Interviews: Print & video interviews for Monogamy

Lots of interviews came out over the past week while Rashida and co-star Chris Messina were promoting Monogamy.



'Monogamy' co-stars Rashida Jones and Chris Messina open up about their frank new film, love scenes with friends, and their worst audition experiences.
Singular Couple, Backstage



Jones, known for both ‘The Office’ and ‘Parks And Recreation,’ and Messina who played Julie’s hubby in the Meryl Streep film, ‘Julie and Julia,’ and had a reoccurring role in ‘Six Feet Under,’ do some of their most interesting work in this subtle almost documentary like indie film by director Dana Adam Shapiro (the Oscar-nominated ‘Murderball’). In speaking with Blackfilm.com, both actors spoke about working together on this film. ...
Monogamy: Rashida Jones & Chris Messina Interview, BlackFilm



In person, Rashida Jones reminds you of a best friend: smart, witty, friendly and grounded. In her new film, Monogamy, she plays a down-to-earth, aspiring musician; a coolest-girlfriend-in-the-world. So why does her fiancé (played by Chris Messina) want to leave her?
Rashida Jones Is "Down With Nietzsche", Elle Magazine



Jones, known for both her comic turns in The Office and Parks And Recreation, and Messina who played Julie's hubby in Julie and Julia and had a reoccurring role in Six Feet Under, do some of their most interesting work in this subtle and involving indie. I sat down with both rising talents at the Ace Hotel as part of a small intimate roundtable recently. ...
Actors Rashida Jones & Chris Messina Entangle in Monogamy, Huffington Post



Rashida Jones is best known for appealingly low-key comic turns in shows like Parks and Recreation and The Office, but in the indie film Monogamy she mines meaty drama as a woman whose fiancé (played by Chris Messina) begins to stray emotionally. First Jim left her for Pam, now this! Glimpsed briefly but pivotally in The Social Network, Jones also has several other projects coming up over the next year, including a role in The Muppets (where she plays a hard-ass network executive "who gets to manhandle Kermit") and the starry comedy My Idiot Brother. Last week, she chatted with Vulture about the famous names she's been erroneously linked to, feeding a baby lion on the cover of Vanity Fair, and her nerves about whether Parks and Recreation will get another season. ...
Rashida Jones on Monogamy, Parks and Recreation, and Dating Other Actors, New York Magazine


She stars on a hit TV series ("Parks & Recreation), was featured in an Oscar winning movie ("The Social Network"), spent weeks on end kissing Rob Lowe and gets to kick it with Kermit the Frog -- suffice it to say, Rashida Jones is having a great year. The latest jewel in her crown is "Monogamy," a dark but fascinating portrait of a couple on the verge of collapse, co-starring Chris Messina.
As a longtime fan of Rashida's (we're talking "Boston Public" days here, kids), I was excited to sit down with the actress to talk all about her turn towards the dark side only to find her more infectiously energetic than I could have anticipated.
Not only that, but I got the scoop on her role in Jason Segel's upcoming Muppets movie and found out why Ann Perkins (point) is about to enter, what Rashida calls, her empowered slut phase. ...
Rashida Jones preps for an empowered slut phase, New York Post



Rashida Jones doesn't mind going wacky.
"If it's funny, I will go to whatever place I have to go, no matter how gross and unattractive I seem," says Jones, who plays nerdy nurse Ann Perkins on NBC's increasingly popular sitcom Parks and Recreation. "The goofier and stupider you can be, the more fun it is." ...
A Pretty Girl Loves To Goof, Philadelphia Inquirer



Parks and Recreation’s cutest cast member on Monogamy, The Muppets and making out with Rob Lowe. ...
The Hot Seat: Rashida Jones, Time Out New York


The Today Show

Thanks to Jen and E for forwarding links :)

Appearances: Monogamy Screening, NYC

March 7: Gotham Magazine Presents A Screening of Monogamy at the IFC Center in New York. The after-party was then held at Studio XXI.

 

Pictured with cast members Chris Messina & Meital Dohan, director Dana Adam Shapiro, Justin Long, Adam Yauch and Seth Meyers
Other guests included Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, Charlotte Ronson, Adrian Grenier and Sam Rockwell

wearing Thakoon Fall 2011 dress and Robert Clergerie for Opening Ceremony shoes

Misc: The Word XX

Upcoming TV Appearance: Rashida will be a guest on the Today Show (NBC) on Tuesday morning, March 8.

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Monogamy will be showing in the following theaters:

-- Oscilloscope
Not in Boston :(

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O Magazine March 2011: Amy Poehler's Aha! Moment
Amy's Aha! Moment was prompted by a comment Rashida made on the Parks and Rec set. Thanks to K for the scan :)  

What Amy Poehler Learned From Rashida Jones

-- O Magazine

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Web Therapy to premiere on Showtime on Tuesday, July 19 at 11pm.

"Web Therapy," starring Lisa Kudrow as a self-professed psychotherapist who treats patients via a webcam in three-minute sessions, will debut July 19. Guests include Jane Lynch, Courteney Cox, Rashida Jones, Lily Tomlin and Victor Garber.
Showtime has ordered 10 episodes of "Web Therapy."
-- Variety

Movies: Monogamy Trailer, Poster & Music Video

UPDATE: Rashida performing an original song in Monogamy

 You Don't Know (Nat's Song)
 with Bummer and Lazarus

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Here's the pretty awesome movie poster and trailer for Monogamy, her indie film in cinemas March 11 (and expanding nationwide March 18). Thanks to Karen for the tip :)

 

(indieWire)

Download the trailer at iTunes Movie Trailers

Misc: The Word XVI

Updates and images...

The Social Network won four awards from the National Board of Review (Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor). The actual award ceremony will be hosted by Meredith Vieira on January 11, 2011 at Cipriani's 42nd St. in New York City. Rashida of course plays Marylin Delpy, a young lawyer on Zuckerberg's deposition team, in the film.

Monogamy has been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the Best First Screenplay category. The film was written by Dana Adam Shapiro (also director) and Evan M. Weiner, with Rashida and Chris Messina starring as Brooklyn couple Nat and Theo. Monogamy has been screening at select film festivals in America and Europe and will be released in theaters in 2011. The Indie Spirit Awards will be hosted by Joel McHale on February 26, 2011.

My Idiot Brother will premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The film has been selected in the Premieres section, which runs January 20-30, 2011.
Director: Jesse Peretz; Screenwriters: Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall
Cast: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Steve Coogan, Hugh Dancy, Rashida Jones, Kathryn Hahn, Shirley Knight, TJ Miller, Janet Montgomery and Adam Scott
Official synposis:

Ned (Rudd) is an idealist. His three sisters (Banks, Deschanel, Mortimer) are ambitious. His mother (Knight) is overbearing. Ned crashes at each of their homes, in succession, and brings truth, happiness and a sunny disposition into their lives. In other words, he wreaks havoc.
Ned Rochlin (Rudd) looks for the good in every situation and in everyone, which often puts him at odds with the world around him – especially his family. Upon being released from jail for selling pot, Ned turns to his oldest sister, Liz (Mortimer), a high-strung mother of two for a place to stay and a job helping to take care of her 7 year old son River, but his version of what’s fun for kids doesn’t fit with his sister’s carefully crafted child- rearing program. After upsetting Liz’s life, Ned relies on middle sister Miranda (Banks), a career-driven journalist, for a place to crash. He quickly makes a mess of Liz’s big break and shakes up her carefully compartmentalized love life. He is then forced upon his youngest sister, Natalie (Deschanel), whose wild-child past threatens to ruin her happy existence.
Banks, Deschanel and Mortimer co-star as the three sisters whose lives are hilariously disrupted by their well-meaning brother (Rudd). Banks portrays Miranda, the career-driven single sister who is about to get her big break in journalism after spending years writing about accessories at a fashion magazine; Deschanel portrays Natalie, the artistic hipster, a bisexual who’s flakiness and lies are getting in the way of moving forward with her caring, responsible girlfriend Cindy (Jones), who is looking to move the relationship towards a more committed place and; Mortimer portrays Liz, the Park Slope mom who’s too worried about having the perfect life and children to notice that her marriage is falling apart. Coogan portrays Dylan Byng, a self-righteous documentary filmmaker, married to Liz (Mortimer). The two live a supposedly idyllic life in Park Slope, Brooklyn with their young children, River and Echo. Scott portrays Jeremy, Miranda’s(Banks) upstairs neighbor. Dancy portrays Christian, a pretentious painter friend of Natalie’s (Deschanel) who tries to help Ned grow as a person by showing him another path; Hahn plays Janet, Ned’s (Rudd) ex-girlfriend who, out of spite, is keeping him from reuniting with his beloved dog Willie Nelson; Knight portrays Ilene, Ned’s overbearing and over-nurturing mother, who would be overjoyed if her son moved back home and; Montgomery portrays Arabella, a controversial British aristocrat that Miranda (Banks) is profiling for her magazine, a piece that could provide Miranda with the big break she has looking for.

Paul Rudd as Ned (!)

The Muppets
Walt Disney Studios have brought the release date forward to 23 November 2011 (Thanksgiving weekend) instead of Christmas Day. They are also using new title 'The Muppets Movie' over earlier reports of 'The Greatest Muppets Movie Ever Made' (my fave) and 'The Muppets'.

Parks and Recreation official images

Rashida as Ann Perkins



Season 3, Episode 1 (January 20, 2011)

Old images
Thanks to Jen for finding and sending us this old pic of Rashida with her dad and sister.

Date unknown

Thanks to Ramey for this one with Seth Meyers and cast & crew from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It was posted on Jimmy Fallon's facebook with a bunch of other old photos from his SNL and Movie Awards days.

Vanity Fair cover?
The annual Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue is being shot soon and Rashida is rumored to be on the (inside) cover. Pretty exciting!

WWD.com: As for Vanity Fair’s Young Hollywood issue in March, sources said the magazine will shoot the cover next week and among those said to be in the running to be included are Natalie Portman, Ryan Reynolds and James Franco. Potential candidates for the inside cover are said to include Lawrence, Rashida Jones, Paula Patton, Andrew Garfield and Noomi Rapace, who played the lead in the original version of “The Girl in the Dragon Tattoo.” The theme is said to be along the lines of Thirties Shanghai. The list is being altered daily, so the lineup could change, noted one source.

Movies: Monogamy

Some good news about Monogamy, the indie film Rashida shot last year. Thanks to Oscilloscope Laboratories and founder Adam Yauch (aka "MCA" from the Beastie Boys) it will be getting a theatrical release some time early next year.

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"Oscilloscope Acquires Monogamy"

Oscilloscope Laboratories has announced that it has acquired US rights to Dana Adam Shapiro’s (director of award-winning doc “Murderball”), narrative feature film debut “Monogamy,” starring Chris Messina, Rashida Jones and Meital Dohan. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April where it won the Best New York Narrative Award. Oscilloscope will release the film theatrically in early 2011.

As described by Oscilloscope:

“Increasingly anxious about his impending marriage to Nat (Jones) and thoroughly bored with his day job as a wedding photographer, Theo (Messina) establishes a hobby: he’s hired by clients to clandestinely snap voyeuristic photos of them as they go about their days. Things go smoothly until a sexy exhibitionist (Dohan) leads him into an all-consuming obsession. Stalking her day and night, the woman’s mysterious public trysts send Theo reeling, forcing him to confront uncomfortable truths about his sex life at home. ‘Monogamy’ is an acutely observed portrait of a relationship on the brink, a timely tale of masculinity in crisis in the face of fantasy and fear of commitment.”

The film features a special appearance and an original song by chart-topping hip hop recording artist B.o.B., as well as music by Elbow, Can, Califone, Stars of the Lid, and an original song performed by Rashida Jones.

--by Peter Knegt, August 16

Info via indieWIRE

Interview: New York magazine (April 2010)

Rashida and her Monogamy co-star Chris Messina talk to New York magazine

Vulture:
Monogamy’s Rashida Jones and Chris Messina on Why Geriatric Public Sex Is Really Hot

In Murderball director Dana Shapiro’s intimate new drama, Monogamy, Woody Allen alum Chris Messina and Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones play a comfy Brooklyn couple whose relationship starts to disintegrate when Messina’s character becomes fixated on a hot blonde exhibitionist. The real-life buddies are in New York for the movie’s premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, and they checked in for a frank conference call about the film, their thoughts on monogamy, and the peculiar ins and outs of having sex in public.

So Rashida, did you really just escape the ash?
R: Can you believe it? I was stuck in Europe. I had to drive thirteen and a half hours from Paris to Madrid. It was pretty crazy. I just got out Monday night.
C: Of course, the whole time I was worried about you. And then I was even more worried that you wouldn’t make it to the screening.
R: You’re such a dick! [Laughs.]
C: Rashida and I are friends, but we really know each other through my girlfriend. We obviously don’t have any of the history that the couple in the movie does, so it was really kind of wild, weird, and cool to go down that road with her and get pretty dark.

Did that make playing a couple awkward?
C: Well, it’s always strange to kiss someone with 10, 20, 40 people around. And when you’re looking at someone who was, like, holding your baby in her arms in your house in California last week, you know, it’s odd. I was nervous about it, to be honest with you.
R: Were you really? I didn’t know that.
C: I think I’m always nervous about all of it, and then I was nervous because I wanted Rashida to have a good time. As you do with all these things, you’re taking a risk. I mean, Dana Shapiro, he’s terrific. He did this movie called Murderball and it was fantastic, but who knew if he could make a narrative? I’m super happy with the way it turned out, but it could have obviously gone another way.

So what are your respective thoughts on monogamy – the way of life, I mean, not the movie?
C: Well I have two boys and a girlfriend, so I obviously believe in it, but it’s still hard! I don’t know how natural it is, at least for me — for a lot of men I know. I would love to close my eyes and see myself with my girlfriend when we’re 99 years old and I have a pipe and she’s knitting a sweater, and I hope that’s the way it goes. I think it’s a challenge every day.
R: I agree – I don’t think it’s necessarily a natural state of being for animals such as human beings, but I do think the rewards of sticking with it are pretty fantastic. That being said, I really don’t think there’s a lot of that going on right now. There’s a lot of fear and running and bullshit irresponsible behavior. I think dudes are acting out right now in a huge way. Guys are freaking out. I think as a culture we’re going to have a really hard time with it.

What about having sex in public? There’s a lot of that in the movie, too.
R: I totally get how people get off on it. It makes perfect sense to me. If that’s the thing that works for you, do your thing. Whatever gets you to the mainland.
C: Yeah! I’m down with that answer. I mean, I’ve liked having sex in bathrooms when there were people knocking on the door … that was fun. But I don’t know – these characters take it to a place that I never have. I have a tough time showing public affection.
R: I think it’s weird, right? It’s one thing to make out in public, but to actually have sex in public? That’s tough to do. I was just in Naples and I saw two young people making out on a corner. It was pretty awesome. But they were young.
C: Young – that might be the answer right there. Or maybe it’s old people, too. Like maybe if you saw an 80-year-old couple making out you’d be like, "That’s incredible!"
R: That’d be kind of cool, actually.
C: If you saw two, like, 80-year-olds, fucking on the corner of Bleecker Street?

I really have no idea how I’d respond to that.
R: You would love it! Oh my God. You would love it.
C: Yeah, you’d totally take your iPhone and take a video of it. And it’d be on YouTube the next day. It’d be like, "Hey, how do I get to that site again?" "Google 80-year-olds fucking on Bleecker." "Oh, there it is."

--Sara Cardace, nymag.com, 4/27/10

Movies: Monogamy Premiere, Part II

More from the Monogamy premiere:

Justin sent a sweet note about meeting Rashida

I just wanted to write and say I was very lucky to meet Rashida at the premier of Monogamy. I'm in a wheelchair and she went out of her way to stop and take a picture with me, it was really cool and she couldn't have been nicer. I saw the film also, and I really felt she was the key to what made the movie work so well. I'm looking forward to seeing it again!

Justin

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Regular contributor Jen found this Q&A at the screening and a short interview in Metro New York

external link: youtube

Thanks guys!

Appearances: Monogamy Premiere, NY

10 HQs from the Monogamy premiere and after-party on Saturday, April 24.

Rashida wears a skirt from the Proenza Schouler Fall 2010 collection
Pictured with co-stars Chris Messina and Meital Dohan
Premiere at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, after-party at Beba in Soho

Movies: Monogamy Preview (Video)

indieWIRE has posted an exclusive preview of Monogamy, Rashida's next film, ahead of the Tribeca Film Festival premiere on April 24.

Click for the clip at indiewire.com

Tribeca: Exclusive Monogamy Preview
Forget celebrity bad boys like Eliot Spitzer, Tiki Barber, Jesse James and Tiger Woods. Fidelity in everyday relationships seems to be a hot topic in films these days, from Date Night to micro-indies like Breaking Upwards and The Freebie. Add Dana Adam Shapiro’s feature directing debut Monogamy to the list. The low-budget indie-financed film debuts April 24 at the Tribeca Film Festival (Submarine is selling). Check the exclusive clip below.

The feature debut of journalist/novelist/documentarian Dana Adam Shapiro (Murderball), Monogamy was co-written by Shapiro and Evan M. Wiener and filmed on the Red camera in 22 days around Brooklyn and Manhattan. Thanks to producer Tom Heller (Precious) and casting director Billy Hopkins, Shapiro was able to land Chris Messina (Julie & Julia) and Rashida Jones (I Love You Man) to play an engaged couple who are forced to re-examine their relationship after the wedding photographer takes on a side gig to shoot from afar a mysterious blonde (Weeds’ Meital Dohan) as she poses—increasingly provocatively—in various public Manhattan locations.

The photographer’s reaction to the woman throws his future marriage into new relief, says Shapiro: “He’s struggling with, ‘Am I going to be able to be a good husband over a lifetime with this person?’”
-- Anne Thompson, April 13 2010

Movies: Monogamy's Facebook Page

Rashida's upcoming film Monogamy is now finished and there's a Facebook page for fans to keep up-to-date with all the latest info. The film, which also stars Chris Messina and Israeli actress Meital Dohan, was co-written and directed by Oscar nominee Dana Adam Shapiro.

Thanks to the amazing Jennifer at Rashida Jones Web for the info and banner :)

Synopsis
A Brooklyn wedding photographer three months from tying the knot with his fiance is hired by a woman he doesn't know to take anonymous, surveillance-style photos of her. As his wedding date nears, his growing obsession with his seemingly-liberated, thrill-seeking subject puts his relationship in jeopardy.
via Variety

Movies: Monogamy Info

The Hollywood Reporter posted some info about her upcoming movie Monogamy. Thanks to Karen for the tip!

Rashida Jones, Chris Messina will star in comedy

(Getty)

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Rashida Jones and Chris Messina are getting monogamous.

The emerging stars will topline "Monogamy," an indie romantic comedy that marks the scripted-feature debut of "Murderball" co-director Dana Adam Shapiro.

Described by filmmakers as a "cautionary tale about sex, photography and fear of marriage," the film will center on a young couple's relationship and its trials. Shapiro wrote the script with Evan Wiener.

The movie is expected to unspool on the fest circuit in early 2010.

Shapiro is producing with Jeff Mandel, who also produced "Murderball," as well as Randy Manis, the former ThinkFilm exec who helped release and exec-produced the doc. Tom Heller ("Precious") is also producing. Production on "Monogamy" started this summer in New York.

Shapiro earned acclaim for "Murderball," his story of wheelchair-bound athletes training to compete in the summer Olympics; the pic, which he directed with Henry Alex Rubin, won several prizes at the Sundance Film Festival and was also nominated for the best documentary Oscar.

The Untitled Entertainment-repped hyphenate is also attached to adapt and direct an adaptation of his novel "Every Boy" for Plan B Entertainment and is on board to write "Holler," a racial drama that's set up at Screen Gems. The ICM-repped Wiener co-wrote "Wild Child" with helmer Larry Clark, and is also set to stage his play "The Eichmann Disguise" in New York.

The UTA-repped Jones most recently starred opposite Paul Rudd in bromantic comedy "I Love You, Man" and will star in divorce dramedy "Celeste and Jesse Forever," which she co-wrote with Will McCormack and recently sold to Overture.

The WME-repped Messina has had a number of character turns on the big and small screen, including shows such as "Six Feet Under" and pics like culinary comedy "Julie & Julia." He's next set to star in "Greenberg," Noah Baumbach's drama toplined by Ben Stiller.

By Steven Zeitchek
Sept 1, 2009
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Movies: Monogamy

MOVIE NEWS

Rashida was in Brooklyn this week filming Monogamy, a movie co-starring Chris Messina and directed by Dana Adam Shapiro.

I guess the shoot has wrapped already, or is about to, since editing starts soon...
The Edit Center (New York):
June 25, 2009 Film Announced for the July 6-Week Class

Monogamy, the first narrative feature from Dana Adam Shapiro who was nominated for an Oscar in 2005 for the documentary Murderball, will be a project of the July 6-week class. The film stars Chris Messina (Vicky, Christina Barcelona and Julie & Julia) Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation & I Love You, Man)

Chris Messina

*A casting call for extras available on 06/24 appeared on craigslist last week. I only just found it now, unfortunately :(

*Dana Adam Shapiro's official site has some Monogamy storyboards posted here