August 2007 News Archive (Page 3)

"Are you guys talking about me?" asks Kate Walsh, the faux fire flashing in her languid, blue-green eyes.

"'Cause I don't trust a-one of you!"

On a recent Sunday evening, the actress, who shares the sassy style of her TV alter ego, Dr. Addison Montgomery, is playing host to a large table of actors.

This is the first sit-down dinner with the cast of her Grey's Anatomy spin-off.

But, as TV Guide reports, the group already seems like a family even if they've only a week of shooting.

Kate Walsh is then shot down about the topic of discussion.

"Um, no, you egomaniac," says her old friend and fellow cast member, Paul Adelstein.

"But I gotta tell you, that dress you've got on is very good for the boobs!"

That could easily be a quip from Alex Karev. But Shonda Rhimes, the executive producer of both shows, has been discussing a "lighter, more comedic tone" for Private Practice, so it surely fits the spin-off as well.

Follow the link to continue reading this TV Guide feature on Private Practice ...

The dark, back office of a Georgian house in Bloomsbury is an incongruous place to be interviewing Ellen Pompeo. But that's where The Telegraph (U.K.) tracked her down for the second of two exceptional interviews we've found featuring the Grey's Anatomy star this week.

Yes, it's a far cry from the sun-baked Los Angeles lot where Pompeo is usually to be found, in scrubs, as the title character in Grey's Anatomy.

Dr. Meredith Grey - brisk, vulnerable, self-destructive, talented - is a lead unlike any other on American television, and her gripping screen presence and romantic train wrecks hook 20 million viewers a week.

In its annual "Celebrity 100" power list, Forbes ranked Pompeo and her co-stars number 12, while the Desperate Housewives cast fell to 47.

Yet in Britain, where the drama is the main draw on the digital channel Living with reruns on Five, Ellen Pompeo is hardly a household name.

Male critics have sniffed at the 'vapid' scripts and 'mawkish' acting in the drama about five trainee surgeons at a Seattle hospital.

But Ellen Pompeo's portrayal of a woman totally competent in her work and an utter disaster in her relationships has forced even veteran Hollywood producers to examine how a lead wh's such a mess - prone to getting drunk in bars and picking up strangers - can prove so compelling.

The tabloids have focused on Pompeo's weight (she's supposedly anorexic), behavior on set (she's supposedly a diva) and, since her November engagement, the colorful past of her fiancé Chris Ivery, a record producer, and the size of the engagement ring he gave her.

This, a dazzling oblong diamond, has caused Ellen Pompeo so much angst that she is even now twisting it off her tiny hand.

'Completely garish, isn't it?' she asks. 'He got it in Beverly Hills and spent his entire life savings, which I could kill him for. I was very mad about it. Some days I really love it, and some days I just want to sell it and give the money to charity. All the magazines care about is the size. I think, "Oh, it's absolute rubbish and I'd like to throw the ring in the sewer."'

Continue reading The Telegraph's lengthy, revealing interview with Ellen Pompeo after the jump ...

Continue Reading...

Thanks to the many fans who alerted us to this interview. It is, as the magazine bills it, just what the doctor ordered.

In a candid conversation with Ellen Pompeo, who's every bit as outspoken as she is stylish, L.A. Confidential Magazine gives us one of the best looks yet at the Grey's Anatomy star we've come to know and love.

If Pompeo had to write an essay on "What I Did on My Summer Vacation," it would probably be about the globe-trotting she's done - New York, Paris, Japan â€" in the weeks leading up to the new season of her hit show.

It's been a wild ride for the 37-year-old Boston native, who got engaged in November to fellow Bostonian Chris Ivery.

Ellen Pompeo's first blip on the Hollywood radar came as Jake Gyllenhaal's love interest in Moonlight Mile (2002).

She popped up again here and there in smaller roles in memorable movies like Old School and Catch Me If You Can. But in 2005, Grey's Anatomy suddenly thrust her fully into the spotlight.

Pompeo shines as Meredith Grey, the intern whose sexual exploits and professional struggles are chronicled in excruciating detail each week, much to the delight of the show's 25 million-plus loyal viewers who keep tuning in to ogle Grey's McLoveInterest du jour.

Unlike her character, however, Ellen Pompeo is anything but indecisive.

Full of opinions on everything from young Hollywood to the media, Pompeo just calls it like she sees it - a refreshing trait in a town where honesty is so rarely the best policy.

"I just think the media should take this country in a different direction. We're so focused on the wrong things," she says. "We're teaching young girls that this is what they should be focusing on: rich and famous girls who are rich and famous for nothing. What are we doing to this younger generation? It's not very responsible."

Follow the jump to read Ellen's interview ...

Continue Reading...

With six shots of espresso and eight ounces of Red Bull pumping through his bloodstream, Eric Dane slipped behind the steering wheel of his colossal GMC Yukon, adjusted his black Cartier bracelet, planted his foot on the accelerator, and nearly launched into orbit above the Hollywood Hills.

It was a stunning Saturday afternoon - the day of the Live Earth concerts - and as Eric Dane gunned all eight cylinders, his sunglasses reflected the Los Angeles sprawl below, according to Men's Vogue.

"I thought we'd go pick up my dry cleaning," he said.

Three hours later, still no clothes. Dane would rather just drive.

At 34, after 15 years of trying to break into stardom (no college, little formal training), he has hit it big, on the sudsy medical drama Grey's Anatomy.

He had one remaining day off before returning to his role as Dr. Mark Sloan (a.k.a. Dr. McSteamy), the player / plastic surgeon who had an assignation with the wife of his nemesis, Dr. McDreamy.

Eric Dane's most-YouTubed moment to date has him emerging from a scalding shower in the hotel room of Addison (Kate Walsh), with nothing protecting him from 25 million oglers but a towel the size of a napkin.

Coasting down Melrose, he pretended not to notice the shrieks emitting from car after car, as fast ladies rolled down their windows at the sight of him. One could only flail her arms and muster a "wooo!"

"Maybe she wants to get in this lane," Dane suggested.

Prime time television was desperate for an i.v. of testosterone when Eric Dane stepped into the scene.

Once a skinny, awkward kid who played water polo and dated "weird-looking girls," he is now undoubtedly full-grown - but doesn't yet have a career to match.

This guy's guy has had a few other parts �" Multiple Man in the third X-Men, and the lead in the surprisingly adept aqua-phobic thriller Adrift, which sank when re-branded as Open Water 2 in the U.S.

Follow the jump to continue reading the interview with Eric Dane from the September edition of Men's Vogue ...

Continue Reading...

Another edition of our Monday tradition - the Caption Contest - the 69th straight week of its running - yielded the usual great results.

Our staff was hard pressed to pick a winner, but we chose Leo. Congrats! Scroll down the page for the full list of replies we received. The winning entry appears beneath the photo.

Good luck again this week, and thanks for playinjg and making us the top Grey's Anatomy site online. Visit the Insider for news, videos, pics, quotes, forum topics and more!

Here is this week's Caption Contest image:

"Uh, I had panties on, black. Do you see them?"

Ready for a behind the scenes look at the Grey's Anatomy set? Don't get your hopes up for anything groundbreaking, but with the adorable Chandra Wilson giving you a guided tour, it's still worth watching!

Go backstage with Chandra Wilson and learn a little bit about where and how our favorite show in the four-minute clip below ...

Without question, Grey's Anatomy pushed the envelope in its third season, resulting in the cavalcade of kudos from the lords of the Emmys - and more than a little criticism from fans.

As it comes into Season Four, Grey's Anatomy sits on the verge of what has become a fad for drama series exiting their sophomore years, BuddyTV notes.

The show is heading for a reboot.

Grey's Anatomy will now be shifting into a whole new dramatic space, a new chief, a flock of new interns, and, of course, a bunch of newly upgraded physicians.

As with all the other shows making changes to their dramatic architecture this year, Grey's Anatomy seems poised to either sink or swim:

• The Preston (Isaiah Washington) and Cristina (Sandra Oh) histrionics that helped form the path to the Season 3 finale are over.
• Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) have fallen apart, or almost fallen apart, so many times that their dangling over the edge of shattered romance seems more held back by rubber bands than the viewers' empathic heart strings.
• O'Mizzie, the disastrous pairing of Izzie (Katherine Heigl) and George (T.R. Knight) has reportedly been nixed. But did we detect a gleam in George's eye when he spotted Meredith's sister, Lexie Grey?

Rumors have it that Jane Doe (Elizabeth Reaser) will, thankfully, return to challenge Alex's aversion to attachment, but beyond that, no one knows what this "reboot" holds for Grey's Anatomy.

A change in structure and authority suggests an attempt to create a blend of some of the resident drama from the first three seasons mixing with a faculty drama that was confined mostly to the over-40 set.

If one thing is clear, it is that Shonda Rhimes and the Grey's Anatomy writing team have always handled everything, even their failings, with a sensitivity and inventiveness that is uniquely Grey's.

The beauty of the reboot will be not knowing what to expect, but knowing it comes from some of the best in the business.

Thursday's repeat of Grey's Anatomy, "Time After Time" was a good one from Season 3, and the Insider has you covered if you need any info about it.

Follow our links to the episode guide to "Time After Time," as well as the music guide we put together, including lyrics from the selections. Our complete song listing also tells you when each song is played. A photo gallery and list of memorable quotes should make your experience complete.

As always, you can discuss the episode and all other things related to the show with fellow viewers in our forums. See what others have to say!

Grey's Anatomy star Chandra Wilson will star with Paul Mazursky in a one-night reading of Josh Greenfield's Canal Street at Los Angeles' Hayworth Theatre.

Part of the Bruno Kirby Celebrity Reading Series, Gary Blumsack will direct the event, scheduled for August 20 at 8 p.m.

Canal Street casts Mazursky as "Milton, an ornery and abrasive nursing home resident with questionable mental faculties who is paid a surprise visit by a young woman (Wilson) claiming to be his daughter."

"The two engage in a sparring match of wits and wisdom. Will they let their differences keep them strangers or can they become a family?"

Wilson â€" currently nominated (a second time) for her turn on ABC's Grey's Anatomy â€" earned a SAG Award for that role.

In the past, Chandra Wilson appeared onstage in Caroline, or Change as well as in The Good Times Are Killing Me, Paper Moon: The Musical, The Family Mann and the George C. Wolfe-directed Broadway revival of On The Town.

Mazursky is known for his work as a director on such films as Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice, Blume in Love, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, The Tempest, Harry and Tonto, An Unmarried Woman and Moscow on the Hudson.

As an actor, he has appeared in A Star Is Born, Carlito's Way and Love Affair as well as in TV's Once and Again and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The lovely ladies of Grey's Anatomy dominate the supporting actress in a drama category for this year's Emmys, and it'd be far from a stretch to say at least two of them - Katherine Heigl and Sandra Oh - rose to new heights last season, Variety opines.

Heigl's Izzie Stevens began the year dealing with the death of fiance Denny by baking muffins, and ended it by having an affair with a married man - her best friend, George O'Malley.

Sandra Oh endured a tumultuous relationship and was left standing at the altar as Isaiah Washington's Preston Burke said goodbye to her, seeing her trepidation at spending a life together.

Also on Grey's Anatomy, but in a more subdued - though by no means less well-executed - role, was nominee Chandra Wilson, whose classy Dr. Bailey, try as she might, aims to lessen the hysteria that always seems to permeate the halls of Seattle Grace.

As for their competition? Aida Turturro was only in a handful of Sopranos episodes these past few months, but even in limited scenes, she had the ability to not only raise the ire of brother Tony, but of watchers who can see through her scheming ways. She did all that with fewer scenes than most of her castmates, too.

Australia's Rachel Griffiths seamlessly flowed from Six Feet Under to Brothers & Sisters, moving from scattered Brenda Chenowith to solid citizen Sarah Whedon, who does her best to keep the family business - and her own troubled marriage - afloat.

Follow the jump for Variety's breakdown of the Emmy contenders for best supporting actress in a drama series ...

Continue Reading...