Shonda Rhimes On Cristina's Pregnancy

Even more Grey's Anatomy season 8 scoop where Shonda Rhimes discusses Cristina's pregnancy. Cristina's decision on whether to terminate it or not will be revealed in the season finale.

From TV Line:

[Spoiler Alert]

When Grey’s Anatomy opens its eighth season on Sept. 22, very little time will have passed since Derek and Meredith’s big falling out. “We only pick up five days after the finale ended,” reveals executive producer Shonda Rhimes. “[Story-wise] we pick up pretty much where we left off.”

...

Meanwhile, Cristina has yet to act on her decision to terminate her pregnancy — a sign that perhaps she’s having cold feet. “Five days later and she still hasn’t gone and done it — why hasn’t she and what’s going on with her?” Rhimes muses. “The old Cristina would’ve had the abortion [already].”

The cliffhanger won’t remain unresolved for long, however. “By the end of the season premiere she has made her decision,” Rhimes confirms, “and it’s pretty set in stone what’s going to happen.”

What do you think Cristina's decision will be? Speculate in the comments below.

Grey's Anatomy: Coming Up In Season 8

In this new article from TV Guide, Grey's boss Shonda Rhimes about what to expect in season 8 which could be the final season for some of the original cast members and Cristina's pregnancy (spoiler alert):

If last season was about growing up, what is this season about? 

Shonda Rhimes: This is our last year as residents for Meredith, Cristina, Alex, Jackson and April. It feels like it's a new beginning for everybody in a lot of ways.

How is writing this season different knowing that it is likely the last for a lot of the main castmembers? [The contracts of Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey and Chandra Wilson, among others, are up after this season.]

Rhimes: I don't know about the word "likely" possibly the last. I usually start planning my seasons [by planning the last scene first]. This year, we just don't know. I just don't know what we'll be doing at the end of the year, so we couldn't start out that way. We're doing it a little bit differently this year. I pitched eight different scenarios for the end of this season, but we don't know which ones we're writing to. So right now, we're concentrating on the first half, then we're going to concentrate on the second half as a separate shock.

Among those eight scenarios, is there a possibility this could be the end of Grey's?

Rhimes: I don't speak for the network and I don't decide when the show ends, but I can't imagine that that's going to be true.

....

Cristina's new pregnancy harkens back to when she got pregnant in Season 1 by Dr. Burke. What will she go through this time around?

Rhimes: I think it does harken back to that. What we liked about that, and what I felt really strongly about that, is that Cristina (Sandra Oh) has always had a certain stance in how she feels about having kids and that stance doesn't change just because she's married and in love with Owen (Kevin McKidd). I think that there's something interesting when someone absolutely doesn't want children. I find it an interesting character. People get vilified for that in our society and I think it's really unfair because I feel like if someone doesn't want a kid, they shouldn't have to have one.

Sandra Oh And Justin Chambers: Thumbs Up!

Grey's Anatomy boss Shonda Rhimes tweeted this pic from the set of Grey's of Sandra Oh and the lovely Justin Chambers who are currently filming the 150th episode of the show:

  shondarhimes: Happy 150th Episode of GA!!

- Source

Dissecting Cristina Yang

Hey peeps,

This week we bring you an interview with Sandra Oh originally published in Back Stage East in December 2005 where Sandra discusses Cristina Yang and Grey's Anatomy back in the day when the show was in its prime:

The doctor is in as Sandra Oh lights up 'Grey's Anatomy.'

Sandra Oh is squeezing in a phone interview during one of her rare — it's not a break, exactly, as she is being wired and prepped for filming at the same time. One can hear the crew bustling around in the background, but Oh, an apparent queen of multitasking, continues to chat away unfazed. "I gotta tell ya, we just do a million things at a time as actors here," she says.

Oh, who plays snarky surgical intern CristinaYang, should be used to such situations by now. Since its debut earlier this year, ABC's Grey's Anatomy has regularly cleaned up in the Sunday night ratings, making it one of last season's surprise hits. The runaway success of the show is made all the sweeter because no one — least of all Oh — predicted it.

"When we were shooting it, halfway through our shooting schedule, we had stopped for eight days to redo the style of the show or redo, like, scripts, and that's usually the kiss of death," she says. "And then we didn't have an airdate for a very long time, and that's never a good thing, either. 'Oh, you're gonna air now; oh, you're gonna air then.' So at a certain point, we just said, 'Please let this get on the air.' "

The show eventually debuted in ABC's primo post-Desperate Housewives time slot and has gone on to win critical praise and a loyal fan following rivaling that of the Wisteria Lane ladies. Oh, meanwhile, is finally garnering much-deserved mainstream recognition, nabbing a surprise Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actress in a drama earlier this year. "I don't think [awards recognition] is anything you can ever expect, nor do I think it's anything that you should really shoot for," she says. "I don't really think it's something that you can spend a lot of energy aiming toward; I just think that you'll miss out on a lot of stuff. It can be a very distracting thing. But when I heard, I got a call very early in the morning, and I jumped out of bed terrified, thinking it was my mom or my sister — like, something was wrong. Who the hell calls you at 6 a.m.? It was my publicist, who said that I got a nomination. I will say, when it happens, it's really just terrifically exciting. It's really wonderful."

Though many are just getting to know her thanks to Grey's, she has worked steadily for the past decade in theatre, film, and television. Notable turns include whip-smart assistant Rita Wu on HBO's Arli$$ and sexy single mom Stephanie in last year's critically lauded Sideways, in which Oh so memorably clubbed Thomas Haden Church with a motorcycle helmet. Oh has been prolific in the film world recently, with scene-stealing supporting roles in projects such as Under the Tuscan Sun and Wilby Wonderful, but she was eager to tackle television again.

"I've been doing films for a long time now, and the kind of films that I do and the parts that I get in films, to this point, are ones that you can't really make a living on," she says. "Even though I did four or five films in a year, in total I probably worked around 30 or 40 days — a month and a half. One, you can't really live like that, and two, I want to work more than that. I want to be challenged more than that. It's not necessarily satisfying hopping from film to film to film when you're playing characters that are not satisfying to you. So here's the opportunity to play and flesh out a character — really flesh out a character. If you do a series, that's actually a real challenge as well: How do you keep a character alive for episode after episode? [Additionally], it was just a better part. I feel like in television there are much better parts for women, and you can do a lot more."

That she inhabits the role of Cristina so thoroughly is all the more impressive, considering that she was initially looking at the part of the interns' no-nonsense supervisor Bailey, a role that eventually went to Chandra Wilson. "[I'm] quite used to playing characters with and of authority," Oh explains. "I've played a lot of teachers, assistants — people who are there to give authority. What I really liked about the character of Cristina is that I didn't feel like I was like her. I found her quite different [from] who I think that I am, so I wanted to kind of explore that."

Prickly yet insecure, Cristina is known for her less-than-winning bedside manner — she's staunchly opposed to hugging patients — and hungry ambition. In lesser hands, such a character could easily come off as one-note, a shot of overconfident comic relief severely lacking in social skills. Oh, however, grounds the role with the most delicate of facial expressions and the subtlest flashes of vulnerability; she is believable in moments comedic and dramatic, whether Cristina is frantically searching for a patient's missing leg or slyly delivering a caustic one-liner.

"One reason I really like playing Cristina is that she's an example of opposites," says the actor. "You're constantly playing opposites. Even though she's brusque or whatever you want to say, I am actively, actively playing her version of compassion…. What the other characters can't see, but what the camera can see, which is what the audience can see, is her struggle. Hopefully, what you're connecting with is that the people that you think are one way are really another way…. I think it's very interesting to see someone who is extremely competent and extremely able on one hand, which is her job, and extremely incompetent on another hand, which is relating to people."

Despite her social ineptitude, Cristina has a healthy love life courtesy of an opposites-attract relationship with stoic Dr. Preston Burke, played by Isaiah Washington. The duo shares a scorching chemistry onscreen, but this isn't the first time Oh has taken notice of Washington. "I did this film in '95 called Double Happiness, and I think Clockers [which featured Washington] came out at the same time," she remembers. "And all I remember is that I was in Interview magazine, and there was this really cute guy named Isaiah Washington in Interview magazine, like, a couple pages later]. I just thought, 'Oh, who's this cute guy, Isaiah Washington?' And I just followed his career. And now we get to work together, that's really, really great."

One of her most indelible moments on the show came in a story line in which Cristina suffers an ectopic pregnancy and the loss of an ovary and her unborn baby. Though the character attempts to shrug it off and return to work, her emotions eventually come pouring out, culminating in a memorable scene wherein she screams for someone to sedate her. The scene is simultaneously wrenching and hilarious, and the mix of emotions Oh conveys — rage, fear, hysteria — is nothing short of astonishing. Oh says she suggested Cristina's breakdown to Grey's creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes, who was open to the idea.

"I thought, in this arc, we're establishing that Cristina has a real problem with her emotions — she has a problem accessing her emotions," says Oh. "I knew that the story line was that I was going to have an ectopic pregnancy, [and] there was a lot of stress that was going to happen. And I said, 'You know what would be really hilarious and story-appropriate is if you see someone who is always in control out of control, and the only time that you would ever see her display emotions like that is if she's having a nervous breakdown.' I was so pleased with it because I just wanted to challenge myself like that…. I wanted that scene to be at once hilarious, because it was a great opportunity for comedy, and really off-putting. I wanted it to be both because it [had] to be truthful."

Cristina's breakdown

In addition to continuing with Grey's, Oh plans to return to theatre this spring with Satellites, a new play by Diana Son, at the Public Theater in New York. The stage, says Oh, is where she learned to act, and she's eager to stretch those muscles again. "The last play I did was at the Taper — The House of Bernarda Alba" she remembers. "It was great — so much fun. But I did that, like, three years ago. I really want to go back to theatre, and I feel like I really want to establish a good relationship with theatre. Not a lot of people know that I come from theatre; only people from, like, the Public and New York Theatre Workshop know. It's a very interesting thing for me: This year I went to the Tonys, and people go, 'Oh, I hear you do theatre.' And it's such a strange thing for [people to] say, 'Oh, you're Korean.' I've always been Korean; I've always been from the theatre. So I want to go back."

This is an undeniably exciting time in her life, and given the success of Grey's, one might be tempted to use the phrase "big break." Oh, however, doesn't believe in such things. "I don't think it happens that way," she says. "It's never happened for me that way, really. It's been a really, really gradual process of building blocks. It seems [like] people come out of nowhere, but it comes from years of work. It comes from being here for 10 years and working your ass off."

"I feel like in television there are much better parts for women, and you can do a lot more."

And with that, Sandra Oh News is going on a little hiatus and we will be back with new updates in two weeks. Cheers.

Grey's Anatomy: 8.01 "Free Falling" - Tidbit

TV Guide's William Keck tweeted this tidbit about what's coming up in the Grey's Anatomy season premiere:

#GreysAnatomy 2 hour premiere will revolve around a giant sinkhole that opens up in Seattle streets. Shonda Rhimes says it's symbolic.  - Source

UPDATE:  As for Cristina's unplanned pregnancy, we'll know by the end of the September 22 season premiere whether or not she keeps the baby. - Source

Come On Baby

Random post of the week...

A great fan made video by Carlithiel all about Ms. Sandra Oh: 

Born On The 20th Of July

Happy birthday to the lovely Sandra Oh who turns 40 today!

UPDATE: As you know, Sandra doesn't have a Twitter account herself, but her co-stars do and Sarah Drew tweeted this earlier:

There is no actual pic, so this will have to do:

Sandra Oh On "People Inside" - The Interview

Here is finally Sandra Oh's interview from People Inside which we've been talking about all week and it's awesooome [read in Oprah voice]. You'll see why.

Without further ado, Sandra Oh - the actor's actor:
  

Part 1: Sandra talks about memories of visiting Korea, network television and Grey's Anatomy, Cristina being pregnant in the season finale, Cristina Yang - an actor's study of a character, and what Grey's Anatomy has meant to her.

 

Part 2: On awards and Emmy snubs, her childhood and dreams of becoming an actor, having great parents, The Diary of Evelyn Lau and early career, defining success and what Whole Foods has to do with it.

Part 3: The struggles of being a woman and an Asian-American actor in Hollywood and overcoming those struggles, being famous, starring in a Korean film, what Korea means to her and why interviews with Sandra are rare.

Awesome, right? What are your thoughts, peeps?


PS. The network has been using Sandra Oh News for research, so the site has a cameo in part 2. Just don't blink or you'll miss it. Actually, you might miss it any way. ;) The Eveleyn-footage you see is thanks to one of our readers, as is the Evelyn magazine cover.

"People Inside" - Sandra Oh Interview - Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek at Sandra Oh's interview on the Korean talk show "People Inside" which airs on Sunday at 11.00 AM (local time) on tvN:

Korean speaking peeps can read more about the show here.

A Preview Of Sandra Oh's Interview On "People Inside"

Earlier this week we told you about Sandra's upcoming interview this Sunday on Korean tvN. We got the word that the interview will be about 40-45 minutes long and will be available online later on so everyone will be able to watch.

Allkpop has a preview of the interview, so check it out below:

On the upcoming July 17th episode of Baek Ji Yeon’s “People Inside”, an exclusive interview with “Grey’s Anatomy”s heroine, Sandra Oh, will air for the first time in Korean broadcasting history.

The interview took place in Los Angeles, at CGV LA, where the staff later reported that Sandra approached the interview with a very enthusiastic manner without hiding her honest and lively personality.

As well as being the winner of the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2006, she has been nominated for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for 5 years straight since 2005, living up to her reputation as the top East Asian actress in Hollywood.

During the interview, Sandra spoke of her love for Korea as a Korean-Canadian and her hopes to one day star in a Korean movie. She also talked about the inside stories behind “Grey’s Anatomy” and how she was cast into the show.

She stated, “If I am to be cast in a Korean movie, I will be happy to take any role. I will study Korean, and if I don’t have any lines, I can act with just my facial expressions. I’ve always wanted to attend the Busan Film Festival, but I was always caught up with work. I want to attend the festival with a piece I star in”.

She also picked “Thirst” as her favorite Korean film and revealed that she has always been a fan of the actor, Song Kang Ho.

Adding on, she revealed the hardships of working as an Asian actress in Hollywood. “It’s exactly as people imagine. Working as an East Asian actress in Hollywood is hard and frustrating, and I do simply get tired of it from time to time. But you must overcome these hardships and be able to look at the bigger picture”, sharing her sentiments.

She also commented, “I’ve been friends with people like Sung Kang, Yunjin Kim even before they were famous. I like both actors very much and their success makes me really happy”, revealing her friendships with other Korean actors and actresses working in Hollywood.

Did you now that in 2005 Sandra Oh was set to star in a Korean filmcalled "Smells Like Butter"? The production was eventually put on hold never to resume again, but this was the news about it back then from writer/director Grace Lee:

Lee first appeared at the San Diego Asian Film Festival with her short film “Barrier Device,” starring Sandra Oh. Lee and Oh will rejoin in “Smells Like Butter” - a sort of “Sex and the City” in reverse.

In the comedy, Oh plays a desperate single woman who travels across the world to find and arrange her own marriage. Lee was so taken with working with Oh in “Barrier Device” that she wrote “Smells Like Butter” with the actress in mind. 

“I love Sandra,” Lee said. “She's so compelling to watch and just as dynamic, intelligent and complex in person.”

And more info here on Sandra's official site.

PBS Looks At Independent Women In "America In Primetime"

PBS announced today that they'll be broadcasting a four-part series titled America In Primetime, where they'll be "exploring the roots of today's biggest television hits" by focusing on the characters. The four-part series will air 8-9 p.m. Sundays starting October 30.

Sandra Oh and Grey's Anatomy boss Shonda Rhimes will be interviewed and featured in episode three called "Independent Women".

More info in the press release below:

The women of Grey's Anatomy.

Since its inception, television has served as a lens on American society, and in the expansive world of modern TV, today’s heroes and villains have come a long way from their predecessors.

AMERICA IN PRIMETIME presents some of the most compelling shows on television today, as well as those of the past, by focusing on key character archetypes — the man of the house, the independent woman, the misfit and the crusader — that have remained a staple of primetime through the generations, capturing both the continuity of the character and the evolution. Each episode of the series focuses on one of the key archetypes:

Episode 3: “Independent Woman” reveals how women have transformed from model housewives to complex, and sometimes controversial, characters. Interviews include Roseanne Barr (“Roseanne”); Candice Bergen (“Murphy Brown”); Eva Longoria ("Desperate Housewives"), Robert and Michelle King and Julianna Margulies (“The Good Wife”); James L. Brooks and Mary Tyler Moore (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”); and Shonda Rhimes and Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy”), among others.

UPDATE: The episode will air on October 30, at 8.00-9.00 PM on PBS.

Sandra Oh To Appear On "People Inside" on tvN

Dear peeps,

Sandra Oh will be interviewed on the Korean talk show People Inside which will air on Sunday, July 17, at 11 AM on tvN in South Korea.

We have quite a few readers in South Korea, so it'd be lovely of any of you could post a brief recap of the interview for everyone else who won't be able to watch.

You can always e-mail us or just post in the comments below. Cheers!

Yes, Really! - Interview

Random post of the week is an interview with Sandra Oh from In New York magazine, originally published in June 2006.

In this interview Sandra talks about Sideways, New York and theatre. Click on the pics to enlarge:

Huge thanks to lavender_indigo for the scan.

Sandra Oh To Attend Canada's Walk Of Fame Awards

Last week it was announced that Sandra Oh is one of this year's inductees to Canada's Walk Of Fame, and today the organization confirmed that Sandra Oh will attend the celebrations where she will receive her sidewalk star and get her tribute at the awards ceremony on Saturday, October 1 at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto.

Source

The ceremony will be broadcast by Global and Slice.

DVD Extras From Hard Candy And Defendor

The extra material from the Hard Candy and Defendor DVDs have made its way online, so for those of you who haven't had a chance to view it before, can check it out below:

Defendor (2009): Producer Nicholas Tabarrok on casting Sandra Oh and Sandra on why she chose to do the role. (Click here to read director Peter Stebbings' version of the story.)

Defendor (2009): Bloopers

Hard Candy (2005): Director David Slade about casting Sandra Oh and why she agreed to do the cameo role.

Via carlithiel

Sandra Oh La La

The random new-old new item of the week is an interview with Sandra Oh where she talks about the making of Dancing at the Blue Iguana which is currently being re-released on DVD.

While the movie itself hasn't gotten the best reviews, Sandra Oh has received praise for her performance in the movie.

From a review by Roger Ebert: “Sandra Oh goes out and does a striptease
in front of the boy that she loves but doesn’t think will accept her. There’s
a little tear that comes down while she’s upside down on the pole and
that’s a very effective piece of acting.”

The interview was originally published in the Canadian Northern Stars Magazine in 2000/2001-ish, so check it out below:

Getting an opinion out of Sandra Oh is like opening Fibber McGee's closet. They just tumble out.

"I think all women should learn how to strip," she says enthusiastically over tea and cookies at my home. "I do. I really, really do. I'm not saying you should strip for money or for a crowd of people. I think it's a really healthy, extremely challenging thing to do."

Oh spent about four months learning how to strip for her latest film Dancing at the Blue Iguana, which opened in September at the Toronto International Film Festival.

She strips on camera, right down to a G-string. "It's good. I think people should see women with very small breasts," she jokes. "I think it's a noble thing to do in Hollywood -- look, we're real. We're proud A-cup people," she adds, laughing.

"I will tell you, it takes a long time to learn how to take off a pair of panties on six-inch heels." The actors, including Daryl Hannah and Jennifer Tilly, had a pole installed in the rehearsal hall. "I had to do so many push-ups just to pull myself up that pole."

PROUD OF OTTAWA ROOTS

Oh, who is 29 and lives in Los Angeles, is in Ottawa visiting her parents. She's proud of her hometown and takes umbrage that other actors claim kinship to it if she thinks they have no right. She doesn't believe Friends star Matthew Perry is from Ottawa until I show her an old Maclean's magazine with a cover story on him. "Oh, he went to Ashbury (College)," she says as she reads it, and makes a derisive snorting noise.

Oh says she likes Michael J. Fox for the way he's so proud to be Canadian. The irony is that he recently became an American citizen. He did, however, thank Canada when he received his Emmy for best actor for his role in Spin City.

Oh herself has been getting work in L.A. for about five years. The first show she did was If Not For You with Hank Azaria and Elizabeth McGovern. "I did two episodes and it was cancelled." She moved to the city in 1996 when she landed the role of the super-secretary Rita Wu on the HBO sitcom Arliss, but the show won't be renewed for another year.

In 1998, Oh starred in Last Night, the highly acclaimed apocalyptic film from director/writer and co-star Don McKellar. She says that role had little effect on her career. "A lot of my career is in the United States right now and one awful thing you learn as a Canadian is that your work in Canada does not matter in the United States."

She adds that "it's difficult to get leading roles (in the U.S.), especially -- and this is difficult and I don't want to get into it -- but especially if you're not white."

Oh will be seen on Further Tales of the City, the cable show based on the books by Armistead Maupin. A release date is not yet set. Oh was cast the day before she started the shoot in Montreal this summer and spent a week on it. She plays Bambi Kanetaka, a reporter who gets kidnapped and is the nemesis to Laura Linney's character. She laughs and says she found herself thinking one day on the shoot: "I can't believe this is my job because Olivia Dukakis is beating me up."

"AUDITIONS ARE HORRIBLE"

That's the fun part of her job, but she admits acting has a downside. "Auditions are horrible, they're horrible," she says, lowering her voice, "so all you ever want out of an audition as an actor is: one, you want to get the job and two, is to walk away saying, `I actually did some work today.'"

The audition for Dancing at the Blue Iguana turned out to be one of her toughest because it was completely improvised. "It was a terrifically interesting process. ... I swear every single actor in L.A. auditioned for it. You went into a room with eight actors ... and the rehearsal was a two-hour improv.

"It was a nightmare but it was fantastic for various reasons for me. I had never been into a strip club so the night before my audition I thought I should probably go into a strip club because this is what it's about. ... I went with a guy I was going out with. ... I felt so weird, and so out of place there and so awkward and obvious. And then I went to the audition. And it is so terrifying, it is extremely terrifying but at a certain point for me, something kicks in," and here she snaps her fingers, "and basically it's my life here in Ottawa, because I did so much improv growing up that it all kicks in and it's great."

For the audition, no one was assigned a character. Oh had to go in with a character of her creation in mind and then complete three trials. First, she went on stage and talked in character to an interviewer. Second, she had to go on stage "and pray to God, whatever your perception of God is, so you can reveal your inner life and your subconscious." Third was to improv with a group of other actors.

Dancing at the Blue Iguana itself was a process of improvisation for which Oh says the actors should be credited with the screenplay. The film follows the lives of strippers over the course of a week and she found it "a grueling, grueling project."

She describes the film as "raw in that we don't wear that much makeup. And we don't look that great. Do you know what I mean?" But, she adds with a laugh, "We look great in the dance sequences."

By Peg Hill