Michelle Williams Speaks Out From Brooklyn

With Heath Ledger's posthumous Oscar win this past Sunday, his only daughter Matilda has been thrown back into the spotlight. Her mother, actress Michelle Williams, was recently interviewed by the Telegraph in Brooklyn, the borough that mother and daughter are still calling home. In some of her first public statements about Ledger's death, she says she still feels "burned out," hasn't set foot on a film set since last May, finds the Hollywood lifestyle "a hassle," and spends her time these days "cooking, baking, cleaning and sewing." Clearly in no rush to film a big budget blockbuster, she did comment that she'd be "happy making movies for $300,000 for the rest of my life." Don't look for her to have an LA zip code though, she seems content in Brooklyn: "I can handle sitting here chatting in a bar in Brooklyn, that's right up my alley. I just don't want to strap a film to my back - fly all over the world and show up at lots of different places with a different dress and a new hairdo." As for Matilda, her mother has high hopes for her becoming a doctor, though adds that she's "currently more interested in being a cowgirl."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on February 24, 2009 2:21 PM

Comments [rss]

writerx

Funny that a British paper does the original reporting about a celeb in Gothamist's borough.

kcin122

im pretty sure people with alot of money have lived in Brooklyn since it was named Brooklyn.

aspiringrapper

I really hope the little girl gets all the time in the world she wants to be a cowgirl...and out of the public eye.

JacqueMehoff

I hope you're right PT,

soon Pb will be worth more than Au.

in the streets, at least.

melp

Yo people, she means movies that cost $300,000 to make - movies that have an entire budget of $300,000 such as Wendy and Lucy. Movies that operate under the SAG low budget agreement - and the actors make about $700 per week. or $150 per day. That's what she means.

Just more bad writing that leads to snarky comments.

Billiamsburg

Most likely. Even if she didn't (since it's not unheard of to make 10 million on a movie), $300,000 on a big production, after giving a cut to your agent, cut to the union, cut to your assistant, taxes, and other miscellaneous costs can make that a significantly smaller portion you bring back. And if you make a movie every two or three years, then it be comes a more modest living. 300K is nothing to scoff at though thats for sure.

Rocknrope

Don't blame the writing, that was a direct quote from Williams. Blame the idiots who don't read the full article, or cannot interpret what she meant correctly.

Past Taliban

The US economy is deader the Heath Ledger.

JacqueMehoff

does she have Twitter?

spoon

I like her, she seems decent enough, but god are actors out of touch. Most people don't pull down 300,000 on any job, much less one that takes only a few weeks/months of actual work.

Brooklyn used to be for the people who weren't millionaires. I miss the real Brooklyn.

robingee

"Brooklyn used to be for the people who weren't millionaires."

Actually Brooklyn started out as the place where all of the rich people lived.

Shinobi Shaw

#7, Yeah, I've noticed that too in the last several years.

Normally when yo see people fawning over a celebrity they are usually B&T crowds, New Yorkers could be in the same club or bar as a big time celebrity and they could care less.

Maybe it's because New Yorker have such huge egos (myself included??) that they would see it as deeming to fawn over a celebrity (a trait so distinct in rival city LA).

spoon

Why still use B&T when all of you are moving to Brooklyn? How archaic.

And LA doesn't really care about celebs - it's a company town. We see them at work, at the store, in traffic....LA is the easiest place to be famous because no one cares. It's not like it's a rare commodity.

meowster

yeah but the last i checked there were not any helicopters over madonna's cpw apartment...probably because they are all at Britney's or octo-moms.

JH4285

I feel like New Yorkers in general go out of their way to not hassle celebrities. Being a celebrity oogler is like labeling yourself a city noob. It puts you in the same league as people who stop in the middle of the sidewalk to gape at skyscrapers and stand directly in front of car doors on the subway platform.

JacqueMehoff

I have plenty of free time michelle.

I like to chat at bars.

the only celebrity I saw was Ti'hua chang

at a greenmarket in the catskills. he's a long time resident of the area, I think his parents owns a place up there.

babyhitler

dude I saw him too at a party trying to pick up twenty something chicks. I was like Ti Hua?

Rocknrope

LOL, Yep, that's sounds like him alright. Ohhh boy could I tell you some stories!

Rocknrope

If you're a minor celebrity, Brooklyn's the perfect borough to get lost. I see John Turturro more often than some members of my family, and no one ever hassles him, even at the crowded Greenmarket.