Timing is very important in Hollywood.

Back in the early '90s, Billy Crystal was trying to find the right actress to play his wife in the film, "Mr. Saturday Night." The search was taking some time because he needed someone who would look believable as young and old because the story covered so many years.

One of the actresses who showed up to audition was a then 26-year-old Marisa Tomei.

"I could tell right away that she had the acting skills to do the role, but I was just afraid that she was too young for the part," Billy Crystal tells me during an interview to talk about his Christmas Day release, "Parental Guidance." "We didn't cast her. Of course, she goes on to win the Oscar the next year."

Tomei took home the Best Supporting Actress statue for her work in "My Cousin Vinny."

Fast forward to last year when Crystal was trying to find the right actress to play his daughter in "Parental Guidance." A then 47-year-old Tomei shows up for the audition.

"I walked in and asked Billy, 'Am I too old for the role now?,' " Tomei says.

Crystal is 64, so it would mean -- if you only go by age -- he would have had to be a teen father. But there's no way Tomei looks like she's even in her 40s, so that really wasn't a factor, and she was cast in the part.

Before the scheduled time for me to begin my interview with Josh Brolin to talk about his upcoming movie, "Gangster Squad," the actor is standing on the small balcony of his room at the Four Seasons smoking a cigarette.

Since the time I have been given with him will be spent talking about the police drama set in Los Angeles, his smoke break is a bonus moment and I take the opportunity to tell Brolin how much I enjoyed his work in "Men In Black 3."

If you haven't seen the movie, Brolin does a perfect imitation of Tommy Lee Jones as he portrays his Agent K character as a younger man. The impersonation is so perfect, Brolin has been told by many people that they think his voice was redubbed by Jones.

That wasn't the case. It's all Brolin.

Doing the impersonation worried him so much, Brolin almost quit the picture seven times.

"It's one thing to do a Tommy Lee Jones impersonation at a bar after a few drinks. But this was for a movie that has millions of very loyal fans," Brolin says.

He was convinced that he was on the right vocal track when, on the first day of shooting, director Barry Sonnenfeld came from behind the camera with tears of laughter rolling down his face. It's a good thing Brolin decided to stick with the production because his performance is the best part of the movie.

Hyland gets 'Family' reunion

For a few seconds earlier this season, it looked like Sarah Hyland's character of Haley Dunphy was being written out of the popular ABC comedy "Modern Family."

Haley had left home to go to college, which is not always a good sign. On the classic TV show "Happy Days," Richie Cunnigham's older brother went upstairs to his room in one episode and never came back down.

There's no need to worry about the petite actress, who is destined to play the younger sister of Mila Kunis one day. After a few episodes where she was Skyped into the scenes, Haley was sent home after she fell on a police officer.

During an interview with Hyland to talk about her work in the movie "Struck By Lightning" -- starring and written by Clovis East graduate Chris Colfer -- Hyland says her days of being connected via computer to her TV family were really the easiest work days she's ever had. And despite only being 22 years old, she's got a long list of work experience to compare to the "Modern Family" work she's currently doing.

"It was great. They had me in a fake dorm room set," Hyland says. "All I had to do was sit there and talk."

Despite not actually being on the same set as her co-stars, like any good actress, Hyland memorized her lines. She soon realized that was a waste of time.

"There was one line of dialogue I just kept having trouble with so I taped the script pages to the side of the computer," Hyland says. "That's when I realized that I could just put all my lines up there and read them."

She didn't get to resort to that tactic because Haley came home and now shares her scenes with fellow actors on the same set.