Kristen Wiig - announces for the Rick Santorum SNL Cold Open

So this is probably only the second time that Andy has starred in a Cold Opening like this! Kristen Wiig announces for him...

Cold Opening - A Message From Rick Santorum

Andy Samberg ... Rick Santorum
Kristen Wiig ... announcer (voice)

Days after nearly winning the Iowa caucus, Rick Santorum talks about taking the rest of his campaign directly to the people in every corner of the country.



Okay. The food he ate (with the prank) was hilarious!

Starting a war with Iran! Nice!

Mormon death squads! Ha!

Grandchildren looking him up on Google! Nice goal!

Wow, I haven't seen a monologue like this in quite awhile. Andy nailed it!

Unfortunately, Kristen only has a short line at the beginning in this one.

Enjoy!

SNL Promo - Daniel Radcliffe & Jason Sudeikis

Daniel hosts an all-new SNL 1/17 with musical guest Lana Del Ray.



Enjoy!

Joanne's Announcement (SNL)

When Joann tells her friends, and lover, she is a lesbian, everyone has a hard time believing her.



Kristen supports.

Well, amusing, but they didn't really know how to end it.

Enjoy!

Kristen Wiig in Chantrix (SNL)

Commercial - Chantix

Bill Hader ... husband
Kristen Wiig ... wife



Hilarious! My favorite Kristen Wiig bit in the show this week!

Enjoy!

Kristen Wiig is Michele Bachmann - SNL Weekend Update

Representative Michele Bachmann stops by to talk to Seth Meyers about ending her campaign for president, and is excited to get some rest.

Truthfully I've never seen an amazing impression of Bachmann. Let's see how Kristen's latest attempt (and one of the last?) pans out...



Enjoy!

Kristen Wiig attends Portlandia premiere! (Photos)

Cute but odd...



"Portlandia" Season 2 Premiere Screening



Actress Kristen Wiig attends the "Portlandia" season 2 premiere screening at the American Museum of Natural History on January 5, 2012 in New York City.

Here's a closeup picture of her face:

Bridesmaids DVD Review: Funny but not as hilarious as advertised

Bridesmaids has a number of moments that show its sheer comedic genius but its also filled with a number of cricket spurring moments.



Bridesmaids is a moderately entertaining, unorthodox commingling of rauchiness, senselessness and zaniness. The film uses an uncommon approach to comedy that is sparsely laced with moments of comedy however, it doesn’t quite measure up to the hype that surrounded it during its stint in the theaters over this past summer. The movie stars Kristen Wiig (Whip It), Mya Randolph (MacGrubber), Rose Byrne (Insidious), Melissa McCarthy (The Back-Up Plan), Chris O’Dowd (Gulliver’s Travels), John Hamm (The Town), and Terry Crews (The Expendables).



Bridesmaids is a humorous, crude farce about the true test of friendship through time and change. The film uses a jocular approach to tell the story of two lifelong friends whose lives have taken two completely contrasting directions. As one has found a happy and healthy relationship, the other’s life has taken a turn in the opposite direction. This is a comedy that is truly a story of a woman that has lost her way in life. Annie (Wiig) is at a crossroads in her professional and personal life but it all boils to a head when her best friend’s life is set to undergo a drastic change. Annie begins to question the bond between the two as it is tested because of change. At the core of this misleading debacle is the warm story of two friends who‘s lives have taken different directions causing the nature of their childhood friendship to change. After Lillian (Randolph) announces her marriage, Annie discovers the relationship between Helen (Byrne) and Lillian. Soon after, a competition for the bride’s friendship develops. A lot of the humor is focused on the budding rivalry between the childhood friend vs. the now current friend. The film revolves around the jealousy that Annie feels towards Helen as she has become Lillian’s seemingly new best friend.

The film maintains a brief flirtation with being funny while it also teeters on being repugnantly boring. It possesses no middle ground in between the two. The comedy within this film will either have you laughing or completely blank. It’s an overrated debacle has some abrupt flashes of comedic genius. However, for every good comedic instance within it, it also contains a good amount of dead spots that hinder the audiences’ enjoyment of the very amusing moments. This movie has some of the more “cricket spurring” comedic occurrences that you will ever witness within a film. Much of the comedy feels forced as many of the scenes drain the humor out of the joke. An example of this happens from the outset where the Annie is having sex with her “sex buddy,” Ted (Hamm). The situation shows some promise but it quickly loses its humorous value as it overdone.

In spite of those dead spots, there are moments that are utterly hilarious that thankfully increase the enjoyment of the film. Scenes such as the “gown fitting” and Annie‘s blow up at the engagement party are easily the two best scenes in the film. The gown fitting scene was without question the best of the two. The sheer unparalleled raunchy nature of the scene is offset by it being so hilarious.



The six female actresses that comprise the roles of the bridesmaids all do an admirable job in trying to increase the comedic value of the film. Kristen Wiig plays Annie, a character who is almost too hopeless to be funny. Wiig’s character of Annie’s destitute situation is similar to a modern day Nathan Fallen (The Jerk), with her sense of haplessness, although no where near as funny. Wiig displays a few shinning moments but comes up short as the focus of the film. The competition between she and Helen (Byrne) which was one of the key points of the film isn’t humorous enough to maintain the audience throughout. Mya Randolph doesn’t display the comedic ability as she has displayed in other films. Melissa McArthy shows some comedic promise as fat chick Megan, Kevin‘s sister. She is the only bridesmaid outside of the trio of stars that each get a extremely brief moment in the spotlight. Each of them have a brief moment or two but the lack of equal screen time made the cast feel mismatched.

If there ever has been a comedy that was over-hyped then this it. The hype that surrounded this film completely killed it for me. Bridesmaids isn’t nearly as funny as advertised. The movie uses a number of edgy, raunchy moments in an attempt to spark a response. It has some moments of comedic genius however it isn’t even close to being the uproarious outing that it has been made to be as too many of them fail to hit the mark. Much of the comedy within it is an acquired taste with little to no middle ground. Either you’ll like it or you don’t. It lacks the true universal comedic appeal to entertain everyone. It was difficult to view this film without prejudging it because of all of the hype that was given to this movie when it was in theaters. Bridesmaids is funny but not even close to measuring up to the all of the acclaim that it received. It could have been more enjoyable had it not had some of the labels attached to it.

From:
http://www.examiner.com/movies-in-baltimore/dvd-review-bridesmaids-funny-but-not-as-hirlarious-as-advertised-review

Enjoy!

Kristen Wiig in Jimmy Fallon's SNL Monologue (Christmas Song)

NBC had a change of heart/copyrights and posted the Jimmy Fallon SNL Monologue.

Quite a cheer when he came out!

Host Jimmy Fallon grabbed his guitar and made merry in the halls of SNL, offering songs to old friends along the way.



Holy crack in the smack!

Alright, if I didn't do it earlier, I'm going to do it now. I'm predicting that this episode will get Jimmy Fallon a nomination for best guest actor on a comedy series. Last season, Justin Timberlake (won), Zach Galifianakis, and Tina Fey were nominated for that (I was disappointed that Jim Carrey wasn't, because he was so funny).

This year I'm predicting that Jimmy Fallon will be nominated. I'm also predicting that Melissa McCarthy will be nominated this year (for Guest Actress). Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Betty White, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Timberlake all also have a shot if they host.

Anyway, Kristen has a small bit where she's studying the cue cards. At the end, she comes out to dance with the rest of the cast.

Andy was hilarious as he came out with Vanessa Bayer to have a Hanukkah verse with Jimmy!

Then watch carefully at 3:36 when Andy and Vanessa run by in the background behind Jimmy! They're getting ready for the end when all the cast comes out and dances!

The crowd went nuts! Jimmy really knows how to give the audience what they want.

Check out the dances of Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, and Taran Killam... those are hilarious! I'd also expect something killer from Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis but they weren't as into it.

Enjoy!

SNL Promo - Charles Barkley + Bill Hader

Charles Barkley hosts an all-new SNL 1/7 with musical guest Kelly Clarkson.



Bill Hader assists in this Barkley promo.

The Facebook promo video is similar, but with Kenan doing an intro, telling you to stop poking him:



Enjoy!

More thoughts about Kristen Wiig's Golden Globe nomination

GG: Best Actress - Musical/Comedy - Kristen Wiig

Name: Kristen Wiig

Age: 38

Character: Annie in Bridesmaids



Film: The film centres on Annie (Wiig), a simple and single 30-something Midwestern girl (with poor dating track record) who is asked to be her best friend Lillian's (Maya Rudolph) maid of honour.

However, having never done the job, she struggles to please the snobby, rich bridesmaids at every pre-wedding event.

And one of Lillian's best friends is essentially the bridesmaid from hell (Rose Byrne) - who attempts to take over the maid of honour duties from the inexperienced Annie.

Previous Golden Globe Wins: Wiig has no previous Golden Globe wins.

Previous Golden Globe Nominations: This is her first nomination

Critics: “Kristen Wiig (who you’ll recognise from Saturday Night Live) is the star at the centre of the film, both co-writing and as the lead and in her first lead role, she easily carries the film which centres on her character Annie.” - FemaleFirst

“Sharply written and winningly performed, it delivers more laughs than any movie released this year, but also, the longer it goes on, develops into a surprisingly poignant evocation of self-scuppering loneliness.” - Daily Telegraph

“Wiig's brand of comedy is loud, proud and just gosh darned funny.” - Digital Spy

Here are the other nominees:
- Michelle Williams
- Kate Winslet
- Chalize Theron

From:
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/movies/Kristen+Wiig-11213.html

Kristen Wiig says that casting Bridesmaids was important

Kristen Wiig: 'Bridesmaids casting was important'

Kristen Wiig has confessed that she felt under pressure to get the casting of Bridesmaids right.



The Saturday Night Live star, who wrote the 2011 comedy with Annie Mumolo, revealed that only Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy were offered their roles without having to audition, a process which Wiig found strange to oversee.

"To really sit on the other side of that was really eye-opening and weird. I definitely know how it feels to be the person walking in and doing an audition," Wiig recalled in a new interview with Paper Mag.

"in my experience, to like, say something awkward and then leave my bag in the room - it's a nerve-racking thing. Getting these relationships and chemistry down between the actors was really important, because that was the biggest part of the movie."

Wiig also expressed her frustration with the media's obsession with the mostly female cast, saying: "It's unfortunate that this is only now being talked about, because women have been present in comedy for so long. There have been tons of movies with lots of women in them before Bridesmaids.

"It's just a confusing thing to me. But you know, if more movies are getting green-lit, and writers are getting a chance because of this movie, I couldn't be happier. That's such a great thing, because the fact that they weren't is kind of awful."

From:
http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a354743/kristen-wiig-bridesmaids-casting-was-important.html


Enjoy!

Kristen Wiig - In New York Times on January 8th

Each year, the New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend brings together moguls in film, television, theater, dance, music, journalism and more. This year, Alan Rickmann and Kristen Wiig are among those leading colloquiums which are set to begin Jan. 5, 2012 at the TimesCenter.



The event allows those interested in the arts to hear firsthand accounts of the creative process from those involved. Arts and Leisure Weekend events are scheduled until January 8th thus far.

Rickmann, who is known for his role as Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" film franchise and lead role in Broadway comedy Seminar, will appear from 10 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. Jan. 7, 2012. Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live alumni and star and writer of this year’s hit comedy “Bridesmaids,” will appear Jan. 8, 2012, from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. with the film’s director Paul Feig.

Read more about Seth Rogen and 50/50:
http://global.christianpost.com/news/kristen-wiig-and-seth-rogen-to-appear-in-new-york-times-65173/

Happy New Year! And...

Enjoy!

Bridesmaids: Top 11 Reasons It Was Strangely Disappointing

Written by Dan Mirvish. My notes are below his points, marked as "Editor". Enjoy!
=====================



As the awards season brings a renewed -- and mostly well-deserved -- attention to the film Bridesmaids, I feel it might be worth revisiting. To be clear, I found the movie to be genuinely entertaining and I'm happy it's getting awards consideration this season. That said, I saw it in its third or fourth week of general release last summer and I couldn't help but feel disappointed in a few ways -- some objective, some not so much. As a filmmaker myself, I'm generally loathe to critique another movie in public. (And if I didn't like the movie at all, I wouldn't have cared. But somehow, I do.) So in no particular order, then (and at the considerable personal risk of never getting hired by Judd Apatow) here are my Top 11 Reasons Bridesmaids was Strangely Disappointing:

1. It's not a female version of The Hangover. That's good, right? But one reason people thought it would be was prominently displayed in the trailer: a slow-motion shot of the titular bridesmaids (a phrase that itself could have come from The Hangover) as they round the corner of a jetway with a Vegas poster in the back. Guess what? They don't make it to Vegas. This is a tribute to the movie: It's not the female version of The Hangover. It's its own movie and should be proud of it. But the cast and crew have no one to blame but Universal's own marketing strategy for the comparison. It's a good lesson for all filmmakers: You live by the trailer, you die by the trailer.

Editor: By design. The filmmakers were likely never thinking of The Hangover. However, the marketing team saw it and realized that they go to Vegas (sort of) and that the airplane sequence is hilarious. So with a little bit of efforts, they made the trailer seem like they were flying to Vegas, and thus, would get compared as a "female Hangover." Bridesmaids made $280 million! Do you think the trailer had anything to do with that? Heck yeah, and they purposefully made it look like "Hangover for chicks", which helped sell the film beautifully. So, yeah, "By design" is the response here.

2. Foreigners. OK, you're in Milwaukee. Why are Kristen Wiig's two roommates British siblings? They're perfectly amusing characters, but why are they British? And then what would be the odds of her falling for the one Irish highway patrolman in Wisconsin? I'm guessing that Wisconsin has never had an Irish highway patrolman. These foreigners are barely explained away, which leads me only to believe that the filmmakers liked these actors from the comedy circuit or to get co-financing from Great Britain or some other reason that took me out of the movie. You couldn't find any American actors to play those parts? Really?

Editor: Good points, but those actors did make the characters more interesting. And yes, Kristen and company probably scouted out their comedic talents and were thinking about talent first (over than making sure foreigners weren't in Milwaukee).

3. Milwaukee. I was stoked to see that Bridesmaids was set in Milwaukee. A nice, non-obvious choice that was played realistically as a cosmopolitan mid-sized midwestern city. The film was neither patronizing nor pollyanish about Milwaukee with nary a beer brewing Laverne & Shirley reference to be found. In fact, one of the first cuts on the excellent soundtrack was a cool cover of the Milwaukee-based band, The Violent Femmes. Nice touch! The movie was also refreshingly not set in a tax-credit grubbing state like Michigan. The only problem was, as the credits would indicate, the film was shot in California. Or at least that was the only film commission thanked by name in the credits. You would think the Wisconsin Film Commission deserves a thank you just by virtue of the B-roll helicopter shots of Milwaukee, but no.

Editor: So you're complaining that they adequately fooled you? So?

4. Jill Clayburgh's last movie. This was strangely personal as I'd recently met with Jill Clayburgh's real daughter, Tony-nominated actress Lily Rabe, right before seeing Bridesmaids. So it was oddly disconcerting to see Kristen Wiig playing Clayburgh's fake daughter in the movie. Especially because Wiig is at least 15 years older than Lily. In any case, it's traditional to give some sort of acknowledgement in your end credits to a famous actor who dies during post production. But unless I missed it, I saw no such "in memory of" credit to Clayburgh in the credits. Furthermore, I haven't seen a single "for your consideration" ad this awards season from Universal or any PR-generated articles suggesting she should get a posthumous supporting actress award. Maybe they're there, but I haven't seen them.

Editor: Agree on both points (she should have been credited and should be considered for a GG or AA nomination).

5. Minor characters sounded like Kristen Wiig. I felt like several of the minor characters in the movie (i.e., a woman on the plane, the teenager at the jewelry store) sounded like they were doing Kristen Wiig impersonations from her SNL characters. Wiig herself sometimes did, too, but that's to be expected, I suppose. My wife thinks this could be explained by the fact that Wiig was a co-writer of the script, but it still took me out of the movie.

Editor: I agree big time! I was watching the whole movie, and I couldn't help but feel like it was a world full of Kristen Wiig! Everybody was Kristen Wiig! I spoke it out loud to those around me during both those scenes you mentioned (jewelry store and airplane), but even Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Hamm, and Rose Byrn were speaking and acting like Kristen Wiig!!! And yes, that took me out of the movie. However, that's part of what gave the movie it's charm and success. So it's bittersweet for me. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but I'm willing to admit that it's for the good of the film.

6. Editing. Like almost every other Apatow-produced movie (of which I'm generally a fan; and yes, I'd love to direct one of his movies) Bridesmaids started slow and could have been cut by at least 20 minutes. I was surprised to find two editors on the credits. *, they can't even edit the number of editors on these films!

Editor: Disagree. I found the earlier parts between Wiig and Hamm and Wiig and Rudolph to be funny and to help stabilize the characters (so when you saw Wiig and Rudolph go crazy, you can take it into context with their overall personalities). The danger with rushing a film is that you sometimes don't get to meet the characters in their normal worlds, and Bridesmaids executed on that better than many films.

7. Cinematography. One fellow director told me ahead of time that the cinematography was impressive. Really?? I found it to be flatly lit, and had not a single memorable or inspiring shot in the movie. Comedies don't have to be badly shot. Even some films from Apatow-alumni directors like Greg Mottola (Superbad, Paul) and David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Your Highness) have ambitious cinematography. But those guys also both cut their chops on award-winning festival films before heading to TV and then back again to features.

Editor: Agree, but I didn't find it to be a big deal.

8. Bodily fluids. If you're going to go there, then don't pull your punches. Vomiting on one another was inspired, but with not one but two characters defecating in inappropriate places, why not show a little brown? Especially after hearing incessant reviews that there would be bodily fluids to compete with "male" comedies, I felt let down.

Editor: Disagree. I was super glad that they didn't show it. It helped remind me that women were involved, and they have better taste (well, only slightly better).

9. Annie Walker. Kristen Wiig's character has the same name as Piper Perabo's on the USA series Covert Affairs. Now, Bridesmaids was undoubtedly shot (and most certainly written) before Covert Affairs premiered in the summer of 2010 on basic cable. But all it takes is one writer's assistant or clearance paralegal to do an IMDB check at some point along the way and have the filmmakers just edit out Wiig's character's last name during her engagement shower speech (a scene that could have used the cutting anyway).

Editor: Back it the real world, we just don't care. It's a good name.

10. Jon Hamm. Why have so many (from reviewers to the filmmakers themselves) found it so odd that such a good-looking guy like Jon Hamm would fall for Kristen Wiig? Wiig is very pretty. (And contrary to the script, she's just as skinny as Rose Byrne, if not more so). Why wouldn't she land a fellow like Hamm? I mean, is she any worse looking than Hamm's real life mate Jennifer Westfelt? I dare say, not.

Editor: I must have missed that buzz. Hamm is definitely handsome, and seeing a handsome man in a loathesome role was incredibly funny and refreshing. So I think we both agree that Hamm was good in this role. You're more disappointed with people who we should just ignore. =^)

11. My bitter jealousy of Paul Feig. Ever since I was part of the Slamdance Film Festival programming committee that rejected his first movie (Life Sold Separately) back in the 90s, Feig's career has soared. From Freaks and Geeks to Undeclared, to directing landmark episodes of The Office and Weeds, to a burgeoning feature career under the wing of Judd Apatow, Feig is that rare comedy director who coasts easily between features and quality television. To get the opportunity to work with such talented writer/actors as Kristen Wiig and the rest of the Bridesmaids cast is a gift to him from the comedy gods. He acquitted himself exceptionally well, and deserves to be considered as a Best Director by any and all standards. Finally, by all accounts, he seems like a very nice guy, too. That *!

Editor: So this one is about your jealousy? Hmm. Well, Feig had his lumps in his career (like you said, you rejected him), and he's only now starting to get some credit as a film director, so he hasn't even peaked yet. If you want to have the success he's had, you might want to emulate his formula. Go to TV and try to create a show with a few experienced producers. See what happens.

Dan's editorial is from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-mirvish/bridesmaids-revisited-top_b_1162669.html

What do you think?

Enjoy!

Maya Rudolph talks about Kristen Wiig

Maya Rudolph has suggested that her Bridesmaids co-star Kristen Wiig was born to perform on Saturday Night Live.

Rudolph commented to Paper that Wiig made an immediate impression when she joined SNL in 2005 because she was supremely confident in her talent.



"Kristen came to SNL knowing who she was, which I really envy," said Rudolph, who co-starred with Wiig on the sketch comedy series for several years.

Rudolph continued: "I was 27 when I got there, and not really fully formed, but [Wiig] was an adult, and she immediately just sort of nailed it."



When Wiig herself was asked by the magazine to describe her SNL castmates, the comic joked: "I love the cast. We're like Melrose Place without the murder."

Wiig was recently rumored to be leaving Saturday Night Live at the end of the current season, but her rep has clarified that no decision will be made until next year.

Saturday Night Live continued with host Jimmy Fallon and musical guest Michael Buble at 11.30/10.30c on NBC.

Watch Kristen Wiig in the Saturday Night Live 'Ornaments' sketch below (US only):



From:
http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a355626/kristen-wiig-was-born-for-saturday-night-live-says-maya-rudolph.html

Enjoy!

Kristen Wiig in 2012

Kristen Wiig had a great 2011, but will 2012 be even better?



There's no denying that 2011 was a huge year for "Saturday Night Live" star Kristen Wiig.

"Bridesmaids," the R-rated comedy she co-wrote and starred in, was one of the biggest movies of the year. In fact, it was just nominated for a Golden Globe for best comedy, and Wiig also received a nod for her performance in the film.

Wiig continues to be one of the most reliably funny cast members on "SNL," playing what seems like the most recurring characters of any current "SNL" comedian.

But now that she's begun the transition from funny side character and "SNL" crackup to leading lady, we think 2012 is the year Wiig could really shine. Even if "Bridesmaids" doesn't win any Globes, it's still a pretty great way to start the year. There's also the People's Choice Awards and the Critics Choice Awards, which have also given "Bridesmaids" accolades.

The thing we think could help Wiig become an A-list star once and for all, though, starts with the upcoming film "Friends With Kids," in which she costars alongside her buddy Jon Hamm. Seeing Wiig in a slightly more dramatic role could help solidify her as an actress in her own right, and combined with her "Bridesmaids" and "SNL" success, could lead to some really spectacular roles and writing opportunities.

What do you think? Was 2011 Wiig's year, or are better things to come in 2012?

From:
http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2011/12/kristen-wiig-had-a-great-2011-but-will-2012-be-even-better.html

Enjoy!

Kristen Wiig - Nominated for a Golden Globe

First, Bridesmaids is nominated as...

Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Here's the competition:

50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight In Paris
My Week With Marilyn

Well, I'm not sure if 50/50 and "My Week with Marilyn" should be comedies. They're more like dramas with comedic elements. "Marilyn" will win hands down. Shouldn't even be in the same category as Bridesmaids, unfortunately. However, it's fantastic that we see Bridesmaids here at all, when other films like Hangover 2 don't get nominated.

And then Kristen Wiig is being nominated for Bridesmaids as...

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

The competition here is also steep:

Jodie Foster – Carnage
Charlize Theron – Young Adult
Kristen Wiig – Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet – Carnage

So there's no way that Kristen can take these ladies out either. This is really between Charlize Theron and Michelle Williams' Marilyn. But throwing in Jody Foster and Kate Winslet in as well? And you'd bet Kristen is honored to be listed among them!

Check out the Golden Globe nominations here:

http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/

Enjoy!

Why was Kristen Wiig at the premiere of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol? (photo)

Answer: Simon Pegg!



"Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" U.S. Premiere - After Party

This Photo: Simon Pegg, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader

Actor Simon Pegg, actress Kristen Wiig, and actor Bill Hader attend the "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" U.S. premiere after party at the Museum of Modern Art on December 19, 2011 in New York City.

So Kristen Wiig appeared in Paul last year with Simon Pegg, and she and Bill Hader hung out a lot with Simon. In Mission Impossible 4, Simon played the comedic relief character.

Enjoy!

Next Hosts of SNL: Charles Barkley and Daniel Radcliffe

Episode 713 - "Charles Barkley"
Musical Guest: Kelly Clarkson
Date: January 7, 2012



Barkley has hosted twice before. First, on September 25, 1993, he hosted with Nivana as the musical guest.







Second, on January 9, 2010, he promoted his career change into becoming a sports announcer.











Now Charles Barkley is back (likely he was a pleasant variety from the other hosts, so they welcomed him back).




Episode 714 - "Daniel Radcliffe"
Musical Guest: Lana Del Rey
Date: January 14, 2012

This is Daniel's first appearance on SNL. Daniel is of course Harry Potter from the hit film series. I'm surprised he hasn't hosted until after the series.

Daniel's next movie he's promoting is Woman in Black, where he's a young lawyer who travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals. Looks like it's set in the 1800s.

Enjoy!

Kristen Wiig's best SNL impressions

Kristen Wiig's Best Impressions On 'SNL' Supercut: Kris Jenner, Barbie And More (VIDEO)

Enjoy!

Bridesmaids from Judd Apatow's viewpoint

This interview was titled for possible Oscar nominations, but that's doubtful.



Could Judd Apatow and Kristen Wiig’s ‘Bridesmaids’ Nab an Oscar?

Awards forecasters say the raunchy comedy just might receive some unexpected Academy Awards love. Chris Lee talked to the movie’s producer Judd Apatow to find out how Bridesmaids reached the screen.

Bringing joy to both ends of the cultural spectrum—that is, to frat boys and feminists alike—the R-rated comedy Bridesmaids has arguably become 2011’s most universally beloved film. Thanks to its transgressive take on female-friendly raunch and jolts of explosive toilet humor, the $32.5 million movie clocked more than $288 million at the box office worldwide to become a monster summer hit. And now Bridesmaids is finding its way onto critics’ and film boards’ best-of year-end movie lists alongside more sobering dramatic fare such as War Horse, The Tree of Life, and Moneyball.

But can Bridesmaids pull the upset of all upsets? With buzz around Hollywood growing progressively louder for the film as the awards season makes its inexorable slog toward the Kodak Theater, could Bridesmaids land an Oscar nomination?

According to a growing number of movie pundits and Gurus of Gold, the movie is a likely contender for several Golden Globes, whose nominations are announced Dec. 15. It stands a solid chance of seeing some Oscar love too, particularly Bridesmaids’ writer-star Kristen Wiig and co-writer Annie Mumolo in the Best Original Screenplay category, which seems to be a wide open field this year. (The nominations come in January.)

Never mind that Academy voters historically have been reluctant to honor movies that provoke belly laughs instead of jerking tears. The two acknowledged frontrunners for Best Original Screenplay, the black-and-white silent feature The Artist and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, stand out, a refreshing change of pace, as funny films with dramatic moments, rather than vice versa.

“People seem to think it’s more difficult to make movies without jokes in them,” noted Bridesmaids producer Judd Apatow. “But that’s just not true.”

To underscore how unlikely Bridesmaids’ rise to become part of this cultural conversation is, you have to trace the movie’s roots back to 2006. That year, Saturday Night Live regular Wiig was cast in a bit part as a paggro cable television executive in the movie Apatow was directing at the time, Knocked Up. Applying what he describes as his “usual M.O.,” the comedy kingpin, responsible for many of the most successful funny films of the past decade, asked Wiig if she had any movie ideas.

“This was before people know who Kristen was from SNL,” Apatow recalled. “She would just get giant laughs right off the bat. So I just said to her, ‘Let me know if you have any ideas for a screenplay for yourself.’ That’s what happened on Anchorman when I worked with Steve Carell. He had the idea for The 40 Year Old Virgin.”

“At some point after that shoot, Kristen said she and her partner, Annie, had this idea, which was Bridesmaids,” he continued. “But there was no script. Just an idea.”

That idea was originally titled Maid of Honor, until the production discovered a movie of the same name already existed. But the basic premise for Bridesmaids was there from the beginning. The film would follow a “wounded woman” (Wiig), someone with crushingly low self-esteem who starts spinning out of control just as her best friend puts her life in order by getting married. Adding insult to injury, each of the other bridesmaids are better off than she is for one reason or another, raising the stakes of the character’s explicit need for personal redemption.

Over the following years, writing commenced, with Wiig in New York for her day job and Mumolo grinding out the script in Los Angeles. The two would meet on weekends and conduct semi-regular “table reads” of drafts for Apatow to get his notes and suggestions. Every joke was tweaked and reworked multiple times to achieve maximum comic liftoff. “It was a long time and a lot of work,” said a source who has worked with Apatow on several projects, including Bridesmaids, but who requested anonymity. “You might write a million versions of every scene. There’s always a chance to elevate the material, to make everything even better.”

The producer’s longtime creative partner, Paul Feig—who created Freaks and Geeks, the Fox TV series that delivered Apatow initial renown as a comedic tastemaker—was brought on to direct Bridesmaids. The cast, meanwhile, was rounded out by a hodgepodge of TV and movie actresses, including Wiig’s former Saturday Night Live castmate Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne (TV’s Damages, X-Men: First Class), and the movie’s breakout star, Melissa McCarthy, from the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly.

About two thirds of the way through production, the producer made a suggestion that was greeted with considerable reluctance. He proposed to Mumolo and Wiig what remains Bridesmaids’ central talking point: a gut-busting sequence in which the maids of honor are brought low by food poisoning courtesy of Wiig’s character’s restaurant choice. From there, they are shown suffering through bouts of explosive diarrhea as well as vomiting in, on, and around a fancy-pants wedding dress shop.



“The reaction was, ‘Are you * kidding? This is not what happens to women. That’s not what kind of movie this is,’” remembered the source close to the production. “There was definite reluctance about it. But they took a leap of faith because of Judd and Paul. ‘These are funny guys and they know what they’re talking about.’ It wasn’t [Wiig and Mumolo’s] instinct to put that in the movie, though.”

Apatow, however, brushes off the notion that he strong-armed the writers into including the explosive pooping and insists none of it would have been included had the footage not been up to par. “It was important that there were some moments that would bring down the house,” he said. “We knew this would be a big swing, an all-or-nothing proposition.”

“But there’s always a moment beforehand when we say, ‘Are we really going to do this?’” he continued. “There’s a set now and special-effects people who are trying to determine whether the sink is too high for Melissa to jump on. So there was a breath where we all said, ‘Let’s give it a shot. If it works, it works. And if it doesn’t, we’ll cut it out.’”

In addition to scoring with both audiences and critics, Bridesmaids’ short-term impact has been to get other woman-fronted comedies the green light from Hollywood’s studio system by putting to rest Christopher Hitchens’s “Why women aren’t funny” debate. “It’s ridiculous. Women are more than 50 percent of the population and they are forced to see movies made primarily by men, starring men, and about men,” Apatow said. “But that’s not why we made it. It was only after the movie was completed that anyone said this had any significance. We didn’t think it was any different than something like The House Bunny or Baby Mama. So we didn’t think we were breaking any new ground. We just thought it was a fun thing to do.”

From:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/13/could-judd-apatow-and-kristen-wiig-s-bridesmaids-nab-an-oscar.html

Enjoy!