Rita Wilson on her honor in Walk of Fame, new album, Produced Joys – Variety



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Rita Wilson is everyone's best friend, one of those performers who appears in real life as well as on the screen. As Meg Ryan says in "Sleepless in Seattle" after confusing Wilson's character with a romantic rival: "She looked like someone we'd been friends with." Of course, playing is just aspect of his personality; She is also an award-winning singer and producer. But for so many people, she is immediately recognizable as a welcome presence on the screens.

"I played with wonderful, warm, kind and understanding sisters, aunts, mothers, girls, and friends, and I loved it," Wilson said of his roles in "Now and Then" and "It's Complicated"; she is currently on the screens of "Gloria Bell" as a bestie of Julianne Moore. But she also liked going against guy in recent roles. "Playing a narcissistic mother in 'Girls' was so liberating. And on "The good wife", I had to be hard, clear and motivated; I have never played against anyone before

The cool girls will finish first when Wilson receives his star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 29, when his new album "Halfway to Home" will be released on the same day. She admits that when she received the call, "I almost fell." This honor has special significance for Wilson, since she was born and raised in Hollywood. "My first thought was addressed to my parents and I thought," Oh my God, if they were alive, they would be so happy. It was our hometown; it is there that we have done everything. I remember going to the Chinese theater and putting my hands and feet in the footprints of the stars. It is therefore an honor and a miracle.

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In fact, the Wilson star will be a few blocks away from her alma mater, Hollywood High School, where she was a Sheiks cheerleader. (And only four places from her husband's star Tom Hanks.) But Wilson's family did not come to Hollywood because of his business. "My parents came to Australia because my mother's sister lived here and the weather was better than in New York," Wilson recalls. "So they did not have that kind of respect for Hollywood, some people. They just wanted good weather, a good job, and found a family and a life here. In many ways, I grew up in a small town. It was a normal place where we used to ride bikes and ice cream and go to the movies. "

Wilson pays tribute to this duality on his new album with the song "Big City Small Town Girl", singing: "I was raised in blue collar / The daughter of a bartender / He said: You have to work hard to be successful in this city / Mom made my prom dress / I felt like a princess / More than in these designer dresses. "

Acting had never entered Wilson's mind before she was discovered on her first day of high school. "A group of two men and two women said they were there with the permission of the school and asked to photograph me," she recalls. A few weeks later, she went to a meeting and learned that the shoot was for Harper's Bazaar with the famous photographer Albert Watson. "I think it was in January 1972 and they wanted to give it to young people because 18-year-olds got the right to vote. I was 14 years old and that's how I started in the company. Another model during the shooting told her about agents, and she ended up signing with Nina Blanchard. From there, Wilson got her first acting job in "The Brady Bunch", in which she played, of course, from a cheerleader to high school.

It was not until Wilson entered college that she began to think of it as a career. "At 18 or 19, I was doing a lot of advertising, so much so that I was missing a clbad and could not catch up with it," she says. "Then I decided: I guess that's my job."

A big film break took place in 1985 with "Volunteers", in which she shared the star with John Candy and her future husband, Hanks, and she showed her range in all that goes from the dark indies ("Auto Focus", "Psycho") to the crowd. Pleasant comedies ("Runaway Bride", this movie that runs in circles in "Sleepless in Seattle").

Along the way, she learned that she possessed a secret talent for production. Before Donald Margulies' Dinner With Friends won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000, she suggested it at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. "The experience helped me to feel comfortable with my taste for the material and to know when something was going well.

"I played with great sisters, aunts, mothers, daughters and friends, warm, kind and understanding and loved it."
Rita Wilson

This radar fell into disuse when she attended a performance of Nia Vardalos' female show, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"; Wilson immediately knew that it would make a good movie. Hanks had just started his production company, Playtone, which Wilson had brought him with his partner, Gary Goetzman. She helped direct the 2002 movie to the top BO, and it becomes one of the most successful in the history industry, with a budget of $ 5 million and a turnover of 368 millions of dollars around the world. Knowing what phenomenon it has become, it is difficult to believe in the difficulty of doing so.

"Nobody wanted to finance it," says Wilson. "And when it was done, nobody wanted to distribute it!"

Wilson has produced more films with Vardalos, including "Connie and Carla" and "My Life in Ruins", and has enjoyed increasing success with another feature film, "Mamma Mia!" And his suite. She is also a producer and actress in the upcoming Emmett and Simple Wedding films, both directed by screenwriters. And for both films, she co-wrote and performed the songs of the final credits.

On the production horizon, Wilson and Hanks opted for the book "A Man Called Ove" for Hanks to take the lead role. The 2015 Swedish film version of the book has been nominated for an Oscar in a foreign language.

In the future of Wilson, there will be more music It is only after performing Roxie Hart during the rehearsal of "Chicago" on Broadway in 2006 that she understood that music should be part of her life . This role is one of the most demanding of Wilson and she was not sure she could do it.

"I went to see the show and halfway through, I turned to Tom and my daughter Elizabeth to say," There is no way. And they looked at me and said, "Are you kidding?" It's perfect for you! "

During the show, she met Kara DioGuardi, who encouraged her to write music; they wrote Wilson's first two songs with Jason Reed. "I think I always wanted to do it but I did not know how. In the future, music must be part of my creative life. "

Wilson regained his love of singing after taking part in the 2006 Broadway comedy "Chicago".
Andre Csillag / Shutterstock

His philanthropic work, which spans 27 years at the nonprofit Shakespeare Center Los Angeles, is also part of his life. And for more than 20 years, she and Hanks have co-chaired Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw of An Inoubliable Fundraising Night, which raises funds for the Women's Cancer Research Fund. Wilson was active well before his own diagnosis of bad cancer in 2015.

"I did not know I would get bad cancer one day, but I was fortunate to have the information, the resources and the relevance of the foundation.

In the end, she says that there is creativity in everyone and many ways to explore it. "Part of this creativity is seen by millions of people around the world, only part of it by your children or your community. But finding what you want is important to you because it is a gift from God. I always want to encourage people to find what they like and to do it. It's about painting, sewing, construction, song composition, dance or music. This is what you like to do where time pbades and you can not believe that you forgot to eat. "

Tip Sheet
What: Rita Wilson receives a star on the Walk of Fame.
When: 11:30 am on March 29
Or: 7024 Hollywood Blvd.
Web: walkoffame.com

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