With Warner Bros. Ninja Assassin set for release next week, the studio held a press day this afternoon here in Los Angeles.  While I’ll have plenty of video interviews for you to watch over the next few days, the first one I’d like to share is with producer Joel Silver.  Also, since Silver is producing tons of other projects like Sherlock Holmes, The Losers, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, Unknown White Male, and The Book of Eli, I figure his interview is the first one I should post.

While I didn’t get any major scoops, I did find out what’s up with Lobo and what does he think of Jeffrey Dean Morgan for the role.  Also, we talked about how Francis Lawrence landed the directing job on Sgt. Rock and does he think it might get made next year.  Of course many other subjects were talked about so watch the interview after the jump:

Finally, here’s a link to some clips from Ninja Assassin.

Joel Silver

• Did he always want to be a ninja
• What was the importance of showing Ninja Assassin at Comic-Con
• Lobo talk - talks about the test they just made and how it’ll play at Comic-Con
• When will we hear about casting on Lobo?
• I ask if he likes Jeffrey Dean Morgan for Lobo
• How does he balance all his movies coming out with stuff he has in development
• Says they are starting to film Unknown White Male in Berlin in 2 months
• What’s been his reaction to the footage from The Losers
• Sgt. Rock talk - how did Francis Lawrence get the job and what kind of film will it be. Says it takes place in the future and it’s a different kind of war film
• Does he think it’ll get made in 2010. Says he hopes so.

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While many fans of The Twilight Saga just want to hear Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson talk about the mega-successful franchise, the person who can give you the news you really want is producer Wyck Godfrey.  Stewart and Pattinson star in the film, but they aren’t the ones making the big decisions about the franchise, and they definitely aren’t the ones who can tell you if Breaking Dawn is going to be two movies, or if the teaser trailer for Eclipse will be on New Moon.  But Wyck Godfrey can.  And that’s why at The Twilight Saga: New Moon press junket, I specifically requested an interview to talk with him.

After the jump is my extended conversation with the man bringing the Twilight movies to the big screen.  We talked about the constant demand by fandom for knowing everything now, could David Slade or Chris Weitz be brought back for Breaking Dawn, does he think Breaking Dawn could be two movies (”it’s certainly possible,” he says), is the Eclipse trailer on New Moon, piracy talk, and if he and the other producers already have plans for Comic-Con 2010.  It’s cool if you love hearing from Pattinson and Stewart, but this interview with Godfrey is the one that Twilight shouldn’t miss.

Wyck Godfrey

• The difficulty of balancing the medias appetite versus giving the fans what they want
• Talks about why it was smart to film New Moon and Eclipse back to back
• Breaking Dawn talk - are they talking about making the film.  What’s the status?
• Is he thinking about David Slade or Chris Weitz coming back for Breaking Dawn
• 4:05 - Are they thinking about two films for Breaking Dawn.  Says it’s certainly possible.
• On New Moon, how did he juggle as the producer the story, the budget, and the bigger worldwide scope of it
• 6:00 There has been a lot of talk that the Eclipse teaser trailer is on New Moon. Is that true
• I mention that a good idea would be to attach the teaser trailer for Eclipse after the movie has been out for a week, that way fans would maybe want to go back. He smiles and says that’s a good idea.  Could that be the plan?
• 7:05 Piracy talk
• 8:05 - Comic-Con 2010 talk - Since Eclipse will already be out, do they have any plans to be there yet for the DVD or maybe Breaking Dawn

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With Twilight a worldwide phenomenon, Summit Entertainment sent some of the stars of their mega successful franchise around the world to help promote the movie.  One of the places they went was Brazil.  As most of you know, when you watch any video on Collider, you see two logos.  One is ours and the other is for our Brazilian partners Omelete.

So when Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner were in Sao Paulo, Brazil last week, our partners at Omelete got to interview the two of them on camera.  They talked about going to Brazil, would they want to film part of Breaking Dawn there, and what’s been the changes from the first movie to the second.  While you may get to watch tons of interviews with the stars of Twilight here in America, how many of you have seen one that was filmed in Brazil!  Check it out after the jump:

Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner

• What’s been their experience so far in Brazil
• What’s been the changes from the first movie to the second.  They talk about they now know what to expect and how they had more time on the 2^nd film
• Sexual tension talk
• Some of Breaking Dawn takes place in Brazil. Do they want to come there to film

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During last weekend’s junket for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, I got to speak with Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey for an extended amount of time.  Since we covered not only the Twilight franchise, but some of the other major projects he’s developing, I decided to break the interview up into two parts.   I felt this news was worth a separate article since we talked about D.J. Caruso’s adaptation of the video game Dead Space; developing Len Wiseman’s adaptation of the video game Gears of War; and writer-director Dan Rush’s Everything Must Go starring Will Ferrell.

The big news is Everything Must Go starts filming March 1st and he calls the project Leaving Las Vegas with the humor of Bad Santa!  Also, for fans of Gears of War, he says Wiseman is working on a script and “we’ve done a ton of visual references and he’s sort of put together a whole presentation, so we should know pretty quickly if this version is going to move forward or not.”  What he said about all three projects after the jump:

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When I first heard director Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage were going to make a remake/re-imagining /reboot of Abel Ferrara’s insane 1992 film Bad Lieutenant, I’ll admit I wasn’t excited.  For some reason I thought they’d fuck it up or the movie would be another Nicolas Cage performance where he was just going through the motions

I couldn’t have been more wrong.   The fact is, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a great movie featuring one of Nicolas Cage’s best performances.  He’s absolutely fearless; it’s like he stepped back in time to when he was an up-and-coming actor with nothing to lose.  If you want to see a great performance, you need not go any further Nicolas Cage’s latest role.

So when I sat down to talk with director Werner Herzog, we discussed how he got involved, working with Cage, how he shot a lot of the movie using just a few takes, what he has coming up, and with this being Werner Herzog, he said some quotes that must be heard.  It’s a great interview with a filmmaker I truly admire.  Watch it after the jump:

Werner Herzog

• I tell him how much I loved the movie and ask when did he come up with the movie.  Talks about how fast this project came together.
• I tell him thank you for bringing the great Nic Cage back and we talk about his performance
• Talks about how most of the movie was done on just a few takes.  Also how he didn’t shoot a lot of coverage.
• Did he delete a lot of footage and does he like extended cuts on DVD
• What did it mean to have 2 films in Toronto.  He says it meant more to have 2 films in Venice
• What’s up with My Son, My Son, What Have You Done
• 8:15 - What is he going to do next.  Gives a great answer
• Says he has 5 or 6 feature film projects and 2 or 3 documentary projects he wants to do
• Does he want to do doc than feature and back again. How does he pick
• What does he think of digital filmmaking and 3D
• I try and find out what he is going to do next and he says he is about to leave for Jordan to see if a film he is planning is doable but doesn’t want to talk specifics until he knows if it is

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]]> http://www.collider.com/2009/11/17/werner-herzog-exclusive-interview-bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans/feed/ http://www.collider.com/2009/11/17/exclusive-interview-with-producers-gabe-and-alan-polsky-bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans/ http://www.collider.com/2009/11/17/exclusive-interview-with-producers-gabe-and-alan-polsky-bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:22:57 +0000 Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub http://www.collider.com/?p=11206

While brothers Gabe and Alan Polsky launched Polsky Films three years ago, they’ve been very busy.  In a very short amount of time they got their first movie made, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and they’re developing biopics of Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, as well as an adaptation of Flowers For Algernon.  They’ve also got Sam Mendes attached to direct an adaptation of Butcher’s Crossing for Focus Features.  So while they might be new to the industry, they’re clearly aiming to be around for awhile.

With Bad Lieutenant getting ready for release this weekend, I recently got to sit down with the brothers for an extended conversation on where they came from, how they got into the business, how Bad Lieutenant came together and what was it like on set, what other projects they’re working on, and could there be more Bad Lieutenant’s in other cities.  It’s a great conversation with these two rising producers.  Watch it after the jump:

Finally, as I said when I posted my Nic Cage interview, Bad Lieutenant is a great movie and Cage deliverers one of his best performances.  Go see it this weekend.  Here are the brothers:

Alan Polsky and Gabe Polsky part 1

• Who they are and how they got into producing
• 3:00 - How did they get Nic and Werner.  They talk about how much Nic and Werner did to the script and story
• 6:20 - Gabe talks about how he wanted Werner
• 7:55 - is the talk of taking Bad Lt. to other cities true
• 9:35 - they demonstrated how much freedom they gave Nic and Werner.  Do they think it’ll help them if they wanted to make another Bad Lt. and have they gone out to other people to do another version

Alan Polsky and Gabe Polsky part 2

• How difficult was it to get financing for the film
• Were they on set every day and what was that like.  They tell some great behind the scenes stories
• 4:20 - They talk about what they are developing.  They say they have a Einstein project and a Sigmund Freud project.  They say they’d like to do a Charlie Kaufman type movie for Freud.
• 7:00 - Do they think it’s going to be easier for future projects to get made since they can point at Bad Lt. and show what they did on that
• 8:30 - did they approach Charlie Kaufman for Freud and they say they did ask him but he didn’t want to do it
• 9:15 - Gabe says they are developing a project at Focus with Sam Mendes called Butcher’s Crossing.  Calls it a “revisionist western”.
• 9:40 - Flowers for Algernon talk.
• 10:20 - what might be on the DVD/Blu-ray

As I wrote this summer when I posted my exclusive Comic-Con interview with The Twilight Saga screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, she has the difficult task of trying to bring Stephanie Meyer’s insanely popular book series to the screen. So while writing any movie is difficult, writing one that has so many passionate and knowledgeable fans is taking it another level. Luckily for her, the Twilight fans I’ve spoken with have really enjoyed her work and are anxiously awaiting the sequels.

When I spoke to Melissa Rosenberg a few months ago we talked about how the increased budget changed the way she writes and what did she have to edit out of books two and three to make them into movies.  This time I decided to ask about her reaction to watching New Moon, has she seen any of Eclipse, who came up with the way to keep Rob Pattinson in the movie as a ghost-type image, and I also tried to find out, hypothetically speaking, if she thinks more would have to be changed from the book in the eventual fourth movie, Breaking Dawn.  I also asked if she has an opinion on Breaking Dawn being two movies.  If you’re a fan of The Twilight Saga, you’ll love the interview.  Take a look after the jump:

Melissa Rosenberg

• What was her reaction to seeing the film for the first time
• How hard has it been to find the voice of the movie versus the fans expectations
• Who came up with the way to keep Rob Pattison in the movie as a ghost type image
• Has she seen any of Eclipse
• How similar are the movies to the books and did she add anything
• 7:00 Breaking Dawn talk - hypothetically speaking, does she think more would have to be changed from the book in the 4^th movie
• Does she have an opinion on the 4^th movie possibly being two movies

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Remember when you thought Nicolas Cage was one of the best actors in the business.  When he made films like Leaving Las Vegas, Raising Arizona, Vampire’s Kiss, and Face/Off (and I don’t want to hear he wasn’t great in Face/Off, cause he was).  Well, I’m happy to report the amazing Nicolas Cage is back and he can be seen in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which opens in limited release this weekend.  While I was one of the people that wondered if Cage and Werner Herzog could do justice to the Bad Lieutenant name, I really shouldn’t have been worried, as Bad Lieutenant is an awesome movie and something that you should go see in a crowded theater this weekend.  Also, Cage hasn’t been this good in years.

So to help promote the film, I recently attended a press conference with Cage.  He talked about his character, making the film, and a lot more.  You can either read what he had to say or listen to the audio after the jump:

And if you aren’t familiar with Bad Lieutenant:

In the film, Cage plays a rogue detective who is as devoted to his job as he is at scoring drugs –  while playing fast and loose with the law.  He wields his badge as often as he wields his gun in order to get his way.  In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina he becomes a high-functioning addict who is a deeply intuitive, fearless detective reigning over the beautiful ruins of New Orleans with authority and abandon. Complicating his tumultuous life is the prostitute he loves (played by Eva Mendes). Together they descend into their own world marked by desire, compulsion, and conscience. The result is a singular masterpiece of filmmaking: equally sad and manically humorous.

Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans stars Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner, Fairuza Balk, Shawn Hatosy and Jennifer Coolidge. The film was written by William Finkelstein and was directed by Werner Herzog.

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Here’s the transcript, or you can listen to the audio by clicking here.  The press conference was Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Jennifer Coolidge and Werner Herzog.  I only transcribed Cage because I have an exclusive interview with Werner Herzog going online later tonight.

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Question: How would you describe your character?

Nicolas Cage: He just is. I don’t judge him, or think of him as bad or good. It’s more existential. Not a part of any religious program, which is what I think separates it mostly from the other film. It just is.

You were instrumental in choosing the location. What is it about New Orleans that led you to talk to Werner Herzog about filming there?

Cage: I felt that I had to go through a catharsis, that I had to face my fears. New Orleans is a very potent city in my life for various reasons. It’s a combination of different energies - African, French, English, Spanish, and there’s a lot of magic there, and I’ve had a lot of experiences there, and I wanted to go back there and confront it. I knew that I would channel that energy, and it could either be a disaster, or be something beautiful, or so I was up for the challenge.

Did you have fun letting loose for this role?

Cage: I just felt I was in the zone, and came prepared, and did what I had to do. I thank Werner for letting me go. I didn’t need to be pushed, I didn’t need to be pulled, I just came in and did what I needed to do, and I thank Werner for having the guts to let me do it.

What else do you have to add on your comments about this role being Impressionistic, as you also described your Leaving Las Vegas role as being photorealistic?

Cage: A lot of people like to say things like “over-the-top”, but you can’t say that about other art forms, such as a Picasso, or a Van Gogh, but why can’t it be the same with acting? In Leaving Las Vegas, I had a couple of drinks. I wanted to. I had prescribed scenes where I decided I would get drunk, and anything goes. And I’m glad I did it. But with Bad Lieutenant, I say that this is Impressionistic, because I was totally sober, and I was looking at a landscape from over 20 years ago, and I wasn’t sure I could do it. It was a challenge. But I believe that the filter of my instrument would give you something more exciting because it was Impressionistic.

What is your acting process? Do you like to do a lot of rehearsals? Does it meld with Werner Herzog’s directing style?

Cage: I think Werner and I had a perfect marriage. He moves very quickly. My best takes are my first two takes. He has confidence in what I’m going to do and I have confidence in what he’s going to do, that he’ll get it. Sometimes I do love to rehearse, but I always switch it up depending on whom I’m working with. I know Werner likes to do as little rehearsal as possible, because he likes freshness and spontaneity, and I appreciate that.

This is your second collaboration with Eva Mendes, in a very different kind of movie from Ghost Rider. What did you two learn from or about each other working together for the second time?

Cage: I just feel that Eva has evolved. She was excellent in Ghost Rider, but there’s a new liquid, soft Eva Mendes that’s very fluid, and spontaneous in this film. I’ve been a fan of her work, and becoming an even greater fan as I continue to see her growth, and I hope we work together again.

What is your working relationship like with Val Kilmer?

Cage: Val and I have an interesting relationship. We have mutual respect for one another, and kept correspondence with each other over the years. We don’t have a friendship per se, but would write letters to each other, from one actor to another, offering support to one another, as we did for Tombstone and Leaving Las Vegas. We always knew there was camaraderie there, and I would say that the best actors of my generation that I would call geniuses are Val Kilmer and Robert Downey, Jr. So to get a chance to work with Val was a good thing, and I hope we’ll have more to do together. He is my brother, in many ways, as a fellow artist, and I hope we’ll find another movie to do together.

What are the differences to you in acting in independent films, and acting in Hollywood films?

Cage: I have been blessed to be able to be eclectic, and I thankful for that. As I got older, with my work, I became aware of the responsibility of film, and I feel one of the best ways I can apply myself as an actor, is to go beyond movie stardom and celebrity. These movies, these so called Popcorn movies, or family movies, actually provide something quite beautiful and something quite necessary, which is a family bonding experience. So God bless the popcorn film. Especially movies where you can take the kids, because I remember looking forward to seeing these movies with my parents, and if I can give that back, I’m gonna do it. I don’t care if people have criticism for it or not, I think it’s a good thing. And I still have interest in the midnight audience. I wanna make movies for my roots, the people who like to go see Bad Lieutenant at midnight, or Vampire’s Kiss, or Bringing Out The Dead, or Wild At Heart, so I’m gonna keep doing a little bit of everything.

How did you deal with having a bad back throughout the film? Did it take coaching? How come there are no Southern accents?

Cage: Let’s be totally honest - I designed Terence. I came in with a vision, and a bad back, I was thinking of things like Richard the Third. I like to get my body into it. My mother was a dancer, so I like to use the body as part of the instrument of acting. So I saw this back injury as an opportunity to transform myself. So that’s where that came from. The dialect, Werner and I agreed, we don’t need it. He could have been from anywhere. He is a New Orleans cop, his identity was New Orleans, he took pride in being in the South, he said, “We don’t hit women down South,” so that’s his identity, but he could have been from anywhere. Just like me.

What are some of the influences that helped you develop the personality of your character?

Cage: I was in Australia when I got the script. The strangest thing is that in Australia, they still use cocaine to clear your sinuses, and I had a massive sinus infection. I was trying to understand how to recall something from 100 years in my past, and I couldn’t get it, and then they sent me to the doctor, and he put this cocaine solution in my nose, then I came out and just started taking notes, and I noticed that my mouth was getting really dry, and I was feeling very invincible, then I started doing the scenes, and improvising the scenes, and coming up with ideas, and swallowing a lot. Then I was graphing it in the script, finding scenes where he was doing coke, and figured out how to behave, to start swallowing a lot, or do a lot of lip smacking. Or scenes where he’d be doing heroin, and I figured he’d be very itchy, and there’s gonna be nodding, and he’s gonna be much slower. The problem is, I didn’t know when Werner was gonna cut the scene with me taking the heroin, or the scene with me taking the coke, so we’d have to regraph the whole direction of the performance.

At this point in your career, you basically do what you want to do. What do you look for when choosing a role, and are you satisfied with continuing to play dark characters?

Cage: I do have a personal code that I try to apply. I may be alone in this, but I do sense the power of film, in that movies have the ability to literally change people’s minds. That’s pretty powerful stuff when you consider that.  So I try to be responsible with what I want to project, in terms of who’s going to go see it, particularly when it pertains to children, which is a priority of mine. So I am trying to go way from too much killing, and gratuitous violence and things like that, and if I do play a character like that, I have to understand why he’s like that, how he got there, to be that way. And then it’s just the matter of figuring out whether there’s some truth in it, is there any way I can play the part truthfully, can I give you something new, or unusual, that has a bit of truth.

You’ve done an interesting job of bringing the eclectic turns that you want to bring into popcorn films. Do you plan that meticulously?

Cage: I came out of independent film, that’s my roots. I used my independent film as a laboratory, and used what I could discover in that laboratory, because people are going to lose millions and millions of dollars, and I cherry-picked the gold, and applied it to movies like Face/Off,  so if you look at Face/Off, which is a huge movie, there are bits and pieces from Vampire’s Kiss that I pulled out, because not too many people saw Vampire’s Kiss, but I really got a chance to fuse that into my work in Face/Off, and I keep doing that. They work well together.

What validates your work for you at this point in your career?

Cage: I don’t need anybody to tell me anything, really. I just feel it. It’s a zone thing. It’s hard to describe these things, because they’re pretty abstract. If you can imagine like there’s a solid piece of wax in the center of your heart, and there’s a little needle that’s pressing through the wax, and it gets out to the other side, then you know you’ve hit it. That’s what it feels like.

One of my favorite movies is director Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused.  While many filmmakers try and make moments feel real, Dazed and Confused is like watching a documentary.  Everything feels like it’s really happening and nothing feels forced.  I think it’s one of the most accurate portrayals of high school ever made and I cannot recommend the film enough.

While Dazed didn’t exactly do well when it got released, it’s one of those films that’s consistently played on cable and always sold well on DVD.  It’s the kind of film any studio would want to have in its library.  So when Richard Linklater announced he was going to make That’s What I’m Talking About, a “spiritual sequel” to his 1993 film and it would take place on a college campus in the 80’s, I thought there would be a bidding war among studios wanting to build off the massive cult success of the original.  But there wasn’t, and a film that many of us were dying to see never got off the ground.

So earlier today when I sat down with Linklater to talk about his new film Me and Orson Welles, we discussed what happened to That’s What I’m Talking About and he told me a lot more about the film and what really happened.  The good news: it’s still a project he really wants to do and he has a plan to make it happen!  Watch what he had to say after the jump.  And Universal, if you’re reading this, make this film with Linklater and then you can package Dazed with this one!

While I strongly recommend watching the interview below, here are some of the highlights:

• He got the budget of That’s What I’m Talking About down to 14 million.  He had the financing in place but due to a lack of distribution, the project fell apart.
• When I asked him what it’s about, he told me, “I carefully called it a spiritual sequel to Dazed cause it’s not the same characters.  If Dazed was my High School, this is my college.  It’s about a weekend in college in that time period.  It’s funny…I think it’s the funniest thing I ever wrote.”
• The next time he tries to get the film off the ground, he’s going to get actors attached, then try and get the money together.
• Says he took one meeting with Jack Black about School of Rock 2 and everyone reported they were making the sequel.
• Says a possible next project is a true crimes story that is also a black comedy.

Finally, what you’re about to watch is only part of my extended interview with Richard Linklater.  Look for a lot more from this great filmmaker over the next few days.

Richard Linklater

• I ask was he really going to make a Dazed and Confused type movie that took place in the 80’s?
• Further in the interview he says it’s about young men behaving poorly.  Says it closer to The Hangover than anything else out there.  Says it’s about young guys really getting plowed with crazy behavior.
• Says it’s a bad time to get films made right now but thinks he will be able to in the next few years.
• Says the working title was That’s What I’m Talking About
• I ask if it was the budget that did him in and he says he had it down to 14 million.  He even had financing but what did him in was no distribution!
• I ask if he had cast attached - says he didn’t but the next time he takes a run at it he’ll try and get people attached
• We talk about future projects and he tells a story about how he’d had one meeting with Jack Black about a School of Rock sequel and it was all over the trades.
• I ask what he might do next and he says he has a few projects in development, one is a true crimes story that is also a black comedy. He also mentions That’s What I’m Talking About.

If you’ve ever watched an episode of The Shield, The Unit, or Lie to Me, you’ve enjoyed the work of Shawn Ryan.  That’s because he created The Shield and The Unit, and he’s currently the showrunner on Lie to Me.  As you can see by his resume, the guy knows how to make shows people like.  So with The Shield getting a new DVD box set that includes all the episodes ever produced, I recently spoke with Ryan about his work on the show.  Of course we also talked about Lie to Me and the pilot script he’s currently writing called Ride Along.  If you were a fan of The Shield, or just curious what’s up with Lie to Me, you’ll really enjoy our conversation.  You can either read or listen to it after the jump:

As always, the transcript of our conversation is below, or you can listen to the audio by clicking here.  The Shield: The Complete Box Set is currently available wherever DVDs are sold.

Collider: So what’s this day been like for you?

Shawn Ryan: Today?

Yeah.

Ryan: Well, I came in and had to go to the editing room on Lie To Me and was in the writers room trying to find out some script things there and now you’re the 3rd call I’m doing to pump The Shield DVD, and I’ve got more ahead of me.

I understand.

Ryan: So, you know, it’s a great job. I can’t complain at all. I get to do something that’s pretty fun and get to make shows that millions of people watch. I’ve got no complaints at all.

You look over your IMDb profile and you’ve been pretty much non-stop for almost a decade.

Ryan: Yes. I mean it’s actually been longer than that. I got a staff job on Nash Bridges in May of ‘97 and I haven’t been unemployed since then.

Yeah, it’s a tough life.

Ryan: So, well you know listen, you can’t complain in these economic times that you have a job.

No, no totally. Believe me, I’m teasing.

Ryan: I know but at the same time part of me goes well geez it would be nice to take like 3 months off at some point. I was on-strike for awhile, maybe that counts. But even then I was on the negotiating committee and I had all these responsibilities, so.

Well, jumping into…yeah I can only imagine. I have some friends who are writers and being on-strike is not all easy going.

Ryan: No, it’s more stressful than having a job.

I’m a big fan of Lie To Me, and I’m definitely going to ask you about that, but jumping into The Shield when you look back at the show, do you feel that…I mean do you have any sort of regrets of things that you weren’t able to accomplish or are you sort of looking back and everything is…you’re walking away completely satisfied?

Ryan: I look at it like you look at the wife you really love. Maybe she’s not perfect but she’s the best you could hope for, you know? I made some mistakes on the show and there are things I would go back and change, but I know that nothing was due to lack of effort. That we did everything we could in the time we had with the budget we had and both time and budget were short on that show. And I’m really proud of it. If anything, my fear is I’ll never be able to do anything as good as it.

I asked the people who follow me on Twitter for some questions and one of the questions that came up from a few people was do you think that a Shield movie would ever happen or will ever happen?

Ryan: Well, I can’t say it will ever happen. It’s something that occasionally some people talk about. It would have to be done, I think, in a very specific measured way. The show was never popular enough to justify making a real big budget movie out of I don’t think. But there’s certainly is interest in the world and in the character and it’s something that Michael Chiklis and I talk about occasionally, so I don’t want to say never and then something happens. But I also don’t want to raise people’s hopes. It’s something that’s within the realm of possibility but I don’t think I see happening in the near term.

Have you ever met any police officers along the way maybe getting pulled over for a speeding ticket-whatever-find out that you’re the guy behind The Shield and interesting things might come up?

Ryan: I wish that happened when I was pulled over. (laughter) The last time I was pulled over and given a ticket, I have a Shield badge on my keychain and I was hoping he would see it. He either didn’t or he didn’t care. I still got my ticket. I did have a director of ours though, by the name of Felix DelCara, who was driving I think he said through like Alabama and got pulled over and he was wearing a Shield hat and they guy was like “oh The Shield. I love that show.” And Felix was like “Oh yeah I directed on that.” And the guy let him go, so I know it’s possible. I just haven’t benefited from it yet. And when you’re a behind the scenes guy like me I think it’s less likely to happen. I think it’s more likely that an actor on the show might get recognized and get some favorable treatment.

Well, have you ever specifically talked to police officers, not related to the show, and gotten any sort of honest feedback?

Ryan: Oh yeah. I just last month spent a couple nights in Chicago riding around with some Chicago homicide detectives because I’m researching a new show. And I knew them because a couple of them were big Shield fans and one of them had won an auction thing and was out here and got to visit the set. That’s how I got to know him. And, you know, they tend to love the show. They will tell you which aspects are a little unrealistic in terms of well, that used to do it for dramatic purposes, you know accelerate this and they’re like where’s all the paperwork that we have to fill out! But they all gave it very favorable grades. And I think they really liked the interactions between the people-you know these guys are good cops not law breaking cops. So it’s a little bit different from their lives in that way too. But they really dug it. I was driving around with them and they were like oh there’s this one guy he’s even a bigger Shield fan than me-just totally nuts. And they brought me by to say hi to him as a surprise. They didn’t tell him I was coming and he totally freaked out. He was just talking how into the show he was and how he’s into Chiklis and everything. I was like “oh let me get him on the phone” and I call up Chiklis on my cell phone and put him on the phone with him. And it just made this cop’s day. So, I’m sure that there are cops who don’t like the show, but I don’t hear from them.

Okay, since I know I have limited time I want to ask you how Lie To Me is going and I know you recently got an order for 3 additional scripts.

Ryan: Yeah, I don’t think that means much. I think that’s just a step that they have to take to be ready. We’ve only had 4 episodes air. We have a 5th one airing tonight and my guess is they’re going to want to see 6, 7, 8 episodes air and see how it’s doing and see the trend line before they make a decision on the show’s future.

Where are you in the production schedule, like what episode are you up to?

Ryan: We’re filming episode 9, probably episode 10. We had an initial 13 episode order. We’re finishing up the scripts for 11, 12 and 13 right now and we just got this order last week for 3 more scripts, so we’re starting to think about what those episodes are going to be. And so there will be time. If they decide to pick us up, we’ll be ready to continue filming and we’ll be ready to do what we need to do.

I’m going to come back to this but I want to ask you, you said you went to Chicago to research another show?

Ryan: Yes.

Can you talk about what show you’re working on?

Ryan: Yeah, I sold a pilot idea to Fox that’s a Chicago cop series. I’m from Illinois originally and spent a lot of time in Chicago and don’t want to say too much about the specifics but it’s a Chicago cop series.

And it’s going to be on, you said Fox. So that means…

Ryan: Well, if they decide to make it and put it on the air, yeah. Right now their commitment is just to a script and I’m working on the script and they’ll decide probably in December or January whether to make it.

Oh I get it, so this is a pilot for next season? Could be a pilot.

Ryan: Could essentially be a pilot for next. Right now it’s a script to be considered to be made a pilot for next season, yeah.

Do you have a title for the show?

Ryan: Ride Along.

There we go. Jumping back into Lie To Me if you don’t mind, where exactly…do you like mine the newspapers for ideas? Where do you pull…I’m just curious about where you might grab some of the characters or ideas for the future?

Ryan: Occasionally we’ll take things or worlds or situations that we read about and use them. The danger in doing that is that there are a bunch of other shows that are reading the same headlines as you. So I either try to look for more obscure headlines or more likely what I prefer is just to challenge my writers imaginations. That really worked for us well on The Shield because then I think you’re more likely not to have stories too similar to what other shows are doing. But we also approach it from a character point of view so a lot of times we’ll just say we want to do an episode where Lightman gets in real deep with Reynolds. What’s a story that would allow us to do that? And let’s come up with something that would allow us to do it, so it’s not easy and it only takes an hour to watch these episodes but it takes weeks and months of talking to figure out what should be in those episodes.

Tonight’s episode seems like it’s a very fun one with like the Mafia and him having to go underground like that. Could you talk about…are there future episodes that are sort of like in that…maybe it’s not a fun episode. I could be wrong. I haven’t seen it.

Ryan: I think it’s a fun episode, but it’s a serious episode too. I think this is probably Tim Roth’s favorite episode of the season. He really loved the script. He had a blast making it. He really liked the story and the story really is that one of Whiteman’s best friends from 20 years ago comes in and you learn that Lightman and this guy as played by Lenny James, that they had a very mischievous and criminal background when they were young. And Lightman has obviously gone one direction in his later years and this guy has stayed on that track. And yet there’s this real friendship and depth that exists between them that Lightman can’t turn his back on and Lightman gets sucked into a situation that’s not entirely good. So that’s the episode. We all think it’s really great. Tim really loves it. But we’re always looking for stories that are personal to our characters in some way to reveal theirs. We just turned in an episode that I think is the network’s favorite one so far this year, where Lightman and Reynolds…where Reynolds becomes the subject of an investigation that Lightman has to do and what’s Reynolds big secret and what’s he hiding? And what’s the thing in his past that’s causing danger in the present for some people? And that episode turned out pretty spectacularly.

And I want to ask you about Twitter. You’re on it. What’s been your…are you enjoying it? Could you talk a little bit about your interaction with it?

Ryan: Yeah, I think I enjoy reading it more than writing it. When you’re a professional writer there’s kind of an obligation to be entertaining on Twitter, and so I think about what I want to write and sometimes I try to entertain. Sometimes I just want to give people an insight into what this job is like and the challenges we face. And other times I’m just aware of things going on in the industry and I can talk about those as well.  But it’s a way to talk directly to the fans and to remind people that for instance tonight we’ve got an episode on. So go ahead and watch and it’s also little small sample size. People write back afterwards about what they think about the episodes and everything. So I enjoy it. I’ve only been doing it for a few months. Will I, you know, a year from now will I be doing it this much? We’ll see. But right now I really like it.

I was going to say, do you have a program that allows you to see what people are sending you and do you try to respond to a lot of them?

Ryan: I don’t really have a lot of time to respond to all of them, but I can check out, you know, the people who write @shawnryantv. I see what those comments are.

And jumping back into The Shield, am I wrong about this? Is it available on Blu-ray?

Ryan: It’s not and right now there are no plans to. We filmed in a very basic Super-16 film, and I don’t understand all the technologies and all the techno-speak but my understanding is that right now it’s not an ideal candidate to be put on Blu-ray because of the quality of the film. I think they don’t feel there’d be enough distinction between the shitty grainy look that was intentional of the show that you achieve just through basic DVD. At least that’s how it’s been explained to me, so for the moment anyways it’s not available on Blu-ray.

I’ve heard this from other show people-from show runners-who has said that not everything is an ideal candidate for Blu-ray and it depends on the way it was shot as to whether or not…

Ryan: You have to understand it’s not my area of expertise. I’m not into film stock and all that kind of stuff, but I was just told that, you know, that they think the highest quality, for now anyways, they can achieve is just a pure DVD and they wouldn’t be giving any added value by putting it on Blu-ray.

Cool. Well, I want to thank you so much for giving me your time today and I really hope that Lie To Me gets picked up.

Ryan: Oh me, too. I really appreciate it. Keep watching!

Having made her acting debut as a teenager, Penelope Cruz has shown an extraordinary ability for playing strong, memorable women. Whether it’s in her four films with Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, or her work with American director Woody Allen, which earned her a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, the striking and opinionated actress puts her all into every performance, as is evidenced on the screen.

At the press day for Broken Embraces, her latest work with Almodovar, Penelope Cruz talked about the grueling process of singing, dancing and acting in the highly anticipated, Rob Marshall-directed musical Nine, opening Christmas Day, and explained why she filmed a cameo for Sex and the City 2.

Question: You have two films, back-to-back (Broken Embraces and Nine), that involve the difficulties that a director has getting his next project done. What were those experiences like for you?

Penelope: To tell you the truth, there is a magic factor that is sometimes on a movie set, that is a really, really beautiful thing that cannot be compared to anything else, if you are somebody that is really passionate about acting or directing or the world of movies. Sometimes, when things go well on a set, or when you are working with somebody like Pedro Almodovar, Woody Allen, Rob Marshall or somebody so talented and so inspiring, it’s really beautiful, what happens there. And, it’s true that those two movies are, in a way, an homage to the world of cinema. It was very, very beautiful to see that.

In Broken Embraces, we had two crews, the real one and the fake one. The first few days, it was a little bit confusing to know who was real and who was an actor. I would step back and take pictures of the two sets. The set was so huge and so alive, and such a beautiful chaos.

There is a lot of chaos on a movie set, which Nine is a lot about. Nine is about the chaos of creating and the crisis of a director. So, it’s been very interesting for me. The whole year has been about movies that were an homage to cinema.

Can you talk a little bit more about the process you went through, making Nine?

Penelope: When they showed me the choreography for Nine, for “A Call from the Vatican,” my solo number, I looked at the dancer doing the number and the choreography that Rob Marshall and Joan DeLuca put together, and I almost fainted. I thought, “This is impossible. I won’t be able to do that.”

And then, you start doing it and, day after day, you put in the hours and you feel that it starts taking shape. When you finally do it, you have this feeling of freedom that is amazing. That’s something that I really like about this job. When you really have the preparation time and things start taking the shape that they need, you have a beautiful feeling that comes from the hard work.

Is it a juggling act to do a film while you’re also learning an entirely different skill that you will probably never use again, for the rest of your life?

Penelope: Well, the film is a musical, so it was really about that. There was no way to do that movie without learning those things. We also had to audition for the singing and the dancing. It was a huge part of it, and there was no way to fake anything.

Is this a year that you feel you’ve really stretched yourself, as an actress? Did you gain a lot from doing films that show so many different sides of your talent?

Penelope: Yeah. I feel like I learned a lot because of working with all these amazing people. And, I enjoyed the process of making both movies a lot. They could not be more different.

And then, to be able to explore the genre of the musical is nice. It was great to be able to sing professionally, for the first time, and dance, which was something that I did growing up, but I had not done for many, many years. It was a scary experience, but at the same time, I think everyone who was there will tell you that we all had an amazing time. Everybody had a smile on their faces, the whole time, because music was very present. We were training for five hours a day, so everybody was very peaceful because we were all very exhausted.

So, for sure, it’s been a year that I will always remember. It was a dream to be able to do these two movies, in one year.

What kind of roles are you looking for now?

Penelope: I don’t know what I’m going to do next. I’m reading scripts, but I have not made a decision yet. Also, I’m traveling with both movies, promoting those films, so I cannot really shoot another movie, at the same time.

What is your role in Sex and the City 2?

Penelope: That’s a little cameo that I did. I shot for half a day. I did a cameo because I’m a very big fan of the show, Sarah Jessica Parker and the first movie. But, they don’t really want me to say anything about the scene or the story.

You’ve said before that you’re interested in directing, in the future. When you’re making movies now, are you observing these directors that you work with and making little mental notes on what they’re doing?

Penelope: I have always done that, since I began working. I always drive directors crazy with questions. And, when they get tired of me, I go talk to the D.P., and then I go talk to the writer. If I have a scene that is not too demanding, I can put time into that. I love learning on the set. But, directing is not something I want to do now. Maybe in 10 or 15 years. It is something that I want to try in my life, and I have felt that since I was very young, but I don’t want to do it now. Now, my plate is full with just acting. I want to focus on that, and then maybe direct in the future.

Alan Arkin is an extremely versatile character actor who has made a lengthy career out of roles in both drama and comedy. During a recent interview, the 75-year-old New Yorker revealed that he just completed a role opposite Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. in the 2010 comedy Due Date (directed by Todd Phillips), about a high-strung father-to-be who is forced to hitch a ride with a college slacker on a road trip, in order to make it to his child’s birth on time.  After the jump, read what he had to say about that experience, as well as what he now looks for in a role:

Question: Have you filmed anything recently?

Alan: I did a piece in a Robert Downey, Jr. movie, earlier this month. In February, I have another project that I’m not signed for yet, so I can’t say anything about that. It’s still in the last stages of negotiation, but it’s a terrific project.

What did you work on with Robert Downey?

Alan: It’s called Due Date. I play his father in that. We did a lot of improvising and restructuring the stuff I was in.

How was it to work with him?

Alan: He’s got a very, very fast mind. He thinks about every aspect of the production. He knows exactly what he needs and what the scene needs, and he’s very quick to be able to play around with the structure, within all those things that are going on. He’s a very, very smart young man.

Why was there so much room for improvisation in this particular project?

Alan: It’s a road movie. I play his father, who he hasn’t seen in 25 years. It’s a comedy.

What do you look for these days, when you’re evaluating projects?

Alan: What I look for these days is that I don’t have long speeches, the characters gets to sit down a lot, I don’t have to learn any foreign languages, and it doesn’t shoot in Minneapolis in February. That’s mainly what I look for.

Having had such a long lasting career, what advice would you give young people who are looking to be actors?

Alan: The first question I ask them is, “Do you want to be an actor, or do you want to be a movie star?” Usually, they want to be movie stars and they don’t admit it. So, then it becomes a topic for a long discussion on what the difference is and what the likelihood of it happening is. If you want to be an actor and you love acting, you can do it whether you’re doing something else or not. You can be connected with community theater or make your own little movies. But, if you want to be a movie star, you’ve got a tough road ahead of you.

I think Michael Sheen is one of the best actors working in Hollywood. No matter the role, he disappears into his character to the point where you forget he’s acting. Think about it: Sheen has played real people (Tony Blair in The Queen, David Frost in Frost/Nixon, and Brian Clough in The Damned United, among others), and he’s also managed to work in genre movies like Underworld and its sequels. And while he’s been in a couple dozen movies over the last decade, he’s about to appear in some very high profile films like Tron Legacy, Alice in Wonderland and some vampire movie called The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Sheen plays Aro, the leader of the Voluri (the vampire governing council). And while I am still under embargo from talking about the movie, I don’t think anyone will be upset if I tell you he’s great in the movie and fans are going to love his portrayal.

Last week, I managed to get an exclusive interview with this fantastic actor and we talked about working on New Moon, his upcoming movies like Alice in Wonderland and Tron Legacy, how he prepares for his roles, and he tells some great stories about how he came up with his character in New Moon and what happened with his driver who took him to the hotel (It has to do with Twilight). If you’re a fan of Michael Sheen, I promise you’ll love the interview. Take a look after the jump:

Finally, in the coming days I’ll have some more exclusive interviews for The Twilight Saga: New Moon so make sure to keep checking back.

Michael Sheen

• How have the last two weeks been (I recently interviewed him for The Damned United)
• Is it nice to be able to talk about the movie now that people have seen it
• I mention how much I enjoyed his performance and ask if he enjoyed being a part of this phenomenon
• How did his previous “genre” work help him prepare for his New Moon role
• What is his secret as he is able to bounce from genre movies to movies that critics love
• Has he been asked to appear in Breaking Dawn yet
• Is he looking forward to promoting Alice in Wonderland and Tron Legacy
• Some great actors still use acting coaches. Does he still use one?
• How did he prepare for New Moon, Tron, Alice and Damned United
• 7:35 talks about New Moon and how he came up with his character. Make sure you watch 8 minutes in.
• When was the first time after getting cast he noticed the Twilight phenomenon. And the Twilight moms
• 9:20 - tells a great story about his driver and his reaction to learning Michael Sheen was in Twilight

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Last week, Sony held a press junket at the Griffith Observatory, here in Los Angeles, to help promote their upcoming animated movie Planet 51.  Since the film takes place on another planet, I think the location was perfect.  Also, almost every press day is held at a hotel, and it’s great to “shake and bake” the junket format.   But while the location was different, that didn’t stop Jessica Biel, Justin Long, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson from making all the journalists laugh during most of their press conference.  While you may be sick of Justin Long and his Mac commercials, the guy is quick on his feet when reacting to questions.  I was very impressed.

Anyway, after the jump to can either read the transcript of the press conference or listen to the audio.  While I always think listening to the audio is better than reading a trancript, for this one, it’s almost mandatory.  There is just no way to get some of the jokes that were being told by reading them.  I promise, if you listen to the conversation, you’ll be laughing as much as we were.  Read or listen after the jump:

If you’d like to listen to the audio of the press conference click here.  Finally, if you’d like to watch 10 movie clips from Planet 51, click here.

If you haven’t heard Planet 51:

The film is about an American astronaut who lands on Planet 51 thinking he’s the first person to step foot on it. To his surprise, he finds the planet inhabited by little green people who are living in a world reminiscent of a cheerfully innocent 1950s America, and whose only fear is that it will be overrun by alien invaders. With the help of his robot companion “Rover” and his new friend Lem, Chuck must navigate his way through the world to try and get back to his spaceship before it returns home.

Q: Jessica, your character Neera is one hot alien. How did you add your sultry sex appeal to this green girl?

Jessica: Do I have sultry sex appeal? Thank you! That’s lovely. It was just about trying to create a 16-year-old girl, who thinks she has this confidence and this sexy, “I am a woman,” attitude and, at the same time, is really still trying to figure it out with boys and is still trying to see how far she wants to push the envelope with authority and what people tell her to do. I think I was just trying to create that person that I felt like I was, when I was 16, which was confident, but insecure, and pushing the envelope, but still feeling like she was a little kid, and thinking she was this strong, independent, sexy woman, but still not 100% there yet. That’s what I was trying to do.

Q: Did you think about the history of green ladies in science fiction, going back to Star Trek?

Justin: I’m guessing no.

Jessica: That would be the correct answer. I never thought about that.

Justin: It’s funny because they had originally cast Harvey Fierstein in Jess’ role.

Q: When you saw the final product with the animation, did you see yourself in your character?

Jessica: I think I saw some physical things that I do myself. It was so weird to hear my own voice.

Justin: Yeah. My brother didn’t know that I was in the movie. I don’t know why. And, he heard a commercial the other day and looked up and saw it coming out of a green alien. I’m sure he wasn’t stoned at all. For me, I thought they captured me pretty accurately, from the waist down. I was amazed at how close that was.

Dwayne: I couldn’t believe it. I was like, “Is that all you?”

Justin: They did take a mold of my body because the animator does this whole 3-D thing. The process is fascinating. But, yeah, it was pretty close. I don’t know. I gesticulate a lot. I constantly, usually very effeminately, [speak with my hands]. That was nice. It was a nice freedom to have, in the room. I could just wildly use my hands and body, and not be afraid of that.

Dwayne: It was the coolest thing, when I finally watched it. For me, it was the first time that I had done an animation movie and tried to bring a character to life with my voice, pitch and intonation, which I thought was really cool. And then, listening to Jessie and Justin, and even Seann William Scott, I thought they all did a great job of bringing those characters to life. In a movie like this, a lot of times, their facial expressions are over the top, and these guys were awesome. It’s something that jumped out at me, which I thought was really cool.

Justin: I found that you have to be bigger. (Director) Jorge [Blanco] kept saying to do more and go bigger. You need to.

Q: Dwayne, how did doing something like this compare to the computer effect in The Mummy 3?

Dwayne: The difference was that, in Planet 51, I had to bring the character to life with my voice. With that, it was Stephen Sommers saying, “Okay, and you have claws. You’re trying to get Brendan Fraser.” At the end of the day, the process was pretty fascinating. I thought the challenge was pretty cool.

Q: Do you believe in the possibility of intelligent life on other planets?

Justin: I do.

Jessica: I do, too.

Dwayne: Me, too.

Jessica: There’s just so much space.

Justin: It would be arrogant to think that it’s just us.

Jessica: I agree.

Q: Did this movie make you want to be a better person or make you want to contribute to changing the world?

Dwayne: Yeah. It had a utopian sense to it, which I thought was really cool. The writers and producers involved came up with a pretty cool concept. My take away from it was just to be better and wanting to live better. As individuals, everybody wants to get better at whatever it is you want to do, whether it’s a better boyfriend, a better son or a better co-star.

Jessica: What I took was the idea of a more innocent, conservative time. I’ve always been interested in the ’50’s and that feeling of being simpler. For me, the idea with this movie is to be open to change. In our world, a lot is changing and, in this world, a lot is changing as well. You should be accepting of change and something that’s different from you, and be excited to experience that because, only through change, can you grow and learn more about yourself, as a human or alien.

Justin: Because it is set in an idyllic society that is also kind of repressed, since it mirrors our 1950’s, it brings up a lot of issues that we dealt with and are still kind of dealing with, like paranoia in people who are a little bit different, and judging people too quickly and harshly. In that sense, it’s timely. There’s a little lesson embedded underneath all the cute, fun, green stuff.

Q: What was it like to go through the experience of doing an animated film, as opposed to live-action? Can you have more fun and flesh out your characters more?

Jessica: I think, in one sense, you really can. You can just be crazy. You can talk with your hands, you can go really broad, you can take it really small. Really, it’s your director who’s guiding you along because you’re not reacting to anything. Sometimes, I got to see some of the animation that they’d already done and some that was in the process. It was an ongoing process.

Justin: We did an initial pass. This movie has been going on for years. We’ve been doing it for the last three years. Initially, we just recorded it all and they gave us templates, so that we were able to see art. And, as they had our recordings, they started animating to the ones they liked. But then, we’d have to go back over it and fill in little holes, and then they’d rewrite.

Dwayne: At the end of the day, the process was a lot of fun for me, personally. I hadn’t done animation before. At one point, there was about six guys in the room, all giving their directorial opinions, and you had to interpret everything that they were saying, which made it challenging yet interesting and fun, at the same time.

Q: Would you do it again?

Dwayne: Yeah, I’d do it again in a second. Whether it’s a live-action movie or it’s animation, it comes down to the story. If you’re compelled and moved by the story, you think you’re going to have fun, and you think it’s going to entertain audiences, which we all collectively felt that this would, then sure, I’d do it again.

Q: What did you think about this film being done by a Spanish studio?

Justin: They showed me some art, early on, that got me really excited. Some of the illustrations they had done were just beautiful. And then, throughout, they showed me little bits.

Dwayne: We were all shown early stages of the animation and, even at that time, the animation was gorgeous. It was really beautiful. And, you couple that with the fact that those guys are so incredibly passionate about this project. They’ve been with this project since 2002, so it’s been a long labor of love and a passion project for them. So, their passion, in the room when we were doing the voice-overs, was very intoxicating and inspiring.

Q: In this film, your voices sounded quite a bit different. Did they ask you to change your pitch for the characters?

Jessica: My pitch was changed while we were actually doing it. The whole time, Jorge asked me to go higher and higher. That was very hard for me, at first.

Justin: We did it over the course of a couple of years, during which time I apparently went through puberty. I do a voice in Alvin and the Chipmunks, and they’re very careful about the intonation and pitch for that voice. I work with this voice coach and we just did the Squeakquel. That will be coming out in Oscar season. My voice coach told me that my voice, over the last couple years, has gotten lower. I don’t know what’s happened. So, I had to raise my pitch. And also, playing a teenager, I had to raise it some.

Q: How is making a hard-core horror film different from doing family entertainment?

Jessica: It’s the extreme opposite, for me, at least. Making The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was probably one of the hardest experiences for me, emotionally and creatively. It was intense because it was at this high level of freak-out, for about a month. It was just so not this world. That kind of emotional strain was so different. Planet 51 was just fun. I wanted to do it because it was speaking to my inner child. Yes, I want to be an alien. Yes, I want to be green.

Justin: No, I don’t want to wear pants.

Jessica: Yes, I don’t want to have to go through hair and make-up. I want to just go to work. For a girl, you have to go through so much hair and make-up, and so many costume fittings. I have to sit in the chair for two hours, in the morning, and it was so nice not to do that.

Justin: Yeah. I have such a respect for actors who are able to give convincing horror movie performances, as Jessica did in Texas Chainsaw, ’cause it really is exhausting to maintain that. It’s your whole body, too. It was my biggest fear, just being caught in a dishonest moment. There’s nothing worse than bad horror. With Drag Me to Hell, it was really Alison Lohman. I was just the boyfriend. But, I did a few other movies that were that level, and it was just grueling. You go home every night, so drained emotionally.

Q: Did Sam Raimi give you any advice at all?

Justin: Well, yeah. Sam is very hands-on, in the best way. Sam is a good actor. People don’t realize that he acted, back in the day, and he’s very funny, so he gets really into it. But, a lot of that stuff was Alison. With all the green screen stuff, he’d get really worked up and animated. He’s an incredibly passionate director. I just watched a lot of movies that reminded me of the character, so I watched From Here to Eternity and Romeo & Juliet. That helped me out a lot.

Q: This movie really captures that great retro, nostalgia vibe. Do you have any favorite killer robot or alien invasion B-movies?

Jessica: I never really got into those.

Dwayne: Neither did I. Not too much. I love the music in Planet 51. The music was cool.

Justin: I love the old ’50’s monster movies. I used to watch those, when I was a kid. And, I love The Twilight Zone.

Q: If you could live on Planet 51, would you?

Dwayne: I would. I think it’s kinda cool. It’s like back in the days when things were easier.

Jessica: It’s simpler.

Dwayne: It would be cool to visit and then come back.

Justin: Exactly. There are days that I wish I could be on Planet 51, and I only hope I encounter someone as understanding as Lem. I wouldn’t want to be imprisoned.

Q: How did you relate to your characters?

Justin: It’s a pretty easy answer for me. Shockingly, I was a bit of a nerd in high school. I was studious and a little socially awkward. So, yeah, it was nice to go back to that time, before I was all jaded and over everything. That was a more innocent time. I had a very similar experience in high school. I was just not as smart, though, sadly. Lem is a lot brighter than me.

Dwayne: My character is incredibly arrogant and loves him some him. That’s me. No. I would say the parallels were maybe the fact that he was very entertaining and loved to entertain. And, he’s a pretty decent guy. I will say that I really enjoyed the part in the movie where he reveals himself to Lem and says, “Look, I’m not the guy you think I am. I’m not this great guy. As a matter of fact, you’re more of a man than I am. I’m inspired by you.” I love that.

Jessica: I related to Neera because, when I was 16, I was pushing it, on every angle, with my parents and the world. I thought I had it going on. I thought I knew everything. I relate to her feeling of risk-taking. I had a little bit more of a bad attitude, as a 16-year-old. She wants to help this planet and change the world into peace, think for herself and be really independent and a risk-taker. That’s where I really related to her. She’s way more of a positive, charitable person than I was, as a 16-year-old, but the risk thing, the independence and the confidence with Lem, I related to a lot.

Q: Did you feel like the aliens represented other parts of the world that have a love/hate relationship with Americans and American culture?

Justin: I didn’t think much about that, and I’d be afraid to attempt to answer that. There is an element of war-mongering and that jingo-istic quality. I noticed that, for sure.

Dwayne: I’m not quite too sure if they thought about that, in too much detail, when they wrote it.

Q: This was the production company’s first animated movie. Did you notice any nervousness at all?

Jessica: I don’t know. I think they were a mix of different things. I’m sure there was a little bit of nervousness, but more than the nervousness, it was just excitement that they were so close. It has been eight years that everyone has been working on getting this completely taken care of, and they were just excited. They were so giddy with joy that we were almost there.

Dwayne: There was a big combination of that. There was a little bit of nervousness, but they were really enthusiastic, excited and very passionate, and that came out in spades. They paid a lot of attention to minutiae, which we all appreciated. They were really excited.

Q: Were you sought out for this, or did you hear about it and really want to be a part of it?

Dwayne: I heard that Justin and Jessica were interested, and then I was like, “I’m in.” I’m a big fan of Justin’s and I’ve known Jessica for years, so I was in.

Justin: Likewise, I heard about who was involved, and that was the big thrill. That was the big draw.

Jessica: Which is funny because we never saw each other.

Justin: Gary Oldman and John Cleese did voices. That’s so cool.

Q: Dwayne, how excited was your daughter that you were involved with this?

Dwayne: It was interesting for her. She just turned eight, so she heard my voice, but in an animated way, and then saw me on screen, white and blonde. That was interesting to her, but nonetheless entertaining. So, she was excited.

Q: Dwayne, can you give us a quick update on a possible sequel for Witch Mountain, Tooth Fairy and Jonny Quest?

Dwayne: I’m not quite too sure about a Witch Mountain sequel. Great success breeds a lot of things, including sequels. The storyline was set up for a sequel, so we’ll see. I’m not ruling it out. I just can’t speak to it because I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to any of the guys up at Disney about it. Tooth Fairy is very funny. I can’t wait. It will be out in January. And, I’m not quite too sure what’s happening with Jonny Quest.

Q: Will we see you in a tutu in Tooth Fairy?

Dwayne: You’ll see me in a lot of things in Tooth Fairy. It’ great. The cast is great, with Ashley Judd, Billy Crystal, Julie Andrews and the great Stephen Merchant.

Q: What do you like most about doing family movies?

Dwayne: For me, the goal was to work in as many different genres as possible and hopefully find good success in them. But, when you make a good family movie, there is an importance of it and great value to it. If you make a good family movie, then everybody in the family can relate to somebody, or in this case something. That’s always enjoyable. There’s always an important place for family movies.

Q: Since you’re playing an astronaut in this, what do you think NASA will think of your character?

Dwayne: The studio has partnered up with NASA, so I had an opportunity to meet a couple individuals from NASA, who love the movie and love the message. They’re great guys. From what I know, they are happy with the movie.

Q: How does that make you feel?

Dwayne: For me, it was just an honor to talk with the individuals from NASA, who are always cutting edge and who are responsible for so much. To put it in perspective, we made a great animated movie and they were happy with the character that we made of the astronaut.

Q: Do you guys have any fear of the unknown?

Jessica: That’s a constant problem. When am I going to work? I don’t know. That’s always there. I try not to think about that too much, but it’s always a little bit there. When will I work and can I pay my bills? Is it going to be creatively interesting? There’s always there for me, a little bit, as much as I try to say it’s not.

Q: Jessica, what can you say about The A-Team and playing Lt. Sosa?

Jessica: It’s going really, really well. It’s been a complete blast. It’s really fun. I’m getting to work a lot with weapons again, which I haven’t done in a long time. That sounds kinda weird, but it’s the best to learn about that kind of thing. The cast is wonderful. Joe Carnahan, our director, is hitting the nail right on the head. We’ve got a really interesting tone going on.  I think I was a little concerned, at first, about whether we were going to be really super-cheesy or dark, or what we’d be doing. And, I think we’ve found lots of humor, at the same time that it’s quite emotional with dramatic moments. I think it’s going to be a lot of different things combined into this one movie. But, there are a lot of throw-backs and a lot of paying homage to the original show.  We’re in the middle of it, so it’s hard to know. I think it’s going really well. Everyone says it’s looking really beautiful and the scenes are cutting together really well. That’s pretty much all I can say.

Dwayne: That’s a title, by the way, that I was really excited about, when I heard they were going to turn it into a movie. I was such a big fan of the TV series and, when I heard they were going to turn it into a movie, I was really excited. And then, Jessica’s publicist told me that she was on board, and I was like, “Oh, that’s awesome!” I’m excited about it. I think it’s going to be great.

Blake Lively currently has a career that any young actress would be envious of. She’s the star of The CW series Gossip Girl, she’s currently filming Ben Affleck’s next directorial project The Town, she’s getting to work with esteemed Hollywood actors, such as Robin Wright Penn and Alan Arkin, in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and her sense of style is watched by girls and women everywhere.

While doing interviews to promote Rebecca Miller’s latest book-turned-movie about Pippa Lee (played by both Lively and Robin Wright Penn), a serene, beautiful, devoted wife and mother with a surprisingly volatile past, Blake Lively talked about how grateful and lucky she is to be having so much success and a bit on Ben Affleck’s The Town.  Hit the jump for more:

Question: Did you have to audition for this film?

Blake: Yes. I had a few audition scenes, but the most memorable was the one where I take my mother’s bottle of Dexedrine and freak out. I’m dancing around, cracked out of my mind on speed, and screaming at my mother while she’s screaming at me, and we were pushing each other. That was a challenge to do in a 4 foot by 4 foot room, in front of Rebecca Miller, and this woman that I had never met before, reading the scene. It was supposed to be my mother and, not knowing what boundaries were there or weren’t, made it difficult. But, I did the few scenes, I finished with that one, and I was so nervous and intimidated, but I knew I just had to just let go and just do it. And then, Rebecca said, “Just stay here for a minute.” She walked out of the room, came back two minutes later and said, “You’re my Pippa. I’m not making this movie with anyone else.” So, she gave me the job, on the spot. I would have been freaking out for a few days, if she wouldn’t have, so I was very lucky.

Knowing that you were playing the same character as Robin Wright Penn, did you observe each other and pick up anything, in particular, that you wanted to add to your performance, such as any mannerisms or facial expressions?

Blake: It wasn’t as much about the mannerisms. There were things that Robin and I talked about, just like nervous tics, because it was interesting for us. The last thing Pippa wanted to do was be like her mother. She wanted to run away from her mother. Her mother was such a terrible thing for her, that she had to get away from it, yet she starts to repeat that same cycle of self-abuse. That’s a very interesting thing that people do. And so, we added just biting on the side of the nails and a few other certain nervous tics, but for me, the most important thing was watching Robin and just seeing who she was, at her core. It was nothing that could be described. It was just an essence. So much of Pippa is a mystery. She is an enigma. And so, just watching and seeing the feeling you get from her, and trying to recreate that, was the most difficult. It’s hard to articulate because it’s just a feeling.

How was it to work with Alan Arkin as your love interest? What that weird at all?

Blake: Yeah, it seems like it would be weird and, when I read it on the page, I thought, “Oh, no, this could be very awkward and uncomfortable.” But, once I thought about it more, and once I was talking to Rebecca about it, or in the scenes with Alan, you realize that Pippa isn’t looking for a sexual partner. It’s not lust that attracts her to him. It’s that she doesn’t have a parent. It’s him fulfilling that hole of a parent. He’s the first person that guides her, and that provides her security and comfort, so that’s what their relationship was about. So, we weren’t busy trying to fabricate sexual chemistry. We were just trying to create an honest relationship between two people. Between scenes, he would write notes and write down books I should read or movies I should see. I was trying to feed him my sundae and was like, “C’mon, it’s whipped cream. It will make you happy, before we shoot.” I didn’t realize Rebecca was outside shooting that, and that’s the scene where we are sitting in the diner. She ended up just filming our interaction with one another, which was a very innocent interaction. I think that that was the important thing because it would have made it really uncomfortable, if you saw them in the heat of passion with one another. You see me lying half-naked in his arms, but you see that he’s protecting her and he’s holding her, and it’s safety. You don’t ever see us kiss once, in this movie, because that wasn’t what was important about their relationship, and what attracted Pippa to him.

Was that bed scene uncomfortable for you?

Blake: Well, I think it’s uncomfortable, laying in strategically placed clothes that are taped on your body, in front of some strangers. That’s always uncomfortable. But, I was with Alan and Rebecca, and our wonderful D.P., and it was a very private set. We’re all actors, we’re all professionals and we all understood what was happening. Everybody is uncomfortable with those scenes. You’re never going to be comfortable being half-naked in front of anyone. But, it was fine. It was a short scene. For me, it’s more uncomfortable to watch it. It’s like, “Oh, no, all these people are seeing me like this!”

How was the directing process with Rebecca Miller?

Blake: It was really amazing because I didn’t get to work with Robin, to sit down and develop the character together. I didn’t get to read the book beforehand because the book wasn’t even out, so Rebecca was just my well of knowledge. She was Pippa, in so many ways, because she created Pippa and she had been living with Pippa for years, from developing her and writing this beautiful novel, to writing the script, to directing the script and developing the character with Robin. She had created this woman, but she also was a strong, powerful woman herself, who could be so vulnerable, but also be so strong, and who you could see that there was a certain edge or darkness, yet is also so light and bright. And so, to see a woman around you that is herself so complex and so interesting, and to be portraying that, was also very helpful. In a lot of ways, she was a muse, even though Pippa was her muse, or we became hers, at the point of making this. So, it was a wonderful process and we just had to trust her with everything that we had. I got to watch some of Robin’s dailies and she got to watch some of mine, but it was really up to Rebecca to make sure that the same person at the core shone through in my performance and Robin’s. We just had to trust that whatever we were doing was consistent, in one another. She didn’t tell me too much. She said, “Robin is copying something that you do,” but she didn’t tell me what it was. And, I said, “Well, what is it? What do I do?” It made me feel weird. And, she said, “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want you to be aware of it. But, if you stop doing it, or if you just did it for that audition and it’s something that you don’t do normally, then I’ll let you know ’cause we want it to be consistent. But, don’t worry about it.” And, she never told me what it was. I watched the movie and figured it out then.

You talked about Pippa being such a multi-faceted character. Was there an aspect of her that was more fun to perform, as an actor?

Blake: All of it was fun. It was fun to scream and cry and push my mother. It was fun to crawl around in Lederhosen and have Julianne Moore ask me to meow and spank me, as odd as that seems. Here I was thinking, “I finally have the most respectable job of my life, and I’m getting spanked and being asked to meow.” It was a little bit of an oxymoron. But, just getting to sit in scenes and chat with Alan, or have a simple conversation that is so insightful to who these people are, was also just as interesting. I had so many different things to do in this film, and such a nice time frame to build this character. I got to play her, over the course of a decade, so there wasn’t one more part that was more fun than the other. It kept each part exciting because they were all so different. I was given such great material. It’s so rare to get material like this, and I’m so thankful for it.

Because you get to play Pippa in all these different decades, what did you like about exploring the ’70’s and ’80’s?

Blake: I loved the look. For me, I really feel like a character when I look like them, so it was just about being a young Pippa and having the long straight hair and no make-up and feeling pure and innocent, compared to older Pippa with the crimped hair and all the make-up and hiding behind this mask of this character. I love fashion, so to wear different clothes and different looks was fun.

What’s the experience been like, to balance shooting Gossip Girl with doing The Town this season, and getting to play two characters?

Blake: It’s been a challenge just because of the hours. I’m working on The Town on my weekends and holidays, flying to Boston overnight and then shooting the next morning. But also, when you are on a TV show, a character can get stale, so getting to also portray another character simultaneously, and come back to this character, it makes the character of Gossip Girl fresher. It also is very exciting to get away from it and to play another role. And, just anytime that I get to do a film, I’m so thrilled because I love watching movies, I love making movies and the movies that I’ve made, I’ve been very proud to be a part of.

Can you talk a little bit about your character?

Blake: My character was originally 37, but when they cast me, we had to write it down to 29. I fought for this role. She’s a 29-year-old drug-dealing townie from Boston, who’s on welfare and has a two-year-old child. So, it’s very different.

How has Ben Affleck been to work with, as a director?

Blake: This is his baby project, and he’s done a lot of the rewrites, and he’s directed it and starred in it. It’s been just a wonderful experience.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee opens November 25th.

Opening tomorrow is director Roland Emmerich’s 2012.  As you probably know, 2012 is about a global cataclysm that causes massive destruction to our planet.  If you’re keeping count, this is Emmerich’s third time blowing up the world (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) and I think he’s learned from his previous efforts to deliver his biggest spectacle yet.  Trust me, this movie is loaded with some of the craziest special effects you’ll see this year and if you want to have some fun, go to a movie theater this weekend.

Anyway, to help promote the film, I recently covered the international press day for our partners at Omelete.  So after the jump you can watch our exclusive interview with Roland Emmerich where he discusses going to Brazil to film part of the movie, the alternate ending that will be on the DVD/Blu-ray, and he talks about his next project which will be a film about William Shakespeare.  He says he starts to shoot this March and the budget is around $30 million.  He also told me he’s using the same special effects people from 2012.  It’s a great interview so take a look:

Roland Emmerich

• Has he been to Brazil before? Tells me he went there to shoot part of 2012
• Was the film exactly what he pitched to the studio
• What was the most challenging special effect
• I ask a question given to me by one of my twitter followers…when are you going to be “a man” and blow up the universe
• DVD/Blu-ray talk - what will be on it. Says an alternate ending will be on the DVD but not many deleted scenes
• Shakespeare project - his next film that he starts to shoot in March. Says the budget is under 30 million and he’ll be shooting in Germany. Also says he’ll be using the same technology as 2012 on the movie. Same visual effects people.
• Says the plan is for the Foundation trilogy to be his next project after Shakespeare
• Reveals what the alternate ending is on the DVD

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When you sit down to conduct an interview with someone, you never know what’s going to happen.  Sometimes, you can have the best questions, yet the interview is boring.  Other times, you can walk in with nothing prepared, and the interview is amazing.  It all depends on the person you’re speaking to and how interested they are in talking.

So when I walked in to interview Amanda Peet as a reporter for our partners at Omelete, I had a few questions ready, but was prepared for anything.  And thank God I was, because the interview you’re about to watch is one of the craziest I have ever done for a major movie release as we did not talk about the movie once!  Keep in mind I tried…but when I attempted to ask a 2012 question, she just wasn’t having it.  So instead of talking about John Cusack or Roland Emmerich, we discussed Brazil and the differences between Twitter and Facebook.  Seriously. While you’re not going to learn anything about 2012 in this interview, I suggest watching it just to see how crazy this conversation was.  Hit the jump to check it out.

Finally, as I’ve written before every interview, 2012 opens tomorrow and as most of you have seen in commercials and trailers, it’s about a global cataclysm that causes massive destruction to our planet.  If you’re keeping count, this is Emmerich’s third time blowing up our planet (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) and I think he’s learned from his previous efforts to deliver his biggest spectacle yet.  Trust me, this movie is loaded with some of the craziest special effects you’ll see this year and if you want to have some fun, hit a movie theater this weekend.  Click here to watch a five minute scene from the film.

Amanda Peet

• How has the promotional process been treating her
• Has she ever been to Brazil
• I try to get to the movie…when that failed I asked her about Twitter
• Then we talked about Facebook

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Opening tomorrow in New York City, and next week in Los Angeles, is writer/director Owen Moverman’s first movie  The Messenger.  The film is about two U.S. Army officers (Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson) who are responsible for notifying families when someone has died while serving our country.  Foster plays an officer who has just returned from Iraq and he’s assigned to Harrelson to learn how to do the job.  Through these two soldiers, we learn how military families get notified after losing a loved one in war.  While the film deals with strong subject matter, I cannot recommend the movie enough.  The performances are incredible across the board and it almost feels like a documentary, rather than something scripted.

One of the reasons it feels this way is director Owen Moverman didn’t rehearse the notification scenes.  While the actors knew their lines and how the scene would play out, they didn’t practice how to deal with people’s reactions after hearing the news.  They had to play each scene in the moment.  It’s truly powerful stuff.   So to help promote the film, I recently spoke to Ben Foster/Woody Harrelson as well as Samantha Morton and Director Owen Moverman.  Both sets of interviews are after the jump:

Here’s the full synopsis before watching:

In his most powerful performance to date, Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband’s death, Will’s emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.

Featuring tour-de-force performances from Foster, Harrelson and Morton, and a brilliant directorial debut by Moverman, THE MESSENGER brings us into the inner lives of these outwardly steely heroes to reveal their fragility with compassion and dignity.

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Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson

• I mention how much I loved the film but wanted to know how we can get people to see movies about Iraq and war
• I ask if it’s true they didn’t rehearse the notification scenes and how they affected them as actors.
• I ask about going to Walter Reed Medical Center
• They talk about each other and how much they respect one another

Samantha Morton and Director Owen Moverman

• Why is it that so many people are making important films about the war and what’s going on but people are not embracing the films
• Owen didn’t want to direct the film at first and explains why
• No rehearsal talk

If you ask any interviewer, they’ll tell you the same thing: some people are easy to interview, and some are John Cusack. While I love Cusack’s work, I’ve interviewed him a few times and none of them are what I consider great interviews. I don’t know his deal, but every person I spoke to at the 2012 press junket had the same thing happen: we walked in ready to talk, and we walked out wondering if anything was usable. Thankfully, I got him to answer a few of my questions, but compared to some of the other interviews I did for this movie, this didn’t turn out as well as I hoped.

Saying that, if you’re a fan of John Cusack, I think it’s still worth watching.  He talks about all the 2012 stuff and does he believe in any of it, making the movie, working in Vancouver, and a bit on Hot Tub Time Machine.  Finally, a big thank you to our partners at Omelete for making this interview happen.  Take a look after the jump:

John Cusack

• Has he been to Brazil
• Does he believe in any of the 2012 stuff
• Did he know the shoot was going to be so physically demanding
• What was Roland like to work with
• Working in Vancouver
• Working on the blue Screens
• Hot Tub Time Machine talk
• Say Anything 20^th Anniversary

Last month, I was lucky enough to be invited to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to cover the press junket for Roland Emmerich’s upcoming disaster flick 2012, which opens this Friday.  Some people reading this may be thinking, “Lucky to go to Wyoming? Har har!”  These people (in addition to laughing oddly) have never been to Jackson Hole, Wyoming because it is an absolutely gorgeous landscape.  There are forests, grassland, and mountains all grouped together and it provides a feeling of complete tranquility to the area.  It’s isolated but when you stop to think about how most of us are bombarded on a daily basis by technology and communications that isolation turns into an oasis.

I also got to see Roland Emmerich destroy the world real good and then talk about it with Emmerich and stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.  Hit the jump for what they had to say about the Earth crumbling like an old Chips Ahoy along with my tale of adventure in Big Sky country.  It involves bears.

Jackson Hole may seem an odd place to hold a press junket when the usual locations are New York and L.A.  However, Yellowstone National Park, which is located near Jackson Hole, is a major setting in 2012.  You know the scene in the trailer where the camper is racing away from giant balls of flame hurtling forth from the sky?  That’s Yellowstone!  It’s also a great action scene in the movie.  As our helpful tour guide informed us, Yellowstone is on top of an active “supervolcano” and if it ever erupted, Wyoming would be wiped off the map along with most of the surrounding states and then the sun would be blocked out by ash for quite some time.  The supervolcano erupted about 640,000 years ago and scientists are constantly monitoring it because they believe it may be slightly overdue for another eruption .  My point is this: visit Jackson Hole while you can because you never know when the world will end.

Okay, that’s not entirely true.  Some people believe they do know and that they’re making plans to visit before 2012, which is when they think the Mayans predicted the end of the world.  It’s actually just a western concept of a doomsday grafted on to a calendar which ends but at no point says anything along the lines of “World Ends Here, Please Exit to the Right.”  But it makes for a fun setup for director Roland Emmerich to abuse our planet once again.  He did it twice before with Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, but those don’t even compare to the non-stop destruction he wreaks in 2012.  If you hate the Earth and/or love the films I just mentioned, then you’ll want to see this movie.

However, my purpose in Wyoming was not to learn that there was a geological time bomb underneath one of our states, but to speak with Emmerich and the stars of 2012: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.  During a press conference, the four discussed a variety of subjects.

What are your thoughts about 2012 (the year) and have you made any preparations?

ROLAND EMMERICH: Well, you know, it’s peculiar.  2012 is this date which, there’s a lot of ideas about it.  We chose the destructive one because destructiveness works better in a movie.  My preparation: I will go to ski because it’s the 21^st of December [the day in 2012 in which the world ends], I will ski down the biggest mountain there is.  And if it’s the end of the world, well, what can I do?

JOHN CUSACK: I think I’m going to try and get on Roland’s trip.

AMANDA PEET: Can I come?

CHIWETEL EJIOFOR: I don’t ski so I can join this, unfortunately.  Besides, I think avalanches are something to worry about.  So I just think I’ll spend it kind of quietly, I think-family and friends, hope for the best.

AMANDA PEET: I’m kind of a hypochondriac and I worry about a lot of things and I’m trying not to worry as much.  That’s my philosophy.

How much of this movie was science-fiction and how much was science-fact?

EMMERICH: From the beginning, there was the Earth’s crust displacement theory, which we found was a theory that was big enough, in a way, to cause all this flooding. That was my main reason why I chose this one. Before we started writing the script we actually met with a professor of science at USC, in Los Angeles, and asked him how it could all unfold. He told us first that he doesn’t believe in the Earth Crust Displacement theory. We asked him if he could give us some insight, and he said the only way this could work is if the neutrinos change and mutated into another kind of particle. He said from that moment, all bets are off. No scientist would say that this could not happen because this has never happened before. That was the concept we chose.

I also believe that there has some sort of feeling of believability in the movie.  It’s like when you see Jurassic Park and they create dinosaurs out of insects.

Is this the most physical movie you have ever done, and what was it like working in front of a green screen?

CUSACK: Yeah, this was pretty action packed, for sure. It wasn’t any different than a lot of films, in a way, because of the amazing production design. Usually, you have the entire set built, and then in back of the set would be a green screen. There was a massive production design team working on the set. When we were on the mountain at the end, there would be a huge glacier field and there would be blue screens in the background, so we were always acting with regular sets; it was just the backgrounds that were being digitally enhanced with a whole army working so hard so you can do your acting job.  Yeah, a lot of running, jumping, and tumbling. You got to stay stretched out or you could pull a hamstring, for sure.

EJIOFOR: I got off pretty lightly, it’s got to be said, being part of the government. Yeah, I had a couple of days of fun water work, but that was it. I was slightly envious not to be able to work on the shaky floor. It looked pretty cool.

Roland, what are you going to destroy next?  Or are you done with these kinds of movies?

EMMERICH: I think so because I had a hard time convincing myself to do it and I only actually did it because it was such an incredible idea to do something like that.  I also said to myself that if I’m going to do it one more time, I’m going to do it in the biggest possible way it can be done.  Hopefully, I have it out of my system.  For me, it’s, “Never say never.”  But I have not the feeling I will do something like this again.

Do you think of this film as a sort of cautionary tale?  Or is it just a fun spectacle?

EMMERICH: I don’t think the film was to warn about anything, so it is not a cautionary tale. It is a cautionary tale, in a way, maybe only if this is going to happen, what is important in life and what is savable, and how should we save things. For me, I am always a very suspicious of governments, so it’s also an expression of that. Then I always think movies have to be fun. If a movie is not fun, I don’t want to do it.

CUSACK: I think it also taps into the paranoia around the world.  But this doesn’t get into the politics of it.  It’s more a question of what do you save, what do you value, that feeling you have when something bad happens and you cut through all the BS.

How much do you think people would band together in situations like this or would it be more like martial law?

EJIOFOR: But people tend to in tragedies. Obviously, in the tragedies we see in the world now. People tend to find great unity in that. I think that’s one of the things this story talks about. I think you have to have a lot of optimism in humanity and people. I think that’s part of this story and what it’s getting at. There is an inherent good and these things bring them out

sometimes.

How did you come to the JFK Aircraft carrier destroying the White House?

EMMERICH: [My co-writer] Harold [Kloser] said, “If you don’t destroy the White House, you will be asked about that.” I said, “I cannot destroy the White House again.” He said, “Well, just do it in a different way.” At that time, I was reading a lot about the Kennedys. As a kid, maybe about twelve and a half, I visited these old war ships in the Chesapeake Bay and they had just inaugurated the JFK there. I was really excited as a kid. It was about a wave, and then JFK comes back to the White House. I thought it was kind of clever, and I told Harold, “Let’s go for it!”

This photo was after we saw a bear, and then two bears, and then three bears.  First we saw a baby bear sleeping up in a tree.  Then we saw a mama bear snuggled at the bottom of the tree.  And then behind her was another baby bear.  Yes, I know the appropriate terms are “mother” and “cubs”, but they were so cute, especially when you knew that there was little danger of them trying to eat you.  Our tour guide said that being this close to a family of bears was a rarity at this time of year due to their random appearances at different places in the park since they’re trying to gather food before hibernation.  He also said that in the years he’s been a tour guide at Grand Teton, this was one of his top three bear sightings.  Meanwhile, my silly journalist friends and I were trying to take photos where we could be in frame with the bear.  It’s one of those death-defying stunts that’s really not that risky (see my adventure in the chair of balloons) and even if it went sideways, I would still go out in a unique fashion: eaten by bears in front of a scattering crowd of people during a trip to cover a disaster movie.

Eventually, we had to move on because there was apparently more park to see (along with the moose pictured above), but after taking the tour of Grand Teton and looking out over the vast, gorgeous landscape of Jackson Hole, I really hoped that the active supervolcano wouldn’t explode.  And if it does, I hope the bears make it.

2012 opens in theaters this Friday, November 13^th.