#71. A Conversation with America Olivo

America Olivo is an actress, singer and model known for her work in films like Friday the 13th and Bitch Slap.  Today she joins Fulle Circle to discuss dropping in on How I Met Your Mother, her stint in Iron Man and being on the cover of Playboy.

Jason Anders: So let's talk a little bit about your music career and how you established yourself in the industry.

America Olivo: I started out with my training in Juilliard in Opera Theater and was signed to a record label just out of college with a band called Soluna- we were with Dreamworks Records and toured, put an album out, and played many of the great stages all over the world. That was fun. The music industry tanked and left us all with no record label- Dreamworks Records folded into Universal. At that time we made a television deal as a Monkees-style sitcom which we developed for two years with Paramount and UPN. We didn't get picked up for a series though, UPN folded into the CW, so it really was good luck and bad timing.

I recently got back into music and helped develop some musicals like Zorro, along with two songs being released on the Bitch Slap soundtrack, one song on a horror film called Neighbor, and also a video coming out for a new single I have under Universal.

JA: Did you enjoy your experience at Juilliard?

AO: Well I graduated high school early at sixteen and went to the California Institute of the Arts, which was great, but I wish I would have done that after Juilliard because they are less about foundation and structure and more about playing with your tools once you have them solidified. The director of my new film Bitch Slap is also from CalArts. Juilliard is really conservative- you're there to train for your specific craft, it's very narrow in what it teaches you to do. I enjoyed my time at CalArts more because I am such a broader person- I was in an African drumming class, a latin salsa band, a sargam singing class, private lute lessons, guitar, directing, interpretive dance, tai-chi, and even astrology and search for extra-terrestrial intelligence if I wanted it! It was just a place where you could do no wrong and was all about learning, a place that birthed Tim Burton and Danny Elfman's careers.

So it was fun to have both of those experiences, I just wish I'd done them backwards.

JA: So do you think it's worth the money and time to invest in schooling if you're going into the entertainment industry?

AO: It's completely dependent on the person. Coming from the "University of Life Experience" is just as valid an experience. Making art a technical experience is a really dull thing and to suffer through that period of your artistic training is not for everybody, and it's something that a lot of people lose themselves in. They start to feel like they've lost their connection and are not going to get it back. For me it was the combination of life experience and schooling, and for someone else it's going to be completely different. I worked in the office of admissions at Juilliard and was telling people "you don't need a Juilliard stamp to make it in life". Not everyone with that stamp makes it as an artist in life. You need the soul and work behind it to back it up.

JA: Who would you list as an artistic inspiration in your life?

AO: Anybody I've ever worked with has been such an inspiration in so many ways- I can give you names of people I grew up listening to and wanting to emulate, but so much of my experience that has shaped me was because of the wonderful artists I've been surrounded by.

JA: So let's talk more now about your involvement in theater and when you became interested in acting.

AO: I became involved in theater around age four- my mother was an acting teacher and she would put me in her shows. I lived in the theater growing up just loving the smell of the stage, musty costumes, and the fun, bigger than life people. I only became a professional actor in 2004 when I got my first gig on House M.D..

JA: What was it like working on that show?

AO: Well that was amazing because it was for the first season and before they aired, actually. We taped the episode on the night that House M.D. first aired, so they had no idea it was going to be a hit. It was a really tense and exciting night because they were hearing as we were filming, and everyone was celebrating which was so much fun. They called me back into the second season to make my character more of a recurring role- then they brought me back and realized my character didn't have much of a purpose. I was just his personal masseuse who didn't speak english (laughs). So I was almost a regular, but that's okay because I loved being a part of those two episodes.

In the midst of that I also did How I Met Your Mother, which I loved because I got to work opposite Neil Patrick Harris who was an inspiration, and also Jason Segel who I loved from Freaks and Geeks. It's always fun to be with someone who I admired from another series. I was also in a horror flick opposite Jason Connery (Sean Connery's son), and I thought that was very cool.

JA: Didn't you work with John Stamos on Jake In Progess as well?

AO: I didn't work opposite him, it was opposite one of the other actors- unfortunately it never aired because the show was canceled upon first airing, and I was in the second episode. It was a great show, I thought it was adorable. Sometimes you just get a bad time slot and it just didn't get the right feedback. I also worked on Cuts with Shannon Elizabeth, General Hospital, and even a mockumentary on the porn industry called Love Shack.

I actually got fired from General Hospital- which is a good thing because I got a call from director Rick Jacobson who is the director for Bitch Slap. He said he saw me in the film Circle and thought I would be perfect for the role of Camero. The same casting directors for that film were working on Friday the 13th- I got the part and ended up flying back and forth to Austin, Texas. I had to dye my hair in a trailer and then be thrown out into the woods and set on fire, and then fly back to film more of Bitch Slap.


JA: Did you have fun filming Friday the 13th?

AO: I did have fun in retrospect, it was pretty intense. I became friends with everyone who was part of the show. Such a beautiful part of that movie is that all the actors were genuinely friends with everyone else, and to jump into that was like being the new kid on set. I didn't really know what I was getting into at the time, but I love having been a part of it. In filming, it was more intense than it was fun. I was really put to the test.

JA: Tell me a little bit more about Bitch Slap and working with Zoe Bell.

AO: Zoe was my coordinator and my trainer, and I'm indebted to her for making me look like I kick ass. She trained us on the weekends at her facility and really taught me a lot. I knew nothing about fighting before and have gained an appreciation for stunt work, fight scenes, and fight choreography. It was an absolute blast. She did a cameo as well of her own character. I recently saw her at the premiere of Whip It which she was just in, it was really sweet. She did such a great job in that.
JA: You were also in the new Transformers movie too, weren't you?

AO: Yeah, I also did a little stint in Iron Man as well- a part which I was actually cast for that only ended up on the deleted scenes. But it was fun to be involved in those two movies- with Transformers 2 it was Michael Bay who did Friday the 13th and we became friendly and he said "we should throw you in to pay homage to other films I do". I said "of course!" (laughs). So I got to improvise a scene with Shia over pot brownies. It was a cameo, nothing more.

JA: So let's talk about being on the cover of Playboy Magazine.

AO: I had done a one page for Playboy for Friday the 13th and it wasn't really a full nude shot, it was more modest. I never really planned on doing a whole nude spread. They called back after the film was such a hit and asked if I wanted to do a spread, and I said "no, not unless they give me the cover" as sort of a joke. Then they called back and said that they would give me the cover!

I was fortunate to be photographed by the Andy Warhol of our time, Terry Richardson, something I couldn't pass up- so I just said "okay, I'm getting naked." I later learned that I probably could have asked to only show the top or be a little bit more modest- nobody else that's a celebrity that was on the cover after my issue actually gets naked. And now Marge Simpson is on the cover (laughs). So I am the last celebrity to date on the cover who gets completely naked. That's kind of funny.



JA: I have this feeling that I will never be asked to do anything like that, so tell me about the experience of actually doing the shoot with Terry Richardson.
AO: He's so much fun to work with. Leading up to the shoot I hadn't told my management or agents that I was going to do this because I was afraid they would try and talk me out of it. I was in New York and had just finished wrapping Neighbor, and I showed up on set. There were a lot of people on set to be naked around. About five minutes in after you take your clothes off, you start to feel like you're in a costume. It gets really comfortable and people stop looking at you funny. He also had the whole place looking fun- it had like candy necklaces and lollipops, a pinata, a pogo stick and trampoline, hula hoops, and balloons... it helped with my vibe of feeling less sexy and more playful and child-like.
JA: Fun for kids of all ages.

AO: (laughs) I regressed into that child's thought of "I don't wanna wear clothes!" and went and jumped on the trampoline- I am sure there are some insane outtakes of that photo shoot, some of which I hope to never see. The ones that he captured because of that feeling were really fun, unlike a lot of the Playboy spreads you usually see- this one had a lot more of a fun "I'm going to reach out and grab you and pull you into my party" kind of commanding attitude that he found. He captured that and brought it out of me. I like it because it's different, and I don't feel exploited. I feel much more in control. It was fun.

#70. A Conversation with Sarah Churchwell

A conversation with Sarah Churchwell- a professor of American literature and culture at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England and author of the 2004 publication The Many Lives of Marilyn Monore. The following are five questions for Sarah Churchwell revolving around the subject of her very successful and highly regarded biography, Marilyn Monore.

Jason Anders: What initially inspired you to write a book about Marilyn Monroe, and do you remember what first sparked your interest in her to begin with?

Sarah Churchwell: I read a biography of Marilyn Monroe in a very desultory way, mildly curious about how she really died and expecting that any serious biography would explain the truth, and how the conspiracy theories developed. It didn't, so I thought I must have a bad one and read another bio. It was a completely different story. I kept reading and kept getting different stories and it soon seemed this was a story in itself. I explain this a bit more fully in the book's introduction.
JA: Tell me about your experiences of getting your first book published, and also about the challenges of the research process.

SC: I was pretty lucky, although it was hard. I wrote a PhD thesis that compared the writing about Marilyn with the writing about Sylvia Plath and Janis Joplin. When I went to revise it for publication, I did Marilyn first and it expanded to a book. A friend recommended an editor at Granta; I met with him, told him my ideas about Marilyn and pretty soon he said he wanted to publish it. In between were many years of painful revising and thinking and writing as I worked it all out. But once I met up with Granta it was relatively straightforward.

JA: What are your three favorite films featuring Marilyn Monroe, and why?
SC: Some Like It Hot is far and away the best film she's in, and my favorite, although it was a hard film for her to make. I think her best performances are in The Prince and the Showgirl, though it's not a good film, and Bus Stop, which is a marginally better film but not great. She's also quite funny in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and her physical comedy in How to Marry a Millionaire has been very underrated.
JA: Have you considered other personalities for the subject of your next book?

SC: My next book is about many personalities, including F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, among others...

JA: If you had to sum up Marilyn Monroe with just one word, what would it be?

SC: Guts.

"A Conversation with Randal Kleiser" by Jason Anders

Jason Anders: You've been quoted as saying that you would love to do a hard-edged picture, but because of Grease you became typecast into doing funny, uplifting films.

Randal Kleiser: Breaking the typecasting is difficult for any industry member. I have been developing projects in various genres I haven’t yet explored. A teen thriller, a period drama, a sci-fi romance, and several others.

None of us had any idea Grease would be a hit when we were making it, and certainly had no inkling it would still be popular after over thirty years. It was a lot of fun making it and one of the reasons is that the studio didn’t have huge expectations and left us alone. They were focusing on other movies in production at the time, Heaven Can Wait with Warren Beatty and Going South with Jack Nicholson. Looking back at Grease now, I see it’s roughness and flaws, but they kind of work for the type of movie it is.

JA: Is there any truth to John Belushi at one point being considered for the role of Richard in The Blue Lagoon?

RK: No truth. Is that rumor a joke? The first cast was Willie Aames and Diane Lane, but they backed out because of the nudity. I ended up using a body double for Brooke Sheilds, who was too tall to play opposite Willie.

JA: How would you compare your experiences directing Grease and The Blue Lagoon?

RK: Grease was an exciting whirlwind, a stage musical with so many opportunities in the adaption process… which numbers to keep and how to stage them. I enjoyed being surrounded by some of the original cast members and Pat Birch, who choreographed the play. It was a team effort in a circus atmosphere. Shooting The Blue Lagoon was a completely different experience, with a hand picked Australian crew living on a remote island with no roads, electricity or water. It was like an extreme summer camp, and I was the head counselor. We became like a family and formed close bonds with some of the local natives, who serenaded us when we left, leaving many in tears.

JA: What inspired 1982's Summer Lovers?

RK: During the Blue Lagoon publicity tour I heard about the summertime international youth scene in the Greek islands and decided to check it out for a potential movie idea. In the late summer of 1981, I wrote the story while exploring Santorini and Mykonos. The shoot was like a vacation, but with the normal stress of making a movie. At first, the actors seemed awkward with the nudity, but after being around the hundreds of nude beach goers, they loosened up. Valerie Quennessen was very free, and her presence also helped Darryl and Peter get into the mood.

JA: I grew up obsessed with your film, Flight of the Navigator.

RK: I was brought in by Disney to direct Flight of the Navigator, so it was an assignment and not something I developed. It was a co-production between Disney and Mark Damon’s international distribution company, so I was given notes from two sources. Disney wanted a family sensibility and Damon wanted an action movie and I was caught in the middle. The compromises made the movie better.

After Flight of the Navigator I was asked to direct White Fang, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, and the 3D attraction for Disney theme parks, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. My dealings were with Michael Eisner and Jeffery Katzenberg, who were great supporters. It was a great time at the studio.

JA: And before producing more projects for Disney you would would return to Paramount to direct Big Top Pee Wee...

RK: Paul had done the voice of the robot in Flight of the Navigator and we worked well together on that. I knew he had very specific ideas of how he wanted to do Big Top Pee Wee and I basically tried to help him realize his vision. Working with the large and varied numbers of animals was a great challenge. To get a pig and a hippo to interact without the hippo eating the pig was tough. We borrowed Michael Jackson’s giraffe, and at one point it got loose and started up a freeway ramp. Stunt guys on horseback raced up the ramp and lassoed the animal and brought it back. Would not like to have made that call to Jackson.

JA: What was your experience directing the 1991 film White Fang like?

RK: We filmed at a remote location in Alaska, so the studio was not as involved as they normally were. The concept for adapting London’s novel was interesting. The book is told from the wolf’s point of view, so we made the movie about a Jack London based character who goes to Alaska and had adventures that later are the basis for the book.

JA: I really loved Honey, I Blew Up the Kid...

RK: At first I wasn’t interested in directing a sequel to another director’s film, but Katzenberg wanted to replace the original director who he felt was going to go over budget. He promised me a “movie with a brain” if I did this one. Unfortunately, he left the studio before he could deliver the promise.

My favorite part was closing down Las Vegas’ downtown area for 10 nights to shoot with a thousand extras and tremendously huge baby shoes on cranes “walking” down the middle of the strip.

JA: A project I have always wanted to ask you about is Honey I Shrunk the Audience...

RK: Katzenberg knew I loved high tech special effects and gadgets, and came to me with the idea of shooting in 3D with 70MM cameras. I jumped at the chance to work in this medium. The Imagineering department had done many tests before I came on, so I watched them and came up with some ideas for more. The show was conceived to be in real time and real size, with no breaks, but we needed to find a way to shoot in sections for the camera load length and other logistical considerations. We came up with the idea of several “power outages” that plunged the set into darkness and hid the cuts.

JA: Tell me about the challenges you faced directing for 3-D- also, what it was like to work with Eric Idle, and how did Katherine LaNasa arrive at being cast in her role?

RK: The rig was two 65MM cameras linked together and about the size and weight of a refrigerator. Luckily, it remained stationery for most of the show, but there is a moment when the boy picks up the theater and carries it. To shoot this, we had a winch and crane holding the camera rig with chains and the operator guided it through the path. I can’t imagine shooting a regular story with this rig.

Eric was a dream to work with and I was a huge fan of Monty Python. It was surreal to be directing him after watching so many of his films. Katherine LaNasa was not known at the time we shot this, and she went through the normal casting process and was chosen for her reading.

JA: Do you have any projects currently on the back burner?

RK: So many. All ready to go. I don’t talk about them though, because of bad luck.

JA: If you had to sum up you career so far with just one word, what would it be?

RK: Fortunate.

Follow Randal Kleiser on Twitter HERE: @RandalKleiser

#68. A Conversation with Mindy White

Jason Anders: Let's talk about some of your musical influences growing up, and how do they compare to what inspires you now? Do you remember the first album you purchased?

Mindy White: My parents were musicians, so I was always around music. All genres really- but the ones I remember loving the most were The Beatles, The Temptations, The Carpenters, and Michael Jackson. First tape that I purchased was Billy Ray Cyrus' Achy Breaky Heart.

JA: Do you have a "top 5 favorites" list of records at the moment?

MW: Fantasies by Metric, Parachutes by Coldplay, Everything to Nothing Manchester Orchestra, Emotionalism by The Avett Brothers, and Futuresex/Lovesounds by Justin Timberlake.

JA: What do you love most about making music?

MW: Well for me, singing in general is the best feeling- but show wise it's about connecting with fans, and hearing how they took songs that you wrote and then putting their own meaning to it.

JA: How would you define the current state of the music industry, the good and the bad.

MW: There's both great and terrible things to it. You witness bands who didn't work as hard as others to get where they are, or see the bands you really respect and want to succeed barely scraping by to continue to tour because of no money. The downfall of CD sales and illegal downloads, and management or labels taking huge chunks of money from the bands are incredible. It's not fair how it works, but if you play it smart and watch where your money goes, you can come out on top.

JA: Let's talk about your most recent tour with Lydia- how was the experience being a headliner for the tour, and what are your fondest memories from those shows?

MW: It was awesome, we loved being able to play a longer set. It's great to get on stage and hear the entire crowd singing along to your songs. Most shows we'd start with a set list- but by the end we didn't even follow it because we just went with what the kids would yell out that they wanted to hear. So much more fun.

JA: Which model of keyboard do you play on?

MW: At home I have a sad little Casio (laughs)- but on tour I use a Nord Electro 73. It's got some of the most beautiful piano sounds on it.

JA: If you could perform with any musical artist, who would it be?

MW: Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, or Brand New.

JA: What is your personal favorite song you have recorded?

MW: Personally, it's a song called Dancing Days. I can't wait to play it live.

JA: What do you enjoy doing most when you are not making music?

MW: Cooking! Also exploring, reading awesome books, easy nights with friends, trying new restaurants, hanging with my pets, and scrap booking.

JA: What is the worst job you worked before becoming a professional musician?

MW: I once worked for the Nashville Predators, standing outside the games trying to get people to sign up for a credit card for Chase Bank. When I, myself, don't even want a credit card yet because I know they're trouble (laughs). I felt bad trying to 'work', but I had to try and persuade. It was so annoying. That, or when I worked at this BBQ joint where I had to dress up in a big pig suit and sweat bullets the whole shift.

JA: What is the best piece of advice you have heard pertaining to making it as a recording artist?

MW: Get work done. Don't procrastinate. Write the music you love, just what you think will be 'cool'. Seek inspiration. Don't let others influence you too much. And most of all- be patient, but don't settle; stay smart, and be human.

JA: If you had sum up your life so far with just one word, what would it be?

MW: Blessed.

Follow Mindy on Twitter at: @mindywhite