Kase Wickman

Keira Knightley, 'Anna Karenina' Star, On Period Pieces, Dancing And Corsets

2012-11-13T08:34:51-05:00

What’s more than a thousand pages long, nearly 150 years old and will likely be nominated for a slew of Oscars this January?

“Anna Karenina,” of course.

The latest film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s 19th-century Russian domestic tale, directed by Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley (the duo’s third collaboration, following “Pride and Prejudice” and “Atonement”), has a decidedly different spin: the drama of marriage and adultery in high society take place on a stage, with a chorus of actors spinning in and out of frame throughout. Anna (Knightley) must choose between being a virtuous wife in her marriage to Karenin (Jude Law) or pursuing a passionate (and forbidden) affair with Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), while society looks on with judging eyes.

Moviefone caught up with Knightley in New York ahead of the film’s Friday release to talk about putting a new spin on a classic tale, playing a hate-worthy character and her best advice for corset fittings.

The film looks gorgeous, and there’s so much dancing that I’d almost categorize it as a musical without singing. You must have rehearsed like crazy.
Yes, for the dance sequences we did. We had three weeks before we started where we were doing basically workshops with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, who choreographed the whole thing. We’d do movement improvisations where we’d figure out how it was that we used our bodies to tell stories -- we weren’t allowed to use words. There’s a part at the beginning of the movie where Guro [Nagelhus Schia], who plays the maid, was dressing me. That was all an improvisation piece that we came up with in the workshop.

Did that kind of movement and dance come naturally to you?
[Laughs] No! It was something that was incredibly exciting about the whole piece, and when [director] Joe [Wright] described it, it was like, okay, he’s always been very into blocking, so there’s a lot of movement within all of his films, like spinning in and out of camera shots and all that. He felt like that was a natural progression of what he’d always been fascinated with. I was well up for trying something totally different that I’d never tried before. It was really hard. The dance sequences, all of that stuff, were really, really hard, and I’m not a natural dancer.

“Anna Karenina” has been adapted for the screen many times. Apart from the staging of the story, was there anything you did to try and make this iconic role your own? How are you different from other Annas?
I’ve seen two film versions: I’ve seen the Greta Garbo version, and Helen McCrory did a BBC version in 2000. But they weren’t things that I’d come back to again and again and again, I didn’t have a memory of what they were. I read the book for the first time when I was about 19, and I remembered it as being very beautiful and her as being innocent, and it being kind of this sweeping love story. When I read it again before we started filming, I went, “This is totally different than I remembered it.” She is much darker and the question over the function of her within the story -- is she the heroine or is she the anti-heroine? -- I thought, is constantly up for question within the book, and whether you’re meant to condemn her or whether you’re meant to agree with her is constantly up for question. I just thought that was an interesting take.

I think it’s also difficult: when a piece is called “Anna Karenina,” you think of Anna as someone who you should always be able to sympathize with. I think quite often people have played it like that. Particularly if you’re taking the Kitty-Levin story out of it, you can play it like that: Karenin sorta becomes the baddie, Anna and Vronsky are kind of the great love. But if you put Kitty and Levin in, that becomes the great love story, the great romance. If they’re in there, then you kind of have to do something else, or else you’ll have the same story twice.

The two couples act as foils for each other.
Yes, exactly. As one couple goes down, the other goes up. I think we also felt like it was possibly more interesting to look at what that darker, slightly more ambiguous side to Anna is.

Did you like her?
I didn’t always like her. I loved her, and I totally understood her. I think she’s terrifying. She’s terrifying because she’s like all of us. She’s so very human. You look at a lot of her behavior and think, “God, I don’t agree with any of that.” And then you think, “Am I any better than that?” I don’t think I am. And I think that’s what’s so fascinating about her is that in a way, it’s sort of like looking at quite a frightening mirror of yourself and of everybody else, because you sort of go, okay, she leaves her son. I’m not a mother, but I find that incredibly difficult, to forgive her for leaving her child. Would I do any different? I’d like to think that I would, but I don’t know that I would. And I think that’s why it’s such a fascinating story. It makes you question everything that you think.

You’ve done a ton of period pieces -- you must really know your way around a wig and a corset by now.
Yep, I do. Very well. Always breathe out in a corset fitting. That’s my main advice to anybody.

Did it take forever to get into costume? Your hair was really dramatic in this movie.
To tell the truth, the hair was a wig, so it takes about 20 minutes to bind all of my hair to my head as close as possible and then put on a wig cap, and then about 10 minutes to get the thing on and another 20 to dress it. So that had a life of its own. As for the costumes, unless you actually can see a corset, I’m not wearing one. Which was great. A lot of the costumes are actually based on 1950s couture, so they’re actually not 1870s, so they were actually surprisingly comfortable. It was nice that suddenly we weren’t doing this naturalistic telling, so everyone had freedom to take out of exactly that and move it slightly sideways into this fantasy world. It’s a fantasy, I think, as opposed to period drama. Actually, one of the costumes was made of denim, which certainly wasn’t around in 1873. It was nice to play with all of those sort of things.

You’ve done three movies now with Joe Wright, spanning seven years of your career. Do you feel that you’ve grown as an actress while acting in his films?
I have changed as an actress. Technically, I guess, I’m a bit better than I used to be, I know what I’m doing a bit more. But I think that sometimes an actor’s technical ability can take away some of the sort of magic that they had when they were very young and untrained, as it were. I don’t know if I’m better, I’m certainly different. I’m not sure.

I remember seeing you in “Bend It Like Beckham,” when you were 16 or 17. What advice would you give to your younger self, going from little indies like that to massive, Oscar-nominated productions ?
Chill out? I think that would be it, really. I’ve definitely done my learning on screen, which is a terrifying place to do that kind of thing. But no, I think I’ve always, and still do, wanted to get better and find different influences and do different things and I think I’ve managed to do that. Which doesn’t always mean the performances or pieces of work are going to be better, necessarily, it just means that they’re going to be slightly different going off in different directions, which I like.

As far as advice...go out more. Get more drunk. Chill out. That would be my advice to my 16-year-old self. I was quite serious.

Actors Playing Multiple Roles In The Same Movie: From Mike Myers To Eddie Murphy

2012-10-24T16:29:13-04:00

Whether it's a gender-bending gag (Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy, we're looking at you) or a meta-comment on interconnectedness and reincarnation (ah, "Cloud Atlas," we'll be incoherently discussing you for years to come), film has a rich history of actors doing double duty by playing multiple roles.

In “Cloud Atlas,” set to hit theaters this Friday, the cast more than earns its SAG dues: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess and other heavy hitters juggle about a half-dozen roles apiece in the process of telling the six time-hopping stories that make up the film. Audience members will need name tags to keep the actors’ various characters straight -- the usually familiar faces of the cast are rendered virtually unrecognizable from story to story using makeup and costuming. (Genders and races, controversially, are not kept consistent throughout.)

To tide us over until the movie’s long-anticipated release, we compiled a list of some of our favorite dual-role thespians through the ages. From the 1921 Buster Keaton vehicle “The Playhouse” to “Cloud Atlas,” here are the top two-(or three, or four, or even more)-faces of film.

PHOTOS:

Josh Radnor, 'Liberal Arts' Star, On College, Books And The End Of 'How I Met Your Mother'

2012-09-12T18:15:04-04:00

You probably met Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby on long-running sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” but he’d like the chance to re-introduce himself. Radnor's sophomore feature effort, "Liberal Arts" (out in limited release Friday), concerns the angst of a 35-year-old New York admissions counselor, Jesse (played by Radnor, who also wrote and directed the film), who graduated from college but never really matriculated into adulthood. When Jesse returns to his midwestern alma mater for his second-favorite professor’s retirement, a chance meeting with 19-year-old student Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen) and the blossoming relationship that ensues, force him to decide whether he’s going to grow up or stay stuck in the past.

Radnor explained that Jesse is grappling with some of the same arrested development as his "HIMYM" character, but said that he hopes his movie delves slightly deeper into life, love and early adulthood in New York City than his day job does.

“It’s, to me, a kind of loving but hopefully honest exploration of some really deep questions about nostalgia and aging and growing older, the purpose of reading, of a liberal arts education, of how the kind of analytical mind can both save you and turn on you,” he said. “There’s a lot of things going on in ‘Liberal Arts’ maybe that you can’t quite tackle in 22 minutes on television.”

Radnor spoke with Moviefone on a press day ahead of the film’s release and answered our nagging questions about channeling a teenage girl, being 19 forever and who, exactly, he thinks is "HIMYM"’s titular mother.

They say to write what you know. Your character, Jesse, is not so different from you. You don’t have too much life experience as a 19-year-old girl though.
You think?! In an early draft there are a couple more colloquial things that I was trying to do to point to her youth. I softened some of that and let her be as sophisticated as she wanted to be. What’s so great about Lizzie is there’s this great kind of mash-up of elements with her: She’s very sophisticated, she’s got kind of an old soul, poetic quality to her, but at the same time, every once in awhile, she’ll remind you that she’s a young person. She’s got this adolescent goofiness that pokes out at points. [But] this is not a pro-dating-college-students-when-you’re-too-old-to-do-that movie. I don’t think anyone would see the movie and think that. [To imaginary audience:] Hello! Who’s with me!

In the movie your character’s favorite professor talks about feeling forever like he’s 19 years old, even though he’s obviously not. Is there a certain age you feel inside?
I remember I had a friend in college who felt like a 50-year-old, like he’s just waiting to be 50. And he still feels like that, and it’s just amazing. It always felt to me like he was a little out of place there. I think that there’s definitely some truth to that feeling, that you always feel like you’re a little bit 19 and adulthood is basically a put-on. We’re all acting like we’re responsible enough to do all this stuff and we’re really not, we’re all these scared 19-year-olds who have been given far too much responsibility. But at the same time, I feel like -- and maybe one of the reasons I wrote the movie -- was to allow myself to grow up, or to retire some of the old thoughts or parts of my personality that were no longer all that useful. Maybe it’s a matter of kind of adjusting to whatever age you are and realizing that’s perfect.

So many important set pieces -- Kenyon College, a hotly contested vampire book that’s obviously “Twilight,” David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” -- go unnamed. Was that intentional?
Not naming the books and everything was very intentional. The music, I name Beethoven and Wagner, Wordsworth, Keats, Blake, these are people who are canonized and kind of in the public domain. Because I was going for that timeless quality that the college evokes, I was careful only to list things that had earned their place in the pantheon, whereas some of the more modern references I felt, one, if two characters are discussing “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace, they don’t really need to say “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace. They probably wouldn’t say that. They would only be saying that for the audience’s benefit. The second is that once you name something, people have a response to it. They have an opinion about it. So if I say, “This is my favorite book,” people either say, “I don’t know that book,” and “Oh, should I know that book?” Or, “Oh, I read that book, I don’t like that book,” and suddenly their arms are folded.

There’s also a lack of social networking in the movie. Zibby and Jesse communicate through hand-written letters.
I want the movies to age really well, so my movies don’t have any references to Twitter or Facebook or anything that we’re talking about these days because in 30 years I want these movies to be really watchable and feel really relevant, so I want to be careful of that. If I talk about something that’s too kind of hot button today, I think it dates the movie.

Your character bonds with another troubled college student, Dean, over “Infinite Jest,” and he says that the book sort of consumed him. Is that book important to you personally?
I’m a huge Wallace fan, and I’ve read almost everything by Wallace. Right when I was in grad school, I was traveling and I was backpacking and I brought Wallace and it was this terrible travel companion because it was so heavy! I read half of it, but I keep meaning to go back to it and finish it. He’s a really important writer to me and I was really devastated by his suicide so partly the scene with Dean in the hospital was a way to both celebrate and love him, and a way to be a little bit angry at him for leaving us.

What other books have made a personal impact on you?
Certain books are really important at a time of your life, like I remember my senior year of high school just being bowled over by “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and I don’t know if that book would stand up to scrutiny of myself right now. I remember right when I got out of college reading “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” and felt that that book was really telling me something. Again, I don’t know if I revisited that book if it would still do that. I think that the mark of a great book is that it will meet you wherever you’re at and you’ll feel and experience something new and different each time you read it.

The movie is really kind of sweet and earnest, in a time where it seems like cynicism reigns supreme.
That’s how I see the world. I don’t know a lot of evil people, and if I do, I try to get away from them. I try to surround myself with good people, and as a filmmaker it’s interesting when people call my films nice or earnest. I wonder if that’s a criticism a little bit? I don’t think it is, coming from you, but earnest can be kind of a dirty word. I think we’re in a time where to be cynical or negative is considered to be sophisticated. “Oh, you’re seeing the world clear-eyed because the world is really nasty.” But I think the world is very complicated and complex and varied, I think the world is a lot of things and it’s up to us to decide what we’re gonna lean into and what kind of world we’re going to create, because it’s a much more participatory process than we realized. Cynicism is kind of like folding your arms and stepping back and commenting on things, like the old guys in The Muppets, just throwing out comments all the time, whereas there are other people on the ground really trying to affect things and improve their lives and the lives of other people. I think it’s noble and I think it’s cool. The same way that Zibby says talk about what you love and keep quiet about what you don’t, I really believe that.

So “How I Met Your Mother “has been on for a little bit now...
117 years. Kidding.

...and this could be the last season. Do you want it to be the last season?
Right now I really feel like, I have four, four-and-a-half months a year to play with every year, and the idea of having 12 months, mapping out a year, to have all that time, feels really exciting to me. At the same time, if they can work out some sort of deal with all of us and with the writers, none of us are saying like “Get me out of here,” anything other than “Man, if we finished after eight, that would also be amazing.” I think that they need to figure out something, because they have to let the writers know if they’ll be ending this year or next year. It’ll all be figured out in due time, but I think we need to get this figured out for the writers.

I’ve been watching the show forever, and I have to ask: Do you know who the mother is?
No, and there’s a nice little tease about that at the first episode. I think it’s a good sign that people ask about that a lot, because there’s real investment in the show, but at the same time, for me playing the character I’m playing it forward, I have to play it with some naivete, so it serves me better not to know anything. I don’t try and do a lot of snooping around, I just go week to week and see what misfortunes befall poor Mr. Mosby.

So what you’re saying is that Marshall’s the mother.
Marshall might be. Fingers crossed.

Melissa Leo, 'Why Stop Now' Star, On Winning Oscars, Tracy Morgan And Trying Comedy

2012-08-15T07:55:20-04:00

For Oscar-winning actress Melissa Leo, the experience of making a movie is almost as important as the end result. Take, for example, her new indie, “Why Stop Now,” based on the 2008 short film “Predisposed,” in which she also had a starring role: Leo cultivated an important working relationship during the quick shoot.

“The thing that leaps to my mind about that less-than-a-month last summer: Jesse Eisenberg, Jesse Eisenberg and Jesse Eisenberg,” she told Moviefone during a recent chat ahead of the film’s August 17 release.

“I knew the first time I met him that there was a great hope that he’d play my son in the film,” she said. ”[I would have been upset] if anybody else would have ended up playing that boy, because he was so perfect for it, the maternal instinct I had for him the second I met him, and the respect and the admiration.”

As luck would have it, Eisenberg would end up joining Leo for "Why Stop Now." The film tells the story of a son trying to get his drug-addicted mom, Penny (Leo), to rehab, and himself to a performing arts college. To get to their happy ending, the mother-son duo must navigate red tape, a dealer named Sprinkles (played by Tracy Morgan) and a sock puppet with a vicious temper.

Leo, who was recently passed over for the role of Mags in the second installment of “The Hunger Games” franchise, spoke with Moviefone about dysfunctional families, cliches that don’t make sense to her and how a little gold man named Oscar changed her life.

It sounds like you have a long and involved history with this project, from the short “Predisposed” to now this full-length feature, five years later.
Well, [“Predisposed” and “Why Stop Now” co-writer and director] Ron [Nyswaner] had suggested to [co-writer and director] Phil [Dorling] that he should pick an actor he knows of and write a role with that actor in mind. I got an email from Phil asking if it would be all right [if that actor was me], and I said, “You plow on, son!” And the short came of that. We shot that and learned from that, [but] we were told that the story would sell and be more likely to be seen if it had some more humor in it and a dark statement that was being made. It was quite a challenge to bring the humor and lightness to this story of a dysfunctional family. So we were blessed with Tracy Morgan!

What was it like to work with Tracy Morgan? He has a reputation for eccentricity, to say the least.
I don’t know if you know the list of the roles they’ve given me thus far, but not a lot of them fall in the comedy category! Tracy’s not a straight-up comic character, but there’s a humor in the film that’s a necessity. Having Tracy there, a prince of the genre, was a boost in my confidence. He would laugh at my jokes off-camera, I don’t think he was just being polite. We had such a hoot. He’s a dear, sweet man and, like most comics, a deeply misunderstood and complex man. It was a pleasure to meet him and I see him out and about now, what a beautiful human being he really is. Those comics, man, they’re something else.

You said Tracy is misunderstood -- can you be more specific?
I don’t follow a lot of public perception, but there was some big hoo-ha and it didn’t seem like it was the first time and I don’t think it’ll be the last. Something he said as a joke, because he walks an edgy, racy line. [He’s] brilliant, like so many of the great, great funny people before [him]. He’s really standing reality on its end so perhaps it can really be seen in its truest light, you know? So that way when someone is so adored by the public as Tracy is, sometimes every breath means something or another to one person or another. It’s at that level that things can be thrown out of proportion.

Between this and the episode of “Louie” you were on recently, it looks like you’re taking on more comedy roles.
I’ve always been interested in doing everything that the art has to explore and the few cases on which I’m asked to do something with humor in it, there’s nothing like sitting in a theater and hearing something that you intended to be funny being laughed at by a crowd. There’s no applause, no -- ugh, just amazing. It’s really an accomplishment. I know there’ll be some chuckles along the road, I just know it!

The first time we see you in “Why Stop Now,” you’re painting kind of an earth goddess version of yourself on your living room wall. Is that a Melissa Leo original? Did you really paint that?
Well, there’s great joy and disappointment in the question for me. The intention was that it would be a Melissa Leo original, but what was there was so far from what I would have put on the wall. It was put on the wall by a man, and I asked, “Who did it?” Because we had talked long and hard about me doing it. I had the time, I was on the location, it was really, really important to me. While you see me painting [in the movie], I got permission from the supervisor and the director and cameraman that it would be all right for me to embellish on what was there.

I know that Tracy Morgan is known for riffing. Did you join in on the improvisation during the shoot?
I’m not a big fan of it. I’ll jump in there, and the better people that you’re riffing with, the better it can be. I probably have too much self consciousness to improv. When you’re allowed to repeat it on angles is really the way you use it on film. I’m an actor who likes to know what they’re doing. That’s not always the case, there’s sometimes this kind of devil-may-care and following a direction, a style of acting that’s to be admired. That’s just how I work, I was trained in a way that the preparation is everything. The name of the book on which my whole teaching was based is called “An Actor Prepares.”

In the film, you have a daughter who communicates almost exclusively through a sock puppet that she wears all the time. The growly little hell voice that she used was really jarring to me. What did you think of that?
The psychology about the sock puppet was understood by each of us in a different way in the way that, perhaps, it would be in the family. The little girl was a good little actress. She was doing what she was told. For Penny, it is, as she says in the film, an instrument of communication for the child. It’s saying, “F--k you,” but at least she’s saying something.

Penny thinks it is right as rain. And there’s a lot of people who complain about rain! It’s a funny expression, because really no one likes it when it’s raining, but it has to rain. So it’s right as something that, maybe it’s a little uncomfortable, but what are you gonna do?

How have things changed for you since winning an Oscar?
The short and most concise answer to that question is that the biggest change has been within myself, within my self perception. And grounding in a group that is both illustrious … it’s like, “By God, I’m there!”

That’s so, so much in the work. Everything you see will have a Melissa Leo role to it. A lot of supporting work, which is what I’ve always done, which is what I won an award for. It’s good, there’s sort of a self confidence in it. I guess up until a couple years ago I kept on like I was gonna be an actor one day. And I am, as they say, I am an actor. I will work, I certainly hope, as long as I like to.

"Why Stop Now" hits theaters on August 17

Melissa Leo On Losing 'Catching Fire' Role: 'I Would Have Liked To Have Done It'

2012-08-06T16:43:01-04:00

The long-awaited “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” has its Mags -- and it’s not Melissa Leo.

“Lynn Cohen is Mags!” Elizabeth Banks, who plays Capitol crony Effie Trinket in the popular series, crowed on her blog early Monday morning. Lionsgate confirmed Cohen’s casting late last week.

Cohen, whose previous credits include “Sex and the City” and “Munich,” among others, will play the aging former Hunger Games winner who becomes important to heroine Katniss Everdeen over the course of the series’ second installment.

That was news to Leo, who was rumored to be a contender for the role.

“I would have liked to have done it, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be mine,” she said while chatting with Moviefone Monday afternoon, in support of her new film, "Why Stop Now." Informed that Cohen had been confirmed as an addition to the cast, she responded, “Who? Oh, I’ll have to look her up.”

Leo said that being a part of the Hunger Games franchise was “a dear hope.” She hadn’t read the books, she told Moviefone, but the trailer for the first film excited her.

“I’m not much of a reader and that might very well be part of the reason that I did not get the role,” she said.

Banks, for her part, was thrilled about the choice of Cohen to play Mags.

“She seems like a pretty rad lady and I’m excited to work with her,” Banks wrote. “I know she’ll mentor Finnick like nobody’s business.”

As for Finnick Odair, that part remains uncast. Sam Claflin, who was last seen in “Snow White and the Huntsman,” is rumored to be the frontrunner for the role.

Check out Moviefone next week for the full Melissa Leo interview

'Pitch Perfect' Trailer: 9 Great Puns To Celebrate The A Capella Comedy

2012-06-27T19:49:48-04:00

Grab a four-pack of wine coolers, guys, it's time for a college a capella show!

The trailer for "Pitch Perfect," starring sneaky child Broadway star Anna Kendrick, would-be "John Tucker" murderess Brittany Snow and "Bridesmaids" scene-stealer Rebel Wilson, dropped recently and dang did it drop it like it was hot. The movie follows an all-female a capella group at the fictional Barden University (a thinly veiled LSU) on its quest for glory and soaring notes, all the way to an eventual showdown with a rival all-male group -- full of hot and mysteriously attractive jerks, of course.

Having grown up in a college town with a group of drama-nerd high school friends embarrassingly devoted to a certain all-male a capella group, you can count me so, so, so in for the film's October release. I mean, I've spent too many nights sitting on a blanket on the quad while sipping clandestine mixed drinks out of Gatorade bottles and listening to good-looking guys reinterpret pop songs entirely with their mouths to not be logging into Fandango.

That said, there was one disappointing thing about the trailer (other than the weird flight attendant costumes Kendrick's group sports): Really? Only one cheesy music pun? (The film's tagline is "Get Pitch Slapped.") So many music terms that can be twisted for immature giggles! So many missed opportunities!

Since October is an awfully long way away, and I'm not talented enough to arrange a little a capella ditty of my own to pass the time, here are nine of my favorite dumb music puns.

1. "Hold me...I'm a fermata."

2. Aural fixation.

3. "You're sharp."

4. CLEFTOMANIACS!

5. Funkbuddies.

6. When Kendrick's girl group finally performs their big number, I get the feeling they're gonna ROCKAPELLA THE HOUSEEEEE.

7. "We're gonna get in a lot of treble."

8. Please, please, please can we refer to these ladies as sexy pitches and acafellas, just once, just for me?

9. And if you'd really like to get dirrty, C. Aguilera style, the soulful tunes of singing, dancing, gyrating, beatboxing, swoon-inducing men may be referred to as c--kapella.

Elizabeth Banks, 'People Like Us' Star, On Effie Trinket, First Ladies And 'Catching Fire'

2012-06-26T13:32:43-04:00

It’s the classic story: Boy meets Girl. Girl falls for Boy. Boy reveals that he’s Girl’s long-lost half-brother and that he has a $150,000 cash inheritance for her son.

Such is the mess where Elizabeth Banks finds herself in “People Like Us,” which hits theaters this Friday. Here, she plays Frankie, a single mom trying to make ends meet. Starring alongside Banks is Chris Pine as Sam, the half-brother Frankie's music-producing dad chose over her and her mother. After their father dies, Sam entangles himself in the lives of Frankie and her son, all the while wondering when to reveal his true identity -- and the bag of cash he’s been dragging around with him.

Of course, Banks is only playing a part -- one of many this year. On top of "People Like Us," the actress also starred in “The Hunger Games,” “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” "Man on a Ledge," and had a recurring role on NBC’s “30 Rock.”

Banks recently sat down with Moviefone in New York to answer our burning (sorry) questions about “Catching Fire,” "People Like Us," and reveal the particular set of skills she has that would help her as a Hunger Games tribute.

“People Like Us” is a rare beast: a straight-up drama for adults. It seems like everything lately is a romance or a comedy or a mix of the two. There aren’t a lot of dramas being made these days.
That’s right, almost none, I know.

So was it refreshing to see the script for “People Like Us”?
Yeah, it was an amazing movie. It’s always a gift, I think, when you read a script that takes you on a really great emotional journey like this one does. It was very cathartic at the end. It’s translated very beautifully to the screen, which was great. They’re little gifts because they’re really fun acting challenges, to play a real person and feel like you’re relating to the audience and that people are along for the ride with you.

And your character and Chris Pine’s character are half-siblings! But she doesn’t know that when she meets him. Were you worried at all about having chemistry veering on the romantic side?
No, [because] Frankie doesn’t know that they’re brother and sister. I was very frank about it with the director. I was like, “Look, I’m falling in love with him,” and I think it was necessary for Frankie. She’s not physically -- there’s no physical situation happening, and I really feel that you, the audience, really trust Sam not to cross the line. You know he’s not going to, and he doesn’t. I don’t think you ever really feel like he’s gonna let it go that way. But Frankie is opening her heart to somebody, and that’s why I think the betrayal in the movie is so powerful, because this woman really has been humiliated by a guy.

This is a massive pivot from a huge role you played earlier this year. You were also in “The Hunger Games.”
Yes, I was.

In case you’d forgotten.
Yeah! The little girls around town remind me every day.

So if the “People Like Us” cast were all tributes in "The Hunger Games," and had to fight to the death, who would win?
Man, we would all be fried probably. You know who would win? Josh, the guy who plays my son, would probably win. He’s very wily, that kid.

Do you have any skills that you think would help you survive?
I think that Elizabeth Banks has skills, but Frankie has no skills. I mean Frankie, you know, she’s a survivor, and she’s a mama bear when it comes to her kid and she’s a great negotiator, so I feel like she could negotiate some good alliances. But ultimately I feel she’s very vulnerable. I think of Frankie as like an egg: she has a little shell on the outside, but she’s really mushy soft on the inside.

And you said that you have skills?
Well, I’m a bag of tigers. So I just fight dirty. Like nonstop dirty fighting. I will do what it takes.

Chris Pine’s going down?
Like, Mike Tyson bit an ear off? I will bite your face off, if that’s what it takes.

There was a tizzy over who would direct the second movie of the Hunger Games trilogy, “Catching Fire.” Are you upset that Gary Ross isn’t returning as the director?
No! I mean, Gary is on to do things that he’s really interested in. I think it was a mutually agreed-upon decision by all involved, and, so, great. There are no tears for Gary.

So are you looking forward to working with Francis Lawrence?
Yes, I am. I don’t want to be flippant about what I just said about Gary. He made a great movie, he made a lot of money, he’s moving on -- I think it’s fine for everybody. He’s good, and now we’ll get fresh eyes on the next one, and that’ll be really exciting. And it’s always exciting for actors to create new relationships with new directors. Gary and I made two movies together and I would do anything with him, but now I’m excited to get to know Francis.

Some major new characters are introduced in “Catching Fire”: former tributes Johanna and Finnick. Casting rumors are flying. Is there anyone in particular that you’re lobbying for?
I’m gonna trust the process, because so far the process has been amazing and I think it’s yielded an incredible cast. The movie is so well-cast, and I’ll even throw myself into that mix. There’ll be a similar process and we’re gonna get a great Finnick and a great Johanna. And a Plutarch! Don’t forget! There’s so many great characters coming up.

Your Effie was great. Which character was more of a challenge for you, Laura Bush in “W.” or Effie?
You know, Effie is a much darker character. Laura Bush actually was fairly easy in that she was just a great wife. There was no political context for her. The transformation was pretty easy. I actually feel like if I had that hair, I would look like her in a way. She’s a nice looking lady.

So Effie, for sure, was more difficult. Effie walks a very fine line and I wanted her to not just be comic relief, I wanted her to have a lot of weight and to sort of carry the weight of the Capitol around with her, like the oppression of the Capitol and for everyone to understand that she is a woman living in fear.

Effie was amazing. It was amazing to be embraced by so many fans, and to have Suzanne Collins tell me that she thought I did a good job. That was a big highlight for me.

Since we’re talking politics, would you play another political spouse? Do you have your eye on playing Ann Romney?
I am hoping Ann Romney is never a first lady. But no, I don’t have my eye on anybody right now. We’ll see.

And looking at past projects, you were in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Does anyone do the bookstore thing to you?
You know, the main quote that people do from “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” is the “I hope you have a big trunk, because I’m gonna stick my bike in it.” That’s the one people really like, which is actually not anything I say, Steve Carell says it, but people ask me to say it to them all the time. They’re like “Say the thing about the bike in your trunk!” and I’m like “That’s not my line, but OK.”

You were on “30 Rock” this season too, but your character’s arc has been pretty tidily wrapped up. Would you want to appear on the show again?
I hope to. I love Avery Jessup. I love everything about that job. I love the character, the writing, my co-stars. It’s an amazing job and I hope I get to go back.

Yeah, 2012 really is the year of Elizabeth Banks. You have about a thousand projects coming out.
They’ve come out. I’m almost done. Please let’s be almost done. I actually only have two more coming out this year. I’ve had four come out already. I’ve had enough. I’m really sorry, America. I apologize.

Elizabeth Banks: Charlie Kaufman's 'Frank or Francis' 'Fell Apart At The Last Minute'

2012-06-26T09:22:58-04:00

Elizabeth Banks has been a busy woman this year: she has already appeared in three films and several episodes of "30 Rock," with "People Like Us" and "Pitch Perfect" coming up. Her schedule shows no signs of slowing down, either, with several projects listed on her IMDb page for 2013.

However, one movie of hers that may not be coming to a theater near you is “Frank or Francis.” Banks told Moviefone that the highly anticipated film, written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, is currently at a standstill.

"We didn’t get to shoot that movie," she said during an interview ahead of the release of “People Like Us." "It was ready to go, and, as many movies do, it fell apart at the last minute.”

Banks was cast in “Frank or Francis” back in January. The film -- a “musical satire” about Hollywood and the internet -- was also set to star Steve Carell, Jack Black, Nicolas Cage and Kevin Kline.

Banks’ comments are a revelation to those excited about the project. In April, Kline seemed poised to begin filming.

“I’m just waiting for a start date,” Kline, who was set to play three characters in the film, told Collider. “It’s a huge cast, and getting everyone in the same place, at the same time, and the certain amount of money in place to make the film, is tough... [The producer is] very confident that it’s all going to come together shortly.”

When Banks spoke with Ain't It Cool News earlier this week, she was a bit more gentle about "Frank"'s fate.

“I honestly don’t know where that film is at,” Banks said. “We were supposed to make it sooner, but it’s been pushed. I think they're waiting for everybody’s lives to come back together...I don’t really know anything about it.”

However, “The Hunger Games” star also warned Moviefone that the all-star project may yet come to fruition.

“You can’t believe everything on the internet!” she said, speaking broadly of casting and production rumors. “I hate to be the one to break this to you.”

She’s also still holding out hope that she’ll be in front of the camera taking direction from Kaufman soon.

"I really want to work with Charlie Kaufman, I would do anything with him. I really hope it comes together."

Moviefone has contacted Kaufman’s agent for comment. We'll update the story when we hear back.

Martin Short On 'Madagascar 3,' Voicing Characters, And Taking Souvenirs From Films

2012-06-02T10:50:50-04:00

Martin Short’s elastic face has morphed into many memorable characters, including Jiminy Glick, Ed Grimley and an impressively passable Katharine Hepburn. The latest persona the comic slipped into, however, required no facial contortion: Short-voiced Stefano, a friendly Italian sea lion who performs in the circus in “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.”

Moviefone spoke with Short ahead of the film's June 8 release about his favorite characters, what you might find in his garage, and his "bitchy sarcastic side." (Don’t worry, we didn’t pull a Kathie Lee Gifford and awkwardly ask him about his personal life.)

Stefano is a new character for the third "Madagascar" movie. Is there anything in particular that made you want to get involved with the series?
I just think it’s successful. It’s funny. It cops to what it sets up to be and it’s a pretty impressive talent line-up that they have.

Your character also has a pretty strong accent -- was that inspired by anyone in particular?
No, they wanted an Italian accent and you know there’s a little bit of Bernini, there’s a little bit of Chico Marx, there’s a little bit of, you know, everyone. It really comes from a place -- not so much a person -- it comes from a place of someone who’s enthusiastic and joyful and emotional. It’s more of that.

Did you work with a dialect coach?
I did. I think it was, actually, the first time. You don’t work with a coach so much as I would send the script over, she would read out the lines in a very calm way in an Italian accent and so you would realize that you didn’t want to say “eeet’s-aah nice to see yooooooou,” you would want to say, “eet’s nice to see you-aah.” But you don’t do that, you know.

Is that how you develop impressions, too? Through mimicry?
Yes, you kind of get the sound of that voice and...sometimes there’s a natural break in people’s voices. So when I transcribe a conversation with them or a speech by them, you hear their hesitations and their ahhs and you apply it to what you do.

Were any of the other cast in the recording booth with you?
No, I was by myself. That’s the only way it’s ever been done. You never have the stars in the same place at the same time, never.

You’re also involved in Tim Burton’s upcoming film "Frankenweenie," which is stop-motion. You’ve been in a number of animated projects. What attracts you to non-live-action?
I think it’s just the ease of it. You know, you can be in any city and you can be at any time of the month and you can scoot in and do it. It’s easy to schedule these things. And you know, it’s two hours here, it’s two hours there, it’s not that time consuming. And there’s no pressure on you, there’s no one standing there saying, “OK, you have one hour.” You can take as much time as you want, try as many voices as you want, as many variations as you want.

In addition to all these animated projects, you’ve spread yourself out between movies and TV and the stage, ranging from musicals to comedy to camp. Do you try and change it up on purpose, or is that just how the chips fell?
I think I probably do find it more interesting to vary it all up. It’s a little more interesting to me. It’s not so much about trying to pay bills now as trying to keep myself interested. The more variety you pack into a year, the more interested I find myself being.

You’ve performed with a lot of celebrities, sometimes even in front of them. Was there ever anyone who just wouldn’t go for it?
No, not really. No. No, they all take the joke.

On the flip side, is there anyone you just had a blast with?
Doing a character with someone? Oh, I’ve worked with so many great people. The SCTV people, Chris Guest, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin.

Not picking favorites?
No, I don’t have a favorite.

Part of inhabiting a character is inhabiting that character’s clothes. Are there any that were really uncomfortable? What about the Glick fat suit?
Um, no. Not really. I mean, that’s what wardrobe people are there for, to make sure they’re comfortable.

Your IMDb list of credits is long, to say the least. You must have quite the collection of film set souvenirs.
Oh, I always keep something. You know, the back of the chair with your name on it or the clapper board for the last scene. It varies.

So your house must be, like, the Martin Short Hall of Fame.
No, not really. I have Tony Awards, Emmy Awards. Awards, but not mementos.

Wait, so where are all those mementos?
Yeah, in like, a garage or something.

Which of your characters is closest to your actual personality? Is anyone a sort of alternate universe Martin Short?
They all become, it’s so cheesy to say, but they become like your children. So they’re all different. Ed Grimley is part of me, Jiminy Glick is part of me -- there’s a sarcastic, bitchy side to my personality. I think that they, you know, especially the ones that you improvise, easily express a part of you.

Do you still come up with new characters pretty regularly?
Well, Stefano, yes, that’s a character. Yes, I mean, they say he’s Italian and then you take it from there.

It sounds like you had a lot of freedom to make the character your own.
I mean, that’s what it is. There’s a script, then he’s an Italian sea lion and then you take it from there.

But just walking around in your day-to-day life, do you see something and think, “Oh, that’s a great bit”?
Yeah, I just did a television special with new characters, I still do.

What kind of thing inspires your new characters and bits?
When you encounter someone, maybe it’s someone who makes you laugh, maybe it’s the guy who does your shirts, and then you start impersonating them. And then, I don’t know, you create a character out of it.

Dear GOP: Watch Your AstroTurf, We're On to You

2009-08-20T11:02:29-04:00

Dear Republicans: It's awesome that you've caught up to this whole newfangled Internet craze, but what's with the fixation on that late-60s invention that we all know and have skinned our knees on? That's right: AstroTurf. AstroTurfing is the plastic sensation that's sweeping the GOP nation, and, trust us, it's getting pretty old, not to mention transparent.

Dissent is essential to democracy, and freedom of speech and the right to assemble are vital and not reserved for one party or the other. The problem is this: you're doing it wrong.

How to do it right: A few guys clustered in New England got their acts together and rallied their neighbors for a cause they believed in. They made a country. They made change. It was organic. It was natural. It was grassroots.

No, no, don't run -- we know Obama said that word a lot when he was campaigning. Don't get scared. We're not talking about him, we're talking about the Sons of Liberty. They even had strong opinions about taxes! Republicans, don't shy away! Stay with us! Calling yourselves teabaggers is a good first step for you.

We understand that you want attention. We understand that you need to stay in the limelight and look like the do-stuff guys if you want to take back any seats in 2010. The problem, however, is that you are the pay-to-do-stuff guys right now. Actually, you're just paying. You're not actually doing anything. It's really a dirty business, this contrived fake protest thing.

While Democrats have been arguing amongst themselves about health care reform, a concept the GOP appears to have completely abandoned except to remind us not to kill babies or grandmas, you've been sending fake letters opposing the climate change bill to members of Congress ("you" here being lobbyists hired by the big-money coal industry). You're ("you" is oil companies and oil industry lobbyists here, keep up!) giving employees the afternoon off and busing them out to protests, protests of the bill that would mean a cleaner environment but maybe -- oh no! -- a smaller bonus for them. You're (this one's just the general "you" of the GOP, psych!!) taking a counter-conference of right wing bloggers and calling it a protest, when it is, in fact, a petty group of me-too mommy bloggers trying to get a slice of the hipster lefty political bloggers' media coverage.

In other words, you're trying to throw the game by throwing money. Remember the 1919 Chicago White Sox? It's sort of like that, in that you're eventually going to lose. In your case, probably not while wearing stirrups.

See, the problem with AstroTurfing is that it buys media coverage, but not public opinion. The people who are showing up to your fake protests have some kind of financial stake in being there, whether it's because they work for Big Oil and were bused there, or if it's because they are paid lobbyists, hired guns, and it's their job to be there. No one new is being won over by a crazy waving a sign and saying that they're going to forcibly change the climate of the House.

And, just like public opinion, media coverage does not take the place of actual legislation. Climate change is the focus of the current AstroTurfing craze (ironic, right? Since AstroTurf is fake grass?), and while the House vote was close, the bill still passed. It appears to be set to pass in the Senate as well. Anyone who takes more than a cursory look at Congress news and these so-called protests can see: climate change is where the money is, not the lawmaking. Congress is wrapped up in the health care debate, why not muck that up? That's right, because the people paying you to read their scripts are more interested in the evergreen (see what we did there?) issue of the earth and its natural resources, an issue that will long outlast our bodies and their health.

So, congratulations: A reporter covered your fake protest. Too bad they, like the rest of us, have figured out by now just how synthetic and plastic it really is, and you can't pay them off to say otherwise. Sooner or later, you'll start to understand that the majority of us vote with our heart, not with our wallets. Oh, and that when you're running on AstroTurf, it hurts really, really bad when you fall.

Originally posted at Air America Media.

Obama Talking Out of Both Sides of His Mouth on DOMA

2009-08-18T16:24:00-04:00

President Obama threw a bone Monday to the LGBT activists he first pissed off in June by filing a brief arguing that the Defense of Marriage Act is both constitutional and a defense against incest and pedophilia. The concession took the form of a new brief in Smelt v. United States that now says his administration is committed to a DOMA repeal but -- don't get too excited -- also argues that DOMA itself is constitutional and Smelt should be dismissed.

Obama is going through the motions of finally making good on the campaigning that won him the gay and lesbian vote. However, while it may look like Obama is making an actual move toward overturning DOMA, he's talking out of both sides of his mouth and letting the status quo go on unchanged, saying that while he does not agree with DOMA, it is still constitutional.

Obama has been criticized for his lack of action on repealing both DOMA and the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy banning openly gay people from serving in the military. And the criticism was earned: while Obama has treaded water on empty promises and Pride Month receptions, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand has actually secured hearings for the potential repeal of DADT, while the best Obama has been able to do for gay rights is file a brief that doesn't say that legalization of gay marriage leads to pedophilia. Congratulations, Mr. President!

The brief, which is the second Obama has filed in reply to DOMA since he took office seven months ago, once again gives the president the opportunity to pass the buck to Congress.

The Associated Press reports:

"The administration believes the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be repealed," said Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler, because it prevents equal rights and benefits.

The Justice Department, she added, is obligated "to defend federal statutes when they are challenged in court. The Justice Department cannot pick and choose which federal laws it will defend based on any one administration's policy preferences."

Yahoo News reports:

Monday's court filing was in response to a lawsuit by Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, who are challenging the federal law, which prevents couples in states that recognize same-sex unions from securing Social Security spousal benefits, filing joint taxes and benefiting from other federal rights connected to marriage.

Justice lawyers have argued that the act is constitutional and contend that awarding federal marriage benefits to gays would infringe on the rights of taxpayers in the 30 states that specifically prohibit same-sex marriages.

While the most horrifying part of the situation is that Obama is still completely failing to take any action on GLBT issues, it is also shocking that no media outlets seem to be calling him out on his puppetry. Headlines are positive, and none of the so-called journalistic watchdogs are even raising an eyebrow at whether Obama's intentions actually have any muscle behind them. People: intent is not the same as actual legislation!

We're all in the same boat hoping that Obama's campaign critics weren't right, and that there's no shoulder behind the powerful rhetoric and charm, but so far, we're still waiting to see Obama really make a push for gay issues.

Read more of Air America's coverage of Obama and the GLBT community.

Iran Elections: Quit Turning Your Twitter Avatars Green and Do Something

2009-06-23T17:30:00-04:00

If you've been on the Internet in the last week and a half, you've know: Green is the hot new color. Twitter avatars, Facebook profile pictures, Web site logos...Iran's Sea of Green has taken over the Internet. It's a well-intentioned fad, but a fad nonetheless, and it's time for it to end.

The amount of noise generated on the Internet has reached a deafening peak, and, quite frankly, it's about time everyone shut up or did something useful. If you're wondering what useful is not, take a look at your Twitter feed. As painful as it may be to admit, no lives are being saved, and no change is being made by adding a green overlay to your online presence, as made popular by the HelpIranElection.com movement. The site boasts that you can "add a green overlay with 1-click!" and that "over 160,000 people have joined! You can too!"

One click is too easy. One click is not one life saved, one dollar donated, not one ounce of difference made. One click is nothing at all.

Like the LiveStrong wristbands, the Iran post-election protest has become a fashionable cause, a Miss America-style way of showing that you really, really care, when for the most part, people know nothing about the underlying causes and history of Iran's unrest, who the candidates were, why it's so bad that some dude whose name they can only pronounce by dint of the mnemonic device "I'mADinnerJacket" won the election, or why the numbers the Iranian government is putting out are totally implausible bullshit.

At least when people bought those stupid wristbands, a buck went to fighting cancer.

Those outside Iran have had a visceral reaction to the images and reports coming out of Iran. Our feelings can best be summed up in the words of a commenter on Jezebel's post of the video of Neda, a young Iranian woman whose horrifyingly graphic death, bleeding out in the streets of Tehran has become a symbol of the movement: "Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck."

As President Barack Obama said in his press conference Tuesday, it's a heartbreaking situation.

So instead of empty gestures and hashtags, why don't we actually engage in some activism and help, instead of whispering about this like some kind of neighborhood scandal that will never catch up to us because it's an ocean away?

There's always the option of an online donation to a relief agency like Red Crescent, for something immediate and helpful. The world runs on money and blood (as the events in Iran over the last week and a half have so morosely reminded us), and America is too far away to donate the blood that the wounded in Iran so desperately need.

You can also make donations to those covering the ongoing protests and violence, like Tehran Bureau, which is run by an Iranian-emigre out of a house in Newton, Massachusetts and is in need of financial support to keep the site live and bandwidth plentiful. Reliable information is harder and harder to come by, already 24 journalists have been arrested in Iran, and the majority of the rest have been forced out of the country by expired visas and government intimidation.

Don't have cash? There are ways you can help for free without ever leaving your computer. You can create a proxy or Twitter relay to help keep those ever-important Iranian Twitterers connected and informing the world about the situation in Iran. Or change your location and time zone to match Iran, in hopes of tripping up government censors looking for active sources.

If you're more diplomatically-inclined, and looking toward the long term, write a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council and urge them to take action on international election standards and protection for citizens.

Above all, the thing you must do before any difference can be made is to inform yourself. The term "knowledge is power" wouldn't be repeated so much if it wasn't true. So spend some time reading the news, know what the hell you're talking about, and go out and tell someone else about it, and how they can help.

Just, for the love of God, don't think that turning your Twitter avatar green is going to help anything.

Originally posted at Air America Media.

Starbucks Offers Better Same-Sex Medical Benefits Than Obama

2009-06-18T13:23:15-04:00

Originally posted at Air America Media.

What's the difference between an 18-year-old girl slinging lattes 30 hours a week at Starbucks for $5 an hour and a middle-aged man who has put in years behind a desk working for their country? Well, other than a potential latte-quality divide, the difference is this: If both of those people happened to be married to a person of the same gender, one of them would get medical benefits. The part-time, minimum wage 18-year-old barista's wife would get better benefits than the civil servant's husband.

An administration official last night leaked that President Barack Obama would be signing an executive memorandum granting some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees at 5:45 p.m. today. The problem, however, is that stipulations in the Defense of Marriage Act -- which Obama's Department of Justice issued a memo in support of just last week -- prevent same-sex couples from being granted full benefits. More likely, the memo will allot them some relocation expenses paid, or some other paltry flail toward positive change. Additionally, the minimal change Obama can mandate by order of a memorandum becomes null and void the moment his term as president is over.

If this hadn't come without such a fight, it could be considered a miniscule victory. As it is, the marginal benefits Obama is likely to offer seem like a dismissive nod toward one of the domographics who helped elect him and have been repaid with one snub after another.

In addition to the blows on DOMA, Don't Ask Don't Tell and immigration, Obama is clearly looking to pick up points before Vice President Joe Biden attends the Democratic National Convention fundraiser meant to ply cash from gay and lesbian Democrats on June 25. One by one, high-profile gay names are pulling out of attending the $1,000-per-plate fundraiser, citing the president's support of DOMA as their reason. No rights, no respect, no cash for the party, they say. Obama is grasping at straws trying to save face and win back the wallets of his gay constituency.

For an allegedly progressive president, it sure is strange that a chain coffee company treats its gay and lesbian employees with more respect and equality than does the federal government.

If you want their money and their service, President Obama, why don't you give the gays some equality?

Originally posted at Air America Media.

The Iranian Revolution Will Not Be Televised -- It'll Be Twittered

2009-06-16T17:30:55-04:00

As protests of Friday's Iranian election and the victory proclamation by incumbent President Ahmadinejad rolls on for another day, one thing has become abundantly clear: tomorrow's newspaper is too late. Now that press have been all but escorted out of Iran, the world's news is coming minute-by-minute from the little micro-blogging (some say ego-stroking) site that could: Twitter.

Founded in 2006, Twitter now boasts millions of users, and according to Nielsen grew 1382 percent in the month of February alone. Previously written off as a tool for inane thoughts (my leg itches, what should I have for dinner, etc.), Twitter has emerged from its adolescence as an outlet for instantly sharing information with thousands (millions, countless numbers) of people.

Under the hashtag #iranelection, Twitter users have been both giving updates about the events unfolding in the Middle East (see a partial list of people tweeting from Iran) and people discussing the election and protests. The conditions in Tehran are worsening, and Twitter is literally the only way to consistently release information.

Twitter has become so crucial in current events that when scheduled maintenance to the site was supposed to happen Monday night, someone at the U.S. State Department called Twitter to ask that they reschedule it and not cut off one of the only channels of communication out of the country, especially after other Web sites, newspapers and phone service had been hacked or shut down.

People are using Twitter not only to update others about times and places for protests (tomorrow there will be a pro-Moussavi protest in Haft Teer Square at 4 p.m., protesters will bring flowers to give to the Basij) or to give information about the things they are seeing, but also to check in on one another. Iranian Twitter user persiankiwi has sent hundreds of messages from secret locations for days straight as well as updates before going to bed or going offline so that people don't worry that he or she is injured or dead when the stream of messages stops. ABC correspondent Jim Sciutto is in Iran and sent a message this morning that he was "up & all safe" after someone worried that he hadn't updated in a few hours.

Since Twitter is the only first-hand reporting we're going to see out of Iran for a while, it's a good idea to be familiar with some guidelines for digesting news over Twitter. The news is short-term, but it's already becoming clear that the implications of this revolution (both Iranian and Twitter) will be long-lasting. Will the next war be the first where reporting via text messaging becomes the norm?

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" first popped up in the 1970s, but surely, at least for now, the revolution will be Twittered.

See more of Air America's Iran election coverage.

This post originally appeared at Air America Media.