“I’m kind of pedestrian in my movie taste. I like to be entertained,” a refreshingly honest Maria Bello confesses while on the set of her latest film.
“If I read a script and if I find it moving, if I find it has great people and a wonderful director and it’s well-written and it’s a wonderful part, it doesn’t matter if it’s a comedy or action or drama.”
While she’s taken on roles in films as diverse as “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” “Coyote Ugly” and “A History of Violence,” perhaps Bello’s talent will shine brightest in one of her smaller projects, “Downloading Nancy,” which is set to open this weekend.
Guttural, unnerving and raw, Bello’s character in the film, Nancy, battles an addiction to self-harm within the confines of her loveless marriage in the suburbs.
Unable to handle the trauma of her past, Nancy takes to the Internet to find help for an assisted suicide. There she finds Louis, who promises to carry out the murder during a sexual encounter.
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired US rights to Udayan Prasad’s The Yellow Handkerchief.
Oscar winner Arthur Cohn produced the film, loosely based on a Pete Hamill short story adapted by Erin Dignam.
William Hurt, Maria Bello, Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne star in the drama about strangers from two generations who reach out for companionship during a road trip through post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana.
Samuel Goldwyn Films plans an autumn/winter release.
Lots of new stuff has popped up recently! To start with, we have the first 3 stills of Maria in The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee (pictured alongside Blake Lively who I believe plays the young Pippa Lee) and 3 posters for Downloading Nancy which is getting a limited US release in a couple of weeks (let’s hope Maria attends a premiere for it!). Maria was spotted on the set of Grown Ups in Boston 10 days ago, and I’ve added a photo of that.
And I’ve caught up on all the new appearance photos, all of which were charity-related events.
Film screencaptures and those remaining 2008 appearance photos are coming up next …
Salma Hayek was hard to miss this weekend. The “Frida” actress and her husband, Puma CEO Francois-Henri Pinault, were at the Fan Pier Saturday as the around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race resumed. The two then stopped by Kings, where Adam Sandler and his “Grown Ups” costars Chris Rock, David Spade, Maria Bello, and Kevin James kicked off the movie shoot with a family-friendly shindig. While some guests chowed on pulled-pork sliders and pizza, Sandler, James, and Steffiana de la Cruz, wife of “The King of Queens” star, bowled a few frames with their kids. Bello, meanwhile, was playing video games with her son Jackson and boyfriend Dan McDermott. (Hayek and Pinault brought their daughter Valentia Paloma.) Also there was director Dennis Dugan, producers Barry Bernardi and Jack Giarraputo, and actor Jonathan Loughran. The movie is set to start shooting today (May 18th) in Southborough.
As previously reported, Maria is featured on the cover of the May/June issue of Philadelphia Style magazine, and the interview and accompanying photos have now been posted on the magazine’s official site! The photoshoot is a new one, and is absolutely gorgeous! *wow* View the photos in our Gallery and click Read the full story » to read the full interview. Hopefully we will have scans of the magazine soon …
The Good Life For Norristown native and Hollywood actress Maria Bello, living well means loving deeply, giving back, and visiting Philly as often as she can.
For many people, there’s nothing like returning to old familiar places to reconnect with oneself and take stock of life. For Maria Bello, those sacred spots are Philly and the Jersey Shore. “We go to Sea Isle City,” she says. “We’ve been going there for years, and my family used to own this pizza place [down the Shore] called the Charcoal House. My son, he’s eight years old, and he loves seeing his grammy and poppop, and all his aunts and uncles and Philly cousins.”
Family ties, she says, have always been this strong. Bello, a grad of Archbishop Carroll and Villanova, grew up in Norristown in a tight-knit Polish-Italian clan, the daughter of a construction worker dad and a teacher mom. One of four children, she was on the varsity cheerleading team at Carroll, majored in political science at Villanova, and had dreams of going to law school. By her account, it was a joyful childhood made special by a close community and solid bonds.
We did report this a few weeks ago, and provide you with the first set photos from this movie, but now the big news agencies have got the story as well, plus a few more details
Variety says that Maria Bello and Craig T. Nelson have joined the cast of writer/director John Wells’ The Company Men.
The drama, starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones and Ben Affleck, is about the impact that a corporate downsizing has on both its casualties and survivors.
Affleck plays a corporate hotshot whose Porsche and six-figure salary vanish after he gets laid off. Costner plays his brother-in-law, a salt-of-the-earth drywall installer who gives him a construction job.
Jones plays a senior partner in the firm, a principled man who struggles with the greedy actions of his partners.
Bello will play the vice president of human resources, who is forced to fire Affleck’s character. Nelson plays the CEO of the global conglomerate.
From pegasusnews.com: It was great getting out to the opening night of the USA Film Festival on Wednesday at the Angelika. I arrived on the leading edge of a thunderstorm that must have carried on storming for much of the 90 minutes I was inside the theater watching the movie, as it was still drizzling when I emerged.
As mentioned, I was excited about seeing Udayan Prasad’s The Yellow Handkerchief for several reasons - among them the chance to catch a fairly obscure performance from one of my favorite actresses, Maria Bello (seen here at the film’s Jan. 2008 Sundance premiere).
I was not disappointed on this count, as Bello’s screen time proved to be far more extensive than expected, due to the heavy incorporation of flashbacks into the film story.
Said story involves a just-released-from-prison convict named Brett (William Hurt) who ends up driving cross country (well, more like cross state, since they never leave the bottomlands of south central Louisiana) with a pair of outsider teens named Martine (Kristen Stewart) and Gordy (Eddie Redmayne).
A new trailer has been released for Downloading Nancy, plus the official site has been slightly updated and it now includes an official release date - June 5th! No doubt this will be in a very limited number of cinemas in the US, but hopefully some people will be able to see it.
Just from the trailer you can see that Maria’s performance is incredible, and no doubt the best of her career! I’m interested to read more reviews on the film, and of course I can’t wait to watch it myself
Norristown native actress Maria Bello graces the cover of the May/June Philadelphia Style, the mag’s 10th anniversary issue.
In the new issue, Bello, a 2000 Style covergirl, talks about going to a Manayunk tattoo parlor with her dad Joe to get tattoos. Bello got a small Celtic symbol on her hip that means “possession,” while Joe got “the most gigantic tattoo of the Eagles symbol on his arm.” Bello told editor Sarah Schaffer that she was recently back in town for a cousin’s wedding where the whole family did the Mummers strut and sang the Eagles fight song.
The actress will appear in the upcoming “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee,” and has been developing a drama series for HBO.
“The Company Men” ’s first wives club is expanding. We hear that Tony-winning, Lowell-born actress Maryann Plunkett has signed on to play Chris Cooper’s wife in the recession-inspired drama, which has been shooting here (Boston) the past few weeks. UNH grad Plunkett - whose real-life husband, Jay O. Sanders, recently starred in the Huntington Theatre Company’s run of “Two Men of Florence” - joins “Mad Men” star Rosemarie DeWitt (she plays Ben Affleck’s wife) and Maria Bello, who has been filming scenes with Tommy Lee Jones. Bello’s in danger of picking up a Boston accent: She’ll stay in town to film “The Lake House” with Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider. . . . In other “Company” news, Framingham resident Jim Idzal says he and wife Leslie are trying to decide whether to keep renovations made by the film’s crew. Before scenes with Affleck and Kevin Costner were shot at the Idzals’ home last week, the crew made the couple’s living room a dining room, and their dining room a living room. Idzal said he and his wife aren’t opposed to the switch - it’s just confusing. “We moved out for about two weeks because they were redecorating the whole first floor.” Idzal said Costner was the most outgoing of his guests; Mr. “Field of Dreams” took the time to socialize with neighbors and take pictures.
