Morning Grind: Mickey Rourke Had Some Problems With 'Iron Guy 2'

Mickey Rourke reaches La in the last weekend doing press for 'Immortals' (search for Moviefone's sit-lower with Rourke closer to release), then when the subject of onscreen villains came into being, the Oscar nominee had some pretty strong opinions about his heavy from 'Iron Guy 2.' "I attempt to search for the moments where [the villain is] much less cliched, evil theif which is a sizable fight," he told Not Remote. "I'd it on 'Iron Man' and so they won. It might use Marvel and them breaking [Jon] Favreau's balls and wanting merely a one-dimensional villain. The performance and everything that we tried to create in it finish around the f-cking floor. That creates explore of taking care of as much. To not to require to put that effort directly into ensure it is a wise theif or possibly a theif who's justified using what his reasons are." [Not Remote] It's the 'Elizabethtown' reunion you will not ever wanted! Orlando Blossom and Kirsten Dunst will co-star in 'Cities' with Clive Owen and 'Slumdog Millionaire' game-show host Anil Kapoor. Directed by Roger Donaldson ('Dante's Peak,' 'Species'), the film can be a "cautionary tale of avarice and ambition" inside the lead-around industry crash of 2008. Think 'Babel' coupled with 'Margin Call.' [Not Remote James Gandolfini is settling to appear inside the comedy 'Burt Wonderstone,' opposite Steve Carell and Jim Carrey. The film is about a ageing Las vegas magician (Carell) who teams along with his old partner to battle an outlandish street magician (Carrey). Gandolfini would play Carell's boss, a billionaire casino owner per Variety, Olivia Wilde and Sarah Silverman are increasingly being looked for for your female lead. [Variety] The thing that was an offer the other day is becoming a deal: creepy 'Killing' star Joel Kinnaman has signed to see Lancelot in 'Arthur & Lancelot.' [THR/Warmth Vision] "I gave him my knowledge of how this should actually be changed into an appreciation story and he's really gone by using it,In . mentioned James Cameron to Deadline about Shawn Levy's progression of the 'Fantastic Voyage' remake. Cameron's plan to refresh within the 1966 film was to experience a physician inject themselves into his dying wife to ensure that they are able to save her. [Deadline] Some Academy awards deck-chair shuffling: The brand new the new sony Classics will run some leads from 'Carnage' (Jodie Promote, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly and Christophe Waltz) inside the supporting groups, because the studio sets Keira Knightley inside the competitive Best Actress area on her behalf be employed in 'A Dangerous Method.' [HitFix/In Contention] [Photo: Getty] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook RELATED

Friend Zone

Produced by 495 Prods. Executive producers, SallyAnn Salsano, Joel Zimmer; co-executive producer, Danny Shaner; supervising producers, Jill Garelick, Krista Van Nieuwburg, Lisa Marie Tobin; senior producer, Clay Wolflick; directors, Brad Kreisberg, Lucas Mertes; supervising story producer, Jeffrey W. Ruggles; editors, Tim Kelley, Hobie Smith; casting, Josh Allouche. 30 MIN.Playing like a dating show on amphetamines -- or a "secret crush" episode of a daytime talkshow -- MTV's "Friend Zone" strips down relationships to their potentially humiliating or heartwarming beginnings: In each half-hour, two teens break the news to a "just-friend" that they're secretly infatuated with them, offering the possibility of rejection or triumph. The situation resonates, mostly, because it's easily relatable, but also because the participants are so inarticulate as to create a level of authenticity. Leave it to MTV: Presenting romance without any foreplay or, for that matter, messy aftermath. Although the show comes from "Jersey Shore" producer SallyAnn Salsano, "Friend Zone" is almost the understated antithesis of that cash cow. Addressing the camera, kids talk about how they're mad for a friend of the opposite sex (is same-sex in the future?), setting them up for an on-air proposal: The gimmick is they think they're providing support for a dating show, only to be hit with the "I want to date you" overture themselves. As constituted, it feels like kind of a cheap trick to the object of affection, but they're quickly lost, frankly, in the pursuer's relief and exultation, or embarrassment and pain. And if there's the risk of friendships squandered or true heartbreak, well, hey, the show's only a half-hour, let 'em sort that out beyond the camera's prying lens. The feelings of youthful ardor, however, are raw, honest and compelling ("I'm just gonna be devastated" if the answer's "no," one says), perhaps more so because the first participants lack the words to really express them. Nor, for that matter, do their intendeds have much to say once confronted. In a way, that leaves the "why" of the romance -- and distinction between being friends or more -- to an answer as simple as "Because," and the focus squarely on whether the pass is completed or not. Should "Friend Zone" become a success, it would presumably become more difficult to arrange these oncamera ambushes, which hasn't stopped CBS' "Undercover Boss" from finding participants, and frankly, it's a high-class problem. For now, though, why over-think things, on a show that neatly reduces relationships to "The Wide World of Sports" opening -- as in "the thrill of victory" or "the agony of defeat." Contact Brian Lowry at brian.lowry@variety.com

Fall TV Recognition Contest: Perhaps You Have Search Grimm's Favorite Anecdotes?

David Giuntoli, Currie Graham NBC's supernatural cop drama Grimm first demonstrated Friday, and you need to know very well what you considered it - which that you simply consider every new series this season.Selection: Which fall premieres won you over? Which flopped?Did the show's twist on Little Red-colored-colored Riding hood cause you to hungry for further? Or could it happen to be a sizable, bad mess? Election now! It's also wise to tell your pals together with other fans to election, too.Return all fall to determine which TVGuide.com clients consider your chosen - and least favorite - new shows. And remain up-to-date to look for the ultimate rankings in the season's most loved and resented debuts.Fall TV: Have the lowdown relating to this season's must-see new showsHere's our handy calendar that may help you keep close track of when you election.

Stephen Moyer on His Double Jail Time, True Blood's Camera Tricks and the Reason He Won't Do a Rom-Com

American audiences came to love English actor Stephen Moyer as sexy, small-town vampire Bill Compton on HBO’s hit show True Blood. But when the award-winning Alan Ball series goes on hiatus — as it is now between its fourth and fifth seasons — the accomplished stage actor fits in as many film projects as he can. The latest being The Double, Michael Brand’s directorial debut which co-stars Moyer as a Soviet psychopath assassin who is locked behind bars with only a gruesome facial scar and a secret — a secret that Richard Gere and Topher Grace try to wheedle out of him as they investigate the murder of a senator in this political thriller. In anticipation of The Double’s release, Moyer met with Movieline in Beverly Hills this week to discuss why he volunteered for solitary confinement on set, the art of eating a battery and his dream to direct. What made you want to play a Russian psychopath? He’s just a great character. It’s so interesting — in the [True Blood] hiatus we get five months. This year, I think it was only four and a half months to try and do something that is different from what you have been doing and to weave a tapestry. In this particular year, I also did a film with Rachelle Lefevre called The Caller in which I was playing a very straight character. I played a British politician in a British series called Ice and I also did some work for Anna [Paquin]’s brother in another thing. I wanted to broaden my horizons. Who wouldn’t want to play a Russian psychopath? It’s an awful lot of fun. You got to chew the scenery a little bit and learn some stuff. What did you learn? I learned about this form of fighting called Systema which I had no knowledge of before. I got to play with that which was great and I got to work with Richard Gere and Topher. How does one get into the mindset of a Soviet psychopath? A lot of my friends would tell you that I did that quite easily. Every situation is different. You have to learn what makes your character tick. If you imagine being locked up for 15 years, 10 of those in solitary confinement, which is what I was playing with, it’s going to make you pretty mad. When you see the window of opportunity to talk to people or to get out or to somehow twist the situation, you’re going to do that. I can’t imagine spending one week in one of those cells. Did you film in a real prison? We were shooting in a real prison actually — a working prison in Michigan. You have to go through all of the procedures of actually getting in and them closing the doors behind you. I asked them to lock me in a cell that was very close to where we were shooting. So basically, I was in this cell near where we were shooting and every time they would do another take, they would unlock me and I’d come out and do a take. It was fun and gave me that sense of the cramped, locked-in conditions that are fascinating to play. It’s just another area for a warped mind like mine. How long were you confined total? I think the first day, when they were setting up lighting, I was in there for a few hours. And then after that, I would spend five or 10 minutes in there between each take and 20 when they were resetting. That’s dedication. Why wouldn’t you want to spend time in a jail cell? You’re in a real working prison. That’s just fun. Of course there is a part of you that is wondering whether anyone is going to come back and unlock the door. That scenario would make for some pretty unhappy True Blood fans I’d imagine. Did you interact with any inmates? No. We only saw three or four high level prisoners — in that they were allowed to do things around the corridors. They had been in there a long while or their crimes weren’t as big. [SPOILER] Your battery scene made me gag. How did you make it look like you were swallowing a battery in one take? Did you notice that? Good! How do you know I didn’t actually eat a battery? Well, I don’t want to talk about why I do that in the middle of a movie. I’ll tell you though when this thing is off. [Turns off tape record and explains his battery-eating trick. Turns tape recorder back on.] I’m quite proud of that scene because I choreographed it myself. [END OF SPOILER] Was it your idea to do it in one take? It was. I came up with a way of shooting it where we didn’t have to cut the camera. Film and theater are about misdirection and making the audience see something. I find it interesting. One of the things we do in True Blood is shoot all of our stunts in camera. Instead of doing some kind of visual effect, we try to make it happen. The camera might be over my shoulder as I’m looking at, for argument’s sake, Lorena. She’ll throw me down onto the floor and the camera will whip pan and when it gets to the other side of the room, I’m already on the floor. There’s no way I could have done it that fast because we’re doing it in vamp speed. What you don’t realize is that that wasn’t me when you were looking over my shoulder because you couldn’t see my face. It sounds like sleight of hand filmmaking. It is. I get really excited about the process because it’s part of the misdirection. It’s Reservoir Dogs where Michael Madsen goes into the frame. We’re on his back and he starts cutting the ear off and the camera goes into the other room and sits there and then he walks into that frame with an ear in his hand. It’s fucking brilliant. I know that you’re starting to produce projects but it seems like you have an eye for directing. Is that something you’re looking to do also? Yes, I do. I started a theater company when I was 17. I did that for ten years while I was working on other things. I had this possibility at the time to do that if I wanted but it meant spending a couple of years away from acting. And I was doing quite well as an actor. I wasn’t in the situation where I had enough money to stop [acting]. I had to pay my bills. I decided to put the dream off and pick it back up when I could. I am very much hoping to direct this one project — well two actually — but the first I would like to shoot next summer. Then there are a couple of shorts I’ve written with a friend of mine. It’s just about finding time. It seems like you are drawn towards darker acting projects. Is that also the kind of material you’re looking to direct? Actually, the one I’m looking to direct next summer is a completely broad comedy. It’s a really great script which I’m really excited to get out to the particular cast we’re hoping to direct. Do you also want to step out of your wheelhouse as an actor? Would you ever star in a straight-up romantic comedy with Katherine Heigl? That’s so funny. I don’t see myself doing that at all but those also aren’t the kind of movies that I tend to go and see. That said, I adore Four Weddings and a Funeral. I think that’s almost the perfect movie and I’d love to do something like that. I actually did a film [Prince Valiant] with Katherine Heigl in 1997. It was my first movie and she was 15 or 16 years old. Why not? A film that I love is Raising Arizona and that’s funny but it’s quite indie and weird and odd and quirky. I’d love to do something like that. Who knows! When I started out, I was very idealistic about what I wanted to do and the kind of work I wanted to do. The job to me is when I’m on set, at work creating. When I’ve left, I’ve left. What [the film] turns into, what it is, what it ends up being is out of my control. I really appreciate the process. If someone comes to me with a [different type] of character or project, I’ll give it a go because I love seeing what happens. Not only have you always loved acting, but I read that you were so passionate about it as a teenager that you taught it to children. Right, I used to teach kids when I was younger. When I was about 14 or 15 I started teaching children drama and something that I used to say to them was, “Don’t be afraid.” People would be afraid of forgetting their lines or something. I used to say, “Have no fear because we can use fear. What you experience in that moment when the scene may not work as well as you want it to is a feeling that you’ll be able to use later in something else. Remember how you felt when people didn’t laugh at that joke that you thought was hilarious? We’re going to use that now to create something else. Take a negative thing and turn it into a positive things.” That still applies. There is no fear in choosing a role then for me. It’s all constructive. Exactly. It’s all constructive. Follow Julie Miller on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' Full Trailer Debuts (Video)

David James/Paramount Pictures"Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol" The full-length trailer for Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol has finally hit the web. VIDEO: Tom Cruise Defies Gravity in 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' Clip Director Brad Bird personally introduced the new promo for the upcoming Tom Cruise actioner and this time, it doesn't rely on images of Cruise in a black hoodie. The nearly three-minute trailer -- going back to a traditional score, rather than having the previous teaser's hip-hop feel -- promises more fights, more action and more chases, evening setting up the plot (and locations) with a little more meat. ANALYSIS: Why Tom Cruise Still Matters in the Film Industry So what can moviegoers expect in December? Set-ups, near-misses, gunfights, car crashes and lots of secrets. Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Josh Holloway co-star in the fourth film in the franchise, opening in U.S. theaters on Dec. 21, which finds Ethan Hunt and the rest of the I.M.F. team going rogue to clear their organization's name. Watch the full trailer below: Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

McConaughey Happening Thunder Run

With Gerard Butler & Mike WorthingtonWhile James Cameron has introduced the strategies by live-action ideas and applications a mixture of real stars and CGI, other filmmakers are really starting to embrace the idea, however with mixed results. The newest group hopping aboard is Freedom Film, which has engaged the help of Matthew McConaughey, Mike Worthington and Gerard Butler for Thunder Run.Simon West, who knows his way around an action film (which is at this time around shooting Sly Stallone and co round the Expendables follow-up), remains hired to direct. Nevertheless the new movie will mainly be making use of a mix of recorded voice-over and several eco-friendly screen attempt to bring a 3 dimensional CG world to existence. West has some reference to the exact same thing, getting just made the mainly animated Evening in the Living Dead: Roots 3d.Magic Run will adapt Pulitzer Prize champion David Zucchino and Black Hawk Lower book author Mark Bowden's book, subtitled The Armoured Strike To Capture Baghdad. The Black Hawk connection continues as that film's scriptwriter Ken Nolan has labored with Robert Port round the script.McConaughey, Worthington and Butler may have soldiers in the tank incorporated within the effort by American forces to capture the city in 2003. "That which you capture inside our cameras will probably be them," Freedom Film's John Presley notifies the heat Vision Blog. "It features a stylized effect in it but we are shooting them. We're not ageing them lower like Rob Bridges in Tron Legacy, it will likely be them for just two several hours in the highly intense tank fight. The scope in the movie will feel huge as well as the goal is always to attract the Cod world. It won't have a very gaming world feel but to experience a stylized use it."This program is always to shoot the footage next season using a mixture of the facial capture software found in West's zombie outing with Avatar's performance capture tech. Question if Worthington will probably be teaching training courses concerning how to adapt to it?

In Time

Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried star in 'In Time'A 20th Century Fox release of a Regency Enterprises presentation of a New Regency/Strike Entertainment production in association with Luma Pictures. Produced by Andrew Niccol, Eric Newman, Marc Abraham. Executive producers, Arnon Milchan, Hutch Parker, Bob Harper, Andrew Z. Davis, Kristel Laiblin, Amy Israel. Co-producer, Debra James. Directed, written by Andrew Niccol.Sylvia Weis - Amanda SeyfriedWill Salas - Justin Timberlake Raymond Leon - Cillian Murphy Philippe Weis - Vincent Kartheiser Rachel Salas - Olivia WildeA tightrope walk between inspired high-concept storytelling and near-agonizing obviousness, Andrew Niccol's "In Time" takes place in a retro dimension where everyone is 25 'til the day they die. Time is money as the rich measure their wealth in centuries while the poor scrape by for a few extra minutes, all painfully aware that life ends the second their accounts run empty. It's a fascinating philosophical conceit delivered as a slick, hyper-stylized conspiracy yarn, juicy enough to deliver on both fronts, provided you don't ask too many questions. Interest should sync with that of recent sci-fiers "The Adjustment Bureau" and "Source Code." In a return to the elegant, streamlined view of the future presented in "Gattaca" and "The Truman Show" -- or perhaps it's some parallel universe, where the continents are shaped like ours and no matter where you go, everything looks like Los Angeles -- writer-director Niccol turns back the clock a dozen years, effectively erasing the disappointment of his intervening efforts, "Simone" and "Lord of War." The way it works, citizens are divided into time zones according to class. In the ghetto, guys like Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) live hour-to-hour, keeping a careful eye on the bright green life-expectancy timers embedded in their forearms. The most reliable way to buy themselves more time is by to spend some of their own on the job, though renegades (such as Alex Pettyfer's dandy-dressing, English-accented gangster) run around robbing people for a few hours. Nobody walks in the ghetto; time is far too precious. In the more upscale time zones, however, it's a different story: Leisure is a way of life, bought at the expense of the working poor -- a lesson Will learns when a suicidal chap (Matt Bomer) with a century on his clock whispers a few big secrets before taking a tumble off the nearest bridge. In true Hitchcockian fashion, innocent Will has no way to explain how he acquired 100-plus years, a situation that puts him on the lam from a squad of officious time keepers led by Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy). As science fiction goes, "In Time" is the type that alters a few intriguing variables while otherwise preserving enough of the real world to illuminate aspects of our current system we don't normally consider. It hardly counts as a cautionary tale, since there's little chance of man developing the capacity for eternal life presented here: Niccol's system hinges on the ability to stop aging at the quarter-century mark and to sustain the body in mint condition as long as its owner can "afford" it. But the idea of time as money has real currency at a moment when world events have shaken the foundations of a paper-based banking system, just as the film's central inequity -- which finds Philippe Weis ("Mad Men's" boyishly smarmy Vincent Kartheiser) exploiting the poor to feed his own immortality -- echoes the sentiments of the Occupy Wall Street crowd. Thanks to a stellar below-the-line team that includes d.p. Roger Deakins, production designer Alex McDowell and costume designer Colleen Atwood, "In Time" looks like "Gattaca," though the story is far more intricate and the action considerably more complex. Niccol stages shootouts and chase scenes that take full advantage of Timberlake's action-hero potential, pairing him with red-wigged Amanda Seyfried as Weis' daughter, Sylvia, a hostage-turned-accomplice in Will's efforts to upset the system. But the helmer is too much in love with his own ideas, indulging every little play on words (Pettyfer: "I'd say your money or your life, but your money is your life"). He's incredibly surface-oriented, which makes for meticulous compositions amid beautiful environments, but causes problems in casting, especially since Niccol doesn't handle actors well, however perfect their cheekbones may be. A rugged 30, Timberlake deepens his usually reedy voice, suggesting that time is harder on those in the ghetto (ditto for Murphy, 35, and next-door neighbor Johnny Galecki, 36). For the most part, side players fare less convincingly. Olivia Wilde is particularly ill-used, except to guarantee a laugh at the film's opening line ("Hi, Mom"), while model-looking extras are left to flail awkwardly on the sidelines. Still, the premise is rich enough to engage, making it easy to forgive Niccol's indulgences. What other studio director would have the nerve to counter Ayn Rand on her own turf, packaging a sure-footed lefty parable as genre entertainment? Though not exactly a rallying cry for the cause, "In Time" serves as two hours well spent for those bullied by the system and looking to let off some steam.Camera (widescreen, Deluxe color), Roger Deakins; editor, Zach Staenberg; music, Craig Armstrong; production designer, Alex McDowell; art directors, Priscilla Elliott, Todd Cherniawsky, Chris Farmer; set decorator, Karen O'Hara; costume designer, Colleen Atwood; sound (Dolby/Datasat), Ed Novick; supervising sound editors, Richard King, Michael Babcock; re-recording mixers, Paul Massey, David Giammarco; special effects supervisor, Matt Sweeney; visual effects supervisor, Ellen M. Somers; visual effects, Soho VFX, Luma Pictures; stunt coordinator, David M. Leitch; second unit director, Leitch; second unit camera, Paul Hughen; assistant director, Lars P. Winther; casting, Denise Chamian. Reviewed at Fox Studios, Los Angeles, Oct. 25, 2011. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 109 MIN. Secondary Cast: With: Matt Bomer, Johnny Galecki, Collins Pennie, Toby Hemingway, Brendan Miller, Yaya DaCosta, Alex Pettyfer. Contact Peter Debruge at peter.debruge@variety.com