COMBAT MODE: Moon Bloodgood (right) plays part of the Mason clan fighting aliens who have taken over the land in TNT’s Falling Skies.
By Luaine Lee
Fighting menacing Terminators or six-legged fiends or indestructible robots is nothing to actress Moon Bloodgood. She does all that on practically a daily basis in TNT’s Falling Skies. Battling Skitters or Mechs or the Espheni is no big deal.
It’s real life that unnerves her. She never wanted to be an actress, she confesses over a plate of fruit in a cafe here in Pasadena, California.
“I started as a dancer and I wanted to be a singer-songwriter. I didn’t start acting until I was 29. I was so against it because I just didn’t feel comfortable with it. When I was a dancer everything was auditory. When I sang, it was music. Having to use my words to communicate was not something I was drawn to. I fought it and fought it,” she says.
Even though she eventually succumbed, she is still critical of her acting. “I watch myself on screen and nine out of 10 times I’m so bad. I just cringe. I force myself to watch the show because I need to do press and remember the storylines, but I literally go, ‘Awwwww.’ Sometimes I say, ‘That’s not so bad.’ My husband sees my insecurity and he says, ‘You’re missing enjoying how good you can be.’ But I watch some of the greats. And then I watch me and go, ‘Oh, my God, how do I get hired?’”
It’s not surprising that she’s hard on herself. Her mother’s family immigrated from Korea to Nebraska, where she was born. “There are 11 family members living in a one-bedroom house,” she recalls.
“They’re all living in Nebraska and they don’t know where the hell they are. They have no idea. They don’t speak a word of English. They’re thinking the United States is Beverly Hills or New York, but they’re not thinking Nebraska. They were shell shocked.”
She left Nebraska when she was two-and-half and later her parents divorced. But once they adjusted to America, life still wasn’t easy. “I had a rough childhood, we were very poor, we were on welfare, my mom had three jobs,” she says.
“I almost dropped out of high school and my friend — she’s a CPA now — convinced me (not to) and I’m so glad I finished high school. And I hated high school. I was ethnic in a predominately white high school so I felt like an outsider. I felt like an outsider — even though I was, at one point, even voted ‘most popular’ — I oftentimes would sit by myself and have lunch. I always felt confused because I was accepted on one hand because I was on the dance team and was talented, but I also felt unaccepted because I was poor and I was Korean and I was mixed.”
When she was 17 her father, who’d been a railroad man, committed suicide. “He wasn’t living with us, I think he was in Arizona at the time. I think when you’re young and someone just takes their life and it happens like that,” she snaps her fingers.
“What happened was I became so serious. I was already pretty serious and I don’t know if that’s my nature. But someone told me when I was 18 I was the most serious 18-year-old they’d ever met. Another dancer said that to me. I was going to join the Peace Corps, I was going to make music that was going to make a difference.
“I was like that, young and idealistic and you want to change the world ... I think you grow up and you understand you need a balance in your life. That rocked me, and I feel like I never got to play. I never went to college, I never drank.”
When she was 26 she was caring for her mother, who’d been injured at work, and she needed a decent paycheck. That’s when she seriously entertained the idea of acting. “I had bills to pay ... It was a necessity. There was a part of me that wanted to be a good actor and I studied and all that, but it was like I was trying to catch up.”
She landed the lead role in Eight Below, then costarred in Terminator Salvation. “Once I got Terminator though, I literally sabotaged myself because I saw what it took — all the press you do, all the attention, all the obligation and I went, ‘Oh, this is insane.’ And I’ve never liked chaos, so I think I backed up.”
Seven years ago she vowed to make up for her self-contained youth. “I decided I was going to have a little fun — I was going to try some drugs, I was going to drink just to see what I missed. I feel it’s such a waste of time. I do think that alcohol can help relieve stress, but partying just to party has never really interested me,” she says.
“I partied, but it was almost out of curiosity. I just always thought it was shallow. I’m glad I did it. I just wanted to know what that world was that I was avoiding all those years, and I’m glad I tried it, and I’ll never do it again because it’s just not an important thing to me.”
She’s married to Grady Hill, a businessman and writer who has his own Internet business. They met in a bowling league (she’s still a terrible bowler) and married six months later. “I said, ‘Let’s do it!’ I’m not orthodox in any way.”
Now, at 38, she’s the mother of an 18-month-old daughter. “She’s the light of my life,” she sighs. “I thought I’d be strict, I’m kind of a softie. I’m Mommie.” — MCT
Won’t finance my movies anymore, says Mel Gibson
The Braveheart star Mel Gibson says making films independently has become an extremely costly business, therefore, he has decided not to finance his movies anymore.
“It’s tricky... Nobody would have financed them, they more or less worked, but I would never have got anyone else to finance them. “I’m out of that business of financing my own films because they (studio chiefs) see you coming and take you for a ride. I’m not a fool,” The Hollywood Reporter quoted Gibson as saying.
The 58-year-old actor-director invested his hard earned money into his controversial films like The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto, but getting those projects onto the big screen turned out to be a challenge for him. “It’s difficult for the things I deem worthy to direct, where you can get a really good compelling story out of — nobody else has much faith in it and never did,” said Gibson. — IANS
Jessica Simpson, Eric Johnson tie the knot
Singer Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson are finally married. The couple has two children. The marriage ceremony took place over the weekend at the San Ysidro Ranch hotel, reports usmagazine.com.
The 33-year-old and the former National Football League player’s wedding was attended by their families and friends, including the singer’s parents Joe and Tina Simpson, sister Ashlee Simpson, and Jessica Alba and beau Cash Warren.
Singer-actress Jessica Simpson was extremely emotional at her rehearsal dinner ahead of her wedding and became teary-eyed when their friends gave heartwarming speeches about them. The 33-year-old and her fiance, Eric Johnson, were joined by approximately 70 family members and friends at San Ysidro Ranch last week for their first pre-wedding celebration ahead of their lavish nuptials, reports contactmusic.com.
A source told E! News that the singer, who wore a beaded silver mini dress, got teary-eyed several times when friends stood up and gave heartwarming speeches to toast the couple.
“It was very sweet,” said the source.
The group, who partied until approximately 10pm, enjoyed a light meal of fish and vegetables, selected by Simpson, and sat at two large tables, lined with pink, purple, white and yellow flowers. The couple’s children, Maxwell, two, and Ace, 12 months, were the centre of attention at the bash, and were both dressed in formal attire, according to the source.
Simpson, who announced she was engaged to Johnson in November 2010, was previously married to Nick Lachey, while the Yale graduate, 34, was married to Keri D’Angelo for five years before their divorce was finalised in October 2010. — IANS