FROM MTV.COM: In early 2008, then-little-known actors including Robert Pattinson, Ashley Greene and Taylor Lautner traveled to Portland to shoot a small vampire film that they hoped would get a theatrical release. Barely two years later, "Twilight" is one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood, with two Vancouver-filmed sequels rolling into theaters. Now, Pattinson is revealing plans to return to the city where it all began — and recommending the Portland-based Oscar nominee he wants to direct "Breaking Dawn."

"I probably shouldn't say this," Rob revealed to MTV News over the weekend, acknowledging that the wheels are slowly creeping into motion on "Breaking Dawn" getting made. "But I've heard that we're going to shoot it in Portland.

Continue reading Robert Pattinson Wants Gus Van Sant To Direct 'Breaking Dawn'

One remade Hitchcock's "Psycho," the other wrote the novel "American Psycho." and they each often explore screwed up young characters, but otherwise Oscar-nominated filmmaker Gus Van Sant ("Milk") and author Bret Easton Ellis ("Less Than Zero") have little in common. The most significant contrast between them is that Van Sant's characters tend to have good souls, while Ellis' seem to have no souls at all. This makes it all the more exciting and curious to see how the duo collaborates on a script about the tragic true story of artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake.

The lovers, who both ended their lives in 2007, were not household names, but they were important figures in the art world, and they both made contributions to cinema. Duncan, one of the first designers of video games for girls, made an animated short titled "The History of Glamour" (watch it here), and Blake did the abstract interludes seen in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Punch-Drunk Love." Read more...

-- Ian McKellen told attendees at an all-night "Lord of the Rings" screening that an actor has been selected to play Bilbo in "The Hobbit." There are no further details than that, though McKellen also mentioned that he'll be getting the script "within the next week." This falls very deeply into the rumor territory for now, though I have little doubt that a script exists or that there's a Bilbo short list. Especially since "Hobbit" director Guillermo del Toro told us as much in an interview. (TheOneRing.net)

-- The word is the "Fight Club" and "Zodiac" director David Fincher is all set to direct the Aaron Sorkin-penned "The Social Network," also known as "the Facebook movie" in some circles. As you might expect, the story follows the rise of the beast that we call Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Sorkin and Fincher make for odd bedfellows; I'll definitely see this one. (End of Show, via /Film) Read more...

While there is much in flux about Gus Van Sant’s upcoming adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s Zeitgeist-defining book, “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” which centers on the LSD-infused cross-country road trip that novelist Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters took in the 1960s, the director is certain about one thing: he won’t be able to cast his ideal leading man.

“Unfortunately, Heath Ledger was a pretty obvious choice, and he’s gone,” Van Sant told MTV News in an exclusive interview. But who else could play zany philosopher-king and “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” author Kesey?

“There’s the opportunity that it could be Jack Black,” says Van Sant, hinting the film might possibly take on a more comedic feel. Read more...

By John Norris

Add one letter to "MLK," and what do you get? That's right — "Milk."

And rightly so. Harvey Milk is the middle-age mensch from New York who moved to San Francisco, opened a camera shop and set about changing the world. The first openly gay elected official in America became a martyr in 1978, when he, along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was gunned down by a deeply disturbed colleague. Milk has earned his place alongside those other M's: Martin, Malcolm and Mandela. And if you have a problem with that — if you think that gay rights are something apart from other civil-rights struggles — I suggest you see the movie "Milk." I'll front you the 10 bucks.

This long-overdue dramatization of the life of a hero who so richly deserves it is opening now, against the backdrop of the passage of California's rights-stripping Proposition 8 — and on the 30th anniversary of Milk's death — is the sort of surreal convergence of events that only a screenwriter could dream up. (Milk's story was also told in 1984's excellent documentary, "The Times of Harvey Milk.") Read more...

They're not using "Got Milk?" as their official campaign, but the filmmakers behind the story of Harvey Milk are hoping that's a slogan the rest of us abide by.

"If every single person who bought a ticket to 'Brokeback Mountain' bought a ticket to 'Milk,' we'd be very happy producers," laughed producer Bruce Cohen when we caught up with him at the Out 100 New York gala, where the director, writer, producers, and cast of the film were being honored for filming the tale of the man who was California's first openly gay elected official (only to be later assassinated).

"Gus Van Sant goes back and forth between things like 'To Die For' and 'Good Will Hunting' to his more experimental fare, and this is a combination," Cohen said. "It's not mainstream subject matter, it's way out there on the edge, but we're hoping it appeals to a larger audience." Read more...

Reporting by Josh Horowitz

Long before Sarah Palin was talking crazy or banks were going out of business faster than “We Sell it on eBay” stores, a truly bizarre political scandal erupted in 1970’s San Francisco, changing politics forever. We’ve already written extensively about the December release “Milk," and when we recently caught up with super-producer/Focus Features Co-President James Schamus, he promised that our enthusiasm over the Sean Penn biopic was justified.

“He’s just channeling him; it’s crazy. He is Harvey Milk,” Schamus said of the Oscar-winner’s performance as America’s first openly-gay politician. “Go online and look at Harvey Milk and look at the trailer, and it’s like we hired Harvey Milk.”

Co-starring Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch and James Franco (who reportedly shares a kissing scene with Penn), the film tells the true tale of a larger-than-life man who ran for office seeking tolerance and equality, then became a martyr for the gay movement after being shot down by a Twinkie-loving madman. Read more...

Poor Uwe Boll. I've seen fanboys take a stand against bad directors, but I've never seen anybody so reviled that there's literally hundreds of thousands of people ready to stand up and scream in a clear, loud voice, "For the love of all that is holy, please stop making movies!" Which, of course, is exactly what is happening to Boll, with an online petition practically guaranteed to hit a million signatures before too long.

But why Boll and not others? That's what Boll himself wants to know, telling MTV News that too many directors get a "free pass."

Oh boy, here we go again. Read more...

Just for a minute, forget about superheroes and sequels. Because sometimes even movie geeks need to stop eating popcorn and get some nutrition. And that's why we're looking forward to rounding out 2008 with a nice, big, informative glass of "Milk."

"I just did this film called 'Milk' with Sean Penn and Gus Van Sant about Harvey Milk," explained Emile "Speed Racer" Hirsch recently, giving us some early details on what many are already calling this year's Oscar flick to beat. "I think it's going to be a really good film."

When we caught up with Josh Brolin a few weeks back, he had a lot to say about the top-secret biopic, which will depict one of the most bizarre stories in American politics. And in this age of Eliot Spitzer, that's saying quite a bit. Read more...

It was rain and Rainn [Wilson] Saturday afternoon in Santa Monica, as even an unseasonable downpour couldn't dampen the spirits, or, for that matter, the Spirits -- as stars braved the weather to crown the best of independent cinema at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards.

Hosted by "Office" star Rainn Wilson, the ceremony turned into a coronation as "Juno," the little-indie-that-could suddenly became the little indie that did, walking away with three awards including Best Feature, Best Female Lead (Ellen Page), and Best First Screenplay (Diablo Cody). Read more...