With Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich directed the year-to-date's top-grossing film, as well as the highest-grossing animated film of all time. And he's ready for a vacation. But first, he's got to talk to as about the Toy Story 3 Blu-ray Combo Pack (out today), which offers a gorgeous (albeit two-dimensional) version of this terrific comedy-adventure, as well as extras that will keep fans both young and old enrapt. (And you know you cried during the last 20 minutes; don't front like you didn't. I refuse to believe that even Armond White didn't weep at this film's dénouement.)
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Todd Phillips, as I found out, is not afraid of confrontation. And maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that the director of The Hangover and this weekend's new release, Due Date, wasn't afraid to push the boundaries, even in an interview setting. Phillips makes it clear from the start that he's not particularly a fan of Movieline. And to be honest, knowing this now, I actually respect the fact that he went ahead and did this interview, even though, yes, we did get off to a rather rocky start.
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Over the course of six seasons on Weeds, Justin Kirk has portrayed one of the most colorful characters on television. As Andy Botwin, the crafty partner-in-crime/brother-in-law/love interest to Mary-Louise Parker's anti-heroine on the Showtime series, Kirk has enrolled in rabbinical school, smuggled Mexicans across the border, impersonated his dead brother to access a bank account, burned nearly $200,000 on vintage arcade games, dated an OB-GYN played by Alanis Morissette and baptized a trailer park resident in an inflatable pool. And thanks to a recent renewal by Showtime, Andy Botwin will live to explore other absurd scenarios during a seventh season next year.
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Just as the film whose title bears her character's name is something of a mixed bag, you could view its closing credit "Introducing Jessica Chastain as Jolene" a number of different ways. It could be a thinly veiled announcement that a star is born, which would be a little misleading considering the raves Chastain's earned since at least 2006, when she shared the stage with Al Pacino in Salome. It could signal her introduction to the screen, though the actress has been doing TV since landing a holding deal with John Wells right out of Juilliard in 2004. And even if we take it all very literally as a big-screen bow, Chastain has since put eight movies between her and Jolene -- including Terrence Malick's new one -- and it's virtually coincidence that this came first.
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To tie up our ultra-extensive coverage of Project Runway's finale today, we chatted briefly with the two crestfallen runners-up. How did they feel about the final verdict? How did they process the judges' acerbic comments? Are they medicated heavily? Join us for their reactions.
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Contrary to the character he played on Gilmore Girls for seven seasons, Scott Patterson is neither simple, gruff nor a small town diner owner. He is a self-described "tortured" actor/abstract painter/petrified baby frog collector, though, whose answer to beloved parlor game "My Favorite Scene" was so dark and surprising, Movieline decided to save it for Halloween. Can you guess which haunting torture scene The Event actor picked?
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As you know, every now and then your editors like to take an extended lunch, head down to the Vault and poke around for fun, vintage stories. But not all of them have to showcase Charlie Sheen's indelicacy or Will Smith's "no-balls" clause, and not all of them have to be from our '90s print iteration. Take last year's fantastic chat with Saw series veteran Tobin Bell, who spoke at length to Kyle Buchanan about his decades of dues-paying as an extra or bit player in films like Goodfellas, Manhattan, The X-Files, ER, and more -- because on Halloween (and with today's Saw 3D marking the franchise's supposed end), it's worth remembering that life is more than just tricks or treats.
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James Franco is someone I've never wanted to interview. As an admirer of his media persona, I never wanted to get too close -- to see what's going on behind the curtain. Indeed, when I finally did sit down with him last week to discuss his new film, things were going swell until raising that question -- a question met with a pause that felt like it lasted, oh, about 127 hours.
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When you think of smoldering television vampires, you think of Ian Somerhalder who portrays Damon, the sexy-but-evil Salvatore brother on the CW's hit series Vampire Diaries. When you think of philanthropic leaders, you probably don't think of Ian Somerhalder -- at least, not yet. The 31-year-old Louisianan was the first celebrity to involve himself in the Deepwater Horizon clean-up in April and as of last week, the actor was busy organizing a new foundation to launch on his birthday that will help the habitat. When the model turned actor turned philanthropist phoned Movieline last week, he discussed his own childhood interest in bloodsucking demons, this week's Halloween bloodbath, the secret to playing a sexy vampire and his do-gooder streak.
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As a graduate from Julliard, actress Gillian Jacobs initially seemed like the outsider in the cast of Community, which fits since her character, Britta, is an outsider as well. (Witness the way Britta pronounces "bagel.") Still, as the series has progressed, a funny thing happened: Jacobs ingratiated herself with fans in the same way Britta has with the study group; it's hard to imagine Community and/or Greendale working without her. Jacobs took time out of her lunch break to talk with Movieline about tonight's Halloween episode, the problem with worrying about TV scheduling and the truth about the friendliness of the Community cast.
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It took a while, but the hit-man caper/dark-comic love triangle Wild Target finally lands Stateside this weekend with its nifty cast of Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint, Martin Freeman and Rupert Everett. Nighy plays Victor Maynard, a veteran assassin who experiences a bit of a professional block when faced with the assignment to knock off a free-spirited thief (Blunt). Thrown together with a simple-minded witness (Grint) after a separate botched killing, the trio tests the bounds of each others' patience -- and volatile romantic chemistry -- in their flight to safety in the countryside.
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"You have five minutes." That's a phrase to put fear in the heart of any journalist, but there are worse ways to spend 300 seconds than in the presence of Sigourney Weaver, an actress who -- like her one-time Yale Drama School rival Meryl Streep -- is one of the few women north of 60 who still maintains a commanding presence in youth-centric Hollywood.
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It has been a wild year for Jessalyn Gilsig. The Glee star -- who you also know from Heroes, Friday Night Lights and Ryan Murphy's Nip/Tuck -- was Public Enemy No. 1 for most of last season because of her portrayal as pregnancy faking Terri Schuester on the hit Fox series. The outrage has gradually changed, but it has also unfortunately coincided with less Terri than ever before; despite being a series regular, Gilsig has only appeared once this season. Fear not though, burgeoning Terri fans: That's all about to change.
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When speaking to Whitney Able, it's hard to tell what she found more frightening: The alien life forms in her new film Monsters or the real-life dangers of shooting in the drug war ravaged mountains of Mexico -- a location so dangerous that bodyguards were assigned by the government of Mexico, free of charge. Also adding to the complexity of this particular production, there was no script to speak of -- just a general outline. So if or when first-time leading lady Able looks a little stressed on-screen, that may not be 100 percent acting.
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There may be a negative stigma associated with cancer but when it comes to Showtime's freshman series The Big C -- in which a superb Laura Linney stars as a suburban wife who reevaluates life after being diagnosed with cancer -- critics reviewed it positively and a record-breaking number of viewers secured the series a speedy second season pick-up. As the sure-to-be Emmy nominated series hurtled through its first season, executive producer/writer Jenny Bicks phoned Movieline recently to talk about writing cancer, avoiding the "best girlfriend" trap and a Weeds crossover episode.
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