GALLERY: Stars Speak For the Trees at 'The Lorax' Premiere
Exclusive First Look at 'Black Forest: Hansel and Gretel & the 420 Witch'
Swap breadcrumbs for Skittles and gingerbread for marijuana, and you begin to get a feel for "Black Forest: Hansel and Gretel & the 420 Witch," a weed-laced horror comedy in which a witch (Lara Flyn Boyle) tempts teens into her home with pot, then eats them.
Next Movie headed to Stage 4 of Sunset Gower Studios to talk to the cast and get an exclusive first look at the first of three Hansel & Gretel films coming out in the next year.
"Black Forest" will be released April 20, naturally. "All we’re saying in this film," Molly C. Quinn (who plays Gretel) says, "is that if you smoke pot you run a higher risk of getting eaten by a witch."
Filed Under: Features Interviews
Q&A: Thandie Newton on Getting Real With Tyler Perry in 'Good Deeds'
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Award-winning English actress Thandie Newton seems just as comfortable in an action picture as she does in a drama. After being drained by Brad Pitt's vampire in "Interview With a Vampire," Newton went on to win accolades for her performances in "Beloved," "Mission: Impossible II," "The Truth About Charlie" and "Crash." More recently, Newton portrayed Condoleezza Rice in Oliver Stone's "W." and earned praise for her role in Tyler Perry's "For Colored Girls."
We caught up with Newton in Los Angeles as she was promoting her second movie with Perry, "Good Deeds," which opens in theaters on February 24. Newton plays a janitor struggling to care for herself and her young daughter when a friendship with a successful businessman (Perry) changes the course of her life. The well-spoken actress was eager to talk about the deeper meaning behind the inspirational film. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Q&A: 'Ghost Rider 2' Directors Totally Think Nic Cage Is a Vampire
Filmmakers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor know all about pumping up the voltage, having helmed "Crank" and its sequel "Crank: High Voltage." But directing Nicolas Cage in "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" was a new experience altogether, because they got to play with fire. Lots of it.
We caught up with Neveldine and Taylor at New York Comic Con, where they revealed just how many bodily orifices can emit flames, as well as those pesky "Nicolas Cage is a vampire" rumors and which Journey songs inspired their flame-filled shoot.
Filed Under: Interviews Video
'Friday Night Lights' Movie Update: Script Is Almost Done
For those of us whose hearts still beat for Dillon, Texas, just the smallest word of the rumored "Friday Night Lights" movie is enough to get us cheering like a rallygirl.
Well, get ready, because executive producer Peter Berg just threw a bomb at us only Smash Williams could catch. Get More »
Peter Berg & Alexander Skarsgard Discuss 'Battleship': Could a Sequel Be Aliens Vs. Vampires?
Sometimes, we journalists just have to go for the jugular.
So, when we were given the opportunity to have a quick chat with actor Alexander Skarsgard and director Peter Berg as they checked out the Hasbro toys being released in time for their movie, "Battleship," we had to take it.
After discussing how the "True Blood" star and "Friday Night Lights" director got involved in a movie based on a board game (Berg approached the studio about his love of the Navy and wanting to do an event movie and Skarsgard was in the Swedish Navy and wanted to work with Pete – see their full answer in the video below), we asked the thing on everyone's mind:
Who would win in an epic battle, the aliens from "Battleship" or the vampires from "True Blood?" Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews Video
Q&A: Erykah Badu Surrenders for 'Re:Generation'
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Petrified, nervous, insecure, scared … None of these are words fans of Erykah Badu would associate with the neo-soul songstress, whose captivating musical stylings seem unflappable and effortless.
But they're all various ways Badu describes her experience making "Re:Generation," a fascinating new Grammys-produced music doc that pits five producers (Mark Ronson, DJ Premier, Skrillex, Pretty Lights and The Crystal Method) with the task of dabbling in five extrinsic genres (jazz, classical, rock, country and soul, respectively).
Badu, along with Yasiin Bey (a.k.a. Mos Def), Trombone Shorty, Zigaboo and more, were recruited for Ronson's jazz squad, where they had just hours to conceive a track for a performance that night. The celebrated crooner gives us a candid take on her "Re:Generation" encounter, delayed acting career and more. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
5 Questions With 'Anonymous' Aussie Actor Xavier Samuel
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If you live in North America, you probably first saw 28-year-old Australian actor Xavier Samuel in "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" as Riley Biers, the (doomed) vampire tasked with helping to create a new vampire army.
Twi-hards know that Samuel won't be sinking his teeth into another "Twilight" film, but you can see him in the pseudo-historical drama "Anonymous," now available on DVD and Blu-ray. The twisty film is based on the theory that the historical William Shakespeare is a fraud and the real Bard is Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. Samuel plays Henry Wriothesley, the illegitimate son of de Vere and Queen Elizabeth I.
We called Down Under, where Samuel's new romantic comedy "A Few Best Men" just opened in theaters, and asked the affable actor to wax philosophical about the impact of Shakespeare and vampires on his life. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews
Next Factor Q&A: Sundance Breakout Gina Rodriguez
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The Sundance Film Festival has been known to make stars out of unknowns. Need evidence? Just have a look at Vanity Fair’s current Hollywood edition, which features five Sundance breakouts: Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Olsen, Adepero Oduye, Felicity Jones and Brit Marling. You can now add the Chicago-born star of "Filly Brown," Gina Rodriguez, to that list.
Rodriguez gave one of the festival's most memorable performances as Filly Brown, a struggling emcee trying to make a name for herself while supporting her mother, who's in prison. The NYU Tisch School of the Arts graduate has an impressive slate of projects on her résumé, including a supporting turn in the teen dance comedy "Go for It!," but "Filly Brown" marks her first lead role and proves that Rodriguez is the real deal. That, and she can spit a mean flow. Get More »
Next Factor Q&A: 'Chronicle' Star Michael B. Jordan
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Remember that awesome kid on "The Wire?" Or maybe you remember him as Vince Howard on "Friday Night Lights?" He was also that sweet guy who dated Haddie on "Parenthood."
Now Michael B. Jordan is taking all those memorable, sweet qualities from the television to the big screen – it's about time! – in the new sci-fi flick, "Chronicle."
The movie takes a frighteningly realistic look at what would happen if a trio of high school boys from different ends of the social spectrum were suddenly masters of telekinesis. The trick to keeping the story "grounded in real life," Jordan tells NextMovie, was the level of collaboration director Josh Trank encouraged between him and the cast.
"We were constantly talking about what a high school boy would really do if he could move things with his mind," he explained, adding that the scene where his character, Steve, has a leaf blower move and lift girls' skirts was his idea.
All flashing moments aside, Jordan's soulfulness throughout years of television is just as evident in his latest film and, no doubt, will continue through many projects to come. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews Next Factor
5 Questions With Teresa Palmer from the Sundance Film Festival
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Being the best thing in a movie can be both a curse and a blessing, but Teresa Palmer has used that gift to carve out a distinctive career for herself, even in the occasional film where she might have been the onlygood thing ("I Am Number Four," we're looking at you).
But in "Wish You Were Here," she joins an able cast that includes Joel Edgerton ("Warrior") and Felicity Price (TV's "Home and Away") to tell the story of a young woman whose tryst with her sister's husband is the tip of a much larger iceberg of bad decisions and dangerous encounters, and proves she's even better when matched with folks who are equally formidable. Get More »
Filed Under: Interviews Sundance
