Actor says she’s still an up-and-comer
Olivia Munn prides herself on working with three powerful S names in Hollywood: Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show,” Steven Soderbergh in the film “Magic Mike” and Aaron Sorkin on HBO’s “The Newsroom.” But to hear her tell it, she’s still an up-and-comer – and maybe a bit of a cheat.
“I kind of follow where they’re going, ‘Oh, (if they’re on board) then that’s probably a good script.’ It’s probably a cheat that way,” she joked in a recent interview. “You guys do the homework and then if I’m lucky enough to be able to work with you then I will.”
The 32-year-old actress has a new film out called “The Babymakers,” co-starring Paul Schneider, formerly of TV’s “Parks and Recreation.”
On “The Newsroom” she plays Sloan Sabbith, a business reporter at the fictional Atlantic Cable News where Jeff Daniels’ Will McAvoy has the flagship newscast. As in any Sorkin venture, there’s an intense amount of dialogue to spout out, often at a rapid-fire pace. “I refuse to be the person who is gonna come in and forget my line. Like if (Daniels) has to remember all this stuff and then be preparing for the next episode and all that dialogue then I’m going to do my best to come up to his bar,” she said.
Munn jokes about making the dreaded, hypothetical phone call to her mother to say her Hollywood dreams didn’t pan out: “Mom, I’m working at the Jamba Juice now. You get a free boost. And I probably could hook you up with another boost.” Her mother is of Chinese descent but was born and raised in Vietnam.
Munn says initially her mother wasn’t keen on the idea of her daughter going into showbiz.
“It took a long time to convince my Asian mother that I could do it because she believed that only one person in the world could become a movie star and that was Tom Cruise. She’s like, ‘You’re not Tom Cruise!”’
Now her mom is her biggest fan.
Sitcom creator to publish book
Fans of Chuck Lorre’s vanity cards, which appear at the end of his TV shows, will no longer have to hit pause on their DVRs to study his vanity cards.
Lorre, who writes, produces and is a co-creator of sitcoms such as “Two and a Half Men,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “Mike and Molly,” is publishing a coffee-table book of the cards titled, “What Doesn’t Kill Us, Makes Us Bitter.” It will be published in October.
Vanity cards are the graphics that air for a second or two at the end of his shows. The cards are often political, biting and even controversial.
The birthday bunch
Former Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., is 90. Actor Peter O’Toole is 80. Singer Kathy Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 69. Actress Apollonia is 53. Writer-actor-director Kevin Smith is 42.