Eric Ditzian - Part 8

'Monogamy' Stars Rashida Jones And Chris Messina Talk Being Scared And Making Out

Posted 3/11/11 5:19 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in Video

If you thought "Blue Valentine" was a laugh riot, get ready to piss yourself during Monogamy."

Which is to say that "Monogamy," a new indie starring Rashida Jones and Chris Messina, takes the dramatic potential of the sort of romantic love explored in "Blue Valentine" and drags it into new, insanely depressing depths. Looked at another way, though, "Monogamy" is simply an unsparing and utterly truthful look at a couple in, and sometimes out, of love, as difficult as that may be to watch.

Making it all the more difficult is the fact that, off-screen, Jones and Messina are actually friends. "I was nervous, because she went to high school with my girlfriend," Messina told MTV News of Jones. "She would come over to my apartment and play with my kids. That's how I knew Rashida. When we first decided to do this together, I was a bit scared. Not only making out, but just how intimate that the places the film goes."

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Exclusive 'Source Code' Clips Show Jake Gyllenhaal Saving Lives And Getting Action

Posted 3/9/11 9:09 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in Hot Stuff, Video

Last night, I checked out an early screening of "Source Code," and while I can't tell you much, I can say the sci-fi flick is a very worthy successor to director Duncan Jones' 2009 cliche-defying debut, "Moon." Honestly, though, like "Moon," it's best to go into "Source Code" knowing only the framework.

If you don't already know, the concept is that Jake Gyllenhaal is a solider sent back, via an uber-complicated computer program, to relive the last eight minutes of a stranger's life on a commuter train in a quest to suss out the identity of the terrorist who bombed the train and plans on wreaking much worse havoc soon. Got it? Good!

Ahead of the film's April 1st release date, we're bringing you not one but two new exclusive clips to further entice your cinematic palate yet keep you guessing about "Source Code." In the first clip, Gyllenhaal pauses in his bomb-sniffing duties long enough to get a little sugar from fellow train passenger Michelle Monaghan. Who says there's no time for a little romance when you're on a train loaded with explosives and you've shuttled back in time to save the day?

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'Mission: Impossible' Star Simon Pegg Dishes Benji Dunn Character Details

Posted 3/9/11 5:28 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in News, Video

As Simon Pegg makes clear toward the end of this giggle-inducing video that "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol" director Brad Bird made for the Annie Awards, the British comedian knows how to handle a weapon. And as Pegg revealed to MTV News recently, his tech-nerd character from "M:I 3," Benji Dunn, might be joining the action far more in "Ghost Protocol" than he did in the previous flick.

"Let's just say Benji Dunn has had a little bit of a promotion since the last film," Pegg told us while promoting his upcoming sci-fi comedy, "Paul."

In 2006's "M:I 3," Dunn was an IMF technician, more comfortable donning a lab coat and delivering some comic relief than unleashing fury with an automatic weapon. While we can't imagine Dunn will morph into a straight man in the new flick, we have a feeling he'll be stepping away from the computer and into the fray this time around. We can't say for sure, though, since Pegg declined to dish plot details, lest co-star Tom Cruise shoot him "with a dart gun in the neck," as the British comedian joked.

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Welcome To Twitter, Jonah Hill! Remember When You Said You'd Never Join?

Posted 3/9/11 1:38 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in News, Video

Jonah Hill made quite a splash on Twitter when he joined the social networking service earlier this week. Not, perhaps, a tiger blood-fueled Twitter rampage of winning that melted faces and left droopy-eyed armless children crying over exploded bodies, but it was nonetheless great to see the always entertaining Hill join the Twitter ranks.

"I used to think Twitter was dumb for a really long time, and then it saved Egypt, and I figured I should probably get on board this thing," he confessed in an introductory video.

What a revolution it was, because not all that long ago, Jonah went to great lengths to promise he'd never — like, never, ever, ever — join Twitter. And hey, we couldn't help ourselves, so we hauled out the video evidence, because — as Jonah will soon learn — on the Internet, nothing ever dies and everything you ever said is only a few clicks away.

"I never will be on Twitter!" he told us when we visited the set of "Get Him to the Greek" in 2009. "I will never be on Twitter!"

Tags jonah hill, twitter

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Robert De Niro Says Other Scorsese Projects Won't Delay 'Irishman,' Is Open To 'Uncharted'

Posted 3/7/11 6:42 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in News

When news broke last month that Martin Scorsese had signed up for a fifth collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio in the form of "The Wolf of Wall Street," we started wondering what that meant for Scorsese's planned production with Robert De Niro, "The Irishman."

After finishing up the fantastical 3-D flick "Hugo Cabret," and shooting his long gestating "Silence" about Jesuits missionaries in 17th Century Japan, would Scorsese skip over "Irishman" and head straight into "Wall Street"?

That seemed to be the plan according to multiple reports, but not to De Niro himself. When MTV News caught up with the man during a "Limitless" press day, De Niro told us "Irishman," his eighth collaboration with Scorsese, will still be the director's follow-up to "Silence."

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'Sherlock Holmes' Star Robert Downey Jr. Reveals 'Struggles' Of Bringing Moriarty To Sequel

Posted 3/4/11 7:00 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in News, Video

Yesterday on the blog, we heard from "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" star Jared Harris, who plays Professor Moriarty, a nefarious character the actor calls the original "super villain."

Today, we bring you further insight into the way Moriarty figures into the plot of the "Sherlock" sequel, courtesy of the titular inspector himself, Robert Downey Jr. As RDJ told us when MTV News visited the UK in January, there are challenges in bringing Moriarty out from the shadows in which he resides in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories — and well as the 2009 film — and into the big-screen spotlight.

"I think the trouble we ran into is in the books, they refer to him more than they actually see and hear from him, which keeps giving him more power," Downey said. "In a cinematic sense, that won't work. In a book, that's great. I think that was one of the struggles."

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Charlie Sheen's Recent Director Speaks Out On The Actor's Current Condition

Posted 3/3/11 1:42 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in News

FROM MTV MOVIES: Last October, after being handed the script for "She Wants Me" by a friend and producer on the indie comedy, Charlie Sheen signed on to play a small role — an outsize version of himself also named Charlie Sheen. He shot his scenes over the course of a few days, and according to writer/director Rob Margolies, was "on time every day and really reliable and always in a good mood."

But speaking to MTV News on Wednesday from Los Angeles, where he's in post-production on the movie, the filmmaker said that the Sheen he's seen in countless recent TV interviews — talking about melting faces and armless children on "Good Morning America," for example — bears little resemblance to the man who was nothing but professional on set.

"Charlie wasn't like that at all," Margolies said. "He was completely in control and not on the defensive. No one ever felt uncomfortable. My personal opinion of him has not changed. I hope he gets the help he needs. I believe in him and wish him the best."

Tags Charlie Sheen

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Dancing With The Stars Cast: The Movie Connections

Posted 3/1/11 4:40 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in Commentary

Last year, Jennifer Grey — she who complained of a "possibly armed, certainly weird" intruder in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and proved that it truly is quite difficult to put Baby in a corner during "Dirty Dancing — pranced her way to victory on "Dancing With the Stars."

The latest cast for the ABC reality competition was announced on Monday night and again delivers a number of toe-tappers with cinematic credentials. From a crane-kicking New Jersey teen to the mother of a child whose inner monologue sounds suspiciously like Bruce Willis, "DWTS" will offer up a number of familiar faces to movie fans when the new season premieres on March 21. Read about them past the jump, and click the photo above for a trip down memory lane!

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Exclusive 'Limitless' Photos Showcase Bradley Cooper And T.V. Carpio's Love Connection

Posted 2/25/11 12:43 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in Photos

Last week we brought you two exclusive images from "Limitless," Bradley Cooper's upcoming thriller about a black-market pharmaceutical that allows users to access the full potential of their brain power. In Cooper's case, that means ditching his life as a schlubby, struggling novelist, getting all spiffed-up with a new 'do and rack of designer suits, and diving into the world of high-profile corporate mergers.

One of the photos highlighted Cooper's romantic liaison with Abbie Cornish. Today, we bring you two new photos that showcase another of Cooper's amorous entanglements — this time with T.V. Carpio, who plays the wife of his landlord (and also stars in "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" on Broadway). The duo start off as foes, but as Cooper's drug-enhanced mind-tricks kick in, their interaction takes a, um, zexy turn.

"What can I say? I kind of love my job," Caprio laughed during a chat with MTV News.

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Todd Phillips Talks Hangovers, Robert Downey Jr., 'Due Date' And More

Posted 2/23/11 6:30 pm EST by Eric Ditzian in Interviews, News

Due Date' Todd Phillips is giving the world a best-friend hug this week. First, as we already reported, the writer/director is set to drop a teaser trailer for "The Hangover Part II." What's more, "Due Date" — his Robert Downey Jr.- and Zach Galifianakis-starring road trip comedy — arrived on Blu-ray and DVD this week.

A few days ago, Phillips called up MTV News from Los Angeles, where he's furiously at work editing the "Hangover" sequel, to chat about the impressive box-office performance of "Due Date," his bromance with Downey and why he'd rather shoot himself than direct an epic green-screen tent pole flick.

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