LUKE BURBANK, host:
Well, we here at BPP world headquarters have the E! channel on in the studio.
ALISON STEWART, host:
So we can watch the announcements…
BURBANK: It's for…
STEWART: …for the Golden Globe.
BURBANK: It's for good reasons not just because we enjoyed stretching ourselves. Yeah, there are all these folks in L.A. who are up bright and early on the West Coast for the Golden Globe nominations. And, you know, it's breaking E! news. Ali, what are they saying so far?
STEWART: They're saying that the film "Atonement" is leading the packs. I'm looking at the wires.
BURBANK: That's a movie about the girl who does this guy another gal wrong and then there's a letter about…
STEWART: Yes, the World War II drama.
BURBANK: Right, right.
STEWART: I think it's - I must say Ian McEwan wrote the novel. It's leading with seven nominations, seven Golden Globe nominations. But a film about Boston is earning several nominations for its actors. It's that movie, "Gone Baby Gone."
BURBANK: Mm-hmm.
STEWART: Directed by Ben Affleck, first-time director for him.
BURBANK: Yeah, and Amy Ryan plays a pivotal role in that. And what we're hearing through our sources…
STEWART: Being the L.A. Times.
BURBANK: The L.A. Times - our source is the L.A. Times - are telling us that Amy has actually been nominated for - do we know specifically which award?
STEWART: Best supporting actress in a drama.
BURBANK: Well, we have the great fortune to talk to Amy Ryan a few weeks ago on this very show. She was delightful, and she was here to talk about this movie that she's nominated for, "Gone Baby Gone." Let's hear a little bit of that interview.
(Soundbite of archived interview)
STEWART: If you have to describe the way your career is going right now, Amy, how would you describe it?
Ms. AMY RYAN (Actress): I would describe it as a gift and also where I'd hoped to be.
STEWART: Yes.
Ms. RYAN: So at - the surprise is that - is not the shape of it because that's what I had hoped. But it is a surprise that's happened. I mean, you know, that's complete conflict there, but it's a dream. It's a dream.
STEWART: Let's talk about this movie, "Gone Baby Gone," which was directed by Ben Affleck. It's a tough story…
Ms. RYAN: Yeah.
STEWART: …about a really tough part of Boston. I don't want to give too much away, but a little girl goes missing and the story is kind of ultimately about - everybody kind of questions in the film what's the right thing to do.
Ms. RYAN: Mm-hmm. It is - it's about the consequences of your decisions and your non-decisions and how do you live with that. And, yeah, the event in the story is this young girl goes missing. I'm the, you know, delinquent mother whose child it is. But it's not just a whodunit.
STEWART: No, not at all.
Ms. RYAN: And, really, every single character in the film - you watch how this event affects their lives, their relationships, and that's why I think the film is so interesting. It really - and then it leaves that question with the audience, you know, kind of what would you do? What is the best thing to do?
STEWART: You mentioned your character's a delinquent mom. She's a - not a really a nice person but not necessarily a bad person.
Ms. RYAN: Yeah. I think - yeah, when you play it…
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RYAN: …as an actor, I mean, I can't sit there and go, she's bad, you know, as an audience…
STEWART: She's not necessarily bad, though.
Ms. RYAN: Yeah, but she's just someone who, my goodness, she needs help. That woman is uneducated and, you know, and addicted to drugs and alcohol and is raising a child on her own. And that job alone, being a single parent, from what I can see on the outside - I'm not one - but that, hands down, is, I think, the hardest job in the world. So if you add on that someone who doesn't have health insurance and education and, really, a strong family behind her, you know, that's a recipe for disaster.
STEWART: She gets involved with selling some drugs. Let's listen to a clip.
Ms. RYAN: Okay.
(Soundbite of movie, "Gone Baby Gone")
Mr. JOSH ASHTON (Actor): (As Nick Poole) So just tell us how much you took.
(Soundbite of footsteps)
Mr. ASHTON: (As Nick Poole) How much? How much?
Ms. RYAN: (As Helene McCready) One-thirty.
Ms. AMY MADIGAN (Actress): (As Beatrice McCready) A hundred and thirty thousand dollars?
Ms. RYAN: (As Helene McCready) Yes, B.
Mr. ASHTON: (As Nick Poole) How did you do it?
Ms. RYAN: (As Helene McCready) We dropped four keys on these bikers. When we was walking back through the motel with all the money, these cops just swooped right in, went right for the bikers, and Amanda was with us, so we just pretended to be like a family and we got in the car and took off.
Ms. MADIGAN: (As Beatrice McCready) You took Amanda with you?
Ms. RYAN: (As Helene McCready) Oh, what am I going to do, leave her in the car, B?
STEWART: Unbelievable accent.
(Soundbite of laughter)
STEWART: How long did it take you to nail that Boston - that certain part of Boston to - accent?
Ms. RYAN: Well, I think - I grew up in Queens and I think there's a similar attitude, not certainly a sound, but there's a similar attitude so I knew about the defensive, blue collar kind of protection that can happen. And that's the first thought. And then, secondly, it was just the confidence around me of Mr. Ben Affleck, and who said, you know, you'll get the accent and if you don't, we'll fix it in post.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RYAN: So like there's this great freedom there, you know, and trust is what you know, any actor hopes for a - with any director they work with. So I had Casey Affleck in one ear and Ben Affleck in the other ear, and always constantly, you know, saying, it's mother, not mother.
(Soundbite of laughter)
STEWART: There's a story - and I know you've told it in all your junkets, but it's such a good story that I'm going to ask you again…
Ms. RYAN: Sure.
STEWART: …that you were mistaken for a local.
Ms. RYAN: Oh, yes.
STEWART: You had a hard time getting on the set one day.
Ms. RYAN: Well, Ben said to me before we started. He said, Amy, he said, my hope is that, you know, look, I hope you get a lot of recognition for this, but the truth is, I hope no one knows who the hell you are and that you are mistaken for a Boston local and that people ask me where did I found you off the streets.
And the first day I went away in the hair and makeup and all that, and I came back through set, through the crowd of about 80 neighbors who were out to watch Ben Affleck shoot this movie, and I hadn't done the Boston accent yet. And as I walked through the barricades, this production assistant-security guard stopped me, and I said, oh, here's the chance and I said, oh, no, I'm, you know, I'm in the movie. I'm working with Ben Affleck.
BURBANK: At least (unintelligible) get something and all that.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RYAN: But he's, like, oh right, you're working with Ben Affleck? You know, I had this terrible, greasy hair and makeup smudged on my face so I looked like a truck just hit me. And I said, yeah, yeah, I know I got a part in the movie, and he said, oh, no, no, no, ma'am, please stand back. Please stand back. And -so I was late, like, the first day. I was (unintelligible).
BURBANK: And you had him fired.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RYAN: No. He was mortified. I think he thought he's going to be fired, but I thanked him profusely. I was, like, you have no idea the shot of confidence you just gave me. And I went up to Ben, I said, I just got banned from your set.
STEWART: Right.
Ms. RYAN: And just a smile on his face, he was like, high five. He's like, let's go. So it was a really happy accident.
STEWART: The freshly nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actress. That was our conversation with Amy Ryan. She is nominated for "Gone Baby Gone." She's got some stiff competition. Cate Blanchett for "I'm Not There," that's when she played Bob Dylan in that sort of odd movie, Saoirse Ronan for "Atonement," Julia Roberts is also nominated in this category for "Charlie Wilson's War," and Tilda Swinton for "Michael Clayton." The movie "Michael Clayton" also earned a best supporting actor nomination for Tom Wilkinson. John Travolta nominated for "Hairspray" where he plays Edna Turnblad, trying to (unintelligible) in here.
BURBANK: Sorry, Harvey Fierstein is always going to be my Edna Turnblad - the original, the greatest.
STEWART: Philip Seymour Hoffman was nominated for "Charlie Wilson's War" for best supporting actor, also nominated for best actor for "The Savages." Javier Bardem for "No Country for Old Men," and Casey Affleck, no, not nominated for being in his brother's movie, but nominated for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."
BURBANK: Well, I have to say, as the only one of those people on that list who'd actually shown up on THE BRYANT PARK PROJECT, I'm rooting for Amy Ryan.
STEWART: There you go.
BURBANK: She's got our vote.
STEWART: And do you want to hear the best movie?
BURBANK: Yeah, let's get that.
STEWART: Best drama nominees were "American Gangster," "Eastern Promises," "No Country for Old Men," "The Great Debaters," and "Michael Clayton," and the California oil-boom epic "There Will Be Blood."
BURBANK: Mm-hmm. I'm very excited to see that as well.
STEWART: Seven movies picked instead of the usual five this year.
BURBANK: Well, thanks for getting up early, Hollywood. We appreciate it.
STEWART: Go, Amy. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
