Eeeeeeeeeeh!!!
Nov. 9th, 2006 06:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ourdramaqueenGot all excited when I opened a newsletter mail from A&E just now - they have a first page up for Wedding Wars on their website! *bounce* In case you're going bzuh, it's that TV movie I talked about a while ago which stars John Stamos as a gay wedding planner, and Sean Maher as his boyfriend! *whimper*
*cough* Anyway, when you are a member of the A&E club (which is only possible for US residents, but who said I needed to give them my real address...? *cough*), you can get access to an interview with John Stamos where they talk about the movie a bit. Nothing about Sean, but I've copy/pasted the whole thing anyway, in case someone's interested/a John Stamos fan. I'll copy the WW relevant bits over to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
seanmaher.
A conversation with Wedding Wars star John Stamos
http://club.aetv.com/biofile_john_stamos.cfm?pageid=542
John Stamos, star of the A&E Original Movie Wedding Wars, doesn’t deny it: When he began his career in show business, his motives were entirely selfish.
“I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to get girls and make money,” he admits. “I wanted to be famous. That was my initial goal.”
He got all the money, girls, and fame he wanted thanks to starring roles in such TV shows as General Hospital (1983–84) and Full House (1987–95). But since then, Stamos has reexamined his priorities.
“Now I love acting for the craft of it,” he says. “It’s taken me a while to embrace what’s really important, which is communicating ideas and emotions, but I think I’ve finally gotten there.”
In other words, Stamos, 43, who recently joined the cast of ER, has grown up.
Perhaps that’s why he connected so strongly with his character in Wedding Wars. Stamos plays a gay wedding-planner who leads a blissfully frivolous life. But once he becomes the focus of the gay marriage debate, he quickly matures.
“I love my character and I love the journey he makes,” Stamos says. “In the beginning, he’s a spontaneous, crazy guy who shoots from the hip and doesn’t think about anything he says or does. By the end, he still shoots from the hip, but there’s now a point and a purpose to what he says and does.”
We recently chatted with Stamos about his life, career, and involvement in Wedding Wars, which premieres on A&E Monday, December 11 at 9pm/8C.
What led you to this movie?
“Actually, the producers, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, are friends of mine. I produced two movies with them [The Beach Boys: An American Family in 2000 and Martin and Lewis in 2002]. They’re great guys and kind of my showbiz mentors, if you will. They’ve made so many great movies, including Chicago. They came to me with this. And it’s a really smart, funny script, so I didn’t hesitate.”
It is interesting how the script starts with a dispute between brothers and escalates into a nationwide crusade regarding gay marriage.
“Exactly. I play this gay character whose brother is marrying the governor’s daughter. The brothers have always had issues with each other because my character is gay. But the bride and groom ask my character to plan the wedding, kind of to patch up things between them. And I do and it’s great. But about a week before the wedding, the governor goes on television and says he’s against gay marriage. And my character flips out and goes on strike right before the wedding. At first, it’s kind of a joke. But gradually the whole country gets on his bandwagon and all the gays and lesbians in the United States go on strike and the whole country is immobilized.”
Is this an important issue to you?
“I think it’s an important message, what the movie has to say about gay marriage rights. But it’s also a brother story. And it’s also a romantic comedy. Which is to say it’s also a very entertaining movie. It’s a fun way to deal with a serious issue. What’s the expression? A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. Not that civil rights is such an awful medicine, but it’s still important that the movie doesn’t hit you over the head with a political agenda.”
Have you ever played a gay character before?
“I did Cabaret [on Broadway in 2002, playing the emcee]. The emcee was gay. He was gay and then some!”
What do you hope viewers will take away from the movie?
“If it makes people think, if it inspires somebody to get politically involved, or simply if it makes someone rethink their position, I’d be really happy about that. But mostly I just hope people are entertained by the movie.”
Once you finished Wedding Wars, you went to work on ER. How is life as a TV doctor treating you?
“I love the show, and I love everybody on it. I feel wanted, and I feel I can do something interesting as part of that group. I was saying to someone the other day, ‘You’ve got to come to work on that show with your “A” game. You have to bring your best acting.’ You also have to bring your humility, because they are all great actors on that show, yet they’re the most humble actors I’ve ever been around. And you have to bring your concentration, because there’s a lot of medical stuff and technical things to master. Fortunately, they have doctors on the set all the time, so they’re on your every move. They’ll correct you if you do it the wrong way. ‘Do it this way. Say it that way.’ I wish I had somebody to help me in that way with everyday life, someone to tell me what to do and say.”
Of all the roles you’ve had in your career, which meant the most to you?
“Theater. Every show that I’ve done onstage has been the best time of my life. And it’s been the most rewarding. Cabaret was my favorite. I walked away a different person, absolutely different, and better, after every performance—and certainly a better actor. It’s life-changing, doing theater.”
Your other passion is music. You’ve been a drummer for the Beach Boys off and on for more than 20 years. What turned you on to the Beach Boys? And how did you wind up playing with them?
“The Beach Boys were the first concert I ever went to as a kid. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be great if the drummer broke his arm and they came out and asked if anybody could play with them?’ That didn’t happen, of course, but somehow I ended up meeting them later and they let me play a couple of shows with them. I was on TV and a kind of semi-celebrity already, so that’s probably why they let me. And then one thing led to another. I jumped on the road with them for a while. That was back in ’82 or ’83. And the amazing thing is, it’s still surreal every time I play with them. I swear, every time, to this day, I have to pinch myself and say, ‘I’m playing with the Beach Boys.’ It’s that childhood fantasy I had coming true.”
Do have a master plan for life and career? Or do you kind of make it up as you go along?
“You try to make a plan, but it never works. Somebody said, ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans for the next five years.’ Although I do know that I’ll probably retire at some point soon. I mean, I’m happy now. I’m happier than I’ve ever been about work. I love the new show. I love the movie. I’ve really started to get focused in the last few years in my work. But if I can make any kind of plan, it’s that I’d like to retire when I’m 50 or so.”
And then do what?
“I want to go live in Australia or Greece and open a little restaurant and play music. I’m going to have a place on the beach. It’s going to be free beer for girls on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And then free beer and shrimp for girls on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I’ll hire Shel [the gay party-planner character from Wedding Wars] to make all the arrangements. And on Sunday, we’ll be closed. That’s the only long-term plan I have at the moment.”
—Tracy Boggs
*cough* Anyway, when you are a member of the A&E club (which is only possible for US residents, but who said I needed to give them my real address...? *cough*), you can get access to an interview with John Stamos where they talk about the movie a bit. Nothing about Sean, but I've copy/pasted the whole thing anyway, in case someone's interested/a John Stamos fan. I'll copy the WW relevant bits over to
seanmaher.A conversation with Wedding Wars star John Stamos
http://club.aetv.com/biofile_john_stamos.cfm?pageid=542
John Stamos, star of the A&E Original Movie Wedding Wars, doesn’t deny it: When he began his career in show business, his motives were entirely selfish.
“I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to get girls and make money,” he admits. “I wanted to be famous. That was my initial goal.”
He got all the money, girls, and fame he wanted thanks to starring roles in such TV shows as General Hospital (1983–84) and Full House (1987–95). But since then, Stamos has reexamined his priorities.
“Now I love acting for the craft of it,” he says. “It’s taken me a while to embrace what’s really important, which is communicating ideas and emotions, but I think I’ve finally gotten there.”
In other words, Stamos, 43, who recently joined the cast of ER, has grown up.
Perhaps that’s why he connected so strongly with his character in Wedding Wars. Stamos plays a gay wedding-planner who leads a blissfully frivolous life. But once he becomes the focus of the gay marriage debate, he quickly matures.
“I love my character and I love the journey he makes,” Stamos says. “In the beginning, he’s a spontaneous, crazy guy who shoots from the hip and doesn’t think about anything he says or does. By the end, he still shoots from the hip, but there’s now a point and a purpose to what he says and does.”
We recently chatted with Stamos about his life, career, and involvement in Wedding Wars, which premieres on A&E Monday, December 11 at 9pm/8C.
What led you to this movie?
“Actually, the producers, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, are friends of mine. I produced two movies with them [The Beach Boys: An American Family in 2000 and Martin and Lewis in 2002]. They’re great guys and kind of my showbiz mentors, if you will. They’ve made so many great movies, including Chicago. They came to me with this. And it’s a really smart, funny script, so I didn’t hesitate.”
It is interesting how the script starts with a dispute between brothers and escalates into a nationwide crusade regarding gay marriage.
“Exactly. I play this gay character whose brother is marrying the governor’s daughter. The brothers have always had issues with each other because my character is gay. But the bride and groom ask my character to plan the wedding, kind of to patch up things between them. And I do and it’s great. But about a week before the wedding, the governor goes on television and says he’s against gay marriage. And my character flips out and goes on strike right before the wedding. At first, it’s kind of a joke. But gradually the whole country gets on his bandwagon and all the gays and lesbians in the United States go on strike and the whole country is immobilized.”
Is this an important issue to you?
“I think it’s an important message, what the movie has to say about gay marriage rights. But it’s also a brother story. And it’s also a romantic comedy. Which is to say it’s also a very entertaining movie. It’s a fun way to deal with a serious issue. What’s the expression? A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. Not that civil rights is such an awful medicine, but it’s still important that the movie doesn’t hit you over the head with a political agenda.”
Have you ever played a gay character before?
“I did Cabaret [on Broadway in 2002, playing the emcee]. The emcee was gay. He was gay and then some!”
What do you hope viewers will take away from the movie?
“If it makes people think, if it inspires somebody to get politically involved, or simply if it makes someone rethink their position, I’d be really happy about that. But mostly I just hope people are entertained by the movie.”
Once you finished Wedding Wars, you went to work on ER. How is life as a TV doctor treating you?
“I love the show, and I love everybody on it. I feel wanted, and I feel I can do something interesting as part of that group. I was saying to someone the other day, ‘You’ve got to come to work on that show with your “A” game. You have to bring your best acting.’ You also have to bring your humility, because they are all great actors on that show, yet they’re the most humble actors I’ve ever been around. And you have to bring your concentration, because there’s a lot of medical stuff and technical things to master. Fortunately, they have doctors on the set all the time, so they’re on your every move. They’ll correct you if you do it the wrong way. ‘Do it this way. Say it that way.’ I wish I had somebody to help me in that way with everyday life, someone to tell me what to do and say.”
Of all the roles you’ve had in your career, which meant the most to you?
“Theater. Every show that I’ve done onstage has been the best time of my life. And it’s been the most rewarding. Cabaret was my favorite. I walked away a different person, absolutely different, and better, after every performance—and certainly a better actor. It’s life-changing, doing theater.”
Your other passion is music. You’ve been a drummer for the Beach Boys off and on for more than 20 years. What turned you on to the Beach Boys? And how did you wind up playing with them?
“The Beach Boys were the first concert I ever went to as a kid. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be great if the drummer broke his arm and they came out and asked if anybody could play with them?’ That didn’t happen, of course, but somehow I ended up meeting them later and they let me play a couple of shows with them. I was on TV and a kind of semi-celebrity already, so that’s probably why they let me. And then one thing led to another. I jumped on the road with them for a while. That was back in ’82 or ’83. And the amazing thing is, it’s still surreal every time I play with them. I swear, every time, to this day, I have to pinch myself and say, ‘I’m playing with the Beach Boys.’ It’s that childhood fantasy I had coming true.”
Do have a master plan for life and career? Or do you kind of make it up as you go along?
“You try to make a plan, but it never works. Somebody said, ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans for the next five years.’ Although I do know that I’ll probably retire at some point soon. I mean, I’m happy now. I’m happier than I’ve ever been about work. I love the new show. I love the movie. I’ve really started to get focused in the last few years in my work. But if I can make any kind of plan, it’s that I’d like to retire when I’m 50 or so.”
And then do what?
“I want to go live in Australia or Greece and open a little restaurant and play music. I’m going to have a place on the beach. It’s going to be free beer for girls on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And then free beer and shrimp for girls on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I’ll hire Shel [the gay party-planner character from Wedding Wars] to make all the arrangements. And on Sunday, we’ll be closed. That’s the only long-term plan I have at the moment.”
—Tracy Boggs
