PRESS UPDATE : ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY .. NOVEMBER 8TH 2018 ..

Kathy Bates and Joan Collins have become BFFs on American Horror Story: Apocalypse...

By TIM STACK 

It’s so good to have Kathy Bates back where she belongs.

The Oscar-winner took season 7 off from American Horror Story to do the comedy series Disjointed on Netflix. But Bates has returned with a vengeance on AHS: Apocalypse, playing both a human and robotic version of a former Mossad agent and support system for antichrist Michael Langdon (Cody Fern).

With the finale of Apocalypse next week, EW talked with Bates about getting robotic and becoming pals with co-star Joan Collins.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When you decided to come back, did you know you’d be playing a robot this year?KATHY BATES: No. No. No. Nor did I know that I would become a Satanist. I have to tell you, when I got that script and they had me praying to Satan, I called them down to my trailer and I said, “Dudes, I am not praying to Satan. Cody can pray to Satan because he is Satan.” But I was quite serious about it because I’m a two-time cancer survivor and I’m not gonna screw around with that! [Laughs] It’s bad enough I have to say “Hail Satan” a couple of times. I know it’s entertainment but I just didn’t want to do it. But Tim [Minear] gave me a little more information about it but it was the same as it was every year. They give you kind of a rough idea and then you get a script and go, “Oh my God! I didn’t know that was going to happen!”

You skipped last season, so how has it been being back on AHS? Has it been fun to reconnect with everyone?Oh god, yes. And you know who I just adore? We’ve just fallen in love — Joan Collins. I just adore her. We’ve been out to dinner a few times. I just love her and her husband, Percy. They’re just keepers. That’s been an unexpected pleasure. And I’ve adored working with Cody. I saw him of course in Versace and I thought he was wonderful. I’ve tremendously loved working with him. But I have to say, when the witches came striding across the field, suddenly they all became a group and it was just the two of us. So, I didn’t get to see very much of Sarah Paulson or Billie Lourd or Leslie Grossman or Adina Porter or any of those girls, so it kinda made me sad because I didn’t get to hang with them.

You and Gabby Sidibe became so close during Coven — did you all get a chance to spend any time together?No. I mean she was going back and forth to Empire. She was even texting that she had to wear her bloody clothes on the plane because she was running late and she said people didn’t even bat an eye. No, I just adore her. Just a hug here and there. I think we got to hug each other when I was being cooked.

What was that like to be burnt at the stake? Was it scary to be up there?No. It was sort of funny. I was all tied up at the stake and our unit production manager came over and we were talking about schedules! [Laughs] It wasn’t scary. I was just trying to figure out how to do it. Ryan said, “Oh I love it when you get all Shakespearean!” [Laughs] It was so great to be back with everybody!

Do you think Ms. Meade is the darkest character you’ve played on AHS?Yeah, she’s…I don’t know if I can really describe her because she’s kind of a cipher in a lot of ways. I really plugged into the whole Mossad thing. She was a killer and she was emotionless about that. She was very robotic and mechanical and still, and I think she was full of fervor and rage and all those things. But it was kinda cool to play someone as still as that.

I love the first episode when Meade and Venable (Paulson) get all dressed up and just sit by the fire and chat. Do you think those characters had a romantic relationship?No. I didn’t. I know people felt there were sexual undertones. But we never discussed that and certainly now that we’ve gotten through the series and we know what’s going on, she came from the Corporation with Venable. I think Venable was pretty aware who Meade was.

How was Paulson as the director?I have to say, she’s a wonderful actress but she’s an even more wonderful director and here’s why: She has real authority on the set, even when things are crazy and they get crazy because we’re rolling so fast. She doesn’t falter. She keeps the reins firmly in hand. Obviously, she knows what actors need. She’s very clear on what she wants. And she knows camera so she can be very specific of what she needs to see in the frame and what we need to give her. I loved her episode. The other thing I noticed about her episode that I really liked was that she used more close-ups. [Laughs] She didn’t cut away from them like so often they do. I loved the pace of what she did. I’m really proud of her and so happy and I hope she does more. I think she’s outstanding. Outstanding!

Can you tease next week’s finale? Is this like a battle royale between Meade and the witches and Michael?It’s definitely coming to a head. That was one where we were shooting two or three episodes at the same time so I’m actually having a hard time actually remembering! [Laughs] But I think it’s going to be really great from what I can remember. I think also it will be a real surprise.

Will you come back for another season of AHS?I don’t know. I’d love to! I love working with Ryan. He’s such a genius. And Tim is a love. It’s like coming home. I also really love John Landgraf and I love FX. It feels so good to be there.

Can

PRESS UPDATE : BELLA NYC HOLIDAY ISSUE DECEMBER / JANUARY ..

Don't forget to check out the Holiday issue of 'Bella NYC' magazine featuring a sensational 4 page interview and fabulous photo spread.. The issue hits newsstands this week! 
You can order a copy here!
BELLA NYC HOLIDAY ISSUE - ORDER YOUR COPY HERE!

TV UPDATE : AHS APOCALYPSE IS NEARING A NAILBITING CONCLUSION!

As 'AHS Apocalypse' is near it's conclusion, Joan has made her final appearance as the fiesty Bubbles McGee and we can safely say she certainly nailed the performance! The above image is from the 9th episode entitled 'Fire & Reign' and as you can see, makeup can be painstaking as Joan is prepared to meet her maker... on screen!

PRESS ALERT : BELLA NYC HOLIDAY ISSUE NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2018

Check out this sensational shot from the latest issue of Bella NYC which hits newsstands next week.. The holiday issue features a 4 page spread with interview ..
 You can order the issue at the following link!
Order the Holiday Issue of BELLA NYC Here!

PRESS UPDATE : MIND FOOD #SMART THINKING .. NOVEMBER 2018 ..

Joining ‘American Horror Story: Apocalypse’, the legendary Joan Collins epitomises the term ‘powerhouse’ who shows no signs of slowing down. She chats to MiNDFOOD about #metoo, fame, and finding her strength.

By Michele Manelis...

You were the mean girl on Dynasty all those years ago as Alexis!

I don’t think I was mean. She was early #MeToo, you know? (laughs)

Well, you’re not exactly the good girl in American Horror Story either. What’s fun about being bad?

Being an actress, or an actor, as we are supposed to say today, I really like to inhabit every kind of character. She’s kind of Noel Coward and Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey, she has a lot of very wild and interesting lines. She’s a name dropper because she’s been married to the head of MGM, so she knew everybody in those days and she drops names like Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida all the time, which annoys all the rest of the other people, who are all on lockdown in this dungeon.

You’ve been in a tough business for a very long time. How did you find your strength?

I think one of my strengths for being in this business for as long as I have is that my father was a theatrical agent and he was very, very against me coming into the business. He told me how tough it was and how you had to be able to take tons and tons of rejection. And if you were a pretty girl, you would probably be finished by the time you were 25 or 26 and that you would be treated not very well by a lot of men. So he warned me about the dangers, so I was aware of the dangers when I came in.

What’s your take on the #Metoo movement?

Well, my opinion sadly is that as a young girl, along with most of my contemporaries, we used to discuss it although we didn’t call it abuse, but we were preyed upon by men. And it seemed that at that particular time, it went with the way a young actress was treated. I had some bad experiences, but because my father was very strong and I was very good with a knee in the groin, (laughs) I never allowed myself to be taken advantage of during that time.

Marilyn Monroe said to me once, ‘Honey, you better beware of the wolves in Hollywood.’ And I said, ‘Well, I can take care of wolves, I have been in British films for two years, where they sometimes had to hide me in the closet to get me away from a producer.’ But I have never allowed myself to become a victim, so I am glad for all the women that are standing up for that.

Looking back on your life, is there anything you would have done differently?

Well a couple of husbands, definitely (laughs). But only two of them!

You’re very sharp. How do you keep up?

Scrabble and poker. (laughs). I don’t feel any different today really than I did 30 years ago. And I have a younger husband which is always good and that keeps you up to pot. I read five, six, seven magazines a day and I keep up with the politics in England and the news in England and in America and a bit in France because I have a place in France. So I try to be relevant and know what’s going on.

Exercise?

Yes, I do a bit of exercise. Definitely, you have to do exercise. I don’t believe in ‘no pain, no gain.’ I think it has to be gentle and you can’t do things that are going to wrench something. I had pulled a muscle under my rib a couple of weeks ago and it was agony for five weeks, agony. So I am starting to keep myself from not doing anything too stretchy.

You were voted Most Beautiful Girl in England at 18. How did beauty define your career?

Well, first of all, I didn’t believe it because I came from a family that did not tell you how beautiful you were or how clever you were. When I got that title when I was 18 in England and The Evening Standard called my father and said, ‘Oh, your daughter has been voted the most beautiful girl in England,’ he said, ‘I am amazed. She is a nice looking girl, but nothing special.’ (laughs) So that was always in the back of my mind.

I have to ask, when you were in ‘Dynasty’, how did Alexis get along with Crystal?

You mean how did Joan Collins get along with Linda Evans? We got along okay. We are very, very different people, so we didn’t have a huge amount in common and we didn’t really socialise that much.

We liked each other, but I think that she felt that we couldn’t become close because we had to hate each other so much in Dynasty. And Alexis was very Me Too. Alexis never put up with anything, nothing.

Was there a role during your career you were upset you didn’t get?

Yes. Cleopatra

Do you still go after what you want?

No. I am not one of those people who goes into a room and immediately starts saying hello to everybody. I don’t do that, I am not a schmoozer. I am afraid I am lazy in that respect.

PRESS UPDATE : INTERVIEW MAGAZINE... OCTOBER 30TH 2018 ..

THE IMMORTAL JOAN COLLINS FINDS HER WAY IN A NEW AGE

By Tom Ford
Photography Bella Newman

Published October 30, 2018

Describing Joan Collins is one of the few instances in Hollywood where using the word “immortal” is not a cliché. The self-proclaimed working actor has been in the game for nearly three-quarters of a century, and has resurfaced this year onAmerican Horror Story: Apocalypse as Evie Gallant, a wealthy nuclear war survivor who looks plucked from Collins’s days playing the soap opera villain Alexis Carrington on Dynasty. Collins has not been seen outdoors without a statement shoulder since the Reagan administration, but as she explains to the fashion designer and filmmaker Tom Ford, she is not one to follow the herd. The two dear friends got together to discuss everything but their respective stories about Gina Lollobrigida.

TOM FORD: Joan, I’ve seen you on American Horror Story and, my god, you’re spectacular.

JOAN COLLINS: Really?

FORD: Your lines are perfectly delivered, and who knew how great you would look in black latex?

COLLINS: I have to say, when I looked through the crack in the door and saw that scene being performed, the look of shock on my face was not acting.

FORD: You have such a great sense of style, and you’ve become an icon. How did you find your style? How did you become “Joan Collins the public persona”?

COLLINS: Well, my mother had seven or eight sisters, and everybody was very concerned about how they looked—my mother always had daytime clothes as well as evening wear. At one point, I even wanted to be a designer, and I would design clothes for my aunts. We all had dressmakers at the time, because in the 1950s and ’60s the clothes in the shops were awful. Then, when Dynasty started, Nolan Miller said, “I think we’re going to put you in this little tweed suit with a pussycat bow.” I said, “No way! Do you know what Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent are doing in Paris right now? They’re doing nipped-in waists and big shoulders. They’re doing big hair, big earrings.” That’s what I wanted to do. So I talked to Aaron Spelling, and he said, “Well, that’s not how our leading ladies work in TV”—because he did Charlie’s Angels when they were all in little silk shirts and pants.

FORD: Right.

COLLINS: But he said, “I think it’s right for Alexis.” So Nolan and I had carte blanche. I loved the ’80s, and I still love the clothes. I won’t wear anything unless it’s got a full shoulder, or off-the-shoulder. I’m not the jeans-and-t-shirt type. Particularly torn jeans; I think that’s disgusting. Someone once said to me, “I bet you never wear track pants.” Well, of course, I do. There was a picture of me taken on set a couple of weeks ago with a white wig, an anorak, and track pants. I’m drinking a coffee. But I really like looking my best. I also went through a bohemian stage, wanting to look like Juliette Gréco.

FORD: It was a chic bohemian phase. I’ve seen those pictures. You know, I feel lucky to have been one of the last generations of children who were raised in a time when we had to put on a jacket and tie to take a plane. My mother wouldn’t answer the door without lipstick. So I admire you.

COLLINS: You know, if every actress in Hollywood wants to go around in torn jeans looking like they haven’t bothered—except that they’ve bothered a lot—then I don’t want to follow the herd.

FORD: You might not want to answer this, but what do you think of this new body type of having butt implants and these gigantic busts with tiny waists?

COLLINS: I find it bizarre, but every generation has its ideal woman, doesn’t it? Venus de Milo had a tummy.

FORD: Yes, but that was real. Now they have these implants. We’re maybe in a post-human phase where you can just create yourself to be whatever object you want to be.

COLLINS: I do wonder when I see those girls with cement put in their derrières what they are going to look like when they’re 60 or 70 years old.

FORD: I know.

COLLINS: It has to fall!

 FORD: Do you follow anyone on Instagram?

COLLINS: Only close friends. I should follow you!

FORD: I have a fake Instagram name. Of course, there is a “Tom Ford” Instagram account, but it’s purely corporate. Then I have a fake name that I use to be an Instagram voyeur.

COLLINS: That’s very clever. I only post anodyne pictures. I refuse to post anything political. About two years ago I tweeted, “Mrs. May, our prime minister, made an inspiring speech last night.” I got such hate mail. That’s when I decided I would never say anything controversial again.

FORD: It’s dangerous.

COLLINS: It is.

FORD: Another danger subject these days is #MeToo.

COLLINS: I don’t know if you have ever read any of my autobiographies, but there were a lot of #MeToo situations in there. At 18, I was drugged and raped by a man I went on to marry. I had never seen a man’s penis. I had only looked at a statue of Michelangelo’s and thought, “What’s that?”

FORD: It’s very small on Michelangelo’s statue. I never really quite got that.

COLLINS: The #MeToo movement is very empowering to Western women, but I wonder what is being done for women in other parts of the world.

TOM FORD:
WHAT’S THE SECRET TO A GREAT MARRIAGE?

JOAN COLLINS:
SEPARATE BATHROOMS.

FORD: Something I wanted to ask you, Joan—because I find you absolutely daring—is where does your fearlessness come from?

COLLINS: Maybe it comes from being a Blitz baby. I have vague recollections of Mummy and Daddy taking us down to the air-raid shelter at Edgware Road. My mother was terrified, because they’d see the bombs falling, but none of it really bothered me.

FORD: I admire that fearlessness in every way.

COLLINS: Well, when you get to a certain age, there’s really nothing to be scared of anymore. No one has ever said the word “fearless” to me before, but I suppose in a way I am. When they asked me to do American Horror Story, I thought it was marvelous. I didn’t know who I was going to play or what I was going to do, and I suppose few actors would go into a project without knowing who their character is.

FORD: I think of you as an incredible wit—the things that come out of your mouth at a dinner table are always incredible. Were you involved in writing some of your own lines in American Horror Story?

COLLINS: I did change one line, when I’m sitting at the table and say, “Well, when I was having dinner with Gina Lollobrigida…” It was not originally Gina Lollobrigida—it was another actress that people hadn’t really heard of who was not so relevant. I won’t say the other one’s name, but I just thought “Gina Lollobrigida” was so wonderful-sounding.

FORD: Next time we see each other privately, I’ll tell you a story about Gina Lollobrigida.

COLLINS: I’ll tell you one as well! By the way, did you watch The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story?

FORD: Absolutely. And, of course, I knew Gianni. I was on the Concorde with him the day before that all happened. This might sound like a silly question, but is stardom different now than it was in another time?

COLLINS: It used to be totally different! I really became famous when I came to Fox. I was already famous in England, as a pinup girl and a glamour girl—I was always featured with a dress cut down to my navel. But when I came to Hollywood, they put the full publicity machine on me. They inundated the papers and magazines with pictures of me in bathing suits and sexy little outfits. I think I did become sort of famous then, but that fame deteriorated very fast. I never thought of myself as a star, nor did I ever want to be a star.

FORD: Really?

COLLINS: I consider myself a working actor.

FORD: It’s so interesting to hear you say that, because I think of you as a star.

COLLINS: I don’t go with the trappings of stardom. I do my own hair, my own makeup. I style myself. I don’t have any Tom Ford clothes right now.

FORD: Joan! That is easy to remedy!

COLLINS: Maybe one day I will.

FORD: You just have to come for a fitting.

COLLINS: I will, but I don’t like the connotations of stardom. I did a picture at Fox with Jayne Mansfield, and she was the true star. She was followed by hairdressers, her publicist, she had an entourage, and she loved it every time anybody came on the set and took a picture of her. She would just glow and stick out that chest and really go for it. I liked Jayne, she was fun. But I know from my father, who was an agent, that being a star doesn’t last. The only person who has really managed to do it is Streisand, I think. She’s the only person who’s been a star for, what, 50, 60 years?

FORD: And she doesn’t work very often.

COLLINS: I don’t think she needs to.

FORD: You and Percy [Gibson] have been together for 16 years, and you seem to have a wonderful marriage. Every time we have dinner with you, I walk away thinking, “Wow, that’s a great couple.”

COLLINS: Thank you.

FORD: I know you’ve had five marriages.

COLLINS: Yes.

FORD: So what’s the secret to a great marriage?

COLLINS: Separate bathrooms.

FORD: If you can afford separate bathrooms, yes.

COLLINS: I think the actual secret is a certain amount of mystery. I don’t think one should know everything about the other. I met Percy in 2000. I liked him, and then like turned to love, and love turned to lust. But lust doesn’t last. As we all know, you wear yourself out.

FORD: Apparently proper lovemaking with foreplay burns 400 calories per hour.

COLLINS: Oh, really?

FORD: I investigated that. It’s the same as skiing.

COLLINS: Well, I don’t like skiing. I’d rather sit in a nice fur hat, sipping a cappuccino or a martini.

FORD: Is there anything we don’t know about you that you think people should know?

COLLINS: I like to watch Access Hollywood at night.

———

Photography Assistant: Gabriela Forgo.Post-Production: Tyler Phillips.
Special Thanks:Rene Horsch.

EVENT ALERT : BRITISH ACADEMY BRITANNIA AWARDS .. THE BEVERLY HILTON .. LOS ANGELES .. OCTOBER 26TH 2018 ..

Joan attended the 2018 British Academy Britannia Awards held at The Beverly Hilton last night and was delighted to meet up with one of her favourite actresses Cath Blanchett..

Joan with Cath Blanchett..

EVENT ALERT : JULIENS AUCTIONS . THE PRINCES TRUST .. NOVEMBER 9TH & 10TH 2018 ..

If you fancy this stunning red coat, designed by Nolan Miller for Joan, you can bid on it at Julien's Auctions online now! Joan is wearing the coat in this shot at the premiere of La Cage Aux Folles in New York in 2004.. The coat is part of Julien's Icons &

Idols Auction which wraps on November 9th & 10th in New York at The Hard Rock Cafe.. Joan donated the coat to The Prince's Trust, who have put it up for auction with other items from Lionel Richie, Mick Jagger & Rod Stewart among others..

BID NOW AT THE FOLLOWING LINK .....
JULIENS LIVE BID ON JOAN;S COAT!

EVENT UPDATE : GERRY SCREENING .. THE ACTOR'S FUND LOS ANGELES .. OCTOBER 22ND 2018 ..

To support The Actor's Fund, a special screening of 'Gerry' was held yesterday, which included an interview & q&a with Joan, hosted by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz.. Also attending the screening was Joan's good friend Stefanie Powers...

Joan with Ben Mankiewicz & Stefanie Powers

PRESS UPDATE : NEW YORK POST ... SATURDAY OCTOBER 20TH 2018 ..

Joan Collins had nightmares over her bloody ‘AHS’ role

By Michael Starr

October 19, 2018

Joan with Frances Conroy

When you pair grand dame Joan Collins and campy Ryan Murphy, things are bound to get weird.

So it’s no surprise that Evie Gallant, Collins’ wealthy, self-absorbed alter-ego in Murphy’s “American Horror Story: Apocalypse,” was hacked to shreds by her hairdresser grandson, Mr. Gallant (Evan Peters), in a case of mistaken identity.

But not to worry — Collins returns to the popular series Wednesday, Oct. 24 (10 p.m. on FX) in a role that’s being kept mostly under wraps. (Murphy posted several photos to social media showing Collins in her new “AHS: Apocalypse” guise.) “I wear this gorgeous silvery white wig and I’m a movie star witch,” says Collins, 85. “It’s a really good episode. That’s all I can say.”

Her “AHS” roles have been memorable for Collins, who most recently spent four seasons playing the Grand Duchess of Alexandra on E!’s “The Royals” opposite Elizabeth Hurley and, in January, will fly to Hawaii to film a guest-starring role on “Hawaii Five-0” (CBS).

She says Murphy, a big admirer, first approached her about appearing in the eighth installment of his FX anthology series last February at a Vanity Fair party. “He said he wanted to write a role specifically for me and wanted to make it very interesting and good and something I could sink my teeth into,” she says. “He didn’t specifically say what it was; that’s the way Ryan works. He doesn’t tell his actors what they’re going to be playing.

“I only knew that I was going to be working with Evan Peters, who is such a wonderful young actor and a pleasure to work with. And I loved working with Kathy Bates [who plays Ms. Miriam Mead]. What an honor.”

Joan with Percy Gibson & Kathy Bates

Collins isn’t as gushing about the scene (in Episode 2) where Evie, clad completely in a black rubber suit (don’t ask), was eviscerated by her grandson, who assumed grandma was someone else with whom he’d had an earlier tryst.

“I’m a bit of a squeamish person, so I don’t really watch horror films or bloodthirsty films very much,” Collins says. “I was lying there for hours and hours under a sort of coffin with a board on top of me and a dummy in which all the blood was [shown]. I’ll never eat sausages again. I had to put my mind in a different place so I didn’t concentrate on it too much.

“I have to admit I had a couple of nightmares after that.”

Collins will continue touring with her one-woman stage show (“Joan Collins Unscripted”) in February in the UK — she had to delay the tour while shooting “AHS” — but the actress, best-known to TV viewers as Alexis Carrington on the original “Dynasty,” says she probably won’t headline another series.

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s a big commitment,” she says. “I’ve been approached … I’ve had a good long run and I take each step as it comes. I would love to do another series but maybe as a guest now and again — I don’t think I could do what [‘Law & Order: SVU’ star] Mariska Hargitay does, for example, be in a show for all those years and be on it every week, which is what I did on ‘Dynasty’ … it’s too exhausting and the same old thing all the time.”