FROM MTV.COM: Wes Anderson is comfortable with his crew of Hollywood buddies, a bunch he started cobbling together along with college roommate Owen Wilson for his debut feature, "Bottle Rocket." In subsequent movies, Anderson's hipster squad grew to encompass Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and others, as he continued to cast them in films like "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "The Darjeeling Limited."
So when it comes to his first animated film, the stop-motion Roald Dahl adaptation "Fantastic Mr. Fox," no one should be surprised that Wilson, Murray and Schwartzman lend their voices to the animal characters. But was it always going to be this way? Did Anderson have these actors in mind from the beginning, or did the decision to cast them develop later on? And how did Oscar winners like George Clooney and Meryl Streep sneak into this tight-knit group?
Continue reading How Were George Clooney And Bill Murray Cast In 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'?
While Ricky Gervais is busy working on his routine for hosting the Golden Globes, the folks orchestrating the Academy Awards are feverishly hunting for a host of their own.
Hugh Jackman, last year's master of ceremonies, has already turned down the gig, and now it appears that the dynamic duo of Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. have declined the opportunity to host in tandem as well. The obvious questions is, what is it about the Academy Awards that's putting these prospective hosts off? Does Oscar have something in his teeth?
Maybe it's a simple matter of not asking the right people, since Hollywood has no shortage of talented professionals that could do the award ceremony justice. If I were in charge of selecting a host, here are some of the folks that I'd consider. Read more...
Reese Witherspoon picked up an Oscar in 2005 for her performance as June Carter in the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line," but she's been fairly quiet since then. Working of course, but there's one listing on IMDB for her that's had me curious for ages. After all, it's not every day that you pair a performer of her caliber with James L. Brooks, executive producer of "The Simpsons," for an as-yet-untitled comedy also starring Jack Nicholson, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson. So when MTV reporter Akshay Bhansali ran into Witherspoon last week at the Avon Foundation for Women Awards Gala red carpet, he just had to ask her for an update, perhaps even a title, on the mysterious project.
"We don't have a title, we just wrapped on Saturday," Witherspoon said. "We've been shooting it for the past six months." And what exactly is "it"? Previous reports indicated that the actress would sit at the apex of a love triangle, with Rudd's white collar executive and Wilson's professional baseball pitcher. Read more...
FROM SPLASH PAGE: The last time we saw actor Owen Wilson playing with dogs, it was in the 2008 adaptation of John Grogan's touchingly heartbreaking book "Marley & Me." In this latest bit of news, we learn that Wilson will move from playing with dogs to simply playing one.
Wilson is locked to star in "Marmaduke," a big-screen adaptation of Brad Anderson's long-running newspaper comic strip. The adaptation had itself been revealed a couple of weeks ago, but this final bit of news puts the finishing touch on a cast that includes William H. Macy, Judy Greer, Lee Pace as the titular great dane's human family and Fergie, Emma Stone, George Lopez, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Steve Coogan, Damon Wayans and Marlon Wayans as the voices of Marmaduke's pals in the animal kingdom.
Continue reading Owen Wilson To Let His Inner Dog Out In 'Marmaduke' Movie
Brothers Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson are frequently in the news for one reason or another, but it's a rare day that we reporters get to speak with the other Wilson brother, Andrew. He works in Hollywood, just like his siblings. He's had roles in "Fever Pitch," Mike Judge's "Idiocracy," "The Royal Tenenbaums," "Zoolander" and Drew Barrymore's upcoming directorial debut, "Whip It." He even co-directed 2005's "The Wendell Baker Story" with Luke.
Now, brothers Luke and Andrew are all set to direct together again. Speaking with MTV's Josh Horowitz while promoting "Whip It," Andrew revealed the first details on "Electric Avenue."
Hit the jump for more on this Wilson-driven project. Read more...
In the below video, Jason Schwartzman takes us behind the scenes of director Wes Anderson's upcoming stop-motion animated adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's book, "Fantastic Mr. Fox." In addition to clips and behind the scenes footage, you'll learn how the actors delivered their lines and acted out their parts on location, even though they won't physically appear in the movie.
"Fox" hits theaters on November 13. Use this brief featurette then to whet your appetite for Anderson's "Darjeeling Limited" follow-up, which features a strong ensemble cast that includes Schwartzman, George Clooney, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, Owen Wilson and more.
A few days ago, Universal Pictures announced a release date of July 30, 2010 for “Little Fockers,” the third movie in the Ben Stiller-Robert De Niro “Meet the Parents” comedy soon-to-be-trilogy. The only problem is, somebody forgot to tell the director.
“Oh really?” Paul Weitz marveled when we interviewed him after that news swept across the web. “I don’t know anything about that.”
All the “About a Boy” filmmaker knows is that he’s currently hard at work finishing “Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” for its October 23rd release. He’s set to begin filming the Ben Stiller flick “in a couple months or something." But the announced July 2010 release? Read more...
What gives? Wes Anderson is a pretty popular director, right? I mean, "The Royal Tenenbaums" is one of the best movies out there! And then there's "Rushmore," "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and "Bottle Rocket"! ...and "Darjeeling Limited." I suppose.
Still, I'm surprised at the lack of a banner credit in this newly released trailer for director Wes Anderson's adaptation of "Fantastic Mr. Fox." He rounded up many of his (awesome) usual suspects for the cast, including Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwarzman. PLUS George Clooney and Meryl Streep. Enjoy the stop-motion foxiness!
As I mentioned recently, there are few things I love as much as a good "movie-with-a-movie" scene, be it a glimpse at "Habeus Corpus," "Chubby Rain" or Eli Roth’s upcoming Nazi flick "The Nation’s Pride." So recently, when I got a few minutes with comedy mastermind Judd Apatow, I had to ask him about all of the upcoming mini-movies in "Funny People" that will pair Adam Sandler with the likes of Owen Wilson.
"There’s a poster in his house from a movie called 'My Best Friend is a Robot,' and Owen is the robot," Apatow said of his July 31st comedy, which stars Sandler as a comedian whose career has taken off with a series of popular – if not ill-conceived – high-concept movies. "There’s also a movie called 'Redux,' where he turns into a baby." Read more...
Derek Zoolander once wondered if there were more to life than being “really, really, ridiculously good looking.” By the end of his 2001 movie about the world of competitive male modeling, he may or may not have discovered the truth. Dude was pretty dumb, after all. Now he might get another shot to answer that timeless philosophical brain-teaser in a long-awaited sequel.
“Ben [Stiller] and I have talked about it for a little while," revealed the film’s scribe, John Hamburg, about a film that would reunite Stiller’s Zoolander with his nemesis-turned-comrade Hansel (Owen Wilson). "I think someday we will make that movie.”
While he offered no details about a plot, nor any hint about other potential returning stars like Will Ferrell and Christine Taylor, Hamburg did drop a possible title for the film: “Twolander.” Read more...
