Category Articles & Interviews

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

When she was 15 years old, Keri Russell was cast on the All-New Mickey Mouse Club. For the next three years, the fresh-faced youngster came of age alongside Ryan Gosling, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, forming the base of what could retroactively be described as the modern American pop culture landscape. All of which makes Russell’s latest foray into that culture so intriguing.

Twenty years after she landed America’s signature kids program, Russell is playing Elisabeth Jennings, a Cold War-era Washington D.C. Stepford wife who leads a double life as a KGB spy. As if to hammer the point home, the new FX series The Americans opens with Russell, best known as the soft-hearted Felicity in the romantic dramedy series of the same name, performing fellatio on an unsuspecting American target.

The Mickey Mouse Club, it certainly is not.

We caught up with Russell to discuss her return to dramatic television, memories of the Cold War and her most sexually graphic role to date. Continue reading Q&A: Keri Russell talks on-screen oral sex and what it’s like to play a Russian spy on The Americans

It’s time to get past the haircut. Keri Russell certainly has.

In fact, the former “Felicity” star has moved so far beyond her famous pixie cut that she’s now realizing that there’s something else out there — namely, aliens. That’s right, Russell’s latest project is the sci-fi/horror film “Dark Skies.” She plays a mother under siege from all angles: financial, familial and supernatural. When strange things start happening, such as her youngest son claiming visits from “the sandman,” unexplained items moving inexplicably throughout the house and scary episodes she can’t remember, Russell’s character takes matters into her own hands, to thrilling result.

NextMovie sat down with Russell in New York City ahead of the movie to discuss her thoughts on aliens, the time she almost drowned while hanging out with Anthony Kiedis and, yes, the haircut. Continue reading Questions and Answers With Keri Russell

Keri Russell has had quite a varied career already, performing in things from the teen angsty Felicity to the short-lived sitcom Running Wilde to now getting to do the action thing with FX’s The Americans. She even voiced Wonder Woman in a direct-to-DVD animated adventure a few years ago; lots of genres, but never once sci-fi/horror, until now. Russell stars in the new film Dark Skies, about a suburban family targeted by malevolent forces from another world. She spoke to us about what drew her to the film, what it was like to work with the film’s younger cast members, and the freedom inherent with doing low-budget films. Continue reading Interview with “Dark Skies” Star Keri Russell

Though she’s not a big fan of the genre, Keri Russell knew she wanted a role in the spooky psychological thriller “Dark Skies.”

“I don’t watch scary movies, but it was one of those scripts I read — a little family and very ‘Poltergeist’-y — and instantly liked.

“I believed it and thought it would be fun to go see.”

Though “Dark Skies” tells the story of an other­worldly menace targeting the suburban Barretts, particularly its two young sons, Russell sees it as a family drama.

“This family is falling apart. A husband (Josh Hamilton) has lost his job; they don’t know if they’ll lose the house.

“They’re worried about money, they’re worried about divorce. They’re worried how that might affect their preteen, who is coming into sexuality, meeting friends, those kind of forces they’re not going to be able to control.

“They have all these very real family problems going on and then this outside stuff starts entering. To me that’s a metaphor for this family trying to stay together and keep control — and it’s impossible.

“The world just happens. It’s just Mom trying to be Momma Bear and protect and keep this family together.”

Russell, 36, a married mother of 5-year-old River and 15-month-old Willa, understood Momma Bear Lacy’s denial.

“No one wants to believe it. In fact there are so many signs, she thinks, ‘This is going on.’ But she says, ‘This can’t be happening. This is crazy stuff’ — and yet.

“At the end, it’s so based in the reality of protecting kids she gets really nutty crazy. As we filmed, I was thinking of what some of those parents must have felt like when Katrina was coming.

“This unmanageable thing is headed your way, you’d do anything to protect your kids, you’re totally responsible for them, but you don’t know if you’re going to be able to.

“It’s so heartbreaking and terrifying. I thought about that a lot.”

What’s more terrifying for Russell, facing possible aliens or smashing her nice-girl “Felicity” image with her new TV series “The Americans,” playing a ruthless undercover KGB agent?

“That’s cool. That’s one of the good things about taking little breaks now and then. People forget about you a little bit and you can come back and do something a little fresh.”

(“Dark Skies” opens Friday.)

Source: http://bostonherald.com/

In her breakout role, Keri Russell was the living, breathing, over-thinking embodiment of that generation’s ideal collegiate experience. NYU was their castle, and Felicity was the queen dream. But nightmares are the name of the game these days as Russell’s newest roles, on FX’s The Americans and in The Weinstein Company’s alien-invasion chiller Dark Skies, are tailor-made to keep America up at night.

Whether your safety concerns are for the planet or simply your country, the themes explored in both projects are universally haunting. ETonline recently sat down with Russell to talk about Dark Skies and The Americans, where I learned she was attracted to both larger-than-life roles because of their more intimate elements. Continue reading Keri Russell: I’m A Scaredy Cat

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

This new FX drama, whose third episode airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST, focuses on two KGB spies posing as an ordinary American couple shortly after Ronald Reagan 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 that they are Russian-born plants bent on burying the United States with subterfuge and brutality.

No one, that is, unless it’s 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 ‘The Americans’ On FX To Star Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys