Did you hear the one about the Polish hit man (Sir Ben Kingsley) who gets sent from Buffalo to San Francisco to sober up? That’s the nutshell plot of John Dahl’s You Kill Me, a return to the off-kilter crime tales of his earlier independents The Last Seduction and Red Rock West. Tea Leoni doesn’t just play the flinty-yet-flirty San Francisco saleswoman who falls for Kingsley; she also came on board the film as a producer. Dahl and Leoni spoke with Cinematical in San Francisco about low-budget film making, scene-stealing and other petty larcenies.
Cinematical: Your previous film, The Great Raid was a effects-heavy period piece set during World War II; was part of the appeal of doing You Kill Me being able to do something more modern-day and not smaller in scope but less arduous on a production level?
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Tea Leoni’s interview with Moving Pictures Magazine at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival is featured as the special Video of the Week on the magazine’s website. Leoni is fun and expressive as she talks about working with Ben Kingsley on the film, You Kill Me.
You can see Leoni featured on the main page here:
www.movingpicturesmagazine.com
The video is part of a series of questions she answered from the festival that you can find here:
www.movingpicturesmagazine.com/videoaudio/mpminterviews/TeaLeoni
Head over to wbztv.com to watch a interview of Tea talking with Sunday’s Liz Walker about her work with UNICEF.
From PEOPLE [March 26 issue]
TEA LEONI: “Lipshitz 6, or Two Angry Blondes by T Cooper and The Echo Maker [by Richard Powers]. I like to have a few going at a time. Lipshitz is a great tale: Echo Maker is stunning.”
Hollywood honey - and UNICEF goodwill ambassador - Tea Leoni
says she doesn’t mind when United Nations earth mother Angelina Jolie is mistaken for working for the UN’s global children’s charity.
“Not that I mind when people make that mistake,” the actress said at a UNICEF fundraiser in the Back Bay last night. “Angelina Jolie is a good example of someone who really puts her time into bettering the lives of so many children.
“What I don’t understand is the media’s criticism (of Jolie’s) involvement in humanitarian aide and why they question her motives and sincerity,” said Tea. “It’s like, ‘Who cares?’ She’s doing a good job and putting so much of her time and money in the causes.”
And Leoni knows something about that. Her grandmother, silent screen star Helenka Pantaleoni, co-founded what would become the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in 1947 and then served as its president for 25 years. While the “Fun with Dick and Jane” star has officially served as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF since 2001, she said the family’s legacy has been with her since childhood.
UNICEF “has always been so much a part of my life beyond trick-or-treating,” the 41-year-old comedian said. “I spoke on behalf of my grandmother at events many times - I think once in Boston.”
But it was after she married “X Files” actor David Duchovny and had kids, Madelaine West, 7, and son, Kyd Miller, 4, that she decided to take a more active role in the organization.
Having children changes everything and it was my position as a mother that made me really raise the intensity level of my involvement,” she said. “I really look forward to when my daughter is old enough to come into the field with me.”
Leoni, who summers in South Dartmouth, was hosted last night by local actress and indie movie producer Christy Scott Cashman at her fine home in the Back Bay.
Apart from setting up last night’s charity event, Cashman has been busy gearing up for next Saturday’s John Hancock Hall premiere of her latest film, “Kettle of Fish,” in which she appears with indie star Matthew Modine.
