Envelope Emmy Week: Christina Hendricks on her character's relationship with 'Mad Men's' Roger Sterling

When, oh, when will "Mad Men's" Roger Sterling and Joan Harris get their acts together and become a real, legitimate couple? The fact that they are each married to other people is a stumbling block, sure, but series creator Matthew Weiner and the other writers are pretty capable of surprising twists.

In an Envelope Screening Series panel on Tuesday night, Christina Hendricks, who plays Joan, didn't go so far as to say she hopes the two characters get together, but she did note that "they have a lot of history and a very, very deep relationship." See what else she had to say in the clip below and check back in for other clips from the event.

 

— Elena Howe

Envelope Emmy Week: 'Mad Men' creator Matthew Weiner takes us inside the show (Video)

The "Beautiful Girls" episode of "Mad Men" is creator Matthew Weiner's tribute to women -- from little Sally Draper running off to the city all by herself, to Don Draper's relationship with Dr. Faye Miller, to his elderly secretary Miss Blankenship. Poor Miss Blankenship. She died how she lived, answering phones for the people she worked for. Yet, oddly, it was her rather comedic demise, Weiner says, and her remembrances by Bert Cooper, that made up the "emotional core" of the episode. See what else Weiner had to say at the Envelope Emmy Week screening on Tuesday night. And check back in for more clips to come.

 

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 Envelope Emmy Week: 'Mad Men's' Jon Hamm offers a glimpse inside Don Draper

--Elena Howe

Envelope Emmy Week: 'Mad Men's' Jon Hamm offers a glimpse inside Don Draper (video)

"Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner was joined by cast members Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks and Kiernan Shipka in an Envelope Q&A session on Tuesday night. Asked about Don Draper's inner workings, Hamm had to admit that the advertising whiz is "fundamentally flawed." His life is based on a lie, Hamm says of his character, and while he tries to change who he is and how he operates, he fails to make much progress. Take a look at the excerpt below of the hourlong discussion and check back often for further clips.

-- Elena Howe

 

Envelope Emmy Week: Screening series and roundtables kick off the season

With the Emmy race poised to shift into high gear, the Los Angeles Times will kick things off with Envelope Emmy Week -- five days of television series screenings, cast Q&As and roundtable panels beginning June 1. 

Matt Weiner's "Mad Men" will launch the screening series programming as stars Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks and Kiernan Shipka join creator and executive producer Weiner for a lively discussion about the turns the AMC series took last season -- the new agency's in trouble, Don Draper's remarrying(!), Joan is pregnant and Sally, well Sally's growing up awfully fast.   

On June 2, William H. Macy and the cast of Showtime's "Shameless" will screen the series and talk about what could be television's most dysfunctional family ever, or maybe just its worst father ever.

Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins and the rest of the "Justified" gang gather on June 6 to take us behind the scenes of the highly acclaimed show about the U.S. marshal.

Emmy week continues on June 7 and 8 with two roundtables. Up first is Alternative Families in which an eclectic mix of actors will look at what "family" means on TV these days -- from biker gangs to vampire kingdoms -- and how their on-screen relationships help them and challenge them as actors.

The Geek TV roundtable on June 8 will look at the pop culture impact of shows that target the fanboy audience, as well as characters who embrace their geek status as a badge of honor.

After each panel, check back on Awards Tracker for video highlights of the night's discussions.

Guild members can get additional details and RSVP to attend any of the events at http://events.latimes.com/envelope/.

-- Elena Howe

Top photo: Jon Hamm as Don Draper. Credit: AMC

Bottom photo: Timothy Olyphant as U.S Marshal Raylan Givens. Credit: FX

Envelope Screening Series: 'Made in Dagenham'

Sally Hawkins ("Happy-Go-Lucky") discusses playing Rita O'Grady, the reluctant leader of the 187 women machinists of Dagenham, England, who went on strike in 1968 demanding equal pay with their male equivalents. Hawkins was lucky enough to meet some of the fine women of Dagenham, who still live in their hometown and don't seem particularly impressed with all the attention that's been showered upon them. She also found some unlikely parallels between her character's struggle and those still being had by women today in the movie business.

--Nicole Sperling

Related:

Envelope Screening Series: 'Biutiful'

Envelope Screening Series: 'The King's Speech'

Envelope Screening Series: 'The Kids Are All Right'

Envelope Screening Series: 'Black Swan'

Envelope Screening Series: Bringing 'Another Year' to the screen

'Tangled': Mandy Moore, Alan Menken unravel some of the back story

James Franco and Simon Beaufoy on making '127 Hours'

Behind the scenes with the 'Toy Story 3' filmmakers

Envelope Screening Series: 'Biutiful'

When Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu cast Javier Bardem in "Biutiful," a narrative about death and fatherhood, the Spanish actor knew he was signing on for an emotionally draining role. "I died of cancer like 50 times," Bardem said. In a recent screening for the Envelope and in the video above, Bardem and Innaritu find hope and humor in dark places.

--Rebecca Keegan

twitter.com/@thatrebecca

 

Related:

Sean Penn leads charge for 'Biutiful' awards recognition

Envelope Screening Series: 'The King's Speech'

Envelope Screening Series: 'The Kids Are All Right'

Envelope Screening Series: 'Black Swan'

Envelope Screening Series: Bringing 'Another Year' to the screen

'Tangled': Mandy Moore, Alan Menken unravel some of the back story

James Franco and Simon Beaufoy on making '127 Hours'

Behind the scenes with the 'Toy Story 3' filmmakers

Envelope Screening Series: 'The King's Speech'

“The King’s Speech” hasn’t been short of luck — some of it good, some of it bad.

In the fortunate column, director Tom Hooper was presented with the movie’s idea by his mother, who by happenstance saw a staged reading of a play about a stuttering monarch and his speech therapist.

Less providential was the R-rating assigned the film by the Motion Picture Assn. of America, whose ratings board decided the uplifting drama about King George VI deserved the same restrictive rating for its use of a curse word in therapy as, say, “Saw 3D.”

In a recent showing of “The King’s Speech” for the Envelope Screening Series, Hooper and composer Alexandre Desplat talked about the film’s making and its music, and how fate shaped its progress.

--John Horn

Related:

Envelope Screening Series: 'The Kids Are All Right'

Envelope Screening Series: 'Black Swan'

Envelope Screening Series: Bringing 'Another Year' to the screen

'Tangled': Mandy Moore, Alan Menken unravel some of the back story

James Franco and Simon Beaufoy on making '127 Hours'

Behind the scenes with the 'Toy Story 3' filmmakers

Envelope Screening Series: 'The Kids Are All Right'

Ever since it first premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, “The Kids Are All Right” has been nothing so much as one of the year’s real conversation starters.  At once a fun, kicky film that plays like a contemporary comedy of manners, “Kids” is also a more serious look at what constitutes the modern family, the connections that bind people together regardless of the configuration. The film tells the story of Nic and Jules (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore), a longtime couple in Los Angeles whose lives of quietly strained domesticity are thrown into total upheaval when their two teenage children secretly meet their sperm donor father (Mark Ruffalo). Complications of home and heart ensue.

 

Having gone on to be one of the unqualified indie hits of the summer, “The Kids Are All Right” is making a run at awards season. After a recent screening for The Envelope, director and co-writer Lisa Cholodenko, co-writer Stuart Blumberg and stars Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo sat down to talk about the film.

Related:

Envelope Screening Series: 'Black Swan'

Envelope Screening Series: Bringing 'Another Year' to the screen

'Tangled': Mandy Moore, Alan Menken unravel some of the back story

James Franco and Simon Beaufoy on making '127 Hours'

Behind the scenes with the 'Toy Story 3' filmmakers

Envelope Screening Series: 'Black Swan'

Many filmmakers have made supernatural horror movies. A smaller group has made films set in the ballet world. But very few directors have tried both at the same time.

That's the cinematic challenge undertaken by Darren Aronofsky in his new film "Black Swan." Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a talented ballet dancer preparing for a starring turn in "Swan Lake," under the thumb of her reproachful mother (Barbara Hershey). Lily (Mila Kunis) is Nina's free-spirited rival -- or is she simply a manifestation of Nina's subconscious? Aronofsky creates a Gothic mood piece that's equal part character study, baroque scarefest and graceful dance movie.

The director and his cast sat down to talk about their experience making the movie (a choice moment not seen in the video had Portman admitting, to laughter from the audience, that she "wasn't aware" she was making a horror film while she was shooting it). Check out this video for more thoughts from Aronofsky and his actors on their genre-bending fall picture.

--Steven Zeitchik

twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

 

Related:

Envelope Screening Series: Bringing 'Another Year' to the screen

'Tangled': Mandy Moore, Alan Menken unravel some of the back story

James Franco and Simon Beaufoy on making '127 Hours'

Behind the scenes with the 'Toy Story 3' filmmakers

 

'Tangled': Mandy Moore, Alan Menken unravel some of the back story

 

Disney's "Tangled" turns the damsel-in-distress story of Rapunzel on its head. In this version of the classic fairy tale, the princess does most of the rescuing, all with the help of her 70 feet of hair.

At a recent screening for The Envelope, and in the video above, Mandy Moore, the voice of Rapunzel, and "Tangled" composer Alan Menken talked about updating the Rapunzel story for modern audiences.

--Rebecca Keegan