Actress Toni Collette Discusses Her Movie "Lucky Them"

Beschreibung

Event Location(s): Today New York Studio | Description: ********SEGMENT IS PRE-TAPED******** EJ: CLIP: Clip from the movie “Muriel’s Wedding” with actors including Toni Collette. EJ: CLIP: Clip from the movie “Lucky Them” with actors Collette and Thomas Haden Church. EJ: CLIP: Clip from “Lucky Them” with actors Collette and Ryan Eggold. EJ: CLIP: Clip from the Broadway play “The Realistic Joneses” with actors Collette, Tracy Letts, Michael C Hall, and Marisa Tomei. Gifford and Kotb interview Collette in-studio: “KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: We're back on this Memorial Day Monday with more of TODAY and Emmy and Golden Globe winner Toni Collette. HODA KOTB: She's terrific. She became a household name in her breakout role in 1994, the hit Australian comedy Muriel's Wedding. And remember-- KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: And she-- she remembers. And she's been busy ever since. Not only is she starring in the Broadway play The Realistic Joneses, she's also got a new movie coming out called Lucky Them that we both-- HODA KOTB: Oh, yeah. Love. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: --loved. HODA KOTB: In the movie, Toni plays a rock journalist assigned to track down her once very famous musician ex-boyfriend played by Johnny Depp. She brings along her music hating documentarian friend played by Thomas Haden Church. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: I love him. HODA KOTB: Take a look. (Excerpt from Lucky Them) HODA KOTB: So-- KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Oh, it's so nice to see you. HODA KOTB: Hi. TONI COLLETTE (Lucky Them): Me too. Good morning. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Good morning. HODA KOTB: Good morning. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: And you have awesome rapport with Thomas Haden Church. TONI COLLETTE: Oh, man. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: He's such a comedic actor. TONI COLLETTE: He's a classic human being. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: He's so funny. I love him. TONI COLLETTE: They broke the mold. He's so brilliant. HODA KOTB: Love-- love the premise of this. TONI COLLETTE: Yeah. HODA KOTB: Okay. TONI COLLETTE: Yeah. HODA KOTB: You are a rock journalist, true? KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: A critic, right? HODA KOTB: A critic. TONI COLLETTE: Music critic. HODA KOTB: And you find this young lover in the beginning, which I'm sorry, he is something. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: But she has several, if you remember. HODA KOTB: But we're talking about-- KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: But we’re talking about Ryan Eggold. TONI COLLETTE: Yeah. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: We're in love with him. TONI COLLETTE: He's so amazing in the movie. Right. HODA KOTB: Yeah. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: He's excellent. Yeah. TONI COLLETTE: You know, and he was cast obviously because he's right for the role but what people don't know is he wrote all the music for his character. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Yeah. TONI COLLETTE: All songs that he's written. HODA KOTB: It's amazing. TONI COLLETTE: Isn't it incredible? KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Yes. And I think he's coming this week. HODA KOTB: Yeah, he is. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Yes, he is. HODA KOTB: Even tomorrow. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: To play a song from the-- from the movie. TONI COLLETTE: How brilliant. I didn’t know that. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: We're in love with him. He-- he hosted with us a couple of months back. TONI COLLETTE: No way. HODA KOTB: Yeah, he did. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Yes. TONI COLLETTE: How did that occur? KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Because we-- HODA KOTB: Don’t even ask. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: --slept with him. No, just kidding. Joann did. Joann did. HODA KOTB: Like you-- just like you did. TONI COLLETTE: Okay. You heard it here. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Yes. (Cross talking) HODA KOTB: So your goal, you got to try to find your ex-lover Johnny Depp. So tell us-- TONI COLLETTE: You know, to save my job. I'm kind of-- I'm just like wading through treacle. This woman is so lost and she's become so self-destructive-- KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: She really is. TONI COLLETTE: --because she hasn't been able to-- able to get over the loss of-- KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Matthew. TONI COLLETTE: --oh Matthew Smith. HODA KOTB: Yeah. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: But he was a jerk to her. TONI COLLETTE: Yeah. HODA KOTB: So what? TONI COLLETTE: Yeah. That happens. They were young. He was her first love and she-- and so she can't move on. Ultimately the movie is about letting go and taking responsibility and, you know. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD (singing): Let it go. HODA KOTB: Oh, no. TONI COLLETTE: Don’t even stop. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Let-- HODA KOTB: Right. TONI COLLETTE: So in there. My two-year-old-- my kids are so in love with that song. HODA KOTB: Are they into it too? TONI COLLETTE: Yes, who isn't? HODA KOTB: Over and over. TONI COLLETTE: And whoever wrote that song is amazing because you cannot get it out of your brain. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Yeah. HODA KOTB: There's something about it. TONI COLLETTE: I know. HODA KOTB: It's kind of fun to have this kind of movie out there because there are a lot of bang-bang movies out there now. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Yeah. TONI COLLETTE: What's that mean, bang-bang? HODA KOTB: You know-- KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Things blowing up. HODA KOTB: Blowing up. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: And-- and, you know, arch enemies. HODA KOTB: Explosions. TONI COLLETTE: It's about a woman who is flawed going through very relative stuff and-- and-- and it's deep but it's very funny, you know. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: And it's very-- it's sadly quite real, isn’t it? TONI COLLETTE: Right. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: A lot of people just go from relationship to relationship to abusive behavior because they're not-- they're not paying attention to-- TONI COLLETTE: They don't want to be present. They, you know, just really start-- HODA KOTB: So in addition to this, you're very busy, Broadway. TONI COLLETTE: Yes. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Yeah. HODA KOTB: How is that going? TONI COLLETTE: I love it. HODA KOTB: Yeah. TONI COLLETTE: Yeah. It's a play by Will Eno called The Realistic Joneses-- HODA KOTB: Uh-Huh. TONI COLLETTE: --at the Lyceum Theatre. And it's just the most beautiful writing. It's-- I just very plainly love saying the words every night and working with Michael C. Hall and Tracy Letts-- HODA KOTB: You have just great casts. TONI COLLETTE: I feel so lucky. Yeah. HODA KOTB: And are you enjoying New York because you've been living here for a year? TONI COLLETTE: Yeah. I've been here for a long time. This is the longest I've been anywhere in forever as long as I can remember. HODA KOTB: Does it feel like home or how does it feel to you? TONI COLLETTE: A little, yes. HODA KOTB: Yeah. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Home is Australia originally. TONI COLLETTE: Yeah. HODA KOTB: Yeah. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: And your husband's a musician as well. TONI COLLETTE: That's right. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: And I didn't realize and I think a lot of people don't and you are a musician yourself. Already did a CD. HODA KOTB: Hello! KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: And want to do more out but just haven’t been able to find the time. HODA KOTB: Let's do-- let's do that. TONI COLLETTE: Pretty much. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Give us-- give us a-- just sing-- HODA KOTB: Oh -- KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: --Let It-- Let It Go for us. TONI COLLETTE: Oh, give me a break. (Cross talking) HODA KOTB: Is this you? TONI COLLETTE: Oh, my God, it is. Yeah. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Wow this is happening. HODA KOTB: That should be the next thing. TONI COLLETTE: Well, it was the thing. I don't need to do it again. But-- KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: But you want to do another CD. TONI COLLETTE: I loved making this album and I loved touring. And, you know, I kept it-- I wanted to do it in a manageable level in Australia so-- KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Oh, I love this. TONI COLLETTE: Thank you. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: I'm no music critic but I love it. TONI COLLETTE: And I've been writing these songs for quite some time, and I guess my husband, who's a drummer, kind of facilitated me wanting to do it. And I got a great group of musicians together and it was just a really great experience. We toured and-- HODA KOTB: Yeah, wow. TONI COLLETTE: Yeah. HODA KOTB: Thank you, Toni. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: You are in a good place, Miss Toni Collette. HODA KOTB: Thank you so much for coming to see us. TONI COLLETTE: Oh, so nice to see you both. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: It's great. All the best. We love you, sweetie. TONI COLLETTE: Thanks for having me. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Give Thomas Haden-- HODA KOTB: Yeah. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: --Church our love. TONI COLLETTE: I will. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: I love him. TONI COLLETTE: Me, too.”