ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021 NEWS/FEATURES 13

People & Places

Books

‘Acting save my life’ McCarthy ‘taps’ into 80s era with memoir NEW YORK, May 26, (AP): Andrew McCarthy admits he “fl ed” from his shaggy-haired 1980’s per- sona and didn’t look back for decades. Much like the slouchy blazers he wore in movies like “” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” that moni- ker and image never really fi t. But time has put a soft fi lter on that era for the actor and he’s ready to refl ect on his early days as a movie star in his new memoir, “Brat: An 80’s Story,” which debuted ear- lier this month. Now a TV director, acclaimed travel writer, and best-selling author, McCarthy has been busy in re- cent years, if under the radar. He decided it was the right time to look back on his early life in acting and share stories about his adven- tures in Hollywood, compli- cated family relationships, addiction and recovery. The book helps explain the evolution of the Brat Pack — a group of young actors in- cluding and who dominated movies in the 1980’s and set cultural trends — and how McCarthy and others swept McCarthy into its vortex became the nostalgic “avatar of people’s youth.” In a recent interview with The Associated Press, he discussed reconciling his Brat Pack membership, his kids choosing to act, and which of his movies should be remade. Responses have been condensed for brevity and clarity. AP: Why write the book now? McCarthy: I think I probably grew up enough to look at it. It was certainly one of, if not the defi ning, This image released by Amazon shows singer Pink performing in a scene from her documentary, ‘Pink: All I Know So Far,’ which debuted May 21 on Prime Video. (AP) sort of moments in my life. My life changed because of that. And we wouldn’t be talking if those couple of years hadn’t happened. I think it came at me so quickly when I was young that I just sort of fl ed from it and it took me just a long time to sort of go, “Let’s look under that rock.” It was actually quite liberat- Music ing to me. AP: Some may be surprised to read about your alcohol abuse during that time. Was that diffi cult to write about? Docu takes viewers back to ‘Beautiful Trauma’ tour McCarthy: There were three things that were dominant in my life in that period in the 80’s. If I was going to capture it, I needed to look at all three of them, which was being successful in movies, my After 2 decades, Pink still a rockstar drinking and my relationship with my father. If you wrote about any two, without the other one, it’s in- NEW YORK, May 26, (AP): Pink stadiums would be a full-time mom. In an interview with The Asso- complete, like a stool that would have tipped over. It is grappling with the fact that her He had never seen that before and ciated Press, Pink talks about her felt like I had to sort of address that. 9-year-old daughter, Willow, with thought it was a story worth telling. aerial silks routine, acting and what AP: You explain the evolution of the Brat Pack. husband Carey Hart, is on the cusp After I thought about it, I was like, she thinks of a possible “Lady Mar- How do you look at that now? of the tween years. ‘Well, there’s not a lot of women malade ” redo. McCarthy: I’m a pretty solitary person in many “It’s still the salad days, she’s still headlining stadiums and there’s cer- AP: You’re known for performing ways, and so I wasn’t in the center of a group of my baby,” said Pink in an interview tainly not a lot of women touring aerial silks in your performances and friends. And I lived in New York, they all lived in over Zoom. “But she’s starting to the world with their family.’ I just doing acrobatics. Do you foresee a LA, and they were very nice to me. I didn’t feel al- ask me questions about deodorant thought it was a time stamp... and time you’d want to give that up? ienated by them, I felt a bit alienated from them, just and bras.” As if on cue, a siren blares something for the kids to watch one Pink: I’ll always want to. It’s just because that’s my nature... And I suppose it took me in the background. “And there’s my day when they’ve built this narrative if people are going to want to see that so many years to write the book, to really come to This cover image released by Grand ambulance,” she deadpans. in their head about how they weren’t stuffed into a leotard. I mean, that’s terms with that, what that whole notion of the Brat Central Publishing shows ‘Brat: An Pack was and became and is, because I think they’re 80s Story’ by Andrew McCarthy. (AP) Willow Sage and son, Jameson loved or cared for.” the real question, isn’t it? (Laughs.) very different things. When I started, it was cast in Moon, are a huge creative inspira- It’s a busy time for Pink, who AP: You co-starred with Gwyneth this very sort of pejorative way. And it’s evolved tion for the singer, whose real name also has a new song called ”All I Paltrow, Josh Gad and Mark Ruf- over time to be this kind of nostalgic memory of is Alecia Moore. Earlier this year Know So Far,” and received the falo in the 2012 movie “Thanks for youth that we all our generation looks back on so she released a single called “Cover Icon Award at the Billboard Music Sharing.” Would you ever want to fondly. And I’m sort of the avatar of people’s youth Me In Sunshine” featuring Willow’s Awards. Past recipients include Jen- act again? in a certain way... It took me a long time to kind vocals, which Pink says happened nifer Lopez, Janet Jackson and Ma- Pink: No, it’s excruciating. I of embrace that notion, but that’s sort of a beautiful organically. riah Carey. mean, I would do Broadway, that thing. “She was in the room when I was “I wish I could feel it more,” said kind of acting, even though that’s AP: You include some fun stories about being recording. She liked the song and Pink of the honor, adding she’s too also excruciating, but no. I don’t young in Hollywood. When was the moment you was humming, and she has such a self-deprecating to keep from poking want to see this (points to face) in hi- most wondered “How did I get here?” cute, pretty little voice. I was like, fun at herself. “I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s the def any more than I have to (laughs.) McCarthy: Early on, getting my first movie ‘You want to sing on it?’ She’s like, old lady award,’ because Cher gave AP: Speaking of Broadway, you and suddenly doing love scenes with Jacqueline ‘Sure.’” it to Garth Brooks last year. I’m like, worked with the “Dear Evan Hans- Bisset, that was like, “Oh my God, what just hap- Cena Cotton In the new documentary “Pink: ‘Wait a minute, I’m 41, not 70.’ But en” songwriters — Benj Pasek and pened to me?” After that, everything else sort of All I Know So Far,” debuted May at the end of the day, I guess two Justin Paul — on the “All I Know So paled in the degree of “How did I get from here 21 on Prime Video, viewers go decades (in music) is a big deal and I Far” single. What was that like? to there?” Variety back to 2019 for Pink’s “Beauti- want to be able to take it in.” Pink: They’re freaking awesome. AP: Your teen daughter and son are both acting. ful Trauma” world tour with Hart, Pink says she’s “horrible” at ac- I loved “The Greatest Showman” so How do you feel about that choice? Willow and Jameson in tow. The ceptance speeches because she feels much, and “Dear Evan Hansen” and McCarthy: Acting save my life, you know? It al- MILAN: Milan Fashion Week will kids join her for rehearsals, she “awkward” and says her “jokes get “La La Land.” They’re such good most cost me my life in a certain way, but it saved remain mostly digital for menswear wrangles them for bedtime and bad,” but she made a pretty memo- storytellers and I’m a theater geek. my life. It gave me a place in the world. I felt like previews in June, with just three fashion feels guilty when Willow vents that rable one in 2017 at the MTV Video AP: There’s talk of a “Lady me when I did it. And I’d never felt that way before I houses opting to host guests in their did it. And I was able to locate myself in acting. And showrooms as international travel just Jameson, a toddler at the time, gets Music Awards. While accepting an- Marmalade” re-record with names if someone else feels that way, who am I to tell them begins to resume amid the lifting of all the attention. other prestigious award, the Michael including Miley Cyrus and Halsey not to do that? My kids certainly didn’t grow up with coronavirus restrictions. “I wasn’t sure anybody would Jackson Video Vanguard Award, singing your part. What do you think any illusions about how glamorous and wonderful it Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana want to see that,” said Pink of the she spoke to Willow, who was in the of that? all is, because it’s a job. and Etro plan to present live shows with concept of capturing mom life on audience with her dad, about the im- Pink: It would be amazing. Why AP: How do you view your 80’s movies and guests during fashion week, which is camera, but her director, Michael portance of authenticity and not con- not? I saw Miley do “Silent Night.” should they be remade? scheduled for June 18-22. A total of 63 Gracey, convinced her it was some- forming to conventional standards That girl could sing the phone book brands are preparing new collections for thing to see. of beauty. The speech is included on to me. She’s so good. Her voice is so McCarthy: Those movies suddenly took young the spring-summer 2022 previews. people seriously in a way that movies hadn’t really, The Milan fashion chamber on “He thought it was fascinating the live album “All I Know So Far soulful and Halsey’s rad, too. I think that their struggles and their emotional life — which Tuesday projected a 15%-20% increase that someone that was headlining Setlist.” it’d be cool. is massive — it was valid and real. And I think we in 2021 revenues compared with 2020, kind of take that for granted now, whereas in those when revenues for clothing generated by days that was not represented before in fi lm. So that Italian fashion houses plunged by nearly “In one interview, I made a mistake,” mistake, I really apologize for it.” in China, which considers the self-gov- was a big revelation… But if people want to remake a quarter to 51.5 billion euros ($63 bil- he said in heavily accented Mandarin In his interview with TVBS, a Tai- erning democracy its own territory to be them it wouldn’t matter to me. I think “St. Elmo’s lion) due to the effects of the pandemic. Chinese. “I need to say now that this is wanese cable channel, Cena was also taken back by force if necessary. Fire”… pick up those guys 30 years later, they’re Adding in eyewear, jewelry and very, very, very, very, very important. I speaking in Mandarin when he said It was unclear if Cena’s apology all old and fat, you know? (laughs) The only one cosmetics, Italian brands are expected love and respect China and the Chinese Taiwan would be the fi rst “country” to be worked, as many comments on Chinese that probably should be remade is “Weekend at to generate over 80 billion euros ($98 people. I’m very, very sorry. As for my able to see the fi lm. That led to an uproar social media in response to his video Bernie’s.” (laughs) billion) in income, an increase of 17% were negative. Likewise, Cena was also over 2020. facing scorn back in the United States, Also: “It is a good sign, better than we ex- where Sen Tom Cotton called the apol- pected,’’ Italian National Fashion Cham- ogy “pathetic” and others lashed out at NEW YORK: Filmmaker-actor and ac- ber President Carlo Capasa said. “We him on social media as a “coward.” tor Clint Howard, brothers, former child stars and should close 10% lower than 2019, but it Global companies and celebrities seek- fellow Hollywood veterans, will now share their looks like a net recovery, and we hope to ing to maintain access to the lucrative unusual story in book-length form. return to our usual levels in 2022.” Chinese market have to tread a fi ne line The Howards have a deal with William Morrow While luxury was one of the hardest- on many issues as online nationalistic for “The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Fam- hit sectors during the pandemic, Capasa outrage can spark boycotts. ily,” scheduled to come out Oct 12. According to underlined that fashion was one of the China has increasingly pressured William Morrow, a HarperCollins Publishers im- most dynamic in March among Italian foreign fi rms over their statements on print, the book will help answer a perennial question industries. He noted that orders still had Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet, the asked of Ron Howard: What was it like to grow up not reached hoped-for levels, indicating a South China Sea and other issues Beijing on television? level of “prudence” in the market. (AP) considers sensitive. ❑ ❑ ❑ Airlines and other multinational “In ‘The Boys,’ he and his younger brother, Clint, companies have been pushed to refer examine their childhoods in detail for the fi rst time,” TAIPEI, Taiwan: Actor and profession- to Taiwan as a part of China on their the publisher’s statement Monday reads in part. “For al wrestler John Cena has apologized websites or risk damage to their business Ron, playing Opie on ‘The Andy Griffi th Show’ to fans in China after he called Taiwan in China. and Richie Cunningham on ‘’ offered a country in a promotional interview for Chinese state broadcaster CCTV cut fame, joy, and opportunity — but also invited stress his upcoming fi lm and became the latest ties with the NBA for a year in response and bullying. For Clint, a fast start on such programs celebrity to face the fury of Chinese to a tweet by Houston Rockets general as ‘’ and ‘’ petered out in ado- nationalists. manager Daryl Morey backing pro-de- lescence, with some tough consequences and les- In a short video posted Tuesday on mocracy protesters in Hong Kong, even sons.” Chinese social media site Weibo, Cena though the post was quickly deleted. According to the Howards, “The Boys” was fi rst did not refer to Taiwan or go into much News about Chloe Zhao, a Chinese detail about the incident, which occurred Chrissie Hynde, of the Pretenders, performs at the Arroyo Seco Music Festival director, winning an Oscar was censored in inspired by the death of their father, actor Rance earlier this month when he was doing a in Pasadena, Calif on June 23, 2018. Hynde is featured in ‘1971: The Year That April after old interviews surfaced where Howard. promotion for “Fast & Furious 9” with Music Changed Everything,’ an eight-part documentary series that premiered she said that she grew up in a place where Taiwanese media. May 21 on the Apple+ streaming service. (AP) there were “lies” everywhere. (AP)