Alan Rickman, Timothy Olyphant, William Sadler…look, you guys are great. Love the mugging. Dig the accents. But let’s face it, you’re not what the “Die Hard” series needs. You’re not real-life badasses (I’ve seen you in “Truly Madly Deeply,” Mr. Rickman. Tisk, tisk).

No, Justin Long and I agree, what the “Die Hard” series needs most moving forward is a real-life convict, someone hard, someone who’s actually been to jail, someone who can be a real foil for John McClane.

“Paris Hilton!” Long enthused. Wait, what? “I would like to see Paris Hilton be the bad guy [in “Die Hard 5”],” Long joked with MTV News. “That would be fun. Let her play a diabolical, super-scientist or something like that.” The hotel heiress even bears a remarkable resemblance to a former “Die Hard” baddie, Long pointed out. “Let’s face it, she is sort of like the female Jeremy Irons,” he said, laughing.

Who would you like to see match wits with John McClane? Chime in below.

Where do you go after you’ve destroyed the world not once, but three times, most recently with “The Day After Tomorrow”? How about to thousands of days before yesterday? That’s where director Roland Emmerich is heading with “10000 B.C.,” a prehistoric epic about the travels of a 21-year-old hunter (Steven Strait) that castmember Cliff Curtis told MTV News will be as mammoth as the beasts he hunts.

“It’s big,” he enthused with a grin. “Huge!” Curtis’ role is a familiar one to fans of sprawling epics. “I’m sort of like a Gandolf type, sort of [an] Obi-Wan Kenobi figure. I’m the mentor. But without any sort of magical powers.”

Forget magical powers, everyone who’s ever seen “Star Wars” or “The Lord of the Rings” knows that mentors aren’t judged by the weight of their wands, but by the length of their beards. The star of movies like “Blow” and “Three Kings,” Curtis nearly jumped when asked if his will measure up. “I have long hair and a beard,” Curtis exclaimed. “And a big stick!”

“10000 B.C.” is slated to open on March 7, 2008.

With a July 27th release date quickly approaching, the race is on to see which Springfield, USA city will be the official host of the “The Simpsons Movie” premiere (watch the new trailer here). In a stroke of marketing genius, Fox asked each of the 14 cities in the running to submit a video detailing why they deserve to be the Springfield, with users deciding the winner starting July 2 over on thesimpsons.usatoday.com.

For its part, Springfield, Oregon really wants to snag the prize. Lest you think otherwise, its mayor Sid Leiken hopped up on a ladder to paint (and then defile) a 25-foot statue of Jebediah Springfield, the founder of Homer’s little town, in hopes of grabbing your vote. See the resulting photos after the jump, and if you appreciate their zeal, keep Oregon in mind when voting kicks off next week.

Read more…

It’s been a fun week, but everything comes to an end. Today, a bunch of casting news and some fun “Watchmen” sleuthing.

- “Transformers” fanboy flame Megan Fox teams with Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst and others for RomCom “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.” (Hollywood Reporter)

- CHUD investigates those who virally market the “Watchmen” film. (CHUD)

- Cameron Diaz joins “Donnie Darko” director Richard Kelly’s horror thriller, “The Box.” (Variety)

- Jim Carrey to play hard-partying software exec forced to tone down in “Sober Buddies.” (Variety)

- Paramount’s “Beowulf” to get IMAX 3D release. (ComingSoon.net)

- Disney hopes to recreate “Meatballs” magic with “Pool Rats,” about local swim league. (Hollywood Reporter)

- Psychological sci-fi thriller “Near Death” picked up by Fox Searchlight. (Hollywood Reporter

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” may be hitting theaters next month, but fans are already looking towards the future of the franchise. With everyone wondering if our magical protagonist will finally meet his maker, MTV News decided to bring together the best and brightest of the “Potter” fan community for a special roundtable moderated by our very own Kurt Loder. Watch the first segment below, and then click here to watch the rest.

We want to know what YOU think. Should Harry get that last will together? Chime in below.

The long, tiring days of shooting a movie tend to lead to an assortment of pranks and gags. “Live Free or Die Hard” was no different, as Justin Long revealed to MTV News. In the video clip below, watch Long describe an “incident” he manufactured while filming a car-ride sequence with co-star Bruce Willis. Then, read/watch our full interview with Long right here.

With sealed lips being the mantra of the day on “The Dark Knight” set, info on the next edition of the “Batman” franchise is hard to come by. That’s why we were happy to get anything out of star Christian Bale, who confirmed to MTV News that Heath Ledger’s take on The Joker will be decidedly darker than previous versions of the iconic villain.

“I think I should let Heath give you the answer on all this,” Bale said, before stating that “certainly I think that we dig a little more than the other movies did.” That means that fans shouldn’t expect to see The Joker dancing to Prince, as Jack Nicholson did in Tim Burton’s 1989 film. “We recognize, of course, they are cartoon characters, [but] we try to ground them in somewhat more reality than the other movies.”

According to the “Rescue Dawn” actor, though, one thing’s for sure…clowns are scary. “There’s a word for it, isn’t there?” Bale asked of Coulrophobia, or an intense fear of clowns. “It’s a wonderful word. Most kids are terrified of the bloody things.”

“The Dark Knight” hits theaters in 2008. See our exclusive video of Batman’s new ride, the Batpod, here.

As he steps foot on the set of “Indiana Jones 4” this week, a nervously excited Shia LaBeouf has a message for John McClane, Rambo, Rocky, and all the other 80’s-era action stars who are trying to make a comeback. “This is so different, dude,” he said. “This isn’t ‘Rambo’ or ‘Die Hard.’ You’re talking about different class levels.”

The recently-turned-21 “Transformers” star told us that, in the grand scheme of cinematic history, those other iconic characters wish they could hold a candle to Harrison Ford’s adventuring archeologist. “‘Die Hard’ isn’t looked at the same way as ‘Indiana Jones.’ Nor is ‘Rambo,’ or any of those movies,” he insisted. “‘Indiana Jones’ is like one of the best movies ever made; ‘Raiders’ is like one of the best films ever created, action or not. It’s a whole different vibe.” Read more…

The Hollywood news wagon rolls on as Mos goes lead, Leo snags Crowe, New Line eyes “Conan” and more.

- Oscar-nom Ryan Gosling signs for Peter Jackson’s “Lovely Bones” alongside Rachel Weisz. (Hollywood Reporter)

- Indy rumored to interrupt football game this Saturday. The nerve. (ReelzChannel)

- Mos Def turns romantic, will produce/star in “Bobby Zero.” (Variety)

- New Line inches towards “Conan” option. (Variety)

- “24” beauty Elisha Cuthbert joins Tim Allen’s “Six Wives of Henry LeFay.” (Cinematical)

- Crowe to reteam with Leo for Ridley Scott’s spy yarn “Body of Lies.” (Hollywood Reporter)

Kevin Smith so loves working with the same group of actors, he once joked that had he directed “Jaws,” he’d “cast Ben Affleck as the shark.” But according to the director, familiar faces won’t be found in Smith’s upcoming “Red State,” a horror movie about religious fundamentalism.

“‘Red State’ I would like to do with completely unknown people. I think it would be tough to settle into a horror movie if you’re like, ‘Hey! That’s the Snootchie-Bootchies guy,’” Smith deadpanned.

So no Jason Mewes, no Jason Lee, and no Jeff Anderson. But what about Bruce Willis, who Smith met while filming a cameo on “Live Free or Die Hard“? “Bruce Willis would never do one of my flicks,” Smith laughed. “In a million years he wouldn’t. Dude would be like, ‘No way, I don’t want to put the kibosh on my career, man. I hitch my wagon to your star, forget it, we’re plummeting,’ Justin Long though…maybe one day. If he’s feeling charitable.”

Originally slated to be his next project, “Red State” may wind up being pushed back so Smith can next film “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” (A page of which was recently posted by “Entertainment Weekly”). Read more…

It happened to “Hairspray” and “The Producers,” and now the “Saw” franchise is in line to get the musical treatment. Well, sort of. “Saw” mastermind Darren Lynn Bousman has cast none other than Jigsaw himself — veteran horror actor Tobin Bell — to sing and dance his way through “Repo! The Genetic Opera!” Several other major actors will be announced soon, as production on the “Brazil”-meets-”Rocky Horror Picture Show” flick gets underway.

“‘Repo’ [is] my next film and it’s a rock opera,” Bousman told us. “There is definitely camp to it, but it is much more serious than the ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’. It is more violent than ‘Saw’ too; in fact, it makes all of the ‘Saw’ movies look like Disney films.”

“I’ve talked to Tobin about ‘Repo’, and he’s heard the music,” added Bousman, saying that the duo would listen to the tracks between takes on the recently-wrapped Toronto set of October’s “Saw IV.” Read more…

Banishment to Canada? Is that a fate worse than death? Ask Sandra Bullock these days, and she might say that she knows exactly what you’re talking “aboot.” The “Miss Congeniality” funny lady will soon begin filming “The Proposal,” a romantic comedy that has her playing a “Devil Wears Prada”-esque diva suddenly confronted with her own illegal alien status. Faced with deportation to The Great White North, Bullock’s character works up a scheme to create a sham marriage with her young assistant.

But what might set this flick apart from the rest is that it’ll be produced by “Transformers” masterminds Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. “Proposal” was “written by a very talented writer named Pete Chiarelli,” Orci told us this week while discussing the project alongside his fellow Autobots alumni, screenwriter Alex Kurtzman.

“It’s basically a Billy Wilder movie,” Orci said of the flick, making reference to the legendary “Sunset Boulevard” writer/director. “[It’s about] a published writer and a younger assistant, who are forced into a situation where they have to pretend to be married in order for her not to get deported. “The straight comedy [in ‘Proposal’] is Billy Wilder-style,” laughed Orci, explaining that the comedy comes out of the conflict. Read more…

First rule of working on a Chuck Palahnuik flick: Don’t talk about working on a Chuck Palahnuik flick. Unless it’s to MTV News, of course. “It’s a very strange, strange film,” Sam Rockwell said of his new movie “Choke,” based on a novel from the acclaimed author of “Fight Club.”

“It’s about a sex addict and he’s got this thing,” Rockwell revealed about his character, Victor Mancini. “He goes into restaurants and makes himself choke on food so he can get someone to come up to him and give him the Heimlich maneuver and save his life. It’s a way for him to get this strange, unconditional love, this childhood memory. He gets stirred up every time he does this choking thing.”

But Mancini’s dementia goes deeper than being just a sicko who gets his jollies from near asphyxiation, Rockwell asserted. Like all the great Palahnuik protagonists, Mancini has hidden motives. “Anybody with a little bit of money — he’ll look at their watches and stuff — and then he corresponds with them and says, ‘Oh, how are you doing?’ They feel like a hero,” Rockwell contended. “And then he says ‘Oh, but I have to go to the periodontist, my gums hurt,’ and they say, ‘Let me send you some money.’” So it’s a bit of a scam he does, with his choking thing.”

From hard-core gansta rapper to family-friendly movie star, Ice Cube has gone through a fair share of reinvention over the last fifteen years. “Welcome Back Kotter,” The Frozen One’s dramatic update of the iconic 70’s TV show, isn’t going to be one of them, he insisted.

“When it came out it wasn’t as sitcomy as it may [have felt]. It was a little hard edge. I mean, it dealt with kids skipping school…all kinds of stuff that you really didn’t see,” Cube told us on the set of his next flick “First Sunday.” “They would talk about real life stuff, so I thought it was true to what the nature of the series to do same thing.”

Gabe Kaplan’s Mr. Kotter was a former troublemaker who returned to his old high school to teach a rag-tag bunch of rejects (among them, a young John Travolta). Cube’s movie would take the same basic approach, he said, but would be set in the inner city with a more realistic, edgier tone. “I think that’s how it can be accepted as a new thing if we go more dramatic with it - dramatic with comedic overtones that makes the ride a little easier,” Cube contended. “Make it more dramatic and not so, ‘Up your nose with a rubber hose type s–t!’” Read more…

Over the past couple of decades, Hollywood’s delivered only a handful of what used to be its most popular genre…the Western. The good ones stand out: “Unforgiven,” “Tombstone” and, if you extend to television, HBO’s “Deadwood,” among others. Now, “Walk the Line” director James Mangold hopes to add to the roster with his remake of the classic “3:10 to Yuma,” which stars Christian Bale as a rancher who agrees to transport a captured outlaw (Russell Crowe) to court. This one’s anxiously awaited by us in the office; you’ll probably feel the same once you watch the trailer below.