Q&A with Adelaide Clemens, J. Smith-Cameron and Bruce McKinnon.
Moderated by Matt Zoller Seitz, film critic for New York Magazine & editor-in-chief of rogerebert.com
SYNOPSIS
Nineteen years ago, Daniel Holden was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of his teenage girlfriend, Hanna Dean. Thanks to newly discovered DNA evidence and the efforts of his sister Amantha and lawyer Jon Stern, Daniel's conviction has been vacated and he's returned to his mother Janet's home in Paulie, Georgia. But not everyone is convinced of his innocence -- nor is his future as a free man secure. Season Two finds Daniel committed to living in the present and making choices that prove frustrating for some of the Holden/Talbot family. Unfortunately, there are many places and faces in Paulie that remind Daniel of the past - his incarceration, Hanna, and his role the night of Hanna's murder. He's forced to the realization that he must understand and accept what really happened if he's ever going to know any peace, a conclusion that shapes his determination to do whatever it takes to finally put his past behind him, no matter how high the price.
BIO
Adelaide Clemens began working as an actress in Australian television and first came to prominence when she was featured as Harper in the critically acclaimed series "Love My Way," which earned her a Graham Kennedy Award Nomination for Most Outstanding New Talent in 2008. Since then, Adelaide Clemens has quickly established herself as one of today's most exciting new faces on the small and big screen.
She recently wrapped the Independent film The Automatic Hate, in which she plays the female lead opposite Joseph Cross, Deborah Ann Woll and Richard Schiff for director Justin Lerner. Adelaide was recently seen in the BBC mini-series "Parade's End" in the role of Valentine opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall. "Parade's End" hails from Sir Tom Stoppard and is based on the novel of the same title for director Susanna White and was broadcasted on HBO.
Clemens also lead the successful franchise thriller "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D" for director Michael J. Bassett, which is an adaptation of the horror video game and a sequel to the film "Silent Hill." The film's plot follows teenager Heather Mason (Clemens), who discovers, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, that her presumed identity is false and, as a result, is drawn to an alternate dimension existing in the fictional American town of Silent Hill. The film stars Kit Harington and Sean Bean and was released by Open Road Entertainment on October 26, 2012.
Screening at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, Clemens was seen in the independent feature film No One Lives, along with Luke Evans and Derek Magyar. Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, this horror story centers around a ruthless criminal gang who takes a young couple hostage and goes to ground in an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere.
In summer 2013, Clemens claimed a supporting role in Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby. The film is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel set in the moneyed society of 1920 Long Island, New York. Clemens plays Katherine, Tom's mistress (Joel Edgerton) and Myrtle's sister (Isla Fisher). Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan starred in the Warner Brothers 3-D feature.
Clemens' additional credits include the Australian thriller Wasted on the Young, which was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010, and the independent feature films Vampire, which was screened at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman. Upcoming yet currently undated, Clemens will be seen in Cornelia Moore's Camilla Dickinson opposite Greg Sulkin, Cary Elwes, and Samantha Mathis. The film is an adaption of the 1951 novel by the young adult fiction author Madeleine L'Engle. Furthermore, Clemens co-stars in Generation Um alongside Keanu Reeves.
On the small screen, Clemens was seen in an episode of the Emmy(r)-winning miniseries "The Pacific" for HBO, produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
Clemens resides in Los Angeles.
J. Smith-Cameron has appeared in numerous theatre productions off and on Broadway. Highlights include Our Country's Good (Tony(r) nomination), Sarah, Sarah (Drama Desk nomination), Fuddy Meers (Outer Critics and Drama Desk nominations), and As Bees In Honey Drown (Obie award, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics nominations). Recent credits include a critically acclaimed run as the title character in Juno And The Paycock at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC, as well as Richard Nelson's Sorry and Sweet and Sad (Drama Desk and Obie awards) at the Public and That Hopey Changey Thing by the same author. Also Midsummer Night's Dream at La Jolla Playhouse and The Starry Messenger by Kenneth Lonergan at the New Group. TV work includes Melinda Mickens in HBO's "True Blood." Recent film work includes Frank Whaley's Like Sunday, Like Rain, and J. also stars opposite Anna Paquin in Kenneth Lonergan's film Margaret, which won her the Best Supporting Actress award for the International Cinephile Society.
Born in New Orleans and reared in Maryville, Tennessee, Bruce McKinnon has always had a love for the outdoors and a call to be on stage. In high school, he was active in sports, a member of the thespian club, and attained the rank of Eagle Scout. Initially, he attended Middle Tennessee State University as a forestry major and continued sports as a member of the Karate Club, but a chance meeting with legendary actor Burgess Meredith helped redirect his path. Following a reading from a Carlos Castaneda book that Mr. Meredith gave on campus, Bruce asked him about the hardships of becoming a professional actor. After straight talk about the high unemployment, Mr. Meredith then told Bruce, "...but if you want to do it, Do It!!!" That planted a seed. Bruce transferred to the University of Tenn at Knoxville, switching majors several times while filling up his elective hours with theater classes and performing in plays at night. In his first audition at UT, he performed the song "I Can Do That" from A Chorus Line with two black eyes from a broken nose which he received the day before from competing in the National Collegiate Boxing Championships. Though he wasn't a theater major, he must have turned some heads because Bruce was cast as a member of the summer company. Realizing it would take two additional years to graduate in theater, he later dropped out of college. Bruce eventually worked on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico in order to earn money to move to New York and study acting with acclaimed teacher Sanford Meisner at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. There, he immersed himself in the art and craft of acting. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he lived for many years. When Bruce isn't on location, he now alternates between living in New York City and in Tennessee, just outside his beloved Smoky Mountains...where the best of both contrasting worlds continue to nourish his two passions.
