Get all of the bloody facts about Robert Rodriguez's action-packed Mexploitation flick!
By Kara Warner
Jessica Alba in "Machete"
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
At long last! "Machete" is here and ready to blow your mind with every minute of its bloody, action-packed, sexy, slice-and-dicey good times. In brief, the story revolves around Machete (Danny Trejo), an ex-Federale who gets caught up in an assassination plot for which he is framed and must seek vengeance.
We've been following this zany, violent, Mexploitation romp since its humble beginnings as a mock trailer attached to 2007's "Grindhouse." To celebrate its long-awaited arrival in theaters on Friday (September 3), here is everything you need to know about "Machete."
In 2007, Robert Rodriguez unleashed the fake trailer in front of "Grindhouse." It was met with raucous applause and fan demands for a full-length feature. The Internet rumor mill kicked into high gear, with rumblings of a direct-to-DVD release. At SXSW, Rodriguez announced his plans to go ahead with the full-blown feature.
In the months that followed, the "Machete" cast was revealed. A script review later popped up online, as did pleas from the future star himself, Danny Trejo, who asked the Weinsteins to put up the cash so that filming could begin.
Ask and ye shall receive! Production began in fall '09, details of which Rodriguez teased at that year's Comic-Con. From that point on, whenever MTV News found ourselves in the presence of one of the film's stellar castmembers, we peppered them for details about the film, which yielded Trejo's comments about his first day on set and a brief exchange with Jessica Alba during which she weighed in on action-movie hero Steven Seagal.
It's worth mentioning that Alba also talked about how she'd be playing identical twins in the film, which somehow was lost in translation and changed at some point during filming, because Alba plays just one role — that of a sexy immigration officer.
In early July, we got our hands and eyes on the first "Machete" trailer which, as we expected, was every bit as gritty and ballsy as Rodriguez's original.
Shortly thereafter, the cast descended upon the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con with a flurry of activities that included a fun-filled panel and a parking-lot party where Trejo and Michelle Rodriguez served up tacos from a truck. Director Rodriguez and Trejo also stopped by our Comic-Con livestream where they praised co-star Lindsay Lohan's performance in "Machete."
Much closer to the film's release, MTV News attended its press day and spoke once again with Rodriguez, Trejo, Alba and (Michelle) Rodriguez. Some of the best discussions to come out of that day centered on the always hot topic of onscreen nudity. First, Rodriguez revealed his tricks of the trade, and then lovely leading ladies Alba and Rodriguez discussed the art of post-production nipple addition.
Finally, we hit up a special screening of the film in downtown L.A., at which the cast and crew arrived in shiny, tricked-out lowriders. There, we learned who each star would want by their side in a "Machete"-style revolution and got well-wishes for their recently released from rehab colleague, Lindsay Lohan.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "Machete."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related PhotosOscar-winner says he's made story of a man who can't move into an action movie.
By Josh Horowitz
Danny Boyle
Photo: Jordan Strauss/WireImage
At the 81st Academy Awards in early 2008, Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" took home eight awards, including Best Director, while Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" lost both categories in which it was nominated.
But that didn't stop Boyle from wanting to emulate Aronofsky's cinematic approach for his next project. Thus, "127 Hours." follows one central character, in much the same way that "The Wrestler" focused on Mickey Rourke's damaged grappler. Boyle's new film is based on the true story of an avid outdoorsman who becomes trapped under a boulder in the wildness and is forced to saw off his own arm to escape. James Franco plays the unfortunate hiker.
The film is one that Boyle has wanted to make for years. Only after virtually sweeping the Oscars, and being inspired by Aronofsky's style, though, did he move forward with the project. As part of MTV News' Fall Movie Preview, Boyle called us to chat about how his career has changed since "Slumdog," the challenges of making a film about a man who can't move, and why "127 Hours" may not be the ideal date movie.
MTV: How are you?
Danny Boyle: Good. We're mixing "127 Hours" at Pinewood, and we've been kicked out of the big theater by "Harry Potter." We're next door in the little theater.
MTV: I guess if you're going to be kicked out by anybody, they have a big thing going on.
Boyle: They're not even here! Do you know what they do? It's a big bank holiday this weekend here in Britain, and we're working right through the weekend to get it ready, and what they do is they book the theater for months and nothing happens! It's like, "Really?"
MTV: Well, it is great to talk to you. So, you had, you know, a little bit of success with "Slumdog Millionaire." Coming off of that, why this one?
Boyle: I'd always wanted to do it. The story has an instant tension that draws everyone's attention to it. So many people remember it vaguely. But it wasn't that. I wanted to make the film and I tried to get it going. Of course, it's a tough subject, but I had a way of doing it that wasn't what you think. It would be compelling and would occupy you completely as a viewer so that the whole barrier — it's just one guy stuck in one place — that wouldn't become an issue because you'd be with him. You would be him, in effect. That was always my take on it. Anyway, once "Slumdog" kicked off, [producer] Christian [Colson] and I thought, "This is our chance to make this." There's no other moment in our careers when we'll get a chance to make something like this, which is really a tricky prospect for any studio or financier. So we worked on it, we prepared a script, and then we had to find an actor. That's the key to this. Beyond our vision of it, you have to have someone who's not only going to share the vision but actually going to carry it much more than any film like "Slumdog" or a thriller or a big love story or anything that has a plot or the dynamics changing between two people. It's just one guy. We got Franco. He's amazing in it.
MTV: There are a couple ways to go off something like "Slumdog." Either you go with the project you've been wanting to make, or I'm sure you were offered every project under the sun.
Boyle: I don't think like that. It's such an amazing thing that happened that you have to take advantage in the right way. It's why we wanted to get ["127 Hours"] ready for Toronto, because that's where we started with "Slumdog." We wanted to take back there a film that had been made in its shadow. It's wonderful to do that, because suddenly it's not an intimidating shadow, it's liberating because it's a success that's allowed you to make something you've always wanted to make and you believe but wouldn't get made otherwise. Even though people, before they see the film, might think it a peculiar choice, but the film is really accessible. Whether they can get people into [the theater], I don't know. If you want to take a girl on a Friday and say, "What should we go and see?" it's tough to say, "It's a film about a guy who cuts his arm off. What do you think?" But once you're in there, it's a big story for everyone. It's a very universal thing.
MTV: What are the challenges for you as a filmmaker, keeping things dynamic, and the challenges for an audience? Do you imagine them feeling what Franco is feeling for the length of the movie?
Boyle: I always thought of it as the opposite of inert. Superficially, it looks inert, because he's stationary. But I'd always thought of it as an action movie. He can't move, but it's an action movie. That's what we've tried to do. I'm not going to brag now. You guys will have to decide whether we've succeeded or not, but that was the intention. I remember when we were doing "Slumdog," and Darren Aronofsky showed up with "The Wrestler." It's one of those films that you look at as a director and think, "That's it. You just follow this one actor around." It's different from his other movies, and it's different from my other movies, but I wanted to make one like that, where it's just you and an actor.
MTV: I heard you talk about the videos that the hiker, Aron Ralston, took when he was stuck, and how he changed over those few days as he became dehydrated. Was the physical transformation difficult for Mr. Franco? How do you accomplish that in the film?
Boyle: You can't, because you can't do it safely. It's not like carbohydrate loss. You hear about an actor losing weight or putting on weight for parts. You can't do that, because it happens over six days. He starts as an incredibly healthy young man and then this footage I saw by the end, when he'd been without water, the difference is shocking. It's a vanishing. The only way you could do it is through CG, and we didn't want to take that approach. We didn't want to use makeup, but so much of the film is so close. It's an intimate film. We tried to shoot in sequence to let James internally track it. We've not been able to move stuff. He was there for six days, and we'd go, "Can you move that line from day two to day four?" You can't move it, because the journey is no nuanced. He becomes completely different. He's a different person on each day. We've done it through James, rather than CG or weight loss.
MTV: What about the moment when he slowly cuts off his own arm? How long a sequence is that in the film? How much do we see and experience?
Boyle: It takes him 45 minutes in reality. It is in the film, obviously. The time it takes is respected by the filmmakers. We don't cut away, pardon the expression, and come back and it's gone. But it is cathartic, and that's the key thing. The whole idea of the film is you enter the journey with him and you don't cut away to a lot of people looking for him. It's an immersive experience, and it's cathartic when he does it because it's a relief for everyone and a triumph in some way as well.
MTV: In terms of the music, it's A.R. Rahman doing the score again after "Slumdog." Can you speak a little about what he's done?
Boyle: We've got a couple of songs, and the rest of the work is more guitar-based. Some of it is solo guitar, which felt appropriate given the nature of the story. Got a couple of wonderful songs. Free Blood ("Never Hear Surf Music Again") at the beginning, which we used for the trailer. Music has always been a big part of a movie for me, and I hope we've done another one justice we've what we've used.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "127 Hours."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related Photos'I play a pharmaceutical sales rep who is very, um, outgoing,' Alba tells MTV News of the Ben Stiller/ Robert De Niro comedy.
By Kara Warner
Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers"
Photo: Paramont
In addition to kicking butt in Robert Rodriguez's "Machete," Jessica Alba is also appearing among the star-studded cast of "Little Fockers," the third installment in the franchise that features Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro playing out their often awkward son-in-law vs. overprotective father-in-law relationship.
"I play a pharmaceutical sales rep who is very, um, outgoing and has no sense of personal space," Alba recently told MTV News. She hinted that her character might inadvertently try to get a little too close to Stiller's lovable Gaylord Focker. "She says exactly what's on her mind and she has no filter at all," the actress explained. "She was really fun because I'm pretty much the opposite of that."
Alba admitted that keeping a straight face on set was a big challenge, since most of her scenes were with funnyman Ben Stiller. Still, she had a blast, she said, particularly with her character's freewheeling ways. "It was just fun and pretty liberating to play someone who was just so open and so free and totally crazy."
"Little Fockers" is set a few months after the events of the last installment, "Meet the Fockers," as Stiller and Teri Polo's parents-to-be busily prepare for baby. Producer Jay Roach told MTV News earlier this year that Stiller's attempt to remain calm is thwarted by a familiar face (and former nemesis).
"It's Owen Wilson coming back with a new passion for Ben's wife, Teri Polo," Roach said. "And of course it's hidden and it's all under the surface, but it causes a lot of new wrinkles in the relationship between all of them," the producer explained.
In addition to Alba and Wilson, "Fockers" will also feature Dustin Hoffman in the role of Stiller's father opposite Barbra Streisand, an addition to the cast that was only recently made due to the film reportedly coming in under budget.
"Little Fockers" is due in theaters December 22.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "Little Fockers."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related PhotosPhotos of the singer from the movie's set surface online.
By James Dinh
Rihanna on the set of "Battleship" on Wednesday
Photo: Splash News
While rumors of a new single spread across the Internet, Rihanna is already beginning work on the set of her feature film debut in "Battleship." Photos of the Barbadian songstress surfaced online yesterday showing a brunette Rihanna dressed in character.
Donning a traditional U.S. Navy getup with gloves and work boots, the singer was spotted in Hawaii on the set of the Peter Berg-directed science-fiction movie, wearing a nametag with the name "Raikes." The board-game adaptation is the story of naval officers who use Earth's ships to fight against alien intruders.
According to one of Rihanna's latest tweets, the singer is scheduled to continue work in Hawaii for two weeks. "HAWAII...Hawaii...hawaii......who wouldn't want to work here for 2 weeks," she tweeted, along with a photo of her posing on a balcony.
In addition to the pop star, the film's cast lineup includes "True Blood" star Alexander Skarsgård, Taylor Kitsch of "Friday Night Lights" and bombshell supermodel Brooklyn Decker.
Skarsgård told MTV News that the film will be "quite different from the board game," and added that he doesn't think "Battleship" will follow the latest trend of filming in 3-D. Skarsgård will play a commander of one of the Navy destroyers in the film.
Universal has set "Battleship" for May 25, 2012, release.
What type of character do you think Rihanna will play in the movie? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Check out everything we've got on "Battleship."
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Related ArtistsDirector Daniel Stamm explains the controversial ending to the #2 movie in country this week.
By Adam Rosenberg
Ashley Bell in "The Last Exorcism"
Photo: Lionsgate
SPOILER WARNING: Before you read past this point, be warned: This article discusses the end of "The Last Exorcism" in depth, so stop reading if you intend to see the movie and don't want to know how it ends.
Director Daniel Stamm's mock documentary concludes on an open-ended note. As predicted earlier in the film by Nell's (Ashley Bell) paintings, the cinematographer gets his head chopped off, the producer is hacked to pieces and the preacher, Cotton (Patrick Fabian), his faith seemingly restored, walks into the flame to ward off Hell, his cross held high and his ultimate fate left unclear. That ending has spurred quite a bit of discussion among many who have seen it.
MTV News talked to Stamm about that response and his reaction to it. "I don't mind the passion that the discussion has spurred," he said. "I'm getting threats now, which is a whole new thing for me. People are [tweeting] me, telling me to jump headfirst off the Empire State Building, really hateful [comments], which I can only take as a compliment. Which movie do you care about so much that you get so hateful and so passionate about it?"
Of the dialogue that's sprung up, the director admits that he understands where the dissenters are coming from. "I think that a lot of the people that are upset by the movie [feel] that they are paying for you to enlighten their world a little bit with an answer about what's going on around them," he said. "They want a statement that is clear. That is a very legitimate position to me, but that is not what the movie does. The movie leaves you with a question. And it was very true to the format of the documentary style that you don't understand everything."
By "staying true to the documentary style," Stamm is referring specifically to the death of the camera operator in the film's final scene. "Yes, it's abrupt, because your point of view is gone, you'll never find out what happened after that. There is no scene that neatly ties it all together and explains it all to you because that's not how it would go down. I think the rest of the movie is naturalistic enough ... that it would be a complete betrayal of the movie [to tie things together]."
He appreciates that the film's conclusion has a very definable impact on the scale of the story, from an intimate gathering of concerned individuals and one troubled little girl to a community full of Devil-worshipping Satanists. "I understand that people are maybe overwhelmed by the openness of the ending, but at the same time ... I can't think of a different ending to this movie. I think it completely does it justice and I think it does the characters justice."
Check out everything we've got on "The Last Exorcism."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
'I think pressure is always a good thing,' Phillips says about expectations for Robert Downey Jr. flick.
By Eric Ditzian
Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis in "Due Date"
Photo: Warner Bros.
Robert Downey Jr. is convinced that "Due Date" is a better movie than "The Hangover," for the simple reason that, as director Todd Phillips explained to MTV News, "Due Date" is about something, whereas "Hangover" just follows a bunch of groggy dudes around Las Vegas.
Phillips doesn't necessarily agree with Downey, but he'll take the compliment, just as he accepts the pressure of following up the $467 million worldwide success of "Hangover." His mission after that flick broke big last year was to get right back to work. For that task, he hauled Zach Galifianakis back into the mix and recruited Downey. "Due Date" follows Downey's character, Peter Highman, whose wife is about to go into labor, forcing him to hitch a ride with Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) in an attempt to get to the hospital before his child is born. Their road trip does not, to say the least, go smoothly.
As part of MTV News' ongoing Fall Movie Preview series, Phillips called us up to chat about working with Downey on a straight comedy, the "anti-chemistry" of his two stars and the difficulty of pulling off a cinematic stunt as surprising as the naked Asian who jumped out of a trunk in "The Hangover."
MTV: I take it you've locked picture a while ago, right?
Todd Phillips: Yeah, we have. This movie could have come out in the summer, but because of "Iron Man 2" and Robert's press requirements for a movie that size, we had to space them out.
MTV: If it's been done for a while, do you ever wake up and say, "Crap, I need to use a different take! I should have done this differently!"
Phillips: It's funny you say that, because just yesterday we watched one of the release prints at the Arclight [theater in Los Angeles]. You want to see how the prints look, so you go to a regular theater. There was actually a little sound issue. So we went back in and fixed something with the sound. But that was more of a technical thing than a creative choice. When you look back at movies, you always go, "God, I would have done that differently, or I wished we had tried this," but this one is still too close for me to do that.
MTV: Right, it's when "Road Trip" comes on TBS that you go, "Damn!"
Phillips: Right. I'll see "Old School" sometimes on TV and I'm like, "Oh, if only we'd had more time that day we could have done that better."
MTV: You do have this great history with Warner Bros. and you're coming off the huge success of "The Hangover." When you said you wanted to do "Due Date," were they ever like, "Todd, man, maybe hit 'Hangover 2' first?"
Phillips: You know, being at Warner, not to sound like a corporate kissass, but Warner Bros. is like being on the Yankees.
MTV: I'm a Mets fan, my friend.
Phillips: It's still like being on the Yankees! They just have it so wired. The filmmakers that they choose to work with they support wholeheartedly, as evidenced by gambling on a movie like "Inception," which was so brilliant but so big a gamble in studio terms. But they trust Chris Nolan because he's f---ing amazing and they just let him do it. It's pretty much the most supportive studio I've ever been involved with. They were excited to do "Hangover 2," but once I had spoken to Robert Downey about "Due Date," they totally got it.
MTV: Getting someone like Downey, does that alleviate some pressure — if there is any — about following up such a massive hit?
Phillips: I think pressure is always a good thing. A lot of guys make a big hit movie on the size of "The Hangover" and they get gun-shy. They wait a few years in a weird way, and I wanted to do the opposite. I wanted to do something again and not worry if it was going to be as big as "The Hangover" because "The Hangover" was lightning in a bottle. You can't judge other successes or other movies based on it. I just didn't want to get into that headspace. That was part of the reason for striking out and doing something real quick like "Due Date." It's something I had been developing — it's not like it's rushed — but it went quicker because I was like, "Let's just go do it." For me, I choose movies based on who I can get in it. Comedies are so about casting. Obviously I wanted to work with Zach again after "The Hangover" and Downey is pretty much the best there is out there. Once he said yes, we were like, "Let's just go."
MTV: We haven't seen Downey do much straight comedy in a long time. I guess you could say "Tropic Thunder," but that's hardly something typical and straightforward.
Phillips: Yeah, you haven't seen Robert Downey be Robert Downey. A lot of great actors — you see this with someone like Johnny Depp, who's a huge f---ing talent, and Robert Downey — where they play parts where they're putting on masks or accents or hats and wigs. They kind of like to lose themselves in a role. In "Tropic Thunder," which I think is great, he's in blackface and you're not really seeing Robert. What was fun for Robert about this, and what was fun for me to make it, is Robert Downey just being Robert Downey. There's no makeup, wigs. It's just Robert playing such a real character.
MTV: Was that one of the reasons he signed on, to get back to something with less artifice?
Phillips: I'm not sure why he makes his choices. I know he loved "The Hangover." I know he loves Zach and was a fan of my films. Actors like to play. For a guy like Downey, he loved the idea of not being on a green screen for 60 days and just coming in and f---ing around with a guy like Zach and a guy like me. It's a real loose environment, as opposed to something like "Iron Man 2," just by nature of the effects.
MTV: A movie like this lives and dies on the chemistry of those two dudes.
Phillips: Or the anti-chemistry, in this case. It's interesting, because before "The Hangover" came out, people could dismiss it or say, "Oh, it's a movie about bachelor parties and Vegas. I've seen that before." And a movie like this, you go, "Oh, it's two guys on the road. It's 'Tommy Boy' or it's 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles.' " And it's really not. It works on this whole other level that I think people are going to be surprised by. It connects on a different level.
MTV: It's probably hard to put into words what that level is, but what were you aiming for?
Phillips: This is how Robert explains it, which is sort of a backhanded compliment. He goes, " 'Due Date' is a better movie than 'The Hangover' because 'Due Date' is about something." I know what he means. There's another dimension. As proud as I am of "The Hangover," it's a two-dimensional film. It's a comedy that works as good as any comedy could work. But there are some character moves in "Due Date" that Robert and Zach go through that I think will be surprising on a film that you think you have figured out by the trailer or the poster.
MTV: You mentioned that people look at it and think "Planes, Trains" or "Tommy Boy." Did you go back and look at any of those road trip movies for inspiration or in terms of what to avoid?
Phillips: I love "Planes, Trains," and I seriously love "Tommy Boy," which is one of my favorites. But one movie all three of us looked at is "Midnight Run." That might be the best of the bunch. It's not so much to emulate or avoid, it's just to be inspired in some way. "Midnight Run" was a big one for me.
MTV: The Dan Band has popped up in a bunch of your movies. Any chance we're going to see them in "Due Date"?
Phillips: The Dan Band is not in "Due Date," and it's just by the nature of what the movie is about and where it winds up. There was no way without it feeling incredibly forced. But you could argue it's a little forced in "The Hangover." But I love them so much. They're the best.
MTV: I don't know if this is one of those questions you get a lot, but where do you go from a naked Asian man jumping out of a trunk in "The Hangover"? How do you top that?
Phillips: That is a tough one to top. The key with comedies in general is they work when there are surprises. So a naked Asian man jumping out of a trunk is a perfect example of a surprise. It goes back to what I was talking about before with even just the nature of "Due Date." There are a lot of surprises in the film that I think take the movie to another level. The surprises won't be a naked Asian man or the Dan Band, but I think there are enough surprises that it will connect with people. But that is the challenge, because comedies work so well when they are surprises.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "Due Date."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related Photos'(Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell) do have a very significant and exciting role in the film,' director reveals.
By Kara Warner
Wes Craven
Photo: Getty Images
Wes Craven fans have a lot to be excited about these days, as the beloved writer/director has not one, but two highly anticipated projects on his plate, the first of which is a horror/thriller due October 8.
The second project is "Scream 4." the long-awaited fourth chapter in Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson's hugely popular franchise, which not only reunites the original cast (David Arquette, Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox), but includes a slew of popular young stars, including Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Rory Culkin, Shenae Grimes and Lucy Hale.
When we caught up with Craven to discuss "My Soul to Take," we couldn't help but prod the man in charge for some "Scream 4" scoop, beginning with how he managed to assemble his original stars.
"Well, I could take credit for it, but it wouldn't be accurate," he said.
By the time Craven was asked to direct, Dimension studio head Bob Weinstein had already secured Cox, Arquette and Campbell.
"It was just a matter of me saying, 'Sure,' " Craven added.
For the director, the allure of rejoining the team to work on a good script was icing on the cake.
"I think all of us wanted to do something written by Kevin [Williamson] and to work together again," he said. "We all had such wonderful times on the first three. It has been a return to a great deal of fun — just the pleasure of working together again. We know each other inside and out. There's a lot of shorthand and a lot of fun memories from our past escapades."
Regarding the new additions to the franchise, Craven was full of praise for his young stars.
"The young cast is amazing," he said. "They're extremely bright and a very varied cast. ... They're just great to work with. It's fun to be doing that combination of the sort of classic actors of the first three and this new group of kids. [They] have very different and fresh personalities and great acting talent."
And what about the plot? How does it fit within the franchise, and how does it differ?
"It's a clear and/or pretty well-known [fact] that it's a return to Woodsboro for Sydney Prescott, who is Neve's character," Craven said. "Courtney and David have, as they did in real life, have gotten married and are living in Woodsboro, so it's the story of Sid's return to Woodsboro and the series of events that take place there where those three are thrown together in a wild and crazy way, and then a group of kids that get meshed in the plot."
Speaking of that group of kids, Craven went on to say that managing the appearances of all his young stars — most of whom are speculated to be making quick cameos — has been a pleasure rather than a headache.
"Well, that's the great joy — it's fun," he said. "A lot of these actors I didn't know that well or have not worked with most of them, or any of them, as a matter of fact," Craven explained. "They always say, 'It's great working with you. I've wanted to work with you for a long time,' but it's wonderful working with actors like this that are very young and have a large following already because of their talent, and just to spend one or two days with them to do these kind of set/bit pieces is a lot of fun."
With regard to those one- or two-day roles, we tried to get Craven to reveal a few specifics about two recently announced "guests" in particular: Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell.
"I don't know what I'm allowed to say," he laughed. "They do have a very significant and exciting role in the film, let me put it that way."
What do you think of the star-studded "Scream 4" cast? Who do you think will be the villain? Tell us in the comments.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "Scream 4."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related PhotosStars of Robert Rodriguez's new flick discuss their bodies — real or created?
By Kara Warner
Robert Rodriguez's fake-trailer-inspired Mexploitation flick "Machete" has a lot going for it. Not only is it an action-packed, bloody romp, but it features kick-ass weapon-wielding stylings from leading ladies who also flash a bit of skin.
Thanks to Rodriguez's earlier explanation regarding his tricks to effective — not offensive — onscreen nudity, we know that not everyone is as naked as they seem. However, when we caught up with the film's ladies in question, Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez, it became apparent that there are a few more nude-themed questions to be answered. Namely, who was in charge of Michelle's rockin' bod, and which guy creates the post-production nipples?
"I want to know: Who sculpted that body?" Alba asked Rodriguez as they gazed at a "Machete" poster featuring the very toned leather-clad actress. "Because the whole time I'm watching you, I'm drooling. 'She doesn't have any cellulite, not an ounce of fat! What is going on?'"
Rodriguez responded with a hearty laugh. "That was [from] 'Battle Los Angeles,'" she explained. "I was in boot camp before that. I had three weeks of intensive Marine warfare training."
"You looked insane," Alba said.
We then reminded the actress that it's obvious from her shower scene in the film that she's in just as good of shape. "Oh no, no, no," she insisted. "I had undies on, and I had other stuff on, and they just sort of etched it out in post [production]. That's not really me. I'm better covered up."
"I want to meet these guys who work in special effects and they are basically in charge of adding nipples," Rodriguez added.
"No, no — there were no nipples, though!" Alba responded regarding her apparently post-production-enhanced shower.
"There weren't?" Rodriguez asked, looking genuinely surprised. "I tried not to look because I thought that was a private moment that I shouldn't be watching."
"No, there was no nipple!" Alba insisted. "No, no, no, no nipple."
"Well, I want to meet these [special-effects] guys though because they basically create what's not there," Rodriguez continued. "It's pretty bugged out."
Check out everything we've got on "Machete." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Greg Strause addresses Sony's accusation that he stole 'Battle: Los Angeles' ideas.
By Eric Ditzian
A scene from "Skyline"
Photo: Universal Pictures
The geeks packed into the San Diego Convention Center in July were prepared for "Green Lantern" and "Thor" and "Captain America." They knew to expect lots of cool footage and A-list panels, and their expectations were more than fulfilled. What almost no one had on their radars was "Skyline," an independent alien-invasion flick that swooped into Comic-Con virtually unnoticed and came away with the some of the festival's most positive buzz.
Greg Strause, who co-directed the flick with his brother and fellow founder of visual effects house Hydraulx, said that he met that skeptical-turned-astonished viewpoint again and again during the production process.
"People would be like, 'What are you doing next?' " he told MTV News. "And we'd be like, 'Shooting this little indie we're financing ourselves. We're shooting it in my house.' So you tell all these people, and they say, 'Oh, that's cute.' And when they actually see it, their jaws drop."
Among the jaws that dropped were those at Sony Pictures, which had hired Hydraulx to do effects work on "Battle: Los Angeles." Both films feature aliens invading Los Angeles, and Sony accused Hydraulx of stealing equipment and ideas for use on "Skyline," according to TheWrap.com. Those are charges Strause strenuously denies.
"It's total bulls---," he said. "We work on a movie with aliens involved with it, if not every year, then every other year. We worked on 'Avatar,' 'The Day the Earth Stood Still,' 'Invasion.' It's all about aliens. That's what our company does. And everyone knows that."
Strause and his brother, Colin, directed the much-derided "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem," and Greg finds it particularly frustrating to be the target of such accusations at a time when one of his directorial projects is finally getting such great buzz. "Colin and I catch a lot of crap for 'AVPR,' " he said. "And ['Skyline'] is us. It's us."
What the brothers have accomplished is no doubt impressive. Inspired by Oren Peli's "Paranormal Activity," they set out to make a low-budget version of an alien invasion movie that never once felt low-budget. Aided by the capabilities of their effects company and top-of-the-line digital cameras, they holed up in a house in Marina del Ray, California, and filmed the bulk of their story, which focuses on how a group of friends react to the arrival of nefarious aliens. The finished film contains 800 visual effects and employed just one day of green-screen work.
"We have a character drama that plays out in this claustrophobic space," Strause explained. "Whenever we do leave the space, we have huge shots. The teaser [trailer] is the big, epic, visual side of it. When you see the next trailer, you'll get a sense of the claustrophobic, character side."
Related Videos Related Photos
As he dives into other projects, Eisenberg hasn't paid attention to anticipation for this fall's Facebook flick.
By Eric Ditzian
Jesse Eisenberg and Joseph Mazzello in "The Social Network"
Photo: Sony Pictures
Jesse Eisenberg doesn't have a lot of free time at the moment. He's holed up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, filming the action/comedy "30 Minutes or Less," and when he's not on set — as happened on a recent Sunday evening — he's often writing term papers as part of the undergraduate anthropology degree he's pursuing.
That, at least in part, explains why the 26-year-old hasn't been paying close attention to the buzz — from beguiling teaser trailers to early rave reviews — about his upcoming turn as Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network," the David Fincher-directed film about the founding of Facebook.
"I'm really immersed in this movie," Eisenberg told us on the "30 Minutes" set. "My sister did send me a text message saying that there were posters up in New York (for 'Social Network')."
But that explains only part of it. The other explanation is that Eisenberg simply can't stand to watch his own performances until time has passed and he has enough emotional distance from what he was attempting to accomplish in a role.
"I don't like to watch the movies I've been in when they first come out because to me it's only disappointing, even if the movies are great," he admitted. "I've gotten to be in some great movies, but I feel personally disappointed with myself, so I like to wait until the initial attention dies down and it's a little more comfortable to watch them."
"Social Network" arrives October 1, so it will be a while until Eisenberg sits down to watch what has become one of the most-anticipated films of the year. Based on Ben Mezrich's bestseller "The Accidental Billionaires," the movie brings together some of Hollywood's leading talent: Fincher, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, Andrew Garfield, who's just been named the new Spider-Man, and Rooney Mara, who nabbed the starring role in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Its pitch-perfect trailers have only served to increase the buzz, and, according to The New York Times even Facebook itself is said to be worried that the film — which presents the founding of the company in a less-than-flattering light — will have a long-term negative impact on its core business.
At the center of it all is Eisenberg, an actor who certainly fits the portrait of Zuckerberg constructed in "Accidental Billionaires": nebbish, introverted, quietly confident. To capture all of these traits, Fincher would often film hundreds of takes of each scene, leading to a two-and-a-half-month production.
"Why actors love working with him and why I loved working with him is because you try a scene in 200 different ways, you know he is able to edit together several different performances for each role," Eisenberg said of Fincher. "One of the interesting aspects of my character was disengagement, so the character is kind of a little aloof and emotionally, really quite reserved. For my collaboration with the director on that movie, we would be often doing half the scene 60 times one way, then 60 times a little more engaged.
"It's kind of a wonderful experience for an actor," he added, "because you get to experiment within the scenes in a way that, on any other movie set, may be seen as indulgent and asking for too much."
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Rapper has been tweeting about shooting in Prague.
By Jayson Rodriguez
Kanye West
Photo: Dominique Charriau/ WireImage
Kanye West is in a creative groove right now, finishing his own album, doing a remix for Justin Bieber and announcing plans for a joint LP with Jay-Z.
In addition to all his musical ventures, the rapper is working on a "movie companion" to his upcoming album, a source with knowledge of the project told MTV News. Photos from the set appeared on blogs on Wednesday (September 1).
The images do not appear to be from any particular scene, though, as West looks to be in between takes from filming; one image shows West walking over to a waiting deer. "On set of the movie," 'Ye wrote in a Twitter message last week. "This doe just refuses to sit still. ... I told the deer ... 'what would Bambi do?' & she looked at me like I was crazy."
The rapper has been writing messages via Twitter about his overseas adventures, particularly about details surrounding the shoot.
"Last day in Prague," he wrote late last week. "We've shot some good stuff so far ... really good ... NO! I mean REALLY GOOD!
"Just wrapped for the day," he continued later. "Been shooting 16 hour days. ... I'm so excited. ... It's like a child's delusions become reality!"
A representative for West did not respond to a request for comment from MTV News.
It's unclear as of press time which director is attached to the project and whether the film will be bundled with West's forthcoming album. His last album, 808s & Heartbreaks, featured a Spike Jonze-directed short, "We Were Once a Fairytale," inspired by the track "See You in My Nightmares" featuring Lil Wayne. The movie was an iTunes only release.
Related Photos Related Artists'We're not that creative,' Ariel Schulman laughs to MTV News.
By Kara Warner
Nev Schulman and Ariel Schulman in "Catfish"
Photo: Rogue
After making a splash at Sundance at the beginning of this year — both for being a hit with audiences and for stirring up a little controversy regarding the is-it-real-or-fake discussion that divided critics — "Catfish" is on its way to theaters September 17. The heavily hyped indie documentary revolves around NYC-based photographer Yev Schulman and the series of curious events that occur when he begins an online friendship with an 8-year-old girl and a romantic relationship with her older sister.
When MTV News caught up with the film's two first-time directors, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, they discussed what prompted them to begin filming to begin with, their subsequent decisions to keep the cameras rolling no matter what and their reactions to the "it's a fake" controversy.
MTV: Without revealing the big twist, what is this film about?
Henry Joost: It's a true story about an experience we had. The main character is Ariel's younger brother who works with us, who got into a Facebook relationship that took a turn for the unexpected, and we were there to capture it.
Ariel Schulman: People are surprised we started filming as early as we did, but truth is, we've been filming each other for years, and we're always prepared. ... I've got this brother who is just very charismatic and gets into a lot of trouble and gets himself into situations, and if I'm not filming him, I usually regret it.
Joost: We've been doing it since high school. We're those annoying guys: "Come on, you don't have to film this. It's not interesting."
Schulman: So [Yev] gets involved with this 8-year-old girl who's a painter. She's obsessed with his photos, he's a ballet photographer in New York, he's a dance junkie. He's a straight dance junkie, which is a good situation to be in. ... I was already filming him, because I'm always filming him. ... I thought, "This looks like a friendship and sort of business relationship," because she starts painting and selling the paintings based on his photos, and they split the proceeds. ... It develops, and he meets her older sister, and they start to fall in love, and we're like, "Oh, that sounds like a longer short film about Internet romance, and it will end when they meet," and that's just the first act of the movie, and it takes a pretty severe 90-degree turn from there.
Joost: We had no idea where it was headed. It was this soap opera unfolding in our office. ... It was engrossing. Ariel started filming it, and he's been wanting to make a movie about his brother, because separate from the movie, his brother is incredible, a real-life character and always attracting drama and people. He's a really charismatic person, and he has no filter, and he just wades into things.
MTV: You mentioned that things take a serious turn. Were there moments when Yev wanted you guys to stop rolling?
Joost: He had to be talked into it [at times].
Schulman: It was his life in front of the lens, and it gets pretty hairy. We have a couple arguments, and that's in the movie. There were times when I didn't want to go through with it, [Yev] didn't want to go through with it, [Joost] didn't want to go through with it. ... The tables turned, and ...
Joost: Ultimately, it became Yev's journey to find out the truth. He ended up convincing us to keep going at different points; each of us sort of chicken out at different points.
MTV: What do you think of the controversy, people claiming it's all fake?
Joost: It is a documentary in that it's something that actually happened and we filmed it and none of it is staged or fake. To us, we had no idea people were going to have that reaction until Sundance, and after the first screening, ["Super Size Me" director/star] Morgan Spurlock went up to somebody on our team and went, "That is the best fake documentary I've ever seen," and we were like, "Really?" Because how do you react to that in our shoes? ... It's kind of strange, because to us, there's no debate; that's what happened. I think what people are reacting to a lot is, the film is edited. We can't put out a 250-hour movie, so we're making decisions and streamlining the narrative and presenting what we feel is the clearest representation of what happened, but it's real, and there's nothing disingenuous about it.
Schulman: It gives us too much credit, though. If this were fake, then it would be ...
Joost: Yeah, we would be so much smarter than we actually are.
Schulman: Yeah, we're not that creative.
Joost: It would be amazing if we had faked it. I don't know how we would have done it, but ...
Schulman: And my brother would be the best actor since Marlon Brando.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related Photos'You can experience it the way you experience the rest of your life in 3-D,' writer/director tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner
Wes Craven
Photo: Getty Images
Buzz has steadily been building around Wes Craven's upcoming horror thriller "My Soul to Take." The film, which opens October 8, marks the first writer/director efforts from the beloved genre director since his segment in 2006's "Paris je t'aime."
When MTV News caught up with Craven during a brief-yet-miraculous window of downtime recently — he's currently in the middle of shooting "Scream 4" — he revealed his unique inspiration for "My Soul to Take," why it's more than "Stand by Me" with a knife, and how his use of post-production 3-D conversion differs from the way in which other films have used it.
MTV: It's been a while since you've written and directed a film. How did that come about?
Wes Craven: I guess it was just the happy circumstance of having a conversation with [executive producer] Andrew Rona, who at that time was running Rogue Pictures, and him saying "Got any ideas? I'd love to do another picture with you," and I had just had an idea, and so I pitched him over coffee, and he gave me a green light for the script, and off we went.
MTV: How and when did the inspiration for the story strike you?
Craven: I know exactly when it came; I have no idea what inspired it. Sometimes I have these strange thoughts I'm almost embarrassed to say I have, but I was thinking about what it would be like to be a man — maybe it was because I was afraid I was enjoying too much happiness in my life — but I was thinking what it would be like to be a man who is leading a normal life at the time a series of serial killings taking place in the area where he and his wife live. ... He discovers in his workshop a hiding place. He stumbles upon the tools of a serial killer that fit the description on TV that the police had captured in a security-camera recording, and he realizes that he is the killer and had a hidden personality. It sort of began there.
MTV: It seems like the trailer does a great job of setting up the story without spoiling anything.
Craven: It's a great trailer. We were very happy. I kept saying it's kind of "Stand by Me" with a knife. It's not really a grisly gore-fest in any way. It's as much a family story and coming-of-age story as anything else, but it does have murders in it and it does take place among 16-year-olds, so it does fall into that genre. But I really tried to reinvent that genre by doing something that had a humanistic story to it and kind of a psychological and even spiritual story to it, so depending on how you look at it, it's either a story about personality or about souls.
MTV: The cast is relatively unknown and young. What do you enjoy about working with younger, lesser-known actors?
Craven: The truth of the matter is that, at that age, there are very few actors who are seasoned or well-known. Some of these actors had worked, or at least one had worked in Disney films. These were all of their first starring roles. I really enjoy working with young kids. They have great spirit and energy and are just kind of beautiful to watch and direct. I guess if I could have, I would have worked with really experienced actors so I wouldn't have had to be kind of a schoolteacher too, but they gave great performances. I'm delighted with the way they delivered onscreen.
MTV: When you say schoolteacher, do you mean telling them to be quiet and get to work?
Craven: It's more just teaching them the technical stuff of acting, hitting your marks, finding your light and saying things so they're pronounced enough so people can understand what you're saying. Most teenagers kind of mumble and say things too fast for most people to understand. It's just the minor things like that, but it's actually a pleasure to be helping pass on the craft a bit. ... I directed Johnny Depp in his first film ["A Nightmare on Elm Street"], and I look back and say, "Wow, I'm really happy to be part of that gift to the world that he is."
MTV: Is this a standalone film, or is there potential for sequels?
Craven: I would say that I certainly did not design it to be that, but it does have an element to it that actually could make it as easily a franchise as the "Scream" franchise, where you have different killers in each film. The central character, I think, would be very interesting to follow through a few more films, but it depends on how the film does.
MTV: What can you say about the 3-D conversion?
Craven: It was not shot in 3-D, but the studio offered to do that, and I thought it would be interesting to explore — not as the gimmicky 3-D of some films, but to use it as a natural enhancement. You can experience it the way you experience the rest of your life in 3-D. ... For a narrative film, rather than spears coming at you in your face in the theater, [we used it] subtly to warp reality for a character that has schizophrenia or some of the kids when they're going through their extreme events, breaking those forward from the screen rather than keeping them at the screen or behind the screen and yet doing them in a subtle way so the audience won't be aware we're doing it. We're able to manipulate the mind in a way we weren't able to before. I'm quite fascinated by it. We might be one of the first films to treat it that way. ... It's not a film that puts it in your face. You'll be aware, but in general, it's using it very, very subtly. ... It's been a very interesting education for me.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "My Soul to Take."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
'Johnny and Angie just got along so well,' Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner
Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in "The Tourist"
Photo: Sony Pictures
What does an up-and-coming director do after winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film? If you're the talented Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, you do not go to Disneyland; you go out and secure the talents of megawatt actors Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie for your next feature.
The already heavily-hyped film in question is "The Tourist," loosely based on the French thriller "Anthony Zimmer." When MTV News caught up with von Donnersmarck, we talked international intrigue, the challenges of shooting in Venice and why everyone falls in love with Johnny Depp (including his co-star Paul Bettany, who confessed his feelings to us last month).
MTV: Given the story's twists and turns, what can you reveal about the plot?
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: I can see already that you were trying to wrangle some information out of Paul. [Incredibly enough, the busy director somehow found time to read our Bettany interview.] It's a love story, that's for sure. Imagine a woman who is just so elegant and sophisticated and educated and has lived in that world and now, through a whole set of circumstances, suddenly falls in love with a guy who is not any of those things, and it just somehow confuses her whole world because that was not meant to happen. She had it all worked out, she had this grand master plan, and neither he nor she had thought it possible that they would fall in love with each other. I have to keep the real details a secret otherwise you won't have any fun seeing it.
MTV: Is the film a remake of "Anthony Zimmer" or an interpretation?
Von Donnersmarck: I'd say, in a way, the film is inspired by a whole set of films. There's a lot of "Anthony Zimmer" in it, which is the French screenplay that they optioned the rights for, there's a lot of "North by Northwest," "To Catch a Thief," "The Thomas Crown Affair," the "Thin Man" series, "The Pink Panther" — there's just a whole sweep of films that we used as inspiration and, certainly, there's quite a few films that informed the film.
MTV: How did you assemble such a spectacular cast?
Von Donnersmarck: I think if you create a part in the screenplay and what you describe to actors where they can show some of their acting muscle, then great actors will be attracted to those parts and will be game for it. I think what people forget often when they talk about such great stars as Angelina and Johnny, they forget that what they are, really, are actors. They're actors with a capital "A," but they're much more actors than they are stars, and I think that these parts were just right for them as actors. They can really show what they can do. Angelina is so charming and delicate and feminine and strong and everything at the same time that I think when I talked to her about that part and when we worked on the screenplay together, she saw that she could really be able to do something with that part, and the same for Johnny. He shows so much of his own complexity in this part. He's so winning, so charming, so funny, like he is in real life. I think in many ways, this part is quite close to who he is in real life. He is the most funny and charming person you'll have ever met.
MTV: Well, we already know Paul fell in love with him ...
Von Donnersmarck: It's impossible not to. Everybody does. Same with Angelina. She is so much fun. Also, Johnny and Angie just got along so well, that was something I could sense straight from the first meeting that we had, the three of us. Believe it or not, Angie and Johnny had never met. Through all the years that they've been king and queen of Hollywood, they had never actually physically met, so I was the first person to ever bring them together. So if nothing else, that was a really historical moment. They just got along so well from the first moment they met that I knew it was going to be a lot of fun making this film. I probably have hours worth of bloopers where they were just laughing because they had so much fun inventing stuff on the fly and letting their incredible creativity run free.
MTV: How difficult was shooting in Venice?
Von Donnersmarck: It was difficult, and that's why most films they do all the interior stuff in studio and go to Venice for maybe three weeks to shoot all the exteriors. We really shot the entirety of the picture — except the scenes that take place in Paris — we shot them in Venice. There's a chance that we would have captured more of Venice than has been captured before; that was certainly our aim. When Angie and I first talked about it, we said, "Let's really make Venice a character. Let's have it be about Johnny's character, about her character, but also about Venice. Let's really shoot it there." Luckily, our producer was game for this, Graham King, so before we knew it, we were all in Venice and lived there for half a year, and in some of the most fantastic places along the Grand Canal, and I never set foot in a car or a truck for half a year.
MTV: Going from "The Lives of Others" to this film, was there any added pressure in having such big-name actors attached?
Von Donnersmarck: I always feel, at the end of the day, the director is one of those many people hiding behind the cameras. I think the spotlight always should be on the actors. The actors I had on "The Lives of Others" were, maybe not so known so much in America, but in Europe and in Germany they were very well-known. I don't feel that it was that different in that aspect. It was very different genre-wise and just the feel of the film, but that was part of the fun for me. I feel it's more fun to try out something completely different, and after you've done something more heavy, to do something light and breezy, it was almost a kind of self-therapy there.
MTV: What do you think will resonate most with audiences?
Von Donnersmarck: I think that they'll love just seeing a world where somehow everything is beautiful, not so much in a way that seems unrealistic. All of the things we show in the film could happen like they do in the film and could look the way they do, but even if there's a scene with 500 extras, every single extra will have been designed and sculpted by the most fantastic designers that Hollywood and Italy have to offer, so I hope people will feel transported into a world that is as beautiful as it could be, that's what I was aiming for. Most of all, I just hope they will be transformed by — as I was on the set — by the incredible chemistry and the joy and love between our marvelous actors, between Angie and Johnny, and Paul and Timothy Dalton and Steven Berkhoff, all the incredible actors that we had.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "The Tourist."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
'The staging was phenomenal for the film,' Joe Jonas says.
By Jocelyn Vena
Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, Joe Jonas and Kevin Jonas
Photo: Jim Spellman/ WireImage
Pack your bags, pre-stamp your envelopes and get the campfire going. This Friday, the Jonas Brothers and friends will be heading back to Camp Rock in "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam." And the Jonases say that this time around everything is going to be bigger and better.
"I think overall the production and the music were definitely on the next level," Joe Jonas told MTV News about the sequel to the hit 2008 movie. "The staging was phenomenal for the film. We were always filming somewhere different. Every other day was a new location. For us, that was really exciting because for the first one we stuck to about three different sets, and this time probably having 15, 16 different sets, for us, that was really exciting."
In the flick, a rivalry divides two squads: the Camp Rock kids, played by the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato, and Camp Star, made up of a new group of budding musicians. In that group, Nick's character, Nate, finds love with one of Camp Star's leading ladies, Dana, played by Chloe Bridges.
"The story line is really great. They built a camp for the movie and they blocked off a whole mile radius so that people couldn't really find out what the movie was about. It was a really fun experience, and everyone really kept it under wraps," Joe Jonas explained. "The director was the one who kind of leaked pictures on his Facebook ... of all the people!"
The production really had the JoBros stepping up their game now that they're on tour with some of their "Camp Rock 2" castmates. "We've been able to put on some really exciting shows," Kevin explained. "For us to be able to have the production that we always dreamed of, that's why it's exciting for us and for our audience as well."
Will you check out "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam"? Let us know in the comments!
Related Artists'Night Chronicles' trilogy is a world where the 'worst things happen,' director tells MTV News.
By Josh Horowitz
M. Night Shyamalan
Photo: MTV News
M. Night Shyamalan is not letting the rather mixed reviews for "The Last Airbender" darken his easygoing spirit or dampen his creative verve. Late last month, as "Airbender" continued to rake in dough overseas, Shyamalan sat down with MTV News to chat about his upcoming "Devil," which follows five strangers trapped in an elevator — one of whom just might be the Prince of Darkness.
The film is the first in his planned "Night Chronicles" trilogy, a series based on his original ideas and helmed by other directors, and Shyamalan seems to relish the idea of getting out of the director's chair and into the role of producer, a job he likened to being the goalie on a hockey team.
As part of our Fall Movie Preview, Shyamalan talked amiably about the film's genesis, how he's openly borrowed from other directors throughout his career and why he has such a complicated relationship with the public and the press.
MTV: This is an M. Night Shyamalan film, but it's not an M. Night Shyamalan-directed film. What does that mean?
M. Night Shyamalan: Well, it just means I have a bunch of stories, a lot of journals I wrote, a lot of movie ideas that I really thought I was going to direct, and then I get another idea and I fill another journal. And I just decided to make a few of them and get really exciting young filmmakers to come and challenge me and show me everything and get some camaraderie going. It's so lonely making movies, dude. You sit in a room by yourself and do it, and I've always kind of dreamed of having like, you know, a group of friends and we all make movies and I say, 'Hey, what do you think about this?" And they say, "That sucks! And this is why it sucks," and I go, "Really? Because I thought it was fantastic!" And they have that thing and have different languages of storytellers.
So, basically, we started a series of movies called "The Night Chronicles," and "Devil" is the first one. I hired John and Drew Dowdle, who absolutely killed it in this independent movie called "The Poughkeepsie Tapes," which is an absolutely traumatic experience to watch. We watched it in our house, we had just moved into our new house, and I felt totally violated. I didn't want to live there anymore, and I was like, "Who did this movie?" We saw their second movie, "Quarantine," which was so much fun, and I was like, "I gotta meet these guys, these guys would be perfect for 'Devil.' "
MTV: With "The Night Chronicles," do you imagine this all to be one creepy universe?
Shyamalan: It's funny you should say that. As we were getting ready, we're gearing up the second one, I was like, "Do they all live in the same world? Do they reference something that happened in an elevator down the other side of town in Philadelphia?" And we have a line in there so it could be that and maybe there's, like, little reoccurring characters that kind of tell you this is all one world where weird stuff happens.
MTV: A creepy world that's fun to visit but not to live in maybe.
Shyamalan: Yeah, definitely! A world where all your worst things happen.
MTV: What was the idea in the notebook that created this one?
Shyamalan: I remember when I wrote in the notebook, it's this little black notebook ... choosing a whole notebook about what the idea in the notebook [is], is a whole ritual by the way. It's like you have to match the notebook, I'm really OCD about it, and "This is too thin, and this is not the right, the lines are too thick, are too far apart, this isn't the spirit of this." I'm like insane!
MTV: There's not one uniform notebook for all the movies?
Shyamalan: Yeah. When I go traveling and all, going to journal places or paper-book is a huge thing! Like for me, I make everyone stop when we go and I go, "No, this is not it." It's ridiculous! It's ridiculous. But in this little black journal that "Devil" was in, the first thing I wrote was like, "Five people trapped in an elevator, one of them is the devil. And one by one, they each get killed off until you see who the devil is." And it kind of was like an Agatha Christie nod.
MTV: There's almost like a "Twilight Zone"-ish vibe. Do you think you look for influences? Are you more focused on your own thing or do you think of other movies that were close to this in spirit?
Shyamalan: If it feels similar to something else that makes me feel icky, you know like, "Oh, they did that in, 'Close Encounters' or something," if I'm conscious of it, it bothers me. When I watch "The Sixth Sense," when I see the cabinet scene, it bothers me because it's so familiar from "Poltergeist" with the chairs on the table and I'm like, "Dude, I totally ripped them off!" And so you feel really bad. Whenever I meet filmmakers that I like, I'm like, "Total apologies for ripping you off, and I'm sure I've done it a hundred times and you've been cursing me out watching [like] 'This guy's just stealing my stuff!' "
MTV: As long as you're ripping off the best.
Shyamalan: Absolutely, exactly! The greatest. I met Robert Wise once and I was like, "Dude, I've stolen everything from 'The Haunting' that you made. It's fantastic!"
MTV: When you're producing this, are you on set? What's your day-to-day role in this?
Shyamalan: My feeling about "The Night Chronicles" is it isn't like "Oh, I'm watching over it like a policeman." I completely see myself now as the goalie, and I hired these guys to score as many points, win the championship, and if somebody gets by them, I'll be there to try and stop the puck. That's how the Dowdles felt about it, and I felt really comfortable in that role of "Hey, I'm watching you do your thing, you're amazing. I hired you because I believed in you, I want to be inspired by you, I want you to teach me about filmmaking." And if there's something that goes by, I would be like, "Oh, that kid's performance is really going to be a problem, we should address it and reshoot it," I catch it in the end and we talk about it and say, "These are the three things that are bothering me, we should work on it."
MTV: Most of your work has been PG-13. Is that important to you? Do you think that's better, and do you put a limit on yourself so that it builds better suspense?
Shyamalan: Absolutely, it's exactly right. When you can't show it, it makes you think in much more creative ways of insinuation and glimpsing something and how can we show someone getting killed in an elevator and not show it. You imply it and it happened, and if it's really gruesome, how do you imply it? Your imagination becomes active, and what you really try to do, especially in suspense movies, which is my favorite style of filmmaking, is you have to engage the audience as a participant; it's not a complete painting. Actually there's a quote from Walter Murch that I love about incompleteness and why he thought black-and-white movies had such power is they're slightly incomplete, they're not reality-based. The audience was part of finishing the painting. They were finishing the picture they were seeing, and so it was very customized and very internal and scary to them.
MTV: How do you create, kind of set pieces? How do you amp up the suspense and action if you're confined to that one space?
Shyamalan: I love confinement. It's not something I find as a limitation, but more as an excitement. I get very uncomfortable with the, "You've got the whole world, and there's events happening all around the world," and I'm like, "No, it's one house with a family," and I enjoy that ... thinking what could happen in a very, very small space. In fact, most of "The Night Chronicles," most of those ideas are very confined, big ideas kept in a little area.
MTV: Is there a scene that you felt is really going to scare the hell out of people?
Shyamalan: Oh my gosh, they did such a good job. The best part about me watching these guys do it — because, every single decision wasn't mine — I watch it as an audience member. When we have a preview screening, I'm one of the people screaming! You hear seven girls and me screaming in the back. I'm like, "Ahhh!"
MTV: You're one of these guys that has this thing about them, with your mix of successes and failures. Do you feel philosophical about that, do you understand what that's about?
Shyamalan: Yeah, it's something that I've thought about a bunch because my normal environment of the people I work with, the X-amount of a people that I work with to make movies, is such a calm and friendly and non-confrontational way. I've gotten angry, like, four times in my life, and one was over basketball. We all hang out. I feel very close to everybody. The famous version of me doesn't reflect — doesn't have any bearing. I don't even know who they're talking about most of the time. I think that we all think of ourselves as we were in high school, and I was definitely the uncool kid in high school and definitely got made fun of when I walked in, like, "Those pants?" — that guy. I'm OK with that and I know I'm not going to be Mr. Cool and I'll always be on the outside of things a little bit and had to become comfortable with it.
There's good things and bad things with that, because you see things in a different way, because you don't know how to quite fit in. I don't know quite how to be cool. I remember I had my first movie in a festival in Toronto and all of us had our first movies. There was me, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Baz Luhrmann, we were all 22, 23 years old, and they were so cool and I was making this kind of sincere movie about a kid in India, and I felt so uncool and I was cringing and they were so cool and hanging out and edgy and I'm like, "Uh, uh!" And I kind of feel that way all the time. I wish I could be naturally more cool and edgy. So I understand the dynamic because it feels kind of familiar to me. The guy who makes fun of me with his friends and then comes like, "Hey you wanna hang out?" and I'm like, "But you just made fun of me!" "All right, let's go play Atari."
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "Devil."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos'This is not a film to be seen but a film to be experienced,' director Rodrigo Cortes says.
By Adam Rosenberg
Ryan Reynolds in "Buried"
Photo: Versus Entertainment
You open your eyes and are greeted by nothing but darkness. Fumbling around blindly, you can tell that you're in tight quarters but there's no obvious way out. Discovering a butane lighter in your pocket, you flick it on and discover the grim truth of your situation: You are completely sealed inside a plywood box with no aid of any kind beyond what's in your pockets.
This is the ride you take for 94 minutes with yan Reynolds, who plays kidnapped, Iraq-stationed civilian contractor Paul Conroy in director Rodrigo Cortes' sophomore feature "Buried." MTV spoke with Cortes as part of our ongoing Fall Movie Preview week — the Sundance-spawned thriller will be released by Lionsgate on October 8 — and he admits that the challenges Chris Sparling's script presented are what originally got him interested in the project.
"I was sent this script that many people loved but everybody thought it was impossible to make a movie with. But I felt exactly the opposite," he explained. "I saw the possibility of doing something that had never been done. I love to go against common sense, and everything in this project has been done against common sense. This is the kind of movie that shouldn't be done, it's totally nonsense. It's foolish. It's impossible to make. And that's exactly what attracted me."
Alfred Hitchcock's influence reverberates loudly through the tiny chamber in which our protagonist is stuck — along with the viewing audience — for the length of the film. The confined setting is essential to the staging of the narrative, in that you don't ever really know who to trust. Cortes doesn't shy away from the comparison to the legendary filmmaker either.
"Hitchcock ... came to my mind, because I thought of 'Lifeboat,' for instance, just one boat with six characters never leaving the boat," he said. "So those [sorts of] technical challenges, like 'Rope' and [giving the illusion of] shooting [an entire movie] in a single take, and 'Rear Window,' with respect to [a fixed] point of view." Cortes is quick to name Hitchcock among his five favorite filmmakers, describing his film as " 'North by Northwest' in a box."
Even with aspirations to create a tale of Hitchcock-level suspense, it was a tough sell initially. "Nobody could understand [why I wanted to do it]," Cortes said. "Everybody thought it was an experimental, obscure, strange, dark film."
Sparling's script is where it all started. The pages didn't specify it, but Cortes revealed that a lot of the doubters he spoke to believed that in order to make the film accessible to mainstream audiences, both speakers participating in the film's various phone calls should be shown onscreen. He wasn't having it.
"In my opinion, that was a perfect way to spoil everything, to ruin an amazing idea," Cortes said. "Stories don't have to do with cubic inches, they have to do with [narratives] that evolve or change, you want to know more from them. And that's exactly what happens.
"I didn't want to leave it to the point of view of Paul Conroy," he continued. "I wanted everybody to be inside his shoes. I thought [it was] the key to the whole project. That was the only way of [bringing across] this physical experience. To make everybody feel what being buried for an hour and a half is."
Asked what he'd like viewers to know going into the movie, Cortes said that, in this case, less is more. "That's part of the magic of the film: You never know where you are. And every time you trust a character, you find out that you shouldn't have. At the beginning of the film, you try to trust everybody and at the end of the film you suspect everybody. This is part of the game. This is the roller coaster.
"This is not a film to be seen but a film to be experienced," he continued. "That's the way I made it. I didn't want the film to be seen only with the eyes but also with the muscles and with the bone and with the skin and with the blood. People watch it on the edge of their seats. It's a physical and sensorial experience."
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "Buried."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related PhotosDrew Barrymore recalls an ex's unsuccessful love letter, while Justin Long's flower purchase backfires.
By Kara Warner
Justin Long and Drew Barrymore
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
The topic of love and relationships is a loaded one. It's full of drama, angst, joy — basically a smorgasbord of complex emotions that, no matter how serious and life-changing, can also be rife for comedic interpretation.
One such interpretation is Drew Barrymore and Justin Long's R-rated romp "Going the Distance," which opens Friday. In the film, the are-they-or-aren't-they-dating Barrymore and Long play a new couple who try to make a long-distance relationship work. There are expensive plane tickets, romantic gestures, arguments, etc.
Speaking to the romantic gestures, because there are a few in the film, we asked Barrymore and Long if they had ever had one backfire.
"I once got sent an e-mail that was written in a sarcastic tone, but the person buried the lead and didn't say he was joking," Barrymore said of an ex's attempt at a love letter. "So everything in it was as horrible as you can imagine. That wasn't funny. That was a really poorly executed romantic gesture. I remember another boyfriend, he bought me a cameo [silhouette pendant], and he said it reminded him of me. And I thought, 'This old, silhouetted lady reminds you of me? Huh. OK.' "
Long (who was not the giver of the aforementioned cameo) revealed that his good-intentions-gone-bad gesture involved an unfortunate mix-up of an ex's preference in flowers.
"This was actually a Valentine's Day thing," he said. "I went to the florist, and I saw these amazing orchids. There were, like, six orchids. It was tons of money ... but I thought, 'I'm going to do it. These are beautiful, and I'm pretty sure this person loves orchids,' " Long recalled. "I brought them home. She was always so appreciative of just the smallest gestures I did, so I was like, 'Her head's going to explode.' "
Unfortunately for Long, his memory was a little skewed. "She was like [he winces] 'I ... oh ... thank you,' " Long re-enacted. "She had this story that was like a really troubling, traumatic experience that had happened to her that involved orchids that she had told me. I knew there was something with orchids, I just didn't remember that it was an awful association. It was bad. She was molested by a guy named Fred Orchid," he joked.
Have you had any romantic gestures go bad? Share your memories in the comments!
Check out everything we've got on "Going the Distance."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related PhotosHe front-loads his movies with nakedness, then 'in your mind, everyone is naked the rest of the movie.'
By Kara Warner
Robert Rodriguez
Photo: MTV News
"Machete" was originally conceived as a fake trailer in "Grindhouse," but fan demand convinced director Robert Rodriguez to make the story into a full-length feature, which opens Friday. The film, which revolves around the titular character and his attempt to clear his sullied name, is full of blood, action, crazy weaponry and beautiful naked and half-naked women.
When we caught up with the "Sin City" and "Spy Kids" filmmaker recently, we asked how he decides when to play the naked card and when to avoid it.
"Ask my sister. She tells me, 'You need to have more hot chicks in this movie!' " Rodriguez said, playfully deferring to his co-editor and co-writer, Alvaro Rodriguez.
"I have a trick," he admitted. "I did this in 'Sin City' too. People say, 'There's so much nudity in "Sin City." ' I say, 'No, if you look close, there's only [some] at the very beginning.' "
Rodriguez said showing a lot of skin from the get-go makes people think they're seeing more than they do. "If you do it at the beginning of the movie, in your mind, everyone is naked the rest of the movie if they're scantily clad — because that's how the comics are drawn," he said. "['Machete'] was the same way."
Rodriguez cited a particular scene at the beginning of the film, in which Machete tries to save a beautiful (and naked) woman, as his prime example. He said the decision to have the actress appear sans clothing throughout the entire scene helps enable extra tricks in the plot that wouldn't work otherwise.
"That was the first scene I wrote. There's got to be a girl that he goes to save and she's naked and he's having to run out with this naked girl over his shoulder, but then you put a twist on it," Rodriguez explained, continuing with a pseudo-spoiler. "She ends up working for the other side and tricking him by being nude. That way he doesn't see it coming. Everything else, he'd be able to see a trick coming," he said, adding that there isn't much more skin in the rest of the film (save for a topless scene in a pool). "It's really just that trick."
"Machete," starring Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert De Niro and Don Johnson, opens Friday.
What do you think of Rodriguez's trick? Will it affect how you watch the film now? Let us know in the comments!
Check out everything we've got on "Machete."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
'Well, there are three Jonas Brothers versus one Bieber ...,' co-star Chloe Bridges reasons.
By Jocelyn Vena
Justin Bieber
Photo: Robyn Beck/ Getty Images
Demi Lovato told us recently that the littlest Jonas brother, Frankie, has swag like Justin Bieber. And as it turns out, the elder Jonas Brothers, namely Joe, Kevin and Nick, and Justin Bieber are all known for something they have in common, and we're not talking about their bustling careers. We're referring to their incredibly famous and all-important heads of hair. While Bieber is known for his signature swoop, the brothers Jonas are recognized for their curly mops.
This fascinating paralell raised a question: Who has better hair, the Jonas Brothers or Justin Bieber? Their "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam" co-stars weighed in on this battle for the ages.
"I'm friends with the Jonas Brothers [and] I do have to see them later on, but I know that Bieber has this whole thingy, the swoop thingy," Jasmine Richards pondered. "I'm gonna have to say Jonas Brothers only 'cause their hair's great. ... But Bieber ... can I be in the middle?"
Nick Jonas' "Camp Rock 2" love interest, Chloe Bridges, compared the decision-making process on this issue to choosing a favorite summer sweet. "Well, there are three Jonas Brothers versus one Bieber. So I don't know," she explained. "They might win, however, they both have good hair. It's hard to say. It's like vanilla versus chocolate — do you like the straight or the wavy? It's like ice cream flavors."
Anna Maria Perez de Tagle seemed to have the decision locked: "Oh, the Jonases, for sure! I mean, they all have different hairstyles, which is awesome," she said. "Justin Bieber has the one hairstyle. For sure, the brothers!"
Who do you think has better hair, Justin Bieber or the Jonas Brothers? Tell us in the comments!
Related Photos'Well, there are three Jonas Brothers versus one Bieber ...,' co-star Chloe Bridges reasons.
By Jocelyn Vena
Justin Bieber
Photo: Robyn Beck/ Getty Images
Demi Lovato told us recently that the littlest Jonas brother, Frankie, has swag like Justin Bieber. And as it turns out, the elder Jonas Brothers, namely Joe, Kevin and Nick, and Justin Bieber are all known for something they have in common, and we're not talking about their bustling careers. We're referring to their incredibly famous and all-important heads of hair. While Bieber is known for his signature swoop, the brothers Jonas are recognized for their curly mops.
This fascinating paralell raised a question: Who has better hair, the Jonas Brothers or Justin Bieber? Their "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam" co-stars weighed in on this battle for the ages.
"I'm friends with the Jonas Brothers [and] I do have to see them later on, but I know that Bieber has this whole thingy, the swoop thingy," Jasmine Richards pondered. "I'm gonna have to say Jonas Brothers only 'cause their hair's great. ... But Bieber ... can I be in the middle?"
Nick Jonas' "Camp Rock 2" love interest, Chloe Bridges, compared the decision-making process on this issue to choosing a favorite summer sweet. "Well, there are three Jonas Brothers versus one Bieber. So I don't know," she explained. "They might win, however, they both have good hair. It's hard to say. It's like vanilla versus chocolate — do you like the straight or the wavy? It's like ice cream flavors."
Anna Maria Perez de Tagle seemed to have the decision locked: "Oh, the Jonases, for sure! I mean, they all have different hairstyles, which is awesome," she said. "Justin Bieber has the one hairstyle. For sure, the brothers!"
Who do you think has better hair, Justin Bieber or the Jonas Brothers? Tell us in the comments!
Related Photos'I wanted the audience to experience the races as participants, not as spectators,' Randall Wallace tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner
Diane Lane in "Secretariat"
Photo: Walt Disney Pictures
The fall-movie season is shaping up to be chock-full of Oscar bait, and Disney's "Secretariat" is no exception. Based on a true story, the film revolves around Penny Chenery (played by Diane Lane), the woman ultimately responsible for fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. It's a feel-good film for sure, but it's designed to make audiences weepy.
When we caught up with director Randall Wallace ("We Were Soldiers," "The Man in the Iron Mask") he admitted to being "an emotional critter" and wanting audiences to connect with the characters and feel something when they see the film. Translation: Bring tissues to the theater.
MTV: This is a different type of film for you. Why did the story of Secretariat speak to you?
Randall Wallace: It was funny for me, because I've never worked on something that wasn't an original screenplay for me that I hadn't started in some form or fashion, but everything else I had done involved war. [In addition to the previous two films he directed, Wallace wrote "Braveheart" and "Pearl Harbor."] People ask why I make war stories. I say, "I don't. I make love stories. It's just that war puts love in the context." It shows its depth and extent of the commitment you have to it. With this story, its call to me was that it showed a face and hope and courage as an affirmation that led not just to suffering and pain, but to victory and joy, and that was really compelling for me about this.
MTV: How challenging is it working with horses?
Wallace: It's extremely challenging, particularly because these are animals who could kill you and animals who could hurt themselves if you weren't extremely thoughtful about them. My first job out of college was, I worked with live animals. I would come from seminary at Duke University to working at a place called Opryland in Nashville. My first job, I was a manager of an animal show where barnyard animals were trained to play musical instruments. We had a pig named Pigerace and a duck named Burt Bachquack; that was my first gig. I came full-circle getting to work with thoroughbreds on this. What you find is that they have personalities and instincts of their own, and they're not unlike actors at their best. Diane Lane and John Malkovich are thoroughbreds, and they have enormous capacity. You work with people like that to find that fire and that passion.
MTV: Who in the cast was your "horse whisperer" and really took to the horses?
Wallace: John Malkovich has an amazing affection for horses. John had actually worked with one of the horses that we used — not one of our Secretariats, but one of our background horses. John would actually tell stories about what the horse was thinking and doing, and he would mimic the horse. That not only entertained us all, but it also inspired us. Leadership spreads through a whole organization, and John certainly had it in that way. Diane's commitment to become as fully immersed with those horses as Penny Chenery, the woman she was playing, had been with Secretariat is absolute. You can see it when you see the film. There are moments when she is looking into the eyes of the horse, and it's amazing what you see both in the human eyes and the horse's eyes.
MTV: We've seen movies about horses — specifically racehorses — before. What makes "Secretariat" different?
Wallace: Here's what's different about "Secretariat": The cornerstone of my approach, the first step in directing this movie visually for me, is I wanted the audience to experience the races as participants, not as spectators. Every other horse-racing move I've ever seen was one that celebrated the slow and elegant beauty of horse racing, but not its kinetic excitement, none of its danger and savagery. We had cameras skimming an inch along the ground right at the horses' hooves, with the dirt flying in the faces of the audience like its flying in the faces of the jockeys. We used real jockeys, unlike some other movies. I happen to love "Seabiscuit." I thought it was a wonderful movie. This movie is vastly more kinetic. In "Seabiscuit," you had a great actor whom you were totally prevented from putting on the horse. I hired real jockeys at every point so that the man playing Ronnie Turcotte was on the back of the horse going 38 miles an hour in heavy traffic and risking his life, so that's one big difference.
Another is, let's face it, I'm an emotional critter. I'm looking for the soaring heart of something. I wanted to know what it was like when Penny faced her moment of greatest isolation and uncertainty and how she responded — her moments of sorrow and her moments of greatest joy. And I wanted the audience to participate too, and not just sit back and watch it. That's a problem with our society: It's been all too easy for us to become spectators in life, and I want to be a participant and I want the audience to share that too.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "Secretariat."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related Photos'It's quite different from the board game, obviously,' he tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner
Alexander Skarsgård
Photo: MTV News
LOS ANGELES — With the third season of "True Blood" wrapping up in the next few weeks (the season finale airs September 12 on HBO), Alexander Skarsgård fans will have to resign themselves to the fact that the striking Swede will not return to TV screens until 2011. The good news, however, is that due to his standout performances on the show, Hollywood has taken notice and signed him up for several upcoming projects.
One that we've been keeping close tabs on here at MTV News is "Battleship," based on Hasbro's beloved board game. The nostalgia factor alone is enough to make us want to see this film, but the cast — including Skarsgård, "Friday Night Lights" breakout Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna and supermodel Brooklyn Decker — is eye-candy icing on the cake.
When we caught up with Skarsgård at HBO's Emmy afterparty on Sunday, we asked him what he thinks about being in a film based on a board game.
"I don't really think about that very much. It's quite different from the board game, obviously," he said with a smile. "Pete is a great guy — the director, Peter Berg — and I'm just excited to start it, I really am." Skarsgård added that he flies to Hawaii this week to begin production.
Asked whether the film will feature any gratuitous shots of him and his co-stars running around battleships, looking pretty with big guns, Skarsgård was unsure. "I play a commander of one of the destroyers in the Navy, so, that's a big gun," he offered.
The topic of big guns brought up the current 3-D trend — will fans get their first three-dimensional look at Skarsgård in the flick? "No," he said. "I don't think so."
"Battleship" is set for release May 25, 2012.
Check out everything we've got on "Battleship."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
'I'm thrilled,' the 'Pacific' actor says of joining high-profile series.
By Kara Warner
Rami Malek
Photo: Mark Sullivan/ WireImage
Just when it seemed like things were all quiet on the "Twilight" front — save for a few updates from actress Nikki Reed and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg — "Entertainment Tonight" reports that "Pacific" star Rami Malek will be joining the "Breaking Dawn" cast as Egyptian vampire Benjamin.
"I think it's going to be great," he told "ET." "It's going to be super exciting, and I'm thrilled."
In addition to "The Pacific," Malek has appeared in various films and TV shows, most recently in the "Night at the Museum" movies as Ahkmenrah. He is also in Tom Hanks' upcoming film "Larry Crowne."
So who is Benjamin? Fans of the books will remember him as a member of the Egyptian coven who, upon receiving word from Carlisle, comes to help Bella and the Cullens battle the Volturi. Benjamin is a young vamp blessed with the special ability of controlling the elements (à la Storm from X-Men), though he has yet to fully master his powers.
Benjamin is just one of many new characters in "Dawn." The extra roles have proven to be a challenge for Rosenberg, who told us recently she's currently struggling with the film's big battle scene, during which the two groups of vamps face off.
"The final battle sequence is a big challenge, because it lasts 25 pages," she said. "It's almost an entire three-act story in and of itself. You have to track hundreds of characters. It's an enormous challenge to choreograph on the page and for [director] Bill [Condon] to choreograph on the stage."
What do you think of Rami Malik's casting as Benjamin? Let us know in the comments!
Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1."
For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.
Stephen J. Rivele and Chris Wilkinson have signed on to write script about Death Row superstar's final years.
By Jayson Rodriguez
Tupac Shakur
Photo: Steve Granitz/ Wireimage
Antoine Fuqua's forthcoming Tupac Shakur biopic will soon have a script: Two Oscar-nominated writers, Stephen J. Rivele and Chris Wilkinson, have been tapped to write the screenplay.
The scribes, whose writing credits include "Nixon" and "Ali," told New York magazine that the film will focus on the late rapper's final day, with flashbacks of the preceding four years of his life interspersed throughout. Rivele added that the script centers on their perception that Shakur was miscast in the hip-hop world in which he found himself.
"It became clear that he was essentially a 19th-century Romantic poet who found himself in the 21st century," he explained. "He was a really sensitive, very romantic, talented young poet who also could sing, dance, and act. But the realities [of the hip-hop music business] were that he had to create this persona of the gangster."
The film is tentatively slated to begin production later this year, according to the magazine. Fuqua has previously said he hopes to find a newcomer to play Tupac. "I want to go to the streets and find him anywhere he might be in the world," the director said.
In addition to a fresh face, filmmakers intend to offer a new take on the life of the fallen rap star, who was murdered in 1996. Rivele explained that the movie won't aim to resolve who murdered Shakur, but rather focus on who he was and the person he attempted to be. The movie will push a thesis slanted more toward asking why anyone would have wanted to kill the talented superstar.
"He was obviously very angry, and had been subjected to a great deal of violence at home, in the streets and in prison," Rivele said. "But he was just beginning to shed that anger and look for a purer voice. ... He was in the process of changing himself and entering a new phase of his life — essentially a Romantic vision — and had set up a new label and a new production company to create it. He saw the contradiction between the musical persona of 'Thug Life,' and his essential nature as a gentle, sensitive person. And that was partly responsible for his murder: He was not a gangster, but the people around him were. They saw he was going to leave, that they were going to lose him, and so I think they decided to kill him."
Who would you cast to play Tupac in a biopic? Share your choices with us in the comments section.
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related ArtistsActor says he is 'lucky' to work with his 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' co-star.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Kara Warner
Tom Hanks at the HBO Emmy afterparty on Sunday
Photo: Jason LaVeris/ FilmMagic
Tom Hanks is very excited to get work started on the film adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." Why? Well, aside from the story — which follows a nine-year-old boy in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks — he can't wait to work with fellow Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock.
"Well I have left a voicemail for Sandra ... Sandy. Can I call her Sandy? I can call her Sandy. I think she called the office back, but I hope to talk to her very, very, very soon," the Emmy-winning Hanks told MTV News at the HBO Emmy afterparty. "The story is magnificent. Eric Roth wrote a brilliant screenplay, which makes our lives very easy because you just read it and you say, 'I would be honored to be a part of this.' "
Although he isn't a close friend of Bullock, he does admire her work. "I am a huge Sandra Bullock fan. I've only met her a couple of times. She is a magnificent actress," he raved. "And every time we've seen her, even just as recently as 'The Proposal' and 'The Blind Side,' we've thought, 'We'd be lucky to work with her.' "
"Extremely Loud" is focused on a New York boy whose father was killed in the 9/11 attacks. The boy finds a key that belonged to his dad, but he doesn't know what it unlocks; the plot follows his attempt to answer that question. Foer's book employs an untraditional writing style that incorporates multiple interconnected story lines, photographs and the like.
The rights to the novel were first acquired several years ago. Scott Rudin is producing and Stephen Daldry ("The Hours") is attached to direct, with a script from "Forrest Gump" writer Eric Roth. Warner Bros. is the lead studio on the project.
Related Photos'She took the part and ran with it,' director says of film's star Portman.
By Eric Ditzian
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
Photo: 20th Century Fox
In one corner, you have Mickey Rourke, all serrated flesh and oozing blood, leaping from the top rope because that's how wrestlers roll. In the other corner, you have Natalie Portman, austere and intense, turning pirouettes because that's what a ballerina is born to do.
The two are connected, if you can believe it. And why not? As Darren Aronofsky explains, 2008's Oscar-nominated "Wrestler" is in essence a companion piece to his forthcoming "Black Swan." The athletes he focuses on are so consumed with their professions that they are swept up and eventually overtaken, with the end result being that there is no dividing line between ballerina and ballet, between wrestler and wrestling.
In the new film, Natalie Portman stars as Nina, a New York City ballerina about to assume the lead position in her company for a production of "Swan Lake." Competition and disturbing psychological warfare arrive in the form of the rival dancer Lilly (Mila Kunis), who awakens in Nina a dark side that brings objective reality into question.
Aronofsky has been wanting to make a film about the world of ballet for a decade. In a recent interview with MTV News, the director spoke about the movie's psychological and supernatural undertones, the research he did for the film and the much-buzzed-about make-out session between the two leading ladies.
MTV: Let's begin with the "Black Swan" trailer, because it really seemed to capture people's imaginations. How involved to you get in the process? What are you looking to communicate and also withhold?
Darren Aronofsky: It's funny, because I literally finished the film yesterday. It's been a incredible mad dash to the finishing line, and to be frank, I really surrendered to the studio and I have to credit Fox Seachlight with doing a lot of the heavy lifting. In the past, I've worked very hard on the trailers, but I just didn't have any time. I had to finish the movie. When I saw the trailer for the first time, I was very impressed. I thought it was exciting. You never know how audiences are going to react. I generally do these films that are hard to fit into boxes and they're hard to sum up in two minutes. I'm glad people are enjoying it.
MTV: And I guess it doesn't hurt to have .
Aronofsky: Yeah, I know. A lot of people already knew that was happening. A screenplay got out there and someone wrote about it on the Internet and the next thing you know CNN is reporting on it. It's definitely something that happens in the film, but it's just the tip of the exciting things that happen.
MTV: I think it's kind of interesting for you to be going from wrestling to ballet, because there's probably more of a similarity there than people might think, just in terms of choreography and competitiveness and things like that.
Aronofsky: Exactly. I've always considered the two films companion pieces. They are really connected and people will see the connections. It's funny, because wrestling some consider the lowest art — if they would even call it art — and ballet some people consider the highest art. But what was amazing to me was how similar the performers in both of these worlds are. They both make incredible use of their bodies to express themselves. They're both performers. At one point, way before I made "The Wrestler," I was actually developing a project that was about a love affair between a ballet dancer and a wrestler, and then it kind of split off into two movies. So I guess my dream is that some art theater will play the films as a double feature some day.
MTV: I have a feeling if you suggest it, someone will take you up on it. They'll just make you run the projector and scoop the popcorn.
Aronofsky: Exactly. I'm fine with that.
MTV: I know you did a lot of research for "The Wrestler," going to matches and talking to wrestlers. What was your process like for "Black Swan"?
Aronofsky: Ballet is a very insular world. There's a lot of privacy, and it's hard to get in. Normally when you say, "I want to make a movie about your world," the doors open up and you get tremendous access. The ballet world could give two sh--s about anyone making a film about their world. For people that do ballet, ballet is their universe and they're not impressed by movies. I did find dancers that shared their stories with me, some retired, some working. Eventually I got to stand backstage when the Bolshoi came to Lincoln Center, standing in the wings watching some of the greatest dancers in the world. I got to see some amazing athletes up close and experience what they were going through.
MTV: Are you standing there watching as a director, like storyboarding your movie, or are you just taking in the spectacle?
Aronofsky: Most of my time, I'd be thinking, "This is an amazing closeup, but how am I going to let audiences appreciate this?" Wrestling, it's very clear how to show that. My goal there was to show how much it actually, physically hurt. People always think it's fake, and my point was, "Sure it's fake, the outcome is already decided, but the stunts are not fake. These are real people falling onto a concrete floor." For me, what was so interesting about ballet was these athletes have done it for so many years — some of them start at four or five years old — and they make it effortless, so that you cannot see the skill involved. It's almost impossible to experience how hard it is to get your leg over your head when you're standing on the tip of your foot. It looks so easy. But when you're up close, you can see the muscles ripping. For me, it was about, "How do I make that effort visually exciting?"
MTV: I spoke with Natalie back when she was promoting "Brothers," and she talked about wanting to get away from "cute and girly" roles. "Black Swan" clearly doesn't seem cute and girly. What's your sense of why she wanted in?
Aronofsky: It's kind of weird. It came together really well. One of the best things about the film is the casting of Natalie. She took the part and ran with it. I don't know if when I was working with the writers we were consciously channeling Natalie or Natalie somehow transformed herself to the part, but they grew together. I first talked with Natalie about this project at least 10 years ago. We were in Times Square and had a coffee at the old Howard Johnson. I had this idea of setting something in the ballet world. It was very loose. I didn't have a script. And then I found out she was fascinated by ballet and wanted to play a dancer.
MTV: Was that when it was still that ballet/wrestling film?
Aronofsky: No, that was after. I realized pretty quickly that taking two worlds like wrestling and ballet was much too much for one movie. So we met and for years it was something I've been developing and struggling with and when I finishing up "The Wrestler," a guy who worked in my company, Mark Heyman, he had done a lot of writing and producing on "The Wrestler," and I asked if he wanted to give the ballet project a shot. He jumped in and he turned it into something we could make.
MTV: For Mila's role, you needed someone who looks like Natalie, but obviously it can't just be about looks. It's got to be the right actor. How do you approach that sort of casting challenge?
Aronofsky: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," and she just leapt off the screen. So natural and so beautiful. I'd never seen her TV show. So she was in my head, and then Natalie said, "Hey, for the part of Lilly, what about my friend Mila Kunis?" I was in Europe, and we met over iChat and she was natural and cool and seemed relaxed and excited and then I just hired her. It was a leap of faith.
MTV: At Comic-Con, Natalie compared the movie to a psychological thriller like "Rosemary's Baby." Does that ring true for you?
Aronofsky: I'm a huge Polanski fan. Probably "Repulsion" and "The Tenant" are better comparisons than "Rosemary's Baby." They were big influences on "Black Swan," as they've been on all my films. Unfortunately for my checkbook, I don't really make movies that can be put in a box. I don't know what it is. It's not like much out there.
MTV: It definitely seems that it toes that line of, "Is this purely psychological? Does magical realism come into play?" Not that you're going to tell me the answer, but were those ideas in your head?
Aronofsky: It's definitely an experience. But the trailer should give you everything — it's all in there! No, no, it's got a lot of sources that I get inspired by and influenced by. It's like, "What the hell was 'Pi'?" I'm not really sure. Definitely "The Fountain" was outside the box. I guess "The Wrestler" was the most straightforward thing I've done. I think I was trying to make a sports film. I guess I don't do genre very well.
MTV: You seem to be doing OK so far.
Aronofsky: I don't know. Everyone will see in a few days.
MTV: Yeah, you're opening the Venice Film Festival. Do you get nervous for stuff like that or are you cool, calm and collected?
Aronofsky: I always get nervous when I show work to an audience. Eventually they're going to have to see it. When "The Wrestler" showed at Venice the last time, I walked out in the middle. I couldn't handle it. I snuck back in the end. It was not a pleasant experience.
MTV: You're staring at the people, going, "Are they liking it? Are they liking it?"
Aronofsky: Unfortunately, I don't make the kind of films where you can tell if they're liking it. It's not a laugh-fest. It's a tough job. It's a tough job.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "Black Swan."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related PhotosWriter/director's latest, starring Stephen Dorff and set at L.A.'s Chateau Marmont, premieres at the Venice Film Festival.
By Josh Horowitz
Elle Fanning and Stephen Dorff in "Somewhere"
Photo: Focus Features
You could say Sofia Coppola's work is primarily concerned with stories of lives playing out in the heady glow of fame or notoriety: the talk-of-the-town death-wishers in "The Virgin Suicides," the lonely wife lounging in the fancy hotel while her husband hobnobs with celebs in "Lost in Translation," the mercurial public and private life of the young queen of France in "Marie Antoinette."
Now comes "Somewhere," a film set at the famed Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, where a restive hotshot actor (Stephen Dorff) whiles away his time until his adolescent daughter (Elle Fanning) shows up and forces him to reassess his ways of emptiness and agony. The settings might change — 18th-century France, modern-day Hollywood — but the themes and the existentially troubled atmosphere of Coppola's films remain the same.
Yet the director describes "Somewhere" and "Lost in Translation" as her most personal films, in that she also penned both scripts, and audiences are sure to make many connections between the two. The soft-spoken Oscar nominee doesn't seem to mind. In a recent phone conversation with MTV News as part of our Fall Movie Preview, she spoke openly about her inspirations for the new film and how her own life — from her time living abroad to becoming a mother for the first time — have influenced her creative decision making.
MTV: The title is "Somewhere." Did you come up with it early on?
Sofia Coppola: Yeah, when I was first writing, that was just a temporary title until I thought of a real title and then it became the title.
MTV: Where did this film begin in your mind? What was the genesis?
Coppola: I'm not sure if it was the character or the setting for this one, but I think it started with wanting to write about Los Angeles, and I was living in Paris at the time. So thinking about Los Angeles, this character came into mind, that Stephen Dorff plays, and then I wanted to do a portrait of this guy and it took its shape from there. And then the character of his daughter came after, and that evolved into kind of the father/daughter part of the story.
MTV: What were you trying to capture about Los Angeles that may or may not have been captured in film before? Do you feel L.A. is ever captured well on film?
Coppola: I like "Shampoo" and "American Gigolo," and I feel there hasn't been a portrait of modern-day L.A. And I was just looking at how tabloid culture was while I was living in France. You know, there's always stuff about the Chateau Marmont. I remember going there when I was in college, and now it's so different with our reality TV shows and paparazzi around there. There wasn't Us Weekly when I lived there. It was a different world and I started with wanting to do something set in that world.
MTV: Have you watched some of the reality shows that the people who sign my paycheck created?
Coppola: I haven't watched tons of it, kind of a little here and there, but it just seems when you look at these tabloids, they're all reality TV stars and definitely a focus on celebrity culture more than ever. But I've seen a few. The twins in my movie are from "The Girls Next Door." So we do have some reality TV stars in it.
MTV: So Stephen's character, can you not help but base your characters after different aspects of people that you know?
Coppola: No, he's a combination of a ton of stories I've heard or different people's experiences, and I have put them all together into my imagination of what this guy's life is like. So it definitely is from people I know or stories I've heard.
MTV: Why was Mr. Dorff the guy for you?
Coppola: I just felt like he was the right guy for this part and I think he's a really talented actor and he has a lot of heart and sweetness that I thought was important for this role. And it's nice to see someone that's not in a million movies every year. You don't know everything about their personal life and all that.
MTV: As a parent, how much are you relaying your own experiences with the film?
Coppola: The movie's the first thing I wrote since having a kid. I definitely think that changes your point of view or that it had an effect on what I was thinking about. So the character had a kid, and how it affected him was definitely part of the story.
MTV: What does the script for this one look like versus what I will see on the screen?
Coppola: I don't think [scripts are] a blueprint, and I kind of stay open to what could happen. I don't storyboard everything and have an exact plan. I think you have an idea of what you want. So the script is definitely what the movie is. I think, if you look back on it, it's definitely from that but there's a lot of improvisation, especially with Chris Pontius, who plays the buddy from "Jackass." Part of why I cast him is because he's great at improvising and coming up with things and he's really great with kids. So I knew he would have a great interaction with Elle's character.
MTV: Were there any exceptional improvisational moments that you captured that weren't in the script?
Coppola: Yes, there are always happy accidents because when you're being creative, it's always the mistakes or things that you look forward to that make it real. I can't think [of one] specifically, but I think just putting Chris Pontius and Elle in a room together, and Stephen, the three of them, it was fun to watch that interaction. There are definitely surprises.
MTV: Can you tell me a little bit about Elle?
Coppola: She's 12 now. She was 11 when we were shooting. I was always impressed by her because she's so natural. When she starts a scene, she doesn't shift. You don't see a big difference even though the character is different from her in real life. But I feel that she is really talented and I tried to stay out of her way and not interfere too much. And we talked about it and she had the impression of what I was trying. At the beginning, we did rehearsals, and we rehearsed with her and Stephen together, so she got an idea of it.
MTV: Would you say at this point in your career you're a confident filmmaker?
Coppola: I don't think you're ever totally confident because you're always pushing yourself into new territory to do something you haven't done before. So it's always scary, but I feel like I have a clear idea in my head when I start a movie of what it should feel like and what it should look like. So I guess it's an intuitive thing, but I don't ever feel confident. It's scary. Besides that, I do have a strong opinion. That's why I like directing, because you can be very opinionated.
MTV: Were you sensitive when making this to the comparisons to "Lost in Translation"?
Coppola: When I started writing it, I didn't know what shape it was going to take, so I really didn't think about that. But then after finishing it, I can definitely see that there are similarities. I've only written two original scripts, so I feel this and "Lost in Translation" are my most personal stories because it originates from me. So there are going to be links, because I think, like all creative people, you're interested in similar themes that you revisit. I think each one of my movies has been a continuation of the last one.
MTV: Why use the Chateau Marmont? What are your memories from your time there?
Coppola: I just thought for this young actor guy in a moment of transition, that's where he'd be staying. And there's something impermanent about a hotel. Chateau Marmont is legendary in L.A. and it's kind of a setting for show business. So it seemed like the natural place for it to take place. And I have memories of going there as a kid and then as an adult in L.A., and we would go out there and it was always filled with interesting people for people-watching and it has great stories and a lot of history that I wanted to be a part of it. But I wanted the iconic L.A. backdrop.
MTV: Do you feel the same need to pick the brain of your successful family members?
Coppola: I always am glad to have my dad when I need advice or mentoring. Sometimes I'll show him [something] earlier on, but this one I had a more specific idea of how I wanted it to be and then I showed him when I was done. And my brother is the producer and he helped me a lot in the preproduction phase.
MTV: You're premiering at Venice, right?
Coppola: Yeah, next week. It's the first time we're going to show an audience.
MTV: How do you feel about that? Do you get nervous?
Coppola: Yeah I'm excited to share it with the audience and [in Venice]. And the guys from Phoenix are going to be with us. But I'm excited and it's also scary and nerve-racking to put it out there in the world for opinions and reactions. But I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I like it, so I hope other people will connect to it.
From the saucy Jessica Alba in "Little Fockers" to James Franco's grueling journey in "127 Hours," the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest flicks of fall 2010. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films' biggest stars.
Check out everything we've got on "Somewhere."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related Photos'Takers,' starring T.I. and Hayden Christensen, lands at #2 for the weekend.
By Adam Rosenberg
Ashley Bell in "The Last Exorcism"
Photo: Lionsgate
It was a close weekend race at the box office, but in the end the powers of evil overtook the powers of, well, less evil. The Eli Roth-produced, Daniel Stamm-directed horror mockumentary "The Last Exorcism" took the #1 position this weekend with $21.3 million in ticket sales spread out over 2,874 screens. Trailing only slightly behind in the #2 position was the heist flick "Takers," with a take of $21 million from 2,206 screens.
Even though it emerged on top, "Exorcism" is a bigger winner than it seems to be. While no budget has been reported, the single camera format, absence of big stars and minimal special effects couldn't have driven the film's cost very high. Even factoring in marketing — which has been largely focused online with viral campaigns like — a $20+ million box office take is a considerable win.
"Takers," by comparison, boasts a star-studded ensemble that draws from both Hollywood and the music biz. Chris Brown and T.I. star alongside Hayden Christensen, Idris Elba, Matt Dillon and Zoe Saldana in a crime drama about a high-level, high-stakes bank robbery. The film's budget is reported to hover around $20 million.
It's a sharp dip after that for positions three through five, which are filled by movies that came out earlier in August. The action throwback "The Expendables" came in at #3 with $9.5 million, slightly more than half of what it earned last week. Still, with a total gross of roughly $82 million — more than double its reported budget — in just 17 days, the Sylvester Stallone-directed/written/starring flick is no small success.
Spots four and five went to a pair of Sony releases, "Eat Pray Love" and "The Other Guys," which brought in $7 million and $6.6 million, respectively. The surprise for the weekend was the theatrical re-release of "Avatar." Opening on roughly 800 screens with the benefit of 3-D and an added nine minutes of footage, the movie only managed to pull in $4 million, good enough for a #12 spot on the weekend list.
Related Photos
Duo will reportedly play police officers who are forced to work on a case with their fathers.
By Adam Rosenberg
Bradley Cooper
Photo: Jun Sato/ Getty Images
Deadpool and the A-Team's Faceman may soon be fighting crime together. It's an odd pairing that will be made even stranger by the fact that each will bring his dad along.
Heartthrob Ryan Reynolds and equally heartthrobby Bradley Cooper are attached to star together in an untitled action comedy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The duo will star as a pair of San Francisco cops who are forced to work with their former-cop fathers on a case. THR reports that the comedy is "meant to have an updated 'Lethal Weapon' flavor that plays into edgier R-rated territory," so expect profanity and lewd behavior to go along with the high body count.
The script comes from "Up in the Air" scribe Sheldon Turner, who reportedly sold it for a seven-figure sum. The pitch was first developed by producers Neal Moritz and Andrew Panay five years ago with the title "Blowback"; back then, Dwayne Johnson was attached as one of the stars. Moritz and Panay are producing this second crack at the concept, as are J.C. Spink and Chris Bender of the production company Benderspink and Jonathon Komack Martin of Reynolds' Dark Trick Films. No studio is set yet, but Moritz and Panay are set up at Sony.
Reynolds has spent this summer shooting and promoting next summer's "Green Lantern" adaptation. He'll show up next month in Lionsgate's indie thriller "Buried." Reynolds is also supposed to be reprising his 2009 role as the joke-cracking mercenary Deadpool in a reboot of the character that Robert Rodriguez may direct.
Cooper showed up earlier this summer as Faceman in "The A-Team." He's got a sequel to the smash 2009 comedy "The Hangover" lined up for a May release. He also recently finished shooting for Neil Burger's sci-fi thriller "The Dark Fields" with Robert De Niro and Abbie Cornish.
What do you think of Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper being in a movie together? Let us know in the comments!