Chicago Sun-Times

WRIGLEY? NOT IN THE CARDS

St. Louis fan Jenna Fischer steers clear of Cubs park

- bzwecker@ suntimes. com @ billzwecke­r BILL Z WE CK ER’ S CHICAGO

LOS ANGELES— Wearing a bright Cardinal red blouse, Jenna Fischer laughed as she thought about the very fierce Chicago Cubs- St. Louis Cardinals rivalry. After all, the Fort Wayne, Indiana, native spent her growing- up years in St. Louis and considers the Missouri city “my real hometown, and yes, I am a very avid Cardinals fan.

“We went to Chicago a lot when I was growing up, especially I did a bunch of mother- daughter trips with my mom,” said the actress, who was in a Los Angeles hotel suite to promote “The 15: 17 to Paris,” her new film opening Friday. “It was so very accessible— a five- hour drive or so, or a 45- minute flight. Chicago has such great food. It’s so special in the summer. There are so many amazing festivals and outdoor art installati­ons— plus I member a particular­ly great Monet exhibition at the Art Institute that was perfect.

“Now while I went to a lot of Cardinals games in St. Louis— even Cardinals-Cubs games— I would have been way too scared to show up wearing a Cardinals shirt at Wrigley Field! Oh no! That would never happen!” the longtime “The Office” star said with a big laugh.

Fischer said she clearly remembered when she heard about the true events behind Clint Eastwood’s “The 15: 17 to Paris”— retelling how American soldiers Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone and their childhood pal Anthony Stone overpowere­d heavily armed terrorist Ayoub El- Khazzani, as he began shooting at passengers on a French train. In the movie, Fischer portrays Skarlatos’ mother, Heidi.

“I remembered when I first read it, it reminded me about the folks on the plane on 9/ 11— on the plane that didn’t hit its target, that we believe was because the passengers stormed the cockpit and took matters into their hands. I think that anytime a person is willing to put their life at risk for the greater good makes me emotional,” said Fischer. “I’m getting a little tripped up right now just thinking about it. What these guys did— being willing to die to save all the other people on the train. It was an amazing thing. I was so glad they all survived.”

As for making her first film with Eastwood? Fischer admitted, “One of the major pieces of acting I did in this movie was pretending I was totally comfortabl­e when he was around, and not intimidate­d rememberin­g this was the guy who had won four Oscars and had made ‘ Unforgiven,’ ‘ Million Dollar Baby,’ ‘ American Sniper,’ ‘ Mystic River,’ and all the rest of the things he had done in his amazing career!”

‘ Riverdale’ success thrills Naperville’s Nichols

The last time Marisol Nichols chatted with the Sun- Times, just over a year ago, her “Riverdale” TV series had yet to air on the CW network, and she had no idea it would become the hit it has become. In a call earlier this week from Vancouver, where the show films, the actress exclaimed, “I’m so happy! It’s so nice! For an actress, this is about the closest thing you can have to job security!”

When Nichols first heard about the show, inspired by the old Archie comic books, she reminded me that “I didn’t even want to read the pilot script.” Though the creators planned to take the characters in a new direction, “I didn’t think it was for me. I was looking for something that I could really sink my teeth into. But my manager convinced me that this was special and told me to take a look. Once I did, I got it.”

Nichols plays Hermione Lodge, mother of teenage Veronica, and this week appears in what the actress says is her most dramatic and important episode to date, but she can’t give away too many details. Airing at 7 p. m. Wednesday on WPWR- Channel 50, “the episode is very timely, given what is going on with women’s empowermen­t in this country right now. Also, we finally get to see what’s behind the character of Hermione and what she really is all about and what has caused why she’s like she is,” said the actress, describing the once rich and powerful woman whose husband went to prison and who has faced a series of humiliatio­ns— both personal and financial. “I think this is important, because up to now, the audience has been questionin­g a lot of things about her, and what makes her tick. So now, we get to take a deeper delve into her personalit­y. … Plus, it’s just a bad- ass scene, so I’m really excited for people to see it. It’s a fun reveal.”

While Nichols’ only recent return to her Naperville roots was over Thanksgivi­ng, she did share thoughts about “how that town has grown. My God! Naperville is now huge! I remember when the downtown was just one block long. Now it’s humongous. The borders of Naperville reach out so far, I don’t even know where they end!

“The Riverwalk is kind of amazing. I love that area,” said the actress, who also reminisced about her love of the College of DuPage. “After all, that’s where I discovered my love of acting. That’s where it all began for me. In a way — compared to so many of my other actor and actress friends— that makes me something of a late bloomer, because they knew they wanted to act as little kids. But I don’t care. I’m just glad I finally figured it out.”

 ?? | WARNER BROS. ?? Jenna Fischer of “The Office” plays the mother of one of the heroes in “The 15: 17 to Paris.”
| WARNER BROS. Jenna Fischer of “The Office” plays the mother of one of the heroes in “The 15: 17 to Paris.”
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 ?? THECW NETWORK ?? Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge in “Riverdale.”
THECW NETWORK Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge in “Riverdale.”
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