2013 Oscars: Celebrity interviews at talent shoot for The Creative Coalition

To celebrate the Oscars 2013, The Creative Coalition hosted a talent shoot this weekend in Beverly Hills as part of the GBK Oscar Gifting Suite. Stars had two interviews, which included what they would do if they had “5 Minutes with the President” plus act out movies, books, TV shows and feelings for Charades for Good. To take you there, we interviewed Rex Lee (“Entourage”, “Suburgatory”), Tim Daly (“Private Practice” “Sopranos”) and CCH Pounder (“Avatar” “The Shield”) about their favorite movies and charades.

Rob Morrow (“Numb3rs,” “Northern Exposure,” “Quiz Show”), Ashley Williams (“How I Met Your Mother,” Margin Call), and Wayne Knight (“The Exes,” “Seinfeld”) were also there during our visit on Friday. Other stars scheduled for interviews included Evan Handler (“Californication,” “Sex and the City”), Richard Kind (Argo, A Serious Man, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Beverly Mitchell (“The Secret Life of an American Teenager,” “7th Heaven”), Simon Helberg (“The Big Bang Theory,” Good Night and Good Luck), Sarah Drew (“Grey’s Anatomy,” Radio, “Everwood”), Paula Abdul (“American Idol”), and Tichina Arnold (“Happily Divorced,” “Everybody Hates Chris”.)

Robin Bronk, CEO of The Creative Coalition, first asked stars what they would do if they had "5 Minutes with The President" for her weekly column with The Hill. We caught her interview with Wayne Knight (“Seinfeld”, Newman) and Rex Lee asking these deep questions on camera: What piece of advice would you give the President? What advice would you ask the President to give you? This special Oscar weekend production was done in partnership with SnapFilms. To view these celebrity interviews, visit The Creative Coalition website, and become a member to support arts education, http://thecreativecoalition.org

Stars were then asked to act out charades for the Good World Games’ Charades for Good mobile app. Tim Daly acted out “Robin Hood” and the feeling “Cranky”, while Rex Lee did a very dramatic charade for the feeling “Sad.” CCH Pounder acted out “Shy,” which must have been hard since you can tell from our CCH Pounder Interview that she is everything, but shy. Players of this mobile charades game may now choose The Creative Coalition’s arts advocacy programs to receive a portion of profits from Charades for Good when they engage in the game.

While Rex Lee says charades is not his game, he nailed it on camera. When we asked him to share his “Sad” during our Rex Lee Interview, he put it all out there for us! Rex also gave us his Best Picture pick as “Silver Linings Playbook,” and he is rooting for Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress.

Our Tim Daly Interview gave us a new twist on the Oscars that was unexpected. Instead of giving us his Oscar picks, Tim shared why he doesn’t watch awards shows. With nothing left to discuss about the Oscars, we asked Tim about his role as President of The Creative Coalition. Tim shared, “The Creative Coalition is a non-profit organization, and our primary mission is to support, protect and defend the arts in the United States...We are prominent people in the entertainment industry, and we use the power that we have to generate media attention to focus on issues of social importance….We can spotlight people who are experts about certain fields like bullying, or media literacy or veterans issues without having to be the expert ourselves.” (And then we snuck in that we did see Best Documentary Oscar Nominee “The Invisible War” at one of The Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Screenings.)

CCH Pounder (“Avatar” and 120 credits on IMDB) also gave us a fun interview. Our first laugh was about her name. Her full name is Carol Christine Hilaria, and when she had to pick a name at the end of theater school, she chose CCH Pounder because her family was very serious and she didn’t want to be called Carol. And then because people thought she was a man, she was the only person to receive a credit card after college, and the letter said, “Congratulations Mr. Pounder.”

When asked about her Best Picture picks, CCH could not choose one. She loved “Amour” and “Lincoln.” “Amour” touched her the most because she’s part of the Baby Boomer age where people will be departing. She also gave thanks to Spielberg for “Lincoln” for a great education piece. CCH loved “The Life of Pi” as something “beautiful to look at.” And even though sometimes it is hard to get a theater production in film, she got it from “Les Miserables” on the big screen. CCH also predicts “Argo will fly really high.” Overall, she emphasized what a great year it has been for film, and recommended that everyone go see the top 20 films that didn’t make the Oscars list too.

When asked about the importance of keeping arts in this country, CCH emphasized, “We’ve spent the last two decades sort of farming it out in a very laissez-faire way…I think we finally got the message that if we keep farming things out because it’s cheaper, it’s going end up being a disaster for all of us…You cannot consume if you don’t have the education to buy the stuff.”

When asked about her work with The Creative Coalition, CCH shared, “I’ve been working with them for 6 or 7 years now….We do try to advocate for arts in public school systems…I have seen the results of it, and people who rarely get the opportunity to go to museums, paint, sing, draw, dance to package that with Math and English…when you mix the two, sometimes the thing you didn’t understand in mathematics, sometimes in dance when you see your first angle by the way the professor tells you how to extend your arm, and she says, there, you’re creating a triangle, and it’s suddenly, bling a light bulb goes off, and you see the world differently.”

Look for the bling today on the red carpet, and many thanks to all of the stars supporting The Creative Coalition arts advocacy program. Don’t forget to check out the Good World Games’ Charades for Good mobile app, and choose The Creative Coalition to receive a portion of the profits. Let’s keep the arts in the U.S., support arts education, celebrate it all on Oscar Sunday, and applaud the arts year-round for making our lives better.