National Post - May 12, 2001

"Megan Follows talks about her reading and listening pleasures"
Janice Biehn

CURRENT PROJECTS The star of Anne of Green Gables has spent the past couple of years doing television drama, appearing on such shows as Law & Order, ER and Family Law. This summer she appears on stage at the Gravenhurst Opera House in Noel Coward's Hay Fever, July 3 to 28, along with her parents, siblings and their significant others. Follows also recently completed filming The Stork Derby in Montreal, a made-for-TV movie airing on Citytv this fall. She lives in Los Angeles with her two children and fellow actor and Torontonian, Stuart Hughes.

NEWSPAPERS I fluctuate between the L.A. Times and The New York Times. I don't pick up any of the trade papers. I want to know what's going on in the real world. When I'm in Canada, I usually read The Globe and Mail, and sometimes the Post.

MAGAZINES I read a lot of magazines that have to do with renovating houses or architecture, like This Old House or Architectural Digest. I have a farmhouse in Nova Scotia so I tend to pick up ideas in these magazines.

BOOKS The last book I finished reading was to my children, and it's The Patchwork Girl of Oz by Frank L. Baum. It's post-Wizard of Oz, but Dorothy's in it. I grew up reading those books as a kid, so I read them out loud to my kids when we snuggle in bed at night.

RADIO I listen to the radio all the time, and my favourite down here is NPR, out of Pasadena or Santa Monica, depending on where I am in the city. I love the Santa Monica City College one, because they do this Morning Becomes Eclectic show, hosted by Nic Harcourt. He plays a lot of great eclectic music and supports small bands from all over. You also get the world news and they play the CBC, which I love. That's my other favourite news.

TELEVISION I watch a lot of old movies on the movie channel. My kids can only watch TV on the weekends, and I watch with them. We like a cartoon called SpongeBob SquarePants, and also The Simpsons. I think it has some of the cleverest writing on television.

FILM The last film I saw in the theatre was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, because I wanted to see it on a big screen. And I loved it. I was really touched by it. It was just rockin' seeing those women as these powerful warriors. I really loved it. I just bought three films of Carl Dreyer -- his masterpiece, the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, Gertrude and Ordet.

LIVE THEATRE I saw this really interesting dance piece in Montreal called L'autre by Carbone 14. It was done in Portuguese, Ukrainian, French and English. It was a modern-dance performance mixed with acting. Then last night I saw a production of Hay Fever in L.A., with my brother, sister and brother-in-law and Stuart, because we're all getting ready to do that play this summer.

MUSIC I'm listening to Jann Arden's Blood Red Cherry a lot these days.

INTERNET I surf when I'm looking for something specific, like a cottage in Gravenhurst, for example! But we also check out cbc.ca often to see what's going on in Canada.

Source: National Post