands to save their family.

Scott Stewart (Legion, Priest) directs. Head inside for the interviews! Continue reading Shock Interview: Keri Russell & Jason Blum Talk Dark Skies