“Elsa & Fred” is the story of two people who, at the end of the road, discover that it’s never too late to love.

The film is charming and in our opinion will do very well at the theaters. A seldom told story of ageless love, Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer shine bright together on screen and take hopeless romantics on an enchanting, whirlwind journey sure to warm even the coldest of hearts.  

The LA premiere was held at Sundance Cinemas and was presented by Monte Xanic wines. Shirley MacLaine, Erika Alexander, Osvaldo Rios, Deanna Meske, filmmaker Michael Radford, producer Matthias Ehrenberg, Ricardo Kleinbaum, Jose Levy and Nicholas Veinberg were all in attendance. A fun party followed at HYDE Sunset Kitchen & Cocktails.

We spoke with actress Erika Alexander about her role in the film exclusively. Read what she had to say below:

How did the script come to you and why did you decide to say yes to it?

Erika Alexander: You know like many things you go out on auditions and we talked a lot about my theatre career of all things and I see why in a way because when I got there, there were all of these heavy actors, and their all huge theatre buffs and of course Shirley MacLaine and then Michael Radford is the cherry on the top I absolutely adore him.

 

You two looked like you were having such fun together on the carpet.

 

EA: Oh he’s fun and sexy and he has a way about him. He knows what he’s doing and he’s an actors director and I think they choose a very special piece for two amazing actors who cradle the grave they’re going to have what they have and this shows them off like a diamond. And Christopher Plummer I’ve had a huge crush on him. I have a huge crush on him and I had to tell him that so I could actually perform with him.

 

Right, so you got it out in the open.

 

EA: Yes, I told him that I wanted to hump your leg and he said “Oh Darling, if you only told me that” you know with such class. And we’re still friends I went to see him at the Mark Tapper he’s astounding. So when you’re in the company of that you just stand there and just hit your mark and try not to mess anything up which is what I tried to do.

 

Tell us a little bit about your character in the film.

 

EA: I play Laverne and she’s a care taker hired by Macia Gay Hardin for Christopher Plummer’s character and he hates everything right now he’s sort of just like look, leave me alone and the last thing he wants is some woman like me coming and fixing his dinner and laying out his clothes, you know he misses his wife and he wants to be left alone and he has every right to. But that’s not in Marcia’s plan. She wants her father to embrace life and do things and he doesn’t want to, so Laverne just tries to negotiate the space and she’s not somebody to be pushed around and you know she certainly has a center and she’s got a really good sense of humor which you have to.

 

Are there any upcoming projects that you’d like to tell us about?

 

EA: Yes I have a comic book it was best American comic last year it’s called “Concrete Park” and we hope that everyone goes and gets it, you can pick it up at Barnes & Noble it’s done really well and it’s lovely because it’s a Sci-Fi exile story with people of color and we’re very proud of it, my husband draws and does all of the art and I co-write and co-created it with my brother.

 

That’s awesome are you on social media, and how can we find out more?

 

EA: We do, at concretepark.com, the Concrete Park Word Press, and we’re on twitter @concretepark and I’m at @EAlexthegreat so check us out and I appreciate it!

 

Photo Credit: Crystal.iam instagram

We also spoke with the film’s producers Ricardo Kleinbaum and Jose Levy:

When I was researching the film I found out that this is an American Adaptation of the 2005 film, “Elsa and Fred,” could you speak about the decision to produce the adaptation?

 

Ricardo Kleinbaum and Jose Levy: It was originally a super good film that was super successful in Argentina and Spain, we loved the story, all of us had seen it so it was super cool to be making it again, it was a very nice feeling, so the goal here was to keep the two main actors for the American version to be super stars and we got that for the film.

Millennium Entertainment’s “Elsa & Fred” hits theaters on Nov. 7.

-Chasity Saunders (@itsmechasity)