Ring in the New Year with Mary Stuart Masterson!

Helllllllooooooo, New Year!

Can’t wait till the clock ticks down to our globally-approved, bubble-infused booze-fest? Want to get the party started riiiiggghhhhtt? Want to party like it’s 1989? Fine. I know it was a great year for Mary Stuart Masterson.

Back then, the National Board of Review named Ms. Masterson Best Supporting Actress for her impregnable performance in IMMEDIATE FAMILY as a knocked-up lass who, initially, agrees to sell her spawn to Glenn Close and James Woods. (Obviously, she had never seen FATAL ATTRACTION nor THE BOOST.) Masterson’s honor followed a string of endearing roles in such crush-inducing fare as HEAVEN HELP US, AT CLOSE RANGE and SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL. (Ah, drummers!)

Now, the skillful Ms. Masterson has made her feature-length directorial debut with THE CAKE-EATERS, an intimate, small-town tale of grieving and believing in the healing power of family. The sly, simple film stars Bruce Dern, Elizabeth Ashley, Thomas Cavanagh, Melissa Leo, Aaron Stanford, Jesse L. Martin and Jayce Bartok, who also wrote the smart screenplay and Kristen Stewart of TWILIGHT fame, who is breath-takingly, heart-breakingly affecting as a terminally ill teen battling Friedreich’s Ataxia. Ms. Stewart’s turn is Oscar®-worthy (though I am uncertain CAKE-EATERS has met the criteria for eligibility this year).

I was lucky enough to catch up with the ever-lovely Ms. Masterson in Austin. We sat and chatted about THE CAKE-EATERS, Kubler-Ross and her own mortality. I swayed her to explain her creative process and preview her epitaph. Respectfully, I let her have the last word, as it were. Now, you can catch the highlights in the latest edition of The Warren Report’s FILM RAP series. Just download the FREE podcast via iTunes or via Libsyn.

While you’re at it, ring in 2009 by revisiting my conversations with…

*THE L WORD‘s opinion-splitting star, Mia Kirshner, as she touts her pet project and most significant passion, I LIVE HERE. Maybe you’ll heed her call and make a new New Year’s resolution.

*Oscar®-nominee Mike Leigh, whose HAPPY-GO-LUCKY sets a sunny standard. Maybe you’ll join Poppy and change your own disposition.

*attorney-turned-author Vincent Bugliosi (HELTER SKELTER), who is counting down the days till the presidential inauguration just so he can begin THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER. Maybe you’ll join the fight by visiting http://prosecutegeorgebush.com/ and serving up your own deposition.

Or, play back my talks with the likes of Oliver Stone, Sandra Tsing Loh, Charlie Kaufman, Olivia Thirlby, Salman Rushdie, Jennifer McLagan, Michael Pollan and Josh Peck. Trust they all provide gist for thought and grist for laughs; all for fun, all for free, all for everyone.

Happy New Year!
Warren