Emmy Rossum

[lostgirl]

Here is an interview w/ Emmy where she comes of differently...

The Phantom of the Opera star talks about dealing with her newfound fame


[font=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif]Thursday Jan 13, 2005 6:00am EST[/font]
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"It's something that's always come naturally to me," Rossum says of singing. "Like breathing."
CREDIT: CARMEN VALDES/RETNA [/font]




[font=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif][/font][font=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif]Emmy Rossum never imagined she had a shot at playing Phantom of the Opera's heroine Christine, being "the youngest and least famous of anybody" up for it. But since nailing her audition in Andrew Lloyd Webber's living room, the 18-year-old New Yorker has been building buzz, costarring in the Jake Gyllenhaal blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow last year, and now competing for a Golden Globe. Rossum recently talked about getting her foot in the door in Hollywood, dealing with fame and still getting turned away from nightclubs.

Phantom is such a big break. How are you handling the fame?
I've always just been happy to be working, and you know, I was working from the time I was 7 (with the Metropolitan Opera), for $5 a night. But I mean, I'm not gonna sit here and say my life hasn't changed. That would just be lying.

So how has it changed?
Like being on the cover of Elle magazine, people recognize you a little more.

What are your friends saying?
It's so surreal for all of them, because none of my friends are movie stars. I still live in New York, I still do my laundry. I'm trying to keep it real. (Laughs)

You're a teen in the public eye. Any Lindsay Lohan-esque moments?
Well, I grew up in a household with very strong ethics and morals. I'm underage, so I don't go to clubs. I tried to get in once and it didn't work, at all. (Laughs)

Are your parents excited for you?
Here's a good story that kind of puts it in a nutshell. I got the call that I got Phantom and I was in total shock. My mom was reading the newspaper, and I said, "Mom, I got Phantom of the Opera! And she looked up and she said, "That's nice, honey!" And kept reading. But it's nice, because they don't tell me what I should do and what movies I shouldn't do. [/font]

[font=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif]What was it like to meet Andrew Lloyd Webber?
I screen tested in New York, (then) they sent the footage to Andrew Lloyd Webber that weekend, who announced that I had not been eliminated. And I was like, a-ha! Genius! I haven't been eliminated! I mean, I didn't even think I'd get that far. And he agreed to hear me sing, in his living room. So I walked into the apartment and just went, "Wow!"

Gold records everywhere?
I mean, (the place was) just gorgeous. I walked into his living room, and he was sitting on the couch, and just stood up and said, "Shall we?" No pleasantries, no "Hello, how are you?" So I didn't introduce myself, I just said okay, opened my mouth, nodded to the accompanist and went through the two biggest numbers in the show. And then he stood up and went, "Oh that was really good! I'm Andrew, nice to meet you!"

Then you talked?
Yeah, talked a lot about the character, about how I'd never seen the show.

And you said, "I will tonight"?
No! He said, "Don't go." He's like, "I want the character to come from inside you, if you play her." And I wanted to make her fresh.

So, what's next for you?
I'm looking to do something smaller. I started in indies and I worked in indies for five years, and I really love the intimacy of that. ... I should be in school right now, but I'm not. It's ridiculous right now.

And finally, are you dating anyone we should know about?
Um, kind of. (It's David Wildenstein, 25, the nephew of socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein.) But you shouldn't know about it. (Laughs) [/font]

 

[lostgirl]

Another on Emmy that differs from Elle's take...While critics and audiences are beginning to take notice of 18-year old Emmy Rossum, star of the eagerly awaited screen adaptation of Phantom of the Opera, the beautiful young actress blushes and turns away with apparent embarrassment when suggested that imminent fame is a very real possibility in the life of Hollywood's latest breakout star. - I don't like questions like that because I try not to think about those things too much. Joel [Schumacher] says that if you read what's written about you – which sometimes I do and sometimes I don't -- and you believe all the good things, then you should believe the bad things, too, - says the actress and former operatic ingénue. - Listen, I try to keep myself as sane and as grounded as possible by surrounding myself with normal people, such as all the friends that I've had from when I was little. Nobody in my family is in the business, I still do my laundry, make my bed and I bring my laundry across the street to the Laundromat. It's funny, because fame is nothing I've ever strived for, as I was always just happy to get the job, and a good one at that and I was always just so happy to be working with good people. To get to work with Miranda Richardson was great because I just got to watch her. Even though she doesn't have a lot of dialogue and the character is not overly emotional, she can express so much just from her face, which I think is extraordinary. I'm 18, so working with actors that are like that when I'm so young is important to me, - Rossum explains, referring of course to her experience working on Phantom. Sticking more to the original material, Andrew Lloyd Webber's 15-year old dream to bring his commercial stage hit to the screen, has meant youthening the characters, something impossible to sustain in the theatre. With Rossum's opera training, combined with her acting ability, meant the young actress was the perfect Christine, for this sumptuous screen rendition of the classic tale. But she was never a shoe in, or on anyone's initial radar, the actress recalls when describing her audition process. - I certainly wasn't offered the part. Joel had been casting for six months, which was the six months I'd been working on The Day After Tomorrow in Montreal, so I came in really at the very tail end of the casting process and in fact, I was the last person he ever saw. - Rossum, who made her operatic debut at New York's renowned Metropolitan Opera at age 7, admits to have never seen any of the stage productions of Phantom prior to reading the screenplay. - So he sent me the script, and I kind of got a feel for a take on the character. Because there wasn't a lot of verbal dialogue in the script, while I was talking to him about what she goes through, I had to express the things that she feels as I was talking about what she was feeling, so it was kind of a strange audition process. Then they sent back footage to Andrew Lloyd Webber, who called and said I had not been eliminated. I was like, 'Oh my God. It's a miracle. I have not been eliminated.' I was 16 and I never thought there was a chance that I'd get the part. -

But Rossum indeed won the role over both unknowns and established stars, and set about making Christine her own, a challenge given the character's history with the public. - I was aware of the fact that she's a character that's so identifiable, especially in so many of the Phantom fans' minds, who feel such closeness to her. But having never seen the show and electing to never see the show before going into it, it meant that it would come from my heart and soul. I went about creating the character as I would have any other, from scratch, from the script, the dialogue, from finding experiences in my life that are similar to ones that she goes through and if I can't find one, then I'd go out and have an experience that's similar. - Determined to create a believable 19th century Parisian Christine, Rossum went to Paris. - I spent some time at the Opera Garnier to kind of get the feeling of what it was like living there. I stood on the roof at the very apex, where she stands during 'All I Ask of You,' and I felt the wind. It was at night, during sunset and I kept getting visceral sense memories, and making them a part of me that made my job a lot easier, - Rossum recalls.

Cynics might argue that 18 to 25-year-olds make up the movie audience and that this isn't a film aimed at that audience. Rossum, who in part is that principal demographic, disagrees. - I don't have to say anything about this movie, because I really think it stands on its own. I remember when I saw it for the first time, after putting a year of my life into it, and it was really exciting to me. Also, our generation is MTV-fed. We've grown up watching MTV and seeing somebody sing at the same time as watching a visual and an interpretation of a song is not something that's foreign to us, so it's something we accept. And this isn't classical music by any means. I know, because I was brought up on classical music. - But unlike recent musicals, one can argue that this Phantom remains a musical in the classical sense. - I think it's a hybrid of pop and classical and pretty accessible. I think people my age will like it, because it's visually sumptuous, - Rossum counters. - I think it's sexy, scary, really heroic and at the heart of it, it's about love. Also, for girls my age, especially, but for all people, we go through trying to define what love is, who's Mr. or Mrs. Right, how do we know when we've found them? So I think that a lot of the struggles Christine goes through in the movie are things that kids my age can really relate to. The main themes of the movie are so universal: love, compassion, hatred, jealously, fear, terror. I think that those are things that are important. -

Unlike Christine, who is being mentored by the Phantom, there have been no mentors in Rossum's own life, just women whom she admires. - I wish I could say that I have a mentor, but I don't. I'm somewhat friends with Marcia Gay Harden, who I think is one of the most talented actresses around right now and I wish that our relationship develops in the way that I hope it does. I think she's good in every movie she does, does very different things, but I also think that she's maintained a very normal home life, which is something that's really important to me. -

Rossum is also slowly completing her university studies, which included a course in art history - which was something I elected to take after Phantom because I'd studied a lot of Degas paintings, of the ballerinas, because Christine was a ballerina at that time. I'm also taking French and I'm going to take English and philosophy, but I'm taking some time off. - Currently, Rossum is actively looking for new film opportunities and has something in the pipeline. - I'm looking at a movie right now that's much smaller. If feel like I've come off a lot of big Hollywood blockbusters and this is about drug addiction. But I don't want to talk too much about that because I'm superstitious and I think I'll jinx it. - And the actress hopes to juggle her acting with her continuing love of opera. - I hope I can mix both. I can't go back to the opera until I'm 25 because the voice doesn't develop fully until that point, which is why I left when I was 12, but film is really what I love, because I love the intimacy of the medium.

 

[fireatwill]

I still like Elle Girl. I think everyone is looking to much into it.

<3 Me.

 

[Misako]

^ It wasn't in Elle Girl...it was in Elle, the parent mag. Elle tends to take harsher looks at younger actresses - I'm a pretty avid reader and I've noticed this.

There was actually an interview where Emmy addressed what the Elle article said - she said something about how it didn't seem like the interviewer really cared about what she said.

 

[lostgirl]

I still like Elle Girl. I think everyone is looking to much into it.

<3 Me.

The 1st article was from regular Elle, not Elle Girl

 

[fireatwill]

hah. yeah. i realized that after i posted. lol. dumb me. sorry!

<3 me.

 

[lostgirl]

^^^ Don't worry. It happens to us all!

Here are some random Pics
Baby Emmy- this pic was used in a scene in Passionada
Emmy on the day that Andrew Lloyd Webber announced she would be playing Christine in "Phantom"

Emmy at Fashion Rocks in Aid of the Princes Trust

 

[eternitygoddess]

What university does Emmy attend? I read somewhere that she goes Columbia but I'm not sure.

 

[style_savy]

She's classy yes but she's terribly boring. You don't have to be boring in order to be classy. She needs to accessorize better and experiment more with differents colored and textured fabrics. I think she'd look great in something tweed.

 

[Misako]

She attends Columbia, yes.

 

[Libra Skye18]

Thanks to those who posted the pics.

She's cute. I don't personally care too much for some of her clothing options due to her age. Yet I can see how some people may view it as being refreshing. *shrugs* As Style_Savvy mentioned 'one doesn't have to be boring in order to exude class'.


As for Elle... I personally enjoy the magazine. And I see the features with young starlets, not so much as a nitpicking & or searching for some type of drama or quote to ride upon, in order to create a buzz or backlash against one. But rather as articles that show these younger startlets as being what they are...young. Meaning that they may not be as poised as the veterns when it comes to some things and they may very well drop a curse word here & there. Yet at the end of it all they are growing up in front of the world & with that comes what some people may view as flaws.


Lastly in order for there to be some type of swaying motion as it pertains to how one is depicted in a article, that person obviously had to give off those vibes. Yet this isn't to take a swipe at anyone but rather remaining optimistic & understanding how the game is played.

 

[lostgirl]

She's classy yes but she's terribly boring. You don't have to be boring in order to be classy. She needs to accessorize better and experiment more with differents colored and textured fabrics. I think she'd look great in something tweed.

I agree that she'd look good in tweed but i think that slowly she is starting to expleriment a bit more- She just doing it slowly.
Starting a bit with the ruffles
Textures
I'm actually not crazy about the leather but it is a different look
I'm not sure what you'd call this texture
another interesting texture.

The grey is dull but the metallic sleeves jazz it up a but

Probably her most daring dress to date-I kinda like it (it almost reminds me of a young girls party dress, and she youthful enough to pull it off) but even if you hate it you have to admit it's a risk.
Once again w/ mettalics- this isn't the best picture I've seen pics where it more... shimmery. It's also clingly in a way that moves with her body.

more texture w/ cashmere and ruffles
color
Kind of a shimmery silver/blue lame
She's definately come a long way but she's doing it slowly and tentatively. Keep in mind how young she still is and that she doesn't only wear Ralph Lauren anymore (she's been seen recently in Oscar de la Renta and Peter Som) You don't see her in many outfits like this any more

 

[lostgirl]

I don't think these have been posted before.

Teen Vogue Photo Shoot




Kate Garner photoshoot

 

[fireatwill]

i agree with what someone said earlier. she's pretty and what not, but she's boring. i don't know, i ned a celebrity with more spice.

<3 me.

 

[lostgirl]

Random Pics:

Younger Emmy

w/ Annette Benning - Is it just me or do they look a bit alike?

filming a scene in Passionada

performing at the Met

 

[lostgirl]

More-I don't think these have been posted before



Promotional photoshoot w/ co-star Patrick Wilson for Phantom of the Opera. He plays her fiancee. I him.

 

[fireatwill]

she's so photogenic.

<3 me.

 

[lostgirl]

more random stuff

From Teen Vogue she explains her love for Ralph Lauren

singing "All I ask of you" at the Tokyo premiere of "phantom" accompanied by Andrew Lloyd Webber on the piano
w/ fans at the opening of the "phantom" windows at Bloomingdales
from Elle Girl
Don't think those have been posted before

from Allure- sorry I can't get it smaller

 

[fireatwill]

her face is so flawless. *sigh*

<3 me.

 

[tiffany]

very cute pictures