There are stuntmen, and then there are stuntmen. And then there is Vic Armstrong -- stunt legend turned action director and now the author of the memoir The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman: My Life as Indiana Jones, James Bond, Superman and Other Movie Heroes. A bit of a mouthful, sure, and kind of braggadocious for Armstrong's tastes. But it's not like it's not true.
"I'm sitting here in this wonderful room with an amazing view, in the sunlight -- so I'm happy." English actress Naomie Harris, co-star of this week's indie biopic The First Grader, sounded genuinely contented when she rang Movieline to discuss the socially conscious, tear-jerking drama in which she plays a rural Kenyan teacher trying to help an 84-year-old man seize his right to a free education. After the film's unusually demanding and tricky shoot -- Harris taught actual elementary school for weeks to the local non-actor children in the cast and never broke character with her young co-stars -- it's easy to see why.
Though he doesn't appear in Dax Shepard's filmmaking mockumentary Brother's Justice -- which follows Shepard (as himself) and producing partner Nate Tuck on a years-long quest to make a martial arts action movie entitled, yes, Brother's Justice -- Chuck Norris figured prominently in the genesis of the project. "Originally I envisioned fighting Chuck Norris in the third act," Shepard explained to Movieline via telephone. "That was our full goal, that I would fight him at the end of the movie."
When Ginnifer Goodwin first burst upon the scene, it was as Justin Long's sarcastic yet unfortunately coiffed sidekick Diane on the NBC series Ed. Now, after a string of supporting roles in films like Mona Lisa Smile and Walk the Line -- and having just wrapped up five seasons as Margene on the critically acclaimed HBO series Big Love -- Goodwin returns to the big screen in her largest role to date in the adaptation of Emily Giffin's chick-lit bestseller, Something Borrowed.
Despite his Oscar-nominee pedigree and Shakesperean theater training -- perhaps because of it, in fact -- Kenneth Branagh was not exactly the first name that came to most moviegoers' minds when Marvel Studios sought a director to adapt Thor for the big screen. But the stirring end results of that partnership say more about the limits of our imaginations than of Branagh's own.
When Mel Gibson's infamous taped phone calls leaked at the tail end of filming on The Beaver, actor-director Jodie Foster was forced into crisis mode with her distributors. "It was just about, now how do we sell it, and how do we get it out there, how do we get people to want to see it?" Foster recalled recently in Los Angeles. Two years and three release dates later, she feels like the timing is finally right. "I think they made the right decision," she said. "I feel like the film's getting a fair shake, and I'm not sure it would have."
Rarely do actors reveal as much, as candidly, as Wes Bentley did in a recent conversation with Movieline. Speaking about his latest film, the Roland Joffé-directed Spanish Civil War drama There Be Dragons, Bentley offered a frank window into his life following the crippling, years-long addiction that waylaid what was once one of Hollywood's most promising young careers.
Forget the brawny gods of Asgard; as Darcy, the sardonic college intern to Natalie Portman's frazzled-but-gorgeous astrophysicist in Thor, Kat Dennings has the weight of the film resting on her shoulders. Her snappy one-liners bring the comic book adventure down to Earth, grounding the high-flying tale of a super-powered cosmic prince (Chris Hemsworth) with a real world skepticism that reflects that of the audience.
It only took a decade, but veteran actor and recent Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo finally has his feature directorial debut, Sympathy For Delicious, in theaters. Written by and starring Ruffalo's longtime theater comrade Christopher Thornton, the film follows the rise and fall of a paralyzed street dweller and aspiring DJ who discovers an uncanny gift for healing the sick, wounded and infirm -- with the exception of himself. The paradox throws him into conflict with everybody from a service- (and money-) minded Catholic priest (played by Ruffalo) to a pair of debased rockers (Orlando Bloom and Juliette Lewis) hoping to enliven their show with a big new thrill. Why not a healer?
The warm months of summer aren't just a time when stars can break out in front of the camera; there are up and comers behind the camera looking to push through as well. Like directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who land their second feature film, the Steve Carell-led ensemble comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love, right smack dab in the middle of July.
Brandon Routh and Sam Huntington scored their breakthrough roles in Warner Bros.' 2006 blockbuster Superman Returns playing Clark Kent/The Man of Steel and his trusty BFF Jimmy Olsen, respectively. But while the film grossed $391 million worldwide, a sequel never materialized. This week, the off-screen friends reunite in the indie comic book noir Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, about a hard-boiled investigator of the supernatural (Routh) on a case with his trusty BFF (Huntington) by his side. Given their easy hero-sidekick rapport in the film, it's hard not to think of the specter of Superman.
The 3-D movie renaissance receives a rare art-house shot in the arm this week thanks to none other than Werner Herzog, the prolific, eminently curious filmmaker who gets stereoscopic with his new movie Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Herzog takes viewers on a rare journey inside France's dank, dark Chauvet cave, where 30,000-year-old wall paintings -- the oldest known to civilization -- relate an ancient culture's stirring visions of art and nature.
Two years after The Hangover became one of the most unexpected summer blockbusters of the last decade, director Todd Phillips reunites with his original cast (and introduces a monkey that is not -- repeat, not -- addicted to cigarettes) in Bangkok for the hotly anticipated sequel The Hangover Part II. It was a long way to go for their art, but that's the price you pay when things need to go a little... well, darker.
What better way to kick off the summer than with the hero whose mighty hammer is set to swing down and launch the biggest movie season of the year? Movieline spoke with Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth -- Australian actor, costume-ripper, and onetime Verge designee -- about his career-changing turn as Marvel Studios' God of Thunder, how he's currently preparing to resume the role in Joss Whedon's upcoming Avengers film -- or films -- and more. By Odin's beard, dive in!
In Disney's high school dramedy Prom, newcomer Thomas McDonell plays an archetypal bad boy straight out of a John Hughes flick -- sensitive, rebellious, and enticingly misunderstood. In real life, the 24-year-old former art student seems such the antithesis of the typical teen idol that you could call him the Judd Nelson of the Tiger Beat set. (His follow-up to Prom: Playing the young Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows.) Surely, McDonell's the only Disney star in history that can make legions of tween girls scream with one brooding glance and say he's performed Ionesco on stage in Scotland. So how did McDonell shoot into the spotlight so quickly -- and what's Jackie Chan got to do with it?
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