With ‘Amber Brown’, Bonnie Hunt proves that she is a Hollywood triple threat – Noufelle EN

Bonnie Hunt attends the 71st Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

“It’s a big problem that [Amber Brown’s] parents are divorcing, and seeing him through the eyes of a child, his pain is so real. »

Bonnie Hunt is one of those hidden talents in Hollywood. You know his work from movies like Jerry Maguire, The green Lineand Jumanji. Or you know his work on TV, like his sitcoms Bonniee and Life with Bonnie. But what you might not know is that Hunt is a Hollywood triple threat: an actor, a director, and a writer.

His latest project is the Apple TV Plus series. amber brown, based on the popular children’s book series. Hunt directed, wrote and produced the series.

“It’s a big deal that his parents are getting divorced and seeing him through the eyes of a child, his pain is so real,” Bonnie Hunt said. Farewell shot from Newsweek. “And this sadness, this desire, ‘When is it going to get back to normal?’ And throughout this first season, [we’re] getting a little closer to acceptance that it might not. »

Listen to the entire conversation between Hunt and Newsweekby H. Alan Scott on the latest Farewell shot. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE ARRIVAL SHOT WITH H. ALAN SCOTT
ON APPLE PODCASTS OR SPOTIFY

What inspired you to do amber brown?

It was actually my mother. A few years ago, she encouraged me to write about this generation – because I am the aunt of several nieces and nephews, I have six brothers and sisters. So my mom said, “You should write about being an aunt, because I hear all the laughs and the confidences of you, and you talk to these kids because they need it.”

And then I started writing a plan. At the same time, I ran into one of the executives. They asked me what I was working on, I told them and they said, “Well, we have this series of books, amber brown. And so I looked at them. And I had to talk to [Amber Brown author] Paula Danzinger’s family, of course to get their blessing.

I let them know that I would like to place Amber in the present, as the books were written many years ago. I wanted to make her an artist and apply a lot of my personal life and my experience with my mother to it, but the inspiration of the book is the heart, the humor, the intelligence. And they gave me their blessing. So I dove in.

Amber Brown by Bonnie Hunt
Carsyn Rose in “Amber Brown,” streaming now on Apple TV+.
AppleTV+

There’s something special about children’s literature, even if you’re an adult reading it, you find that connection, that kind of nostalgic touchstone in your childhood. When you started reading the amber brown stories, what touched you?

It was interesting. It’s been translated into so many languages ​​and so many people were reading it – I didn’t even know the books before [the executive] told me about them. I think it was a similarity, this combination of both worlds, and being able to bring Amber into the present and age her, but keep heart and soul from disappointment and family expectations.

I mean it’s a big deal that his parents are getting a divorce and seeing him through the eyes of a child, his pain is so real. And this sadness, this desire, “When is it going to go back to normal? And throughout this first season, [we’re] get a little closer to acceptance than it may not be.

I had many conversations with our mutual friend Danny Pellegrino (from Everything iconic podcast and book author How can I remember this? : Sadly true stories) how much we love your work. When I saw you in Jerry Maguire, I didn’t care about Renee Zellweger, although I love her, and I didn’t care about Tom Cruise — I just wanted to be you. I wanted the film to be told from your point of view.

I’m so lucky to have fans like you, because we understand each other, you know? We just understand, we speak the same language. And it’s so much fun when people get it. That’s what I like.

Even when my shows didn’t last, people understood, even if it was six episodes, one season, two seasons. And I see them at the grocery store and they’ll remember certain lines or certain times and that’s all the payment I need. I love this part.

We get along, and I’m so glad I pushed as hard as I did in the early 90s [on Bonnie]. I was the first person to do all that, right? Star and executive producer of a show. I had to go to all the unions, I had to get everything approved because nobody had ever done it. I just wanted to be the storyteller and see it through to the end and do something different where the actors were so real and the dialogue overlapped and using additional cameras and shooting it as one camera. It’s all normal now.

I always felt like you played a lot of mothers, wives, or sisters, great supporting characters, which gave you a lot of work. But sometimes I was like, “I want to see her in a lead role immediately in a movie. You’ve definitely excelled at voice work and done a lot of cool things with Pixar. But did you ever feel like you were pigeonholed with some of these movies?

I guess you can see it that way. But you know, I’m a blue collar kid, a Chicago city kid. I was a nurse for seven years. Oncology nurse, I worked in an emergency room. I still volunteer as an advocate for newly diagnosed cancer patients. I never completely left my nursing training to become a storyteller.

Be part of the [Hollywood] magic, it meant so much to me and still does today. I love getting lost in a great movie or a great play or a great TV show. I did it rain man and Jerry Maguire with Tom Cruise, I played Tom Hanks’ wife in The green Line, Cheaper by the dozen with Steve Martin, Jumanji with Robin Williams.

Yeah, maybe I was the second banana or a character actor. But boy, it’s the company you keep. Just good times with great people. And these are the memories that are dear to me. They’re so valuable, more than whether it was a starring role or not, you know? It’s the people.

What do you get for directing? What do you get by creating something like your movie Come back to me?

Back to my wonderful mother – she always told me, “Bonnie, be careful how much energy you’re going to put out into the world. Because it can have a ripple effect. And I think the ripple effect is what I like.

When I’m at the grocery store, and someone walks up to me and says a line, something I wrote that really stuck with them. Like with Come back to me. Does it make people happier? Do they feel they can relate to something I’ve written? Because this stuff was so powerful to me as a kid; some movies and TV shows I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, I love these people. And when I was writing Come back to me, [MGM asked] ” What’s the movie ? »

And I said, ‘I’m not sure yet, but I’m going to write something where I think people are going to want to crawl up the screen and be with these people. That was my goal.

Listen to H. Alan Scott’s full conversation with Bonnie Hunt on Newsweek’s Parting Shot. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Twitter: @HAlanScott

We want to thank the writer of this article for this amazing web content

With ‘Amber Brown’, Bonnie Hunt proves that she is a Hollywood triple threat – Noufelle EN