mystik_woman
sarNie Egg
Gran Torino actress Ahney Her returns to Michigan for opening night
by Rachael Recker | The Grand Rapids Press
Friday January 09, 2009, 10:17 PM
GRAND RAPIDS - Someone in Theater One at Celebration! Cinemas North thought Ahney Her should get an award.
He made sure she knew by shouting as much to her as she stood on the theater's stage Friday night.
Someone else wanted to make sure she was paid well. Was she, he asked?
"Yes, I was," she said, laughing.
Others just wanted to congratulate the supporting actress in Clint Eastwood's new film, "Gran Torino," which opened Friday and was filmed entirely in Detroit for a month this past summer.
"Very good," said one to Her.
"You did a good job," said another.
"I wanted to get her autograph or something," said one woman, as Her passed through the audience to the silver screen to take questions from a capacity crowd inside Celebration's largest theater.
The 16-year-old actress, who was born-and-raised Lansing, was in town to watch, for the fourth time, the film in which she starred alongside Eastwood and to answer questions following the showing.
It was her first film, let alone her first major film, and Her took it all in with ease.
"No, it's not weird. It feels very normal. It's just people being curious, and I'm just answering questions," she said earlier in the day during a Press interview.
The Theater One audience clapped and cheered enthusiastically for the film about an aged and anachronistic Korean War veteran who befriends a close-knit Hmong family and, in the process, grapples with a changing world, stereotypes, irony and the burdens of life.
As Her and her fellow Asian cast members were all of the Hmong community, they all helped Eastwood create an authentic portrayal of the ethnic group, such as advising on the decor in the set house, she said.
Her added that her first meeting with Eastwood was on set the first day.
"He just greeted me like meeting a new friend," she said.
"He's a very humble guy, and the way he directs is very smooth. On set, everything is always calm. You know, there's nothing scary about it, nothing intimidating about it," she said.
Her got the part after auditioning at an open call sign-up at a soccer tournament.
"I didn't believe it, 'cause the tent said, you know, 'Clint Eastwood movie' or something like that, 'Hmong people needed.' And I'm like, 'OK, yeah right. Like this would happen.' Out of all people, Hmong people? No."
Eastwood gave some advice to the new actress, she said. One piece of advice, which was the first he bestowed, stuck.
"He said, 'Do what you have to do and just be yourself.' And yeah, it helped me a lot throughout the whole filming," she said.
The result was a success for former State Rep. Bill Huizenga (Rep.-Zeeland, 90th District), who was in the audience with his wife to see the film and Her.
Huizenga helped author and coordinate the state's film incentive package and was pleased with the first major film to utilize it.
"Very satisfied," were Huizenga's first words.
His wife, Natalie, had "mixed emotions throughout with the racial slurs," she said.
"I was trying not to be offended, but it came full-circle," she said of the "wonderful storyline."
Credited Source: MLive.com
by Rachael Recker | The Grand Rapids Press
Friday January 09, 2009, 10:17 PM
GRAND RAPIDS - Someone in Theater One at Celebration! Cinemas North thought Ahney Her should get an award.
He made sure she knew by shouting as much to her as she stood on the theater's stage Friday night.
Someone else wanted to make sure she was paid well. Was she, he asked?
"Yes, I was," she said, laughing.
Others just wanted to congratulate the supporting actress in Clint Eastwood's new film, "Gran Torino," which opened Friday and was filmed entirely in Detroit for a month this past summer.
"Very good," said one to Her.
"You did a good job," said another.
"I wanted to get her autograph or something," said one woman, as Her passed through the audience to the silver screen to take questions from a capacity crowd inside Celebration's largest theater.
The 16-year-old actress, who was born-and-raised Lansing, was in town to watch, for the fourth time, the film in which she starred alongside Eastwood and to answer questions following the showing.
It was her first film, let alone her first major film, and Her took it all in with ease.
"No, it's not weird. It feels very normal. It's just people being curious, and I'm just answering questions," she said earlier in the day during a Press interview.
The Theater One audience clapped and cheered enthusiastically for the film about an aged and anachronistic Korean War veteran who befriends a close-knit Hmong family and, in the process, grapples with a changing world, stereotypes, irony and the burdens of life.
As Her and her fellow Asian cast members were all of the Hmong community, they all helped Eastwood create an authentic portrayal of the ethnic group, such as advising on the decor in the set house, she said.
Her added that her first meeting with Eastwood was on set the first day.
"He just greeted me like meeting a new friend," she said.
"He's a very humble guy, and the way he directs is very smooth. On set, everything is always calm. You know, there's nothing scary about it, nothing intimidating about it," she said.
Her got the part after auditioning at an open call sign-up at a soccer tournament.
"I didn't believe it, 'cause the tent said, you know, 'Clint Eastwood movie' or something like that, 'Hmong people needed.' And I'm like, 'OK, yeah right. Like this would happen.' Out of all people, Hmong people? No."
Eastwood gave some advice to the new actress, she said. One piece of advice, which was the first he bestowed, stuck.
"He said, 'Do what you have to do and just be yourself.' And yeah, it helped me a lot throughout the whole filming," she said.
The result was a success for former State Rep. Bill Huizenga (Rep.-Zeeland, 90th District), who was in the audience with his wife to see the film and Her.
Huizenga helped author and coordinate the state's film incentive package and was pleased with the first major film to utilize it.
"Very satisfied," were Huizenga's first words.
His wife, Natalie, had "mixed emotions throughout with the racial slurs," she said.
"I was trying not to be offended, but it came full-circle," she said of the "wonderful storyline."
Credited Source: MLive.com
