We knew it would be special when we visited its set last summer, and now we're happy to roll out the trailer premiere for "Choke," the film based on the book by "Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk. The movie finds Sam Rockwell as a sex addict who fakes choking episodes at restaurants to con money out of them. The film opens September 26.

Ground control to Major Sam: Take your protein pills and put your helmet on. Actually, forget that — it's not gonna make much of a difference where you're going, anyway.

Sporting a gnarly beard at Sundance, "Choke" star Sam Rockwell told MTV News it was all in preparation for his latest role, where the intrepid actor is going to take one small step for man...his last.

"I'm doing a sci-fi movie where I'm stranded on the moon for three years," Rockwell revealed. "That's why I have the beard."

Three years? And this from the guy who once went to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. You'd think taking tea on the moon would be a breeze by way of comparison. Read more...

Chuck Palahniuk has got some crazy ideas. Some of them you've probably read already, like "Fight Club" and "Choke." But he's got a few more up his sleeve with his forthcoming book, "Snuff." While the book isn't set for release until 2008, Palahniuk shared lots of details with me, including a pie on the sky idea for casting a film version, when I visited the set of the upcoming film version of "Choke." (Check out my set visit to "Choke" here, including interviews with star Sam Rockwell and director Clark Gregg.)

Here's the plot synopsis on 'Snuff' in Palahniuk's own words: "It's about the shooting one of the worlds largest [pornographic] movies. It's basically about three men waiting in the green room among 600 men. Over the course of the first act you learn that this actress plans to die during the production and that most likely one of these three men was a child she conceived and put up for adoption. He's been trying to contact her for years. She's never acknowledged him and he's so desperate he's shown up for this casting call to try to rescue her before she dies."

Are we talking family fun or what? As we talked about the book, Palahniuk, almost to himself, said aloud one casting idea for a film version of his forthcoming work, "Wouldn't Kathleen Turner be perfect?!?"

Are you as sick of the polished and permed Access/ET correspondents of this world as we are? Doesn't celebrity journalism need a breath of fresh air? That, my friends, is why we've unleashed the Awkward Celebrity Interviewer on the talented stars of "Joshua," namely Sam Rockwell and Jacob Kogan.

Ever wonder what would happen if a horribly awkward encounter with your favorite celebrity was caught on tape? It wouldn't be as painful as this, we assure you.

This is how you measure progress: eight years after playing a "red-shirt" in "Galaxy Quest," Sam Rockwell told MTV News that he's ready to trade up for a green one...as the legendary Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams' new "Star Trek."

"I would love to play Captain Kirk. That's a great part," the actor gushed, adding -- with a nod towards "Galaxy Quest" -- "Great costumes!"

But there's more to playing Kirk than the right wardrobe, Rockwell mused. There's. Also. The. (Long Pause) Halting. Voice. "I would love to be a William Shatner reincarnation," Rockwell insisted. "[But] I don't know if I could copy Bill Shatner. I mean, he's just too genius. I don't know if I could copy that cadence." (After the jump, read Rockwell's casting suggestions, and see a video of his impersonating Shatner's classic style alongside our own Tim Kash). 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."

Everything old is new again today, with some news on beloved characters from TV, film, and comics making a comeback. And what's with the sass from those old farts in the corner? (And may we not rot in movie hell for calling the man who directed "The Godfather" an old fart.)

- Shazam! Captain Marvel to be played by The Rock? (ComingSoon.net)

- John Connor to face Terminators...again. (Variety...and our take)

- "Spider-Man 3” is "silly," George Lucas says. (Fox News)

-- "Fantasy" comes true for Eddie Murphy. (Hollywood Reporter)

- Coppola's "Megalopolis" shelved after 9/11. (AICN)

- Sam Rockwell, Toby Jones and Matthew Macfadyen join Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon". (Hollywood Reporter)