It was with no small amount of eagerness that Movieline ventured to the Magic Castle in Los Angeles to meet with screen veteran Barbara Hershey and discuss her work in Insidious, her second horror film in the last four months, following December's Black Swan. There, ensconced in a room in the famed nightclub -- a place purposefully shrouded in mystery -- conversation turned from the James Wan-directed tale to the paranormal and beyond thanks to a series of eerie mystery noises that, fittingly enough, evoked the thrills and scares found in the haunted house chiller.
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A hyper-energized CG bunny voiced by Russell Brand may flit maniacally around James Marsden almost constantly in this week's live-action/animated Easter adventure Hop, but it's very much Marsden's moment to shine. As Fred, a 30-year-old loser still searching for direction, the Oklahoma-born actor plays straight man to Brand's rambunctious teenage rabbit in a PG-rated film filled with gleaming candy factories and Cute Overload-ready characters. He's come quite a long way, and deliberately so, from his role as a disturbed husband pushed to the brink of violence in the upcoming Straw Dogs remake.
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Barely a month after leading the Oscar delegation for her 2010 drama Blue Valentine, Michelle Williams is back on the road again stumping for her latest small, intimate, acclaimed -- and sure, emotionally harrowing -- indie release, Meek's Cutoff.
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Duncan Jones is a director who loves his science fiction. After finding success with his debut feature Moon, Jones assumed the helm of this week's Jake Gyllenhaal pic Source Code, about a soldier involved in a government project that sends him back to relive a dead man's final eight minutes in order to avert a terrorist attack. What's more, Jones spent his down time on the Source Code promo trail whipping up a treatment for his next film -- an even larger scale tale that he promises will be "my last blast of sci-fi." So really, who better to drop some friendly pro-tips on making science fiction cinema than the man currently making his mark in the genre?
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Speaking with Movieline at the end of a long day of interviews for Peep World, an ensemble comedy-drama in which she plays a spoiled aspiring ingenue, comedian/television star/film actress/bestselling author Sarah Silverman clutches a red backpack close, prepared to escape the strange confines of the luxury hotel she's been sitting in for hours. At odds with the confrontational comic persona that dominates her screen and stage persona, Silverman is gracious and thoughtful discussing her character, the wonders of Twitter, and more, but there's one thing she's really tired of: Being known as the "Jewish comedian Sarah Silverman."
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Julian Schnabel strolled into the sitting room, a deceptively casual giant in faded clothes and bare feet. The surrounding paintings -- his own, the collective cornerstone of his vast legend and wealth -- dwarfed him, much as the towering, infamous pink palazzo in which we stood dwarfed the modest West Village beyond its walls. Part monument, part sanctum, it was all universe, indomitable as its creator. Except for one problem.
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Clicking and unclicking his pen with nervous energy as he spoke, director Zack Snyder took Movieline back to the first smattering of ideas that ran through his brain when the concept for the girl-power action fantasy Sucker Punch first took root: Lobotomies. Planet of the Apes. Loss of self. The magic of music. And perhaps the most important takeaway of all from Friday's PG-13, pop culture-mashing fever dream: the idea that, simmering beneath the film's fantastical burlesque numbers and bloodthirsty rampages is a subversive desire to turn the tables on the very moviegoers who least expect it.
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As reported here last week, the new season of American Express's Unstaged concert series commences Wednesday with the unlikely pairing of David Lynch and Duran Duran. Or is it unlikely? Movieline got on the phone with the busy filmmaker today to discuss the pairing, what to expect both in the crowd and while viewing online, and why Mulholland Drive's 10-year anniversary isn't as big a deal as it sounds. Like, at all.
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You've seen Gus Van Sant's Milk, but for the real story of slain San Francisco city supervisor (and gay rights pioneer/martyr) Harvey Milk, you absolutely must watch Rob Epstein's Oscar-winning 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk. The Criterion Collection releases a gorgeous Blu-ray this week, which features the thoroughness for which the company is famous -- a new digital transfer, terrific essays, an informative commentary, and featurettes on everything from the making of the film to the investigation of the assassination of Milk and mayor George Moscone.
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Ben Schwartz is that rare Hollywood up and comer, if only because in addition to working on everything from indie films to beloved television series to hot cable pilots to big-budget screenplays, he's also blessed with boundless enthusiasm. One conversation with the Peep World star (who you might also know as the hilariously douche-y Jean-Ralphio on Parks and Recreation), and you can't help walk away with a sense of Hollywood's limitless possibilities. It's kinda contagious.
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Strange things can happen once fatigue sits in for an interviewee. In the worst of cases it leads to rushed and phoned-in answers. In the case of Win Win and The Office's Amy Ryan, however, it leads to a delightful, almost slaphappy experience -- accelerated by a simple misunderstanding of a question that leads to a new project starring Vin Diesel.
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French filmmaker and DJ Quentin Dupieux directed a movie about a killer tire. I repeat: Quentin Duplex -- who also goes by the name Mr. Oizo -- created a full-length movie about a tire that kills people. A lot of assumptions could be made about Dupieux's feelings toward the American film audience -- who, in the movie, are obnoxious and are eventually poisoned -- or Hollywood in general. But! As Dupieux explains, he's just making fun of himself. OK?
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Simon Pegg swears that there are not as many movie references in Paul as you might think. Which technically may be true, if only because there's a good chance that his new film does feature less than a million. Regardless of the actual amount, though, Pegg, Nick Frost and director Greg Mottola (Superbad) have created a bona fide nerd oasis in Paul. But will non-nerds want to show up to this party, too?
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One of two things happens when interviewing a pair of subjects at once; most often it's some variation on the tried-and-true "I'll take the first question, you take second one" formula. Then there are Win Win co-stars Paul Giamatti and newcomer Alex Shaffer, for whom a more unique, conversational style takes over. Which is to say, unique in a sort of "older brother the younger brother obviously respects but also openly mocks" kind of way.
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In Monogamy, Chris Messina plays Theo, a burnt out wedding photographer who starts a side job that involves photographing clients in a more natural, unaware surrounding. When one of his clients with the provocative handle "Subgirl" (Meital Dohan) shows up for her session and puts on quite a show, it leads Theo down a road of obsession that puts a strain on his current engagement to Nat (Rashida Jones). Movieline sat down with Messina to discuss the dark twists of Monogamy, an audition outburst that led to him being banned for life from the future work of The Sopranos' David Chase, and why it was unfair that Devil got caught up in the stink left over from M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender.
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