Becca Lish [Interview]

Hello Folks! And a happy Friday to you all! Today we are sharing some words from the absolutely incredible actress, both on screen and in the world of voice over arts. On screen, Becca Lish has wonderful roles in hit shows such as Orange is the New Black, the recently returned to life hit series Murphy Brown, and will be appearing on the acclaimed series The Deuce. And so much more. But, if I am being completely honest here, the project that she intrigued me the most is, as a 90’s kid, one of the greatest animated series (geared to children, that is) Doug! That’s right Folks! The voice over actress behind the original hipster herself, Judy Funnie, is gracing our digital pages today! Aren’t you just the luckiest readers on the internet right now?

While I absolutely loved her work on Doug, I felt a strong need to learn a bit more about Becca Lish, and reached out. And boy am I glad I did! Becca is a delightful human being, and has some wonderful responses for you all below. We discuss her work on other projects like Celebrity Death Match & more. And we are so excited to have her here today. So Folks, please enjoy some wonderful words from the great Becca Lish!

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What inspired you to get into the world of performance? Was it a passion that you had since your youth? Or did you happen to find yourself in this world one day?

My mother took me and my siblings to see a great deal of theater when we were growing up. The regional repertory company near us in San Francisco did great work and I decided very young that I wanted to make my living working at a theater like that one. I didn’t waiver from that career goal. I acted in plays at the local recreation center starting at age 7 and continued straight through college.

While you do a bit of on-screen work, you have done some pretty incredible work in the world of voice-over work. We have spoken with several VO artist over the years, and I am always curious to know how you enjoy this line of work in comparison to on screen work? Do you have a preference for either one? 

In many ways, acting is acting no matter what the medium. I sometimes say that my job is pretending to be other people. Working in voice over just broadens the range of people I can pretend to be. All the elements of me that might distract from the character (age, gender, species, nationality) are erased when you can only hear my voice. I’ve voiced all sorts of people and animals through the years. Working on camera, I’ve been limited to characters that are plausible given my appearance. Voice over work can be much more fanciful.

What was your very first paid gig as a performer that you can remember getting? And were there any sort of lessons learned from this experience that still affects your work today?

About a year after graduating from college, I started work as a member of a resident regional theater company called Trinity Rep in Providence, Rhode Island. It was my great good fortune to work in an average of five plays a year over the ensuing decade, with a wide variety of excellent actors and directors. Resident acting companies are rare but having grown up as an audience to a great one in San Francisco, I was thrilled to become part of one as my first job. One of the most important lessons I learned was that the community of actors benefited from collective action onstage and off. It was a union job and from that day to this, I have remained engaged in union service, working toward the shared goals of our community.

I have to tell you that I grew up in the 90’s, from being a toddler to a teenager. That being said, I absolutely LOVED two specific shows that you worked on, for two very specific reasons. The first is, of course, Doug, in which you brilliant voiced Judy Funnie and many others. With that in mind, when you were working on Doug, where you ever under any impression that the you were a part of something that would have such a cult following so many years later?

I am not very plugged into a cult following but, certainly, working on Doug was a very special experience. It was my first animation job and a wonderful opportunity to stretch creatively. The writing and direction felt very true to the experiences of kids growing through those challenging middle school years so I was not surprised that it was successful at the time (though in a different way than the other shows in that block, Ren & Stimpy and Rugrats). I also think that the episodes Doug himself lived through are universal and timeless so the staying power of the show makes sense. Does the cult have a secret handshake I could learn or is it one of those creepy things with chanting and blood sacrifice?

The other project I loved came towards the end of the 90’s, in my teenage years, and that was Celebrity Death Match. It was such a gem of a show. I am curious to know how you enjoyed working on such a wild program. Was it as fun to work on as it was for young Ron watching in his room hoping mom doesn’t walk in?  

I did just a little bit of work on Celebrity Death Match so I wasn’t really a part of that family. I think they brought me in to replace someone else who was gone. I remember I played a zombie but I don’t recall that it was any different from most voice-over jobs. I hate to burst any bubbles but with rare exceptions you are hearing an actor standing relatively motionless in front of a microphone, alone in a recording booth. Nickelodeon’s Doug, in the early days, was a rare exception. Often Billy West, Doug Pries, and I would record the family’s scenes together as a group rather than wild (solo without context). Similarly, groups of kids like Doug, Patti, Skeeter, Beebe, Connie might have a group scene so several of us would be in the booth together at Pomann Sound on West 46^th Street, where we recorded the show. I learned so much from Fred Newman and Billy West in those sessions.  They were very generous colleagues.

What does the future hold for you? Anything you would like to plug to our readers?

Lately I have been doing quite a bit of television work, playing small parts in some of the many shows that shoot in New York. This winter I did little bits on episodes of Orange is the New Black, The Blacklist, Younger, New Amsterdam, Sweetbitter, the Murphy Brown reboot and a handful of other series. These roll out slowly over time so some of the others won’t air until later in 2019.

What was the last thing that made you smile?

African dance class – a very sweaty smile!

Michael C. Maronna [Interview]

Hello Folks! We have an absolutely wonderful interview to share with you all today. Today’s interview subject began his acting career at a very young age and in some pretty recognizable roles. But, he then would shift gears to take a bit of a different approach whilst still remaining very much at large in the world of film and television production. It’s the great Michael C. Maronna! Michael may be best known for his work as a kid as older Pete, in the brilliant and now legendary Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Now, Trainwreck’d Society historians (is that happening? Write in if it is!) would be able to tell you that Michael is actually not the first of Petes to appear on these digital pages. In fact, it was the month of August when the other Pete was on the site. And again, it was August…..7 YEARS AGO! I promise you I nearly shit when I realized this. Younger Pete, Danny Tamberelli, was actually one of our first guests. Actually, our 15th interview subject of the closing in on 500 that we have done. I know this because it was early on, and then the records get a bit hazy after a while. Anyway, 7 years have gone by and after 7 years of periodically making attempts to get Marona on the site, we have finally done it!

And I will be god damned if it wasn’t well worth the wait. We dig into The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Michael being a part of the legendary Home Alone McCalister family, His reunions with Danny which involves a wonderful podcast, and just so much more. Oh and because I feel like I forgot to state it earlier, Michael became involved in the world of electrical work in the entertainment world. And as a former electrician in a fairly recent past life, I am very impressed and feel like this man has/had my dream job. He has worked on projects like Kevin Smith’s Cop Out, Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, and the wonderful Woody Allen as a pimp masterpiece by John Turturro, Fading Gigolo.

It is absolutely wonderful to have Michael grace our digital pages today, as it is a long time coming and I can not believe we finally made it happen. Thank you so much to Michael, and I hope you all enjoy his amazing answers as much as I did. Enjoy!

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You began your career in the world of acting at a very young age. What inspired you to want to get into the world of performance so very early?

I was the first grandchild in a big family and I quickly grew to need attention! I liked to read and talk, and my parents weren’t crazy about paying for college, so these interests quickly coalesced…

What was your very first paid gig as an actor that you can remember getting? And were there any kind of lessons learned from this project that continued to affect your work as an actor?

My first commercial was for Scott Toilet Tissue and it was a very simple set in a studio, a camera pointed at the back of a station wagon. I had to carry a bag of groceries. I clearly remember the director Sol had a big King Kong built out of Legos in the studio. He pulled off Lego King Kong’s head to reveal a can of Hawaiian Punch stored inside. Sol told me he came from the planet Lunch and proceeded to pull scarves from his mouth. As a five-year-old, I was enchanted. I’m recalling that initial wonder – and remembering how it felt in that moment like being the most important person on the set.

In 2008 you appeared in a music video by one of my favorite bands of all time, Nada Surf. The video was for the catchy and brilliant track “Whose Authority”. How did you find yourself working with Nada Surf? Where you previously a fan of the band?

Chris the locations manager for the video was roommates with my friend Mike and recommended me to the director Jonathan as a bicycle riding guy. Simple as that! I met the wardrobe supervisor, decided on lots of layers for the weather and a coupla days later we shot on the lower east side with bicycles. Nada Surf had a cool debut song with “Popular” which I knew from radio play in high school but I didn’t get that album. It turns out they shot the video for “Popular” at Bayonne HS in New Jersey where we also shot Pete and Pete episodes including “Valentine’s Day Massacre” so I was psyched to be involved in a video with the band.

It was a brief bit I did with some of the actual Nada Surf members riding around in Manhattan. I like ”Whose Authority” a lot and I really appreciate the triumphant feeling. I can also remember getting sick after riding around for two days!

In more recent years, you have worked in the electrical department on some of pretty amazing film and television projects. How did you manage to find yourself in this line of work? Would you say it was your true calling in the entertainment industry?

After the first season of Pete and Pete, the grips gave me a belt and some essential tools as a wrap gift. That was great! I was in high school and I didn’t use them much. The gaffer from the third season of Pete and Pete gave me a shot after the show ended. My first full job with him was a feature that I auditioned for the lead of and ended up driving the electric truck for $50 a day. Six Ways To Sunday starred Norman Reedus, Isaac Hayes, and Debbie Harry. I was 19. It’s tough to say what my true calling is – I’ve spent a lot of my life on set, I’m not done yet, and being a member of local 52 for the last 11 years has been a great time so far!

You are a member of the now legendary fictional family that once flew away without one member of the family being left behind. That family is the McCallisters. And the film was Home Alone. The film has since become one of the most acclaimed holiday films of all time. I am curious to know how it feels to be a part of something so historic? And what was the set life like on this project? Where you aware at the time that you were a part of something very historic?

Chicago life was a lot of fun. My dad was there part of the time and my grandparents as well. That was when I went to a big cathedral for Mass for a few weeks – my grandparents. I remember lots of pizza and video games besides that. The cast parents seemed to have fun in Chicago and since we were all in school the production was often dispatching us to tutoring five or six times a day between setups. The assistant directors were great at wrangling us in the group scenes. As I said, I’m from a big Irish family so I felt at home in a crowd, vying with Devin Ratray to entertain us between takes. He was really funny and I saw him in my local comic book shop earlier this year while working on The Good Fight. It’s nice to hear randomly from someone watching the movie that they’re seeing me run with determination in the airport or that they love watching it with their family. That’s sweet. I didn’t have an inkling at the time that it was historic, but I didn’t know too many John Hughes movies – not that I would have been allowed to watch too many!

You’re former on-screen brother and friend Danny Tamberelli was actually one of our first interviews here at TWS. Over 6 years ago! Since that time you guys have seemed to reunite a lot more. Including the creation of a podcast entitled The Adventures of Danny and Mike. How did this project come about? What influenced you guys to collab regularly once again?

We had been doing Pete and Pete reunions in various locales around the country and after a really fun one in Portland we decided to recap it in a podcast. I’m guessing it all started up again in Brooklyn when I stepped out of McCarren Park after a soccer game in my cleats and found Danny by the pool, puking between two cars. It’s been pretty consistent with us since then, even though we’ve both been married since the podcast started! We’ve been able to get some great guests and record good studio episodes and fun live shows along with our producer, Jeremy.

What does the future hold for you? Anything you would like to plug to our readers?

The Danny and Mike machine will return to the road in 2019. Look for us in the southeast, the northwest, and one other direction.

@michaelcmaronna on Twitter @dannyandmike

What was the last thing that made you smile?

Watching my son looking at the NYC skyline out the window of an Amtrak train I got stuck on trying to find seats for him and his mom.

Rich Wilkes [Interview]

Happy Friday, Folks! We have an absolutely amazing interview to share with you all today! I love all of our interview subjects in their own way, but this one is very special to me. Today we have some words from the brilliant screenwriter Rich Wilkes! Rich is an absolute genius when it comes to storytelling. I say this because his work is some brilliantly varied, beyond anything you could imagine. We discuss this a bit in the interview, but far be it to say that Rich’s work has a range from writing one of my favorite coming-of-age-what-the-fuck-do-I-do-now? type of films, Glory Daze featuring a perfectly goatee’d Ben Affleck, to a Hollywood blockbuster starring Vin Diesel with a title that would be permanently engraved on my asshole step dad’s arm for the rest of his hopefully sad and miserable life….oops, got a little personal there. Sorry. Anyway, it all wraps back around to one of his latest stories that has completely shocked the world in terms of content and just down right damn good writing, the amazing Netflix Original film, and one of the most well done biography adaptations ever, The Dirt. And, shit, dude wrote fucking Airheads! And he so humbly doesn’t even realize how important of a film it truly is, which just makes him even more of a god damned GOAT in the world of storytelling in the world of film.

So Folks, I shall stop my fanboy gushing and airing of step-daddy issues and just ask that you enjoy these wonderful words from the absolutely wonderful human being that is the great Rich Wilkes!

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What was your initially ambition to get into the world of film? Was it a passion that you have had since a youth, or did you just happen to find yourself in the business one day?

I always loved movies, but I never knew you could actually work in movies. I always thought of it as a distant, insider industry you had to be born into. This was pre-internet, and I had never even heard of film school. I went to college to be a writer, a novelist I guess, which I figured you could become by just writing a book. The notion of screenwriting first came up when I met kids from LA who demystified Hollywood for me, and made it sound like a real thing you could actually do if you tried hard enough. So even though my school didn’t teach screenwrting, I wrote a screenplay for my senior thesis, and kept pushing from there. Unless you’ve got family connections, I don’t think you can just “find yourself” working in movies. The movie business is like any other specialized industry. You have to fight your way in. Say you want to be a breakfast cereal box designer. You eat cereal, you study box design, then you move to Battle Creek, Michigan, and start banging on doors. No one offers you Count Chocula. You go to war for Count Chocula.

What was your very first paid gig in the world of film? And where there any sort of lessons learned from this experience that affects your work to this day?

I was first paid for a script I wrote during my first year of grad school at the American Film Institute. I had submitted for a fellowship at Touchstone Pictures, and they liked my script enough to option it for $10,000. That was a fortune, because at the time I had a $500 car and was surviving on the Taco Bell .69 cent menu and gas station hotdogs. I immediately dropped out of school and the ten grand kept me afloat long enough to get the next job, which was a pitch for a movie called Airheads. That was 28 years ago, and I’m lucky enough to still be doing this for a living.

25 years ago, the incredible film you penned, Airheads, came into the world and has had a cult following ever since. Looking back over the last quarter of a century, how has it been to watch the impact on fans of the film over the years?

I’m not actually aware of a cult following for Airheads. Every once in a while someone will say they liked it, or they grew up with it on cable, which is awesome, but that’s about it. Is there money in cult followings? Do you get acolytes? I’d love an acolyte.

The following year, you made your directorial debut with a film that was one of my absolute favorites films growing up, and still remains one I can always go back to. And that film is Glory Daze. I’ve always thought that it felt like a very personal story, so I am curious to know where this story came from? How did you know that this was a story that you wanted to tell?

Oh, thanks for saying that. Yeah, it was a personal story, based on my own graduation weekend with my friends at UC Santa Cruz. To put the most pretentious spin possible on this, I drew from Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat and tried to make the simple vacating of a house feel epic (to the characters, anyway). Leaving college is a distinct turning point in the lives of many young people. It might seem like a small thing to the outside world, but to you and your friends, it can feel monumental. That’s what we were trying to get at, without too much added adornment. See, at a certain point the script was set up at a studio. The big studio note was to have an evil fraternity full of obnoxious jerks buy the house and evict our crew. Throughout the movie our guys have beef with the frat, until they finally destroy the house, leaving the frat boys with a smoking ruin. That might be awesome,but that wasn’t the movie we wanted to make. We wanted it to be more Diner, less Revenge of the Nerds. It seems to ring true for certain people, so at least some people get it. Oh, and the script for Glory Daze is the one I mentioned earlier, that I wrote at AFI and that got me on my way.

In recent years, you worked on the acclaimed biopic about the notorious Motley Crue, entitled The Dirt. It was definitely a very interested adaptation to some larger than life events. So with that, I am curious to know what drew you to work on this project?

I grew up on Mötley Crüe, but had long outgrown their music in favor of punk rock. Then Neil Strauss’s book The Dirt came out, and it was the most brutally honest biography I had ever read. They go hundreds of pages without ever talking about the music. There are entire albums they don’t remember recording. Every other book about a rock band is a hagiography. This one made no bones about the fact that they were more into the lifestyle than the art, and I found that fascinating. It was written at a time when the band was broken up, so they just didn’t give a shit. So I petitioned for the job, and wrote a chaotic script with four contradictory narrators, most of whom are suicidal, and back in 2004, David Fincher was set to direct it. It was going to be like Fight Club, with these lost, fucked up guys doing fucked up shit.

Unfortunately, the Movie Gods saw fit to kill off that version, and the script floated around and got rewritten by other writers for another fifteen years before finally getting made. During that time, Motely Crue wound up reuniting and put out two more albums and toured the world, and consequently started reevaluating their legacy. I don’t think they would write the same book today. Anyway, the finished film (which is AMAZING) isn’t as nihilistic as I originally saw it. But it’s a decade and a half later. The script had to evolve or it would stay dead. And Jeff Tremaine, who fought for years to direct it, has much more experience making movies people actually go see than I do. I wish Jeff would direct all the other scripts of mine that have blown up over the years.

You’ve written and worked on projects in a plethora of different genres. From screwball comedies, to big budget action films, right back to the aforementioned indie drama. So with that, I am curious to know what you believe they all have in common? Whether it’s Airheads or XXX? What is your ultimate end goal in penning these stories?

Here’s the truth: you work on a miriad of things in your career, but you are untimately judged by what actually gets made. I love writing movies like Airheads and XXX. I also love writing period dramas and quirky comedies and baffflingly experimental stuff. Not surprisingly, the bafflingly experimental is hard to get financed (even with Fincher attached). So I become known for a certain kind of film, but that doesn’t necessarily define me as a whole. It’s frustrating to not have your more snooty, “intellectual” stuff out there, but what can you do about it?. It’s like Tarantino said, In the end, all you have is your filmography.  You just keep writing and try to improve and hope that one day you get to show your other colors. As for what these disperate projects have in common, everything I write has at it’s core an identical thematic that only I can see. Trust me, it’s not worth thinking about…

Of all the sets that you have spent some time on, in whatever capacity, what would you say was the best crafts service you have ever experienced on a set?

Airheads had a crafty who always had dogs ready, with all the fixin’s, at all hours of the day. Dude should be running a studio.

What does the future hold for you? Anything you would like to share with our readers?

After waiting 17 years to get The Dirt made, I realize I have zero insight into the future.

What was the last thing that made you smile?

Danny DeVito in It’s Always Sunny.

Amanda Donohoe [Interview]

Hello Folks! We have another wonderful interview to share with you all today. Our interview subject for this wonderful Wednesday is the legendary and Golden Globe winning master of the art of acting, the great Amanda Donohoe! Amanda is be perfecting her craft for very long time and has presented some of the best work to date in the world of film, television, and especially on the stage. On a personal note, I remember her as the “villain” in one of my favorite film’s as a child, and still a classic to date, Liar Liar. But, as it usually tends to be, Amanda has done so much other great work, some of which I was unaware of in the past. And she is here to tell us all about it!

So, without further rambling from me, let’s get this thing going! Please enjoy some wonderful words from the absolutely brilliant actress, Amanda Donohoe!

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What inspired you to get into the world of acting? Was it a passion that you had since your youth? Or did you happen to find yourself in this world one day?

I grew up watching the great Hollywood movies of the 1940s, 50s 60s and 70s from the most avant-garde to the most commercial. I loved theatre, ballet, music, opera, all of which were easily accessible in London and relatively cheap, no computers back then… At nineteen I finally summoned the courage to audition for Drama school. After 3 years training I got an Agent and landed my first paid job in the Theatre. Suddenly I was a professional Actor my course was set …

What was your very first paid gig as a performer that you can remember getting? And were there any sort of lessons learned from this experience that still affects your work today?

My first gig was a season at the Manchester Royal Exchange theatre one of the best regional theatres in the UK. A modern auditorium in the round built within the old Victorian corn exchange. It’s where I learned my craft and how to hold an audience. I went back to work there throughout my early career even after I moved to Hollywood.

 In 1997, you appeared in one of the most important films of my childhood, the zany and insanely sweet film Liar Liar. I ask this question often, but in this case I would REALLY love to know…..how did you enjoy working on this film? Was it as fun to work on as it was for me to watch almost daily for a very very long time?

Liar Liar was a hoot, Jim is an extraordinary comic actor, I was nervous as hell but Jim made it fun, he always had great off the wall ideas about how a scene might play. I learned a lot.

You have given amazing performances in television, film, on stage, even voice over work. So with that in mind, I am curious to know what your preferred method of performance would be? If you were destined to only work in one field for the remainder of your career, which would you choose?

Although the Theatre is where I learned most about my craft, Film has always been my first love, just wish there was more written for my age group.

We always like to ask our statue hold friends this one question: Where do you physically keep your well-deserved Golden Globe statue physically? And does its physical location have a personal meaning to you?

I keep my Golden Globe on top of a bookcase in my office containing my favourite books and a host of old photos. It’s a reminder of a fantastically exciting but exhausting decade of my life in Hollywood.

When you look back on your career spanning over 30 years, what would you say you are most proud of? Not necessarily one specific project, although it surely could be. But, what do you look back on with the most pride so far?

As an actor in Film one generally has no say whatsoever in the final product. So speaking purely as a performer I would say I take the greatest pride in my theatre work as these were the times I had most control over the final product so success or failure was entirely down to my abilities or lack thereof!! There is nothing more seductive, exhilarating, thrilling than the sound of a full house applauding…

What does the future hold for you? Anything you would like to plug to our readers?

I have no idea what the future holds, I’ve spent the last 4 years dealing with aged and dying parents, never easy.. So I’m looking forward to the next chapter ever hopeful it will be less distressing than the last. I’m a total History nerd so I’m attempting an historical novel based on one of my favourite unsung heroines with a view to adapting it for film. Women’s history is a passion of mine.

What was the last thing that made you smile?

I live in rural Suffolk now, big sky country, mostly flat terrain, arable fields, woodland and small villages “ Constable country” as it’s known ( John Constable landscape painter 1776-1837). Fame and success are all very well but they are ultimately exhausting and isolating. Here I am surrounded by nature and the soundscape of the countryside. I look out into the garden and the fields beyond, I have a veritable menagerie, Roe deer, Muntjac deer, foxes, hedgehogs, moor hens, Pheasant, Ducks, Woodpeckers, Owls and a host of other visiting birds, it soothes the soul and makes me smile big time.