This is an excerpt from below’s Gothamist interview, but since Mamie’s talking very in-depth about working on the upcoming “The Ward”, it’s worth to be pointed at with an extra update.

I get to play “crazy”. It’s been actually really fun and John is so calm and good humored about everything. It’s quite pleasant. I am a total wimp. I can’t ever watch these kinds of movies. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to sit through this without covering my eyes. But working on it, seeing how it’s all done, is really just amusing. The girl playing the ghoul that torments us – her name is Gillian and she is incredibly sweet – it takes her 3 hours to get into makeup. So knowing all that – it’s hard to be affected by it really. The only thing that is truly creepy is our location. That is for real. There is no facade. We’re filming in an honest-to-god insane asylum that is in part still operational. And it’s been there for about 100 years – when it opened it was a “school for the feeble minded. The “campus” is huge. They’ve lost a lot of their state funding and have shut most of it down but in its day it had its own zip code and fire department and dairy. Anyway there was this one building where they housed the really crazy crazies in rooms that were the size of closets – literally. Incredibly depressing. And they did this until the 1960s when the patients staged some sort of riot – and the building was shut down until, that is, they turned it into a primate testing facility and now it’s fallen into total disrepair. That’s where I go everyday.

This Friday both Mamie Gummer and Henry Wolfe Gummer will steal a bit of the spotlight from their mother Meryl Streep; the former hitting the big screen in Taking Woodstock, and the latter taking the stage at Joe’s Pub (tickets). You may have already heard one of his songs, “Stop the Train,” in the film Julie & Julia. The two talented siblings chatted with each other recently and let us eavesdrop. Listen in below as they discuss nearly visiting Neverland Ranch, their favorite plays, concerts, and of course, a creepy primate house in Spokane. Read the full Gothamist interview in the magazines archive.

According to Vogue, Mamie Gummer is again working with Gerard Darel, this time for his Autumn/Winter campaign: While some labels choose actresses (Emma Watson for Burberry) and others choose singers (Lily Allen for Chanel) – French house Gerard Darel has taken a slightly more subtle route for its autumn/winter 2009-10 collection campaign. The not-entirely-familiar blonde is Mamie Gummer – an actress whose not-at-all-unfamiliar mother is Meryl Streep. Gummer, who is Streep’s daughter with sculptor Don Gummer, was photographed in the brand’s signature classic tailoring, knitwear and accessories by Peter Lindbergh. The shoot took place in Paris, in the Palais Royal gardens, and featured the label’s “Jackie” necklace, once worn by Streep. Gummer will be starring in Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, out this autumn.

Article courtesy The Examiner. John Carpenter is filming a new movie in Spokane, Washington as he returns to the horror genre. The film is called The Ward, and will be his first theatrical release since 2001, when he directed Ghosts of Mars. Now he is back with a new film to be shot in several locations within Spokane. The filming schedule for John Carpenter’s The Ward will keep him and his production team in Spokane, Washington from July 27th through September. This will give them plenty of time to work some of the unique John Carpenter ideas into his new film. The Ward doesn’t have a release date scheduled at this time, but that isn’t a surprise in the horror genre. The Ward will probably hit theaters sometime in 2010, and should be well accepted by both fans and critics if it is anything like some of John Carpenter’s past successes. Some of the cast starring in The Ward includes Amber Heard, Danielle Panabaker, Mika Boorem, Mamie Gummer, and Sydney Sweeney. Amber Heard may be recognizable from Pineapple Express and the soon to be released The Stepfather. Danielle Panabaker has been in Mr. Brooks, and Friday the 13th before this film. The plot itself is relatively shrouded in mystery, but the loose synopsis that has been released so far, is that The Ward is about an institutionalized young woman who becomes terrorized by a ghost. The premise should prove to be very interesting if John Carpenter can prove to be as original as he always is with films.

This week, Ang Lee’s new film “Taking Woodstock” celebrated its New York premiere, and Mamie Gummer was among the attendees, including her co-stars Demetri Martin, Liev Schreiber, Jonathan Groff and Emile Hirsch. Pictures can be found in the Image Library. “Taking Woodstock” releases US theaters on August 28, 2009.

Article courtesy Foster’s Daily Democrat: It was 40 years ago that Ticia “Bernuth” Agri felt a “wave of energy” flow through her when she heard from a friend that a New York City concert producer was looking for an assistant to help him put on a show slated for a rural upstate field. Agri, now 64, said the cultural phenomenon known as “Woodstock” seems like it happened a lifetime ago, but she can distinctly recall standing on a stage, as a production assistant, looking out at a “tsunami of humanity” as Jimi Hendrix began playing in August of 1969. A character named “Tisha” in director Ang Lee’s soon-to-be released movie, “Taking Woodstock,” is based on Agri and is played by Mamie Gummer. The full article can be read here.