An Extraordinary Look at the DC Universe, Behind-The-Scenes Peek at the Horror Genre, and a Murderous Western: Actor Katherine McNamara Speaks
Los Angeles, CA (June 8, 2023): Join Actor Katherine McNamara (“Walker Independence,” “The Flash,” “The Stand”), this week’s featured guest on Hollywood at Home hosted by CEO of The Creative Coalition Robin Bronk.
In addition to her acting career, McNamara is also an accomplished singer and dancer, having performed in several musical theater productions.
In this episode, McNamara discusses her newest movie, Fool’s Paradise, jumping into the shoes of Mia Smoak in the DC Universe’s “The Flash,” doing her own stunts, ComicCon, and the challenges of starring in a Western.
“Hollywood at Home” is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and more.
Listen now at:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nerding-out-with-guest-katherine-mcnamara/id1521900273?i=1000615846479
For planned coverage, please link to:
http://thecreativecoalition.org/podcast
Highlights from Hollywood at Home featuring Katherine McNamara:
On her new film, Fool’s Paradise, directed by Charlie Day (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”): “It becomes a metaphor and an allegory for Los Angeles, for the industry, and that everyone that [Day’s] character encounters projects their wants and their desires and their goals onto his character, and then ends up putting him in situations where things happen. It was an interesting experiment because when you break all the rules…you don’t know if it’s gonna work. And yet somehow, with Charlie’s brilliance, it does.”
Horror miniseries or reality doc: Stephen King’s “The Stand” and the COVID-19 pandemic: “We finished it in March of 2020. I remember being on set in December and January, and all of us going, ‘there’s this thing over in China, I wonder– there’s no way.’ Because the plot of [The Stand] is that there’s a lab-released disease that kills 99.9% of the world’s population.”
On Stephen King: “He never liked the ending of his book and always wanted to change it. When they approached him about doing the miniseries, he took it as an opportunity and he and his son co-wrote a lot of the scripts with our writers and showrunners. The final script had a new secret ending that’s not in the book — he finally got to do the ending that he wanted and after thinking about it for a couple of decades, he figured out what he would have rather done and got to play it out in the show.”
On playing a cage fighter in the DC Universe: “When it comes to ‘Arrow,’ we’re just really good fighters. Nothing supernatural about it, just born and bred killers. It was really fascinating, especially having to come into a show that had been running for so many years and becoming the daughter of these two [main] characters, which had so much history and so much nuance to them.”
On doing her own stunts: “My stunt coordinators on “Shadowhunters” trained me for four and a half years… training four or five times a week in martial arts. I also had to train in archery…then I was able to do most of my own fighting as Mia…”
On the costumes for “Walker: Independence”: “We did learn how to negotiate timing in the corset. We learned the hard way — you don’t put it on till the last minute and then you kind of negotiate how you live your life because there are some days where you end up in the corset for 18 hours. You become very aware of where all of your internal organs are and exactly where your lunch is as it’s digesting through you….”
More about Hollywood at Home:
Hosted by The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk, “Hollywood at Home” brings listeners intimate portraits, key moments of discovery, and “art and soul” conversations with iconic entertainment industry personalities from the big screen to the boardroom, from L.A. to D.C. Listen now at http://thecreativecoalition.org/podcast.
Previous guests include Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”), Marlee Matlin (“CODA”), Jason Alexander (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Alan Cumming (“Schmigadoon!, “The Good Wife”), Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The Middle”), Eric McCormack (“Will and Grace”), Willie Garson (“And Just Like That…”), Colman Domingo (“Euphoria”), Kerry Ehrin (“The Morning Show”), Wendi McLendon-Covey (“The Goldbergs”), Ken Olin (“This is Us,” “Thirtysomething”), Anthony Rapp (“Star Trek: Discovery”), Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”), and Alfre Woodard (Clemency,” “Luke Cage”), among others.
More about The Creative Coalition:
Founded in 1989 by prominent members of the creative community, The Creative Coalition is the premier nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) social and public advocacy organization of the arts and entertainment community. The Creative Coalition is dedicated to educating its members on issues of public importance. The Creative Coalition also creates award-winning public service campaigns, including #RightToBearArts, to promote the efficacy of the arts. Actor Tim Daly serves as the organization’s President. For more information, visit https://thecreativecoalition.org.
Media Contact:
Max Jordan
mjordan@thecreativecoalition.org
C: 240-506-7913