Latest news with #MillersinMarriage
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Millers in Marriage' star Julianna Margulies reveals an actor ex talked down to her because of TV career
For writer, director and actor Edward Burns, his film Millers in Marriage (now in theatres and on digital) was an opportunity to craft a story that would allow adults in their 50s to watch a movie that reflected their lives. Starring Burns himself, along with Julianna Margulies, Gretchen Mol, Minnie Drive, Benjamin Bratt, Patrick Wilson, Morena Baccarin, Brian d'Arcy James and Campbell Scott, the film is about three couples exploring who they are as they approach 60. How they've changed as individuals, and as partners, from their younger years. Maggie (Margulies), Eve (Mol) and Andy Miller (Burns) are siblings, who didn't grow up in the most stable household. Each sibling is going through their own issues in their marriages, trying to navigate their personal aspirations and desires within their relationships. Maggie is a writer, just like her husband Nick (Scott). While Nick was the more successful writer initially, the dynamic has changed with Maggie continuing to succeed, while Nick struggles to find creative inspiration. Eve was a musician, but put her passion aside when she became her mom, while her husband Scott (Wilson), an alcoholic, continues to manage musicians, frequently not keeping in contact with his wife when he's travelling. Andy is separated from his wife, Tina (Baccarin), and has started a new relationship with Renee (Driver), but he isn't ready to cut ties with his ex. Maggie and Nick's dynamic in Millers in Marriage is particularly interesting. There's this shift where he was the more celebrated novelist who succeeded first, but now he's not writing and Maggie is still succeeding. But she's also still craving his approval, which he's not providing as her success is threatening to him, and he doesn't see her work as being inferior to his. For Margulies, playing this dynamic was something she could relate to. "I once dated a guy when I was on ER who was a New York theatre actor and he would say, 'Yeah, but you do TV.' And he was always talking me down because I was on television," Margulies told Yahoo Canada. "So I understand that dynamic very well, and I would feel less than, and for some reason, probably because I was in my 20s, I allowed myself to feel less than. I thought it was OK." "Now, as a woman in her 50s, I'd tell him to go screw himself. But when you start a relationship where the dynamic is already set in, and then you grow, you get older together until you're in your 50s and the dynamic shifts in the course of those years, where your work now is taking precedent over his work, and paying the mortgage, and buying all of life's beautiful things that they enjoy, yet you're still the lower one. 'You write schlock. You write silly novels. I write meaningful things.'" As Margulies also highlighted, while we get the sense that Maggie believes Nick is the better writer, she's "thrilled" about her success because she "lives vicariously through her characters." Using her writing as "her way of escaping. "I think now, with the kids gone, they have to confront the fact that this can't keep going on in the same dynamic. It's not going to happen," Margulies said. "I think she really does support him and I think ultimately, Maggie really does believe that he is the better writer, honestly. But ... it's like, seeing him wallow in his self-pity is a turn off, and that's the beginning of the end of that marriage, because he can't get out of it." In a particularly telling scene in Millers in Marriage, the first scene we see both Eve and Maggie together is an interesting look at the relationship between these sisters, and how they're marriages are different, but the tensions have similarities. Maggie is telling Eve about how she wants Nick to just get out of the house, while Eve is the opposite, wishing her husband would just be home with her sometimes. "Do you ever fantasize about getting a divorce?" Maggie says. "It's clever storytelling, because you immediately see where these characters are in their lives," Margulies said. "I don't have a husband underfoot, but I could understand her anxiety of having him home all the time. But it was more about his inability to work. ... She's finally an empty nester and now she has to take care of his feelings. That's how I saw it. ... It's a great scene to say, you always want what you don't have, right?" "Your perception of somebody else's life is kind of how you can understand your own life," Mol added. "I think for the character to say, 'Oh, really, you want him gone? That is so foreign to me, because I never know where my husband is.' ... She's on her own so much, but not doing the thing that she loves. ... So I think she's looking at her sister with this kind of curiosity. ... I think with siblings, sometimes, ... we came from the same household, but our instincts in life are entirely different."
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Interview: Patrick Wilson on Playing an ‘Alcoholic A-Hole' in Millers in Marriage
Millers in Marriage star Patrick Wilson spoke to ComingSoon's Tyler Treese about the family drama. Wilson spoke about working with director Edward Burns, playing an unlikeable character, and more. The film is out now in theaters and on digital starting today, February 21, 2025. 'A tale of three middle-aged married couples coming to grips with universal questions about marriage and fidelity, professional success and failure, and the challenge of finding a second act,' says the synopsis for Millers in Marriage. Tyler Treese: Millers in Marriage is a very ambitious movie in terms of its structure. There are three different marriages that are being examined. Kind of reminded me of Hannah and Her Sisters a bit, the Woody Allen movie. What about this project really grabbed your interest? Patrick Wilson: Ed Burns, we did a movie together, God, probably 17-18 years ago, something like that. He's the kind of guy that when he calls you even out of the blue, and it has probably been 15 years, it's a very easy conversation. If you're free, you're gonna go work with him 'cause it's the kind of story, the kind of honest, skilled storytelling that he's gonna do that he does time and time again. It's funny you bring up Hannah and Her Sisters. He's sort of fallen into this, taking the reins of Woody Allen from New York marriage and relationship movies, and likes to reflect kind of, I'm sure, where he is in life, both the good and the not-so-good. Whether it's him or friends that he's around or friends that he grew up with. You don't see movies like this a lot, and I've been looking for relationship movies that kind of reflect what people in their late forties or fifties that we're all kind of going through. You see it explored more in TV, but you don't see it explored in film. So to really have the time and the vision to put it on the screen as something that was an easy yes. You mentioned that you worked with Ed before. How was it just seeing that evolution because he's had a very long and successful career? What stood out about him as a director? I mean, his ease, his skill, and his comfort. He's both skilled and not precious. It's not like he's flying through things going, 'I don't know. I don't know.' You know, man, move on. It's 'I got it. We're good.' He puts together a team of people and from the top down. I mean, Aaron Lubin is producing. All his DPs, all the people that he's worked with, that I worked with a hundred years ago. I mean, he's got his group of people, and it's a very, very fluid process. So that you come in and you got some ideas and he guides you a few ways and you're kind of in and out. He lets you explore. It lets you swing a big stick and reigns you in when he needs to. He knows what he wants. But it's never forced on you. It's the best kind of directing where you can kind of let you explore it. 'What do you want to try? Go for it.' 'Okay.' Maybe guide you this way. So there's an ease and a comfort both as a human and as a filmmaker that makes it a really enjoyable process, you know? Certainly, for people who have been around, it's refreshing. So it's both a pressure-free and precious-free environment, which is always great to do. One aspect of Millers in Marriage that I found refreshing was that all of the characters are very flawed individuals. They're very human. Your character can be a dick. So, what was the process of making that characteristic stand out and not veering off into one-note territory? But also in real life people can be a dick. So, how is it kind of finding that balance? That's different for me. I've played bad guys, but usually, when you play like a bad guy, he's so bad on the page that it's almost easier to go, 'You know what? I can play 'em the other way.' Because you're gonna see that terrible side regardless if it's terrible by action or it's a murderer or something. But with this, he's not a good guy, or he is certainly not a good guy at this time of his life. That's what attracted me to it. Eddie had said, 'Who do you want to play?' And I said, 'I'd like to play Scott. I don't get to play kind of the alcoholic a-hole very much.' And you're right, he's it. Some people are just dicks… I mean, they just are. And that's him right now. So it was a little, I can't say it was super comfortable, you know, because we would do three and four takes, and some would be very subtle, and some might really lay into sweet Gretchen Mol, who was great in the movie, but I kept going, 'God, I'm just terrible to you.' But that's how my character fits into the story, you know? So you can't be afraid of that. You can't apologize for that. You just kind of have to dive in. So I can't say it was fun, but it's certainly rewarding. 'Cause then you can see how he's gotta be kind of a ballast. You gotta be a point to Benjamin Bratt's character and how Ben comes in. So, everybody kind of fits into the puzzle. So you've gotta really make sure that you go full throttle on yours to make the others work, if that makes sense. You mentioned Gretchen, she's great in the film, and I wanted to ask about that chemistry. Because It's a special type of chemistry. It's not like you're bubbly together. This is very much a strained relationship. So, can you speak to find that chemistry where you're at each other's throats a bit? How is it finding that? Yeah. Well, she's so nice. There's a safety in that, when someone gets along. Also, I think when you go into an Ed Burns movie, right? Ed gets people together, if you get along with him, which 99% of the people in the world will, everybody's kind of circling him. He's really the north star for us or the sun, like whatever metaphor you want to use. So his energy dictates how we all are on set. He's so easy and comfortable that you want to be easy and comfortable. It actually allows you to, when you've got a scene where you're really at somebody's throat, to go full throttle because there's never a discomfort once you yell, 'Cut!' you're really good friends and all having a great time together. So that actually helps. I think it would be hard to be really mean and rude in a set that's really tense. 'cause You kind of don't know where it ends. But these sets are super fun and rewarding, and you're also dealing with people that have been… You look at the cast, I mean, there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of movies between all of us. So, you can deal with a bunch of pros. So we come in there to work and have a good time. And when you have that safety, then you can actually let loose. And if it's let loose in an angry and violent way, then almost that's a lot easier when it's a comfortable set, if that makes sense. It's the 20th anniversary for Hard Candy. I thought that was a really great movie. I really enjoyed it. How do you kind of look back on that film? You and Elliot Page just had so many great scenes in that. Yeah, yeah. You know, there was a time during Covid when people were doing all these script read-throughs. Like Zoom reads of movies, and we got approached to do one, and then it fizzled. I always remember that. Because I don't think I've looked at a frame of that movie and certainly thought about it other than fans or something saying, 'Hey, I love that.' But you know, usually my go-to as soon as someone says, 'I love that movie,' and I go, 'Well, that says quite a lot about you.' But yeah, we shot the movie in what, 18-19 days? I mean, it was really like this crazy exercise. I'm super proud of the movie still. I think the movie holds up even in the tech landscape. You know, a lot of movies from that era just kind of dissipate with an iPhone [laughs. And that holds up. You know, and I'm super proud of all our performances and yeah, I love that movie. I can't believe it's been 20 years. That's crazy. I really enjoyed your directorial debut, which was . Thank you. That's a horror movie, but the family drama aspect was also very surprisingly strong. I remember really enjoying that part of it, which is sort of what we see in Millers in Marriage as well. But are you looking to do more directing going forward? Yeah, yeah. I'm looking at a couple things. I've been fortunate to have a few things thrown my way, but haven't really found the right film yet. Then there's a couple that are certainly outside of that genre that I'm pushing uphill for me to direct and shepherd from just inception, I guess. So that's exciting to do. So, yeah, I spend most of my day thinking about what I'm gonna direct next [laughs]. It's a true story. Thanks to Patrick Wilson for taking the time to talk about Millers in Marriage. The post Interview: Patrick Wilson on Playing an 'Alcoholic A-Hole' in Millers in Marriage appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
Los Angeles Times
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Review: Indie survivor Ed Burns returns with the bland ‘Millers in Marriage'
Thirty years after his breakout as a Sundance darling with 'The Brothers McMullen,' Edward Burns may have faded from view as an indie troubadour of middle-class mores, family fractures and romantic entanglements. But the writer-director-star is still wholly committed to his East Coast brand of beige, affable, lightly weathered angst, in which nobody exhibits too much of any one disruptive emotion if it'll make a viewer feel uncomfortable. Discontent is a tricky subject if you're trying to capture it but not turn people off, and Burns' latest pretty-people-in-turmoil opus, 'Millers in Marriage,' about three middle-aged siblings in different stages of relationship restlessness, reveals the result of that flattening approach. Mildness reigns and indifference blooms. What calls out to be well seasoned — a dish with bits that are scorched and raw — is instead merely a tepid porridge. Burns can still sew up a talented cast, which likely speaks to the appeal of any project these days with a semblance of recognizable adult humanity bubbling inside. (The fall-colored rural New Jersey locations and well-appointed interiors are a draw as well.) Gretchen Mol plays soft-spoken musician Eve, a wife and mother whose simmering dissatisfaction stems from an indie-rock career that stalled decades ago when she began a family with her then-band's manager, Scott (a very good Patrick Wilson), now an intemperate, dismissive drunk who, nonetheless, got to keep his career in music. Julianna Margulies plays Eve's sister Maggie, the more prolific and successful half of a two-novelist household with older husband Nick (Campbell Scott), whose writer's block and mopey, jealous mood has begun to sap the joy from her success. Meanwhile, the women's brother, Andy (a Kristofferson-haired Burns), a painter, is enjoying a new romantic life with kind, attentive, same-aged Renee (Minnie Driver) shortly after being dumped by his younger wife of 15 years, Tina (Morena Baccarin). For a band of freshly unmoored 50-somethings, these may be realistic feelings to dive into, but convenience is the only appropriate word for Burns' scenarios. Everyone's temptations, whether helpful or not, come into view at the same time. Eve is contacted for an interview by a music journalist acquaintance (Benjamin Bratt) whose adoring patter about the good old days, her talent and second chances pushes all those life-that-got-away buttons; Maggie considers rekindling an affair with an estate caretaker (Brian d'Arcy James) who enjoys her work; and Andy is suddenly getting contacted again by the newly flirtatious Tina, who seems put out that her ex is dating a former colleague. As dramatic tipping points go, any of these stories would be agreeably complicated on its own, but reduced to panels in a triptych, they come off as thin and overarticulated. Mol, Margulies and Burns are fine, but they barely seem connected to each other as characters with a shared history, save their requirements as mouthpieces of exposition. Any edge comes from their regular scene partners: Wilson's believably unpleasant demeanor, Bratt's vulnerable charm, Scott's lo-fi depression and, most appealingly, Driver's intelligent wariness. Early on in Burns' career, he was getting called an Irish Catholic Woody Allen — which felt a tad unearned because the movies weren't as funny. But now, with three parallel decades of Allen's increased creative laziness and Burns' own comfortable mediocrity, the label fits more snugly. That isn't to say Burns' safely declarative dialogue and what-if storytelling won't spur you to think of your own relationship and matters of fulfillment. But that just makes 'Millers in Marriage' feel more like a study topic guide for discussion than a movie.
New York Times
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Millers in Marriage' Review: Squall in the Family
Rich people have problems too, is one takeaway from 'Millers in Marriage,' the 14th feature from the writer and director Edward Burns. A roundelay of discontent, disappointment and disappearing dreams, this smoothly executed, coolly controlled relationship drama observes three siblings on the wrong side of 50 and, clearly, the right side of the property market. All are artists of one sort or another, and all reside in homes that appear ripped from the pages of Architectural Digest. Andy (Burns), a glumly separated painter, is torn between his attraction to a straight-shooting, happily divorced Englishwoman (a perfect Minnie Driver) and the renewed attentions of his volatile wife (Morena Baccarin). His sister Maggie (Julianna Margulies) is a novelist whose facility at churning out high-society beach reads isn't helping her husband (a dour Campbell Scott) dislodge his writer's block. The third sibling, Eve (a warm and engaging Gretchen Mol), a onetime rock musician, is deeply regretting the abandonment of her career to have babies with her former manager (Patrick Wilson), now a perpetually sozzled grouch. Who better, then, to pry Eve loose than a rangy, rakish music journalist (Benjamin Bratt) whose game includes unironic hat-wearing and — like a dispiriting number of men in his age bracket — the unembarrassed deployment of Stephen Stills lyrics? Cutting elegantly back and forth among the siblings, 'Millers in Marriage' is a sincere, sometimes trite attempt to address midlife drift and late-marriage frustrations, its empty nests gaping beneath gleaming countertops and gauzy photography. Its characters may be stressed out, but its rhythms are leisurely, the skill of the actors mostly countering the weaknesses in the script. For Burns, though, the difficulty may be getting audiences to invest in the unhappiness of people who wake up each morning in square footage like this. Millers in MarriageRated R for alcoholism, adultery and enviable curb appeal. Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Watch 'Millers in Marriage' new clip: Benjamin Bratt and Gretchen Mol in upcoming drama
Morena Baccarin, Benjamin Bratt, Edward Burns, Brian d'Arcy James, Minnie Driver, Julianna Margulies, Gretchen Mol, Campbell Scott and Patrick Wilson star in the upcoming drama Millers in Marriage, in select theatres and on digital Feb. 21. Written and directed by Edward Burns, the film follows three middle-aged married couples, facing the reality of questions around "marriage and fidelity, professional success and failure, and the challenge of finding a second act." Eve (Gretchen Mol) gave up her rocker ways from her twenties to be a full-time mom, while her husband, Scott (Patrick Wilson), continued with his own music. But now that she's an empty nester, Eve wonders if she can return to music, getting the encouragement from a music critic, played by Bratt, whose interest could be more than a professional capacity. Burns' inspiration for Millers in Marriage came from wanting to make a movie that adults in their 50s could watch and recognize themselves on screen. Did you ever think about, you know, making a change? Yeah, but I don't know. I think when I was younger, maybe, but it's just still a little hard to imagine now, you know, being out there alone, at my age, just at your age. That's crazy. Oh, I mean, you're, you're gorgeous, you're smart, you're talented in the boot. The last thing that you would be is alone. Anyway, this is my place. You want to feel really old. This place used to be area, this building. You remember that the nightclub? Yes, get out of here. Well then, I'm pretty sure that I stood in this exact alleyway back in 1987, probably coked out of my mind. But you don't party like that anymore, do you? No, I mean that was, that was a lifetime ago. Now at the most, I barely even drink. Unless you know I'm Sharing a bottle with someone I like. So, you mentioned that you might want to ask a few more questions, um. Scott's gonna be on the road this weekend if you wanted to, I don't know, maybe get together for lunch. Yes, absolutely. I would love that. You know what, I I got to head back to the country tomorrow though, so, oh, OK, I mean, Any some other time. No, but hey, tell you what, if, if, if you're comfortable, it's only a You know, a 2 hour train ride. For lunch.
