Although Despicable Me 2 won’t land in theaters until July 3, 2013, Universal has released its first teaser poster and we love the minions getting their spotlight.

The first Despicable Me arrived in theaters and quickly raked in $543 million globally, thus sending a team immediately to work developing a sequel.

The minions are front and center on the Despicable Me 2 poster, as they should be. They were priceless in the first movie’s marketing campaign and judging by that final box office tally, why change what works so well?

Will the original cast return? You can count on Steve Carell coming back to reprise his role, but whether Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Jason Segel, Will Arnet, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig, Elsie Fisher or Dana Gaier will be back: It’s too early to tell.

Don't miss our favorite Despicable Me quotes!

After Scream 4 took in $97 million, more than double its budget, it is hardly a surprise that director Wes Craven is saying that Scream 5 is a go. Toss in the fact that Craven is signed for a fifth and sixth film, and the chances for a fifth Scream seems all but certain.

Craven was talking with MovieWeb and when the topic of a fifth installment of his wickedly successful movie series came up, he was quite optimistic. “The odds are that there will be a Scream 5. It is something that Bob Weinstein wants to do. He tends to do what he wants to do. So I am inclined to think that there will be another sequel,” Craven said.

The gray part of this deal is audiences can expect the horror master to helm it. “Whether I will be a part of it or not -- I don’t know. My contract gives me the first look. If they show me something that is really wonderful? Of course I will be a part of it.”

Writer Kevin Williamson was the brains behind the story with the entire series, and although he has commitments with TV’s Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle, Craven is hoping Williamson will pen the fifth and sixth Scream film. “Kevin Williamson has been the writer since day one,” Craven said.

“He has been the writer on all of these projects, at least at the beginning of them.  Typically what will happen is that Bob Weinstein or Kevin Williamson will come up with a new idea, and they will pitch it to one or the other. If they both like it, they will toss it around and see if they can develop it into an overarching concept. Then I get the telephone call. They say, ‘We have something to show you.’”

Anna Kendrick enters our suite at the Park Hyatt in Toronto, which is quite cold, dressed to the nines -- an outfit which is quickly covered up by a hotel terrycloth robe. “It’s freezing in here,” she proclaims and we couldn’t agree more. But what is hot is her performance in 50/50.

Kendrick first wowed in Twilight and its subsequent films as a friend of Bella’s (Kristen Stewart). She then went on to star in Rocket Science and earned an Oscar nomination for Up in the Air opposite George Clooney. That performance caught the eye of 50/50 filmmakers who thought she was perfect to portray Katherine, the therapist of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character who has spinal cancer that is seriously threatening his life.

The actress is quickly becoming one of our favorites and in person, she is as gracious as she is talented. Kendrick talks to Movie Fanatic about 50/50, if she feels like a Toronto Film Fest veteran after her star-making turn during Up in the Air’s Toronto run and her emotions as the cameras have shut down on the Twilight saga with the arrival of November’s Breaking Dawn Part 1. 

Movie Fanatic: You are so convincing in Twilight as a high school student and in 50/50 as a doctor. When you first read the script, what was your interpretation of the character so that people would see you believably as a doctor?

Anna Kendrick: I was so excited to be offered the part. I read the script and so wanted to do it. It was an early Christmas present, just before Christmas they offered me the part. I was so excited. I do feel like, Jonathan had seen me in Rocket Science, but ultimately everyone was happy with me getting the job because of Up in the Air. I felt like I pulled a little trick because the role felt a little more like that character. I tried to make her feel different, feel vulnerable and soft. That’s how I saw her. A lot of people on the page are saying there’s this great role in this movie. She’s really confident. She’s this young professional, a know it all. No, she has the facade of a know it all, but she knows she’s an idiot, and she’s just trying to get through the day without anyone calling her on it. That was a fun angle to explore. I did meet a woman who does work similar to Katherine, who was extremely generous with her time. She wrote out a file for Adam as though Adam was her client -- which was incredibly helpful. Especially, she talked to me about all the mistakes she made when she was starting out. She did say that wanting to touch your patients was something that she did and something she had to learn to fight as she got more experienced. Just all the things that would be running through her head, particularly when she was just starting.

Movie Fanatic: Tell me about getting your head around the romance that may or may not be developing between you and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Adam. How did you play that so it developed so naturally -- which it did on screen?

Anna Kendrick: I’ll tell you what. It was this funny thing where it felt like this parallel thing happening as actors -- where neither of us wanted to be the one initiating the relationship. That was going on with our characters too. Obviously the patient doesn’t want to do anything inappropriate. The therapist doesn’t want to do anything inappropriate. As actors, I thought, “Adam would be this way.” It was more I don’t think Katherine would do that. He kept saying, “I don’t want to say that because what if it comes off as disrespectful. I should treat you like a professional.” We both kind of like wanted the other one to be the aggressor -- the person who initiated the relationship. I think that’s a testament the way that Joe was raised. He was so nervous as coming across as somebody who didn’t take a professional woman seriously. He would never see her as a piece of meat or whatever. I thought that was so sweet. I didn’t want to come across as the worst therapist in the world [laughs]. There were actually some scenes where there was a discussion about whether we should or shouldn’t do this, I think it’s inappropriate. Those scenes were trimmed down because all of that is a given. To discuss it onscreen, either you’re going to walk away from it rooting for them or you’re not. Just because they have the perfunctory we probably should do this, but let’s do it anyway conversation doesn’t win anybody over. We had to hope for the best.

Movie Fanatic: How was having Will Reiser, the screenwriter, on set as compared to other roles you’ve done where maybe the writer wasn’t there?

Anna Kendrick: For me, after meeting him and speaking to him, I thought of him as a writer and producer, and a great one at that. I didn’t feel like weird about him being here -- especially because my character is totally fictional. I was just happy to have a good brain in the room. He’s just warm and funny. He has certainly taught me the lessons to treat sick people like normal people.

Movie Fanatic: You were in Toronto two years ago for Up in the Air, and now you’re here for 50/50 with an Oscar nomination under your belt. What advice would you have for a first time nominee?

Anna Kendrick: This was before True Grit came out, I met Hailee Steinfeld. She is such a lovely person. I started to say to her, “Oh, that movie will be so great.” It was clear that movie was going to be amazing for her. I just told her this is going to be so great and enjoy the ride. I realized that everyone had said that to me two years ago for Up in the Air. I stopped myself and said, “Totally scratch that.” [Laughs] "Have fun, but if you’re not having fun, that’s OK. It doesn’t mean you’re an asshole. It just means that you’re tired.”

Movie Fanatic: What was not fun about it?

Anna Kendrick: It’s not that it wasn’t fun. I just wondered when I would get to sleep. Every time I’d look at my schedule and I’d see that tomorrow was my day off, it would turn into one of those days where everyone came out of the woodwork looking to schedule something on that day. It just cut down on time with family. I just talked all day, every day.

Movie Fanatic: So do you feel like an expert now?

Anna Kendrick: The funny thing about having Will Reiser ask me what to expect at the Toronto Film Festival, I realized he was looking at me like I know what’s going on. I’m the veteran? That was a new experience. But it made me feel like I should try to be a rock. I totally know what he’s going through right now. 

Movie Fanatic: How was working with Joseph on this film. You guys, as we’ve discussed, have such electricity together. How was he personally and professionally?

Anna Kendrick: Personally, kind and interested in other people and really musical. He just wants people to be open and be creative, which is a great person to have around. Professionally, I would say I was so impressed with his ability to track a movie. It’s hard. You shoot a movie out of sequence. We all try our best and try to figure out what it’s going to look like in the end. I found myself watching his performance and thinking about how in our scenes he goes from being relatively healthy to being extremely sick. We shot all those scenes in a matter of days. I was impressed with his ability to really think about what this is doing in the movie, not just how he was feeling that day. He was thinking about more than his performance.

Movie Fanatic: Joseph’s character makes light of your car being such a mess. Is your own car a mess or completely neat?

Anna Kendrick: Sometimes, it’s pretty good… right now, really bad [laughs]. I have not washed my car. Oh, also, I never put air in my tires, so I am blowing tires constantly [laughs]. It’s not as bad as Katherine’s car, but it’s pretty bad.

Movie Fanatic: Switching gears, can you describe your very last day of filming the Twilight pictures?

Anna Kendrick: The last moment was like 5:30 a.m., in a summer dress in the woods. It was raining and it was 40 degrees. We were dancing. The sun was coming up, so we were trying to get the last shot and then they called cut and called a wrap on the whole series and we all just ran to warmth. There wasn’t a lot of time to get weepy. It was an ending in true Twilight fashion. I was glad the last movie wasn’t cushy and lovely. It was freezing your butt off in the middle of the woods.

Movie Fanatic: At the very end, were you crying or smiling?

Anna Kendrick: Smiling! Everybody was smiling. It felt celebratory. It didn’t feel melancholy.

Movie Fanatic: How was it as an actress having different directors along the way for the Twilight saga?

Anna Kendrick: It was a little nerve-wracking. These people didn’t choose you. You have no idea if they think you’re a decent actor or you do a good job. It was lucky that it felt to me that everyone that came in felt like they just wanted us to keep doing what we were doing because they liked what we did on the last one. Nice and easy for me.

Movie Fanatic: Can you compare and contrast the sense of humor of George Clooney and Seth Rogen? Everyone who works with them say that those two actors constantly crack them up.

Anna Kendrick: I would say Seth is more mature than George Clooney.

Movie Fanatic: [Laughs]

Anna Kendrick: George is such a little rascal at heart.

Abduction may not have scored with audiences or critics, but Taylor Lautner fans cannot get enough of the actor cruising into action mode. In honor of Abduction’s release, we’ve got some of the film’s more compelling quotes.

Lautner plays Nathan, a teenager who awakes one day to discover his face on a missing persons website. When he calls the number on the site, it sets in motion an all-out race to the truth that may cost him his life.

Karen: Nathan, I’ve got something you need to see. | permalink

Nathan: Why would my picture wind up on a missing persons website? | permalink

Agent Frank Burton: Listen to me Nathan, we're going to find you.
Nathan: Not if I find you first! | permalink

Dr. Bennett: There were only four of us that knew your identity, two of us are dead. | permalink

Nathan: Sometimes I feel different. I walk around like everybody else, but inside, I feel like a stranger in my own life. | permalink

Don't miss our Abduction review and keep coming back as we add more Abduction quotes.

Halloween must be around the corner because Paranormal Activity 3 has just released the scariest of all its trailers.

Paranormal Activity 3 lands in theaters in time for All Hallow’s Eve, but fans may have a chance to be of the first to see it before it debuts for wide audiences. The studio behind the Paranormal Activity franchise, Paramount Pictures, has released a statement about cities across the world vying for the opportunity to see the film first. Check it out:

In an unprecedented move, Paramount Pictures will debut Paranormal Activity 3 exclusively in cities where the most fans “Tweet To See It First.” This first ever of its kind campaign launched today at 8 a.m. PDT and is open to fans worldwide. Paranormal Activity 3 will premiere on October 18 in the top 20 cities with the most tweets, three days before the film’s global release.

To vote, fans can go to www.ParanormalMovie.com and select their city from a global map, which will also serve as the point of entry to create a tweet with a special set of hash tags that link directly to twitter. Once a tweet posts, it counts as a vote. A leader board will show the top 20 global markets in real-time.

The “Tweet To See It First” competition is available to audiences worldwide and ends at 11:59 p.m. PDT on Thursday, October 13. The top 20 cities will be announced on Friday, October 14.

Paranormal Activity 3 Trailer 2

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close hits theaters on Christmas Day and featured two of America's favorite stars.

Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock anchor this 9/11-based drama, which focuses on an 11-year old who lost his father in the terrorist attacks. He proceeds to embark on a journey through all of New York City, encountering various people and items along the way.

Check out the official movie poster and trailer now:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Trailer

Will Reiser, along with his good friend Seth Rogen, lived the story of 50/50. In fact, the film is a slightly fictionalized version of what Reiser went through when he came an inch of his life in a battle from cancer in his mid-20s. At Rogen’s urging, Reiser put pen to paper to craft a story of how two friends bound together to fight a friend’s cancer ultimately all coming out the other side better people, friends and frankly, filmmakers.

Reiser and Rogen began their lifelong friendship when both worked on Da Ali G Show starring Sasha Baron Cohen. It is his personal journey from cancer survivor to crafter of one of the best films of 2011 in 50/50 that is the pure essence of an inspiring story. Capturing a fictionalized and often funny take on one’s life and death battle takes talent. To audiences’ benefits, 50/50 is funny, tragic, said and completely uplifting largely due to how well Reiser wrote from his heart.

The survivor screenwriter is sitting down with Movie Fanatic at the Toronto Film Festival for a chat about life, moms and movies.

Movie Fanatic: Seth Rogen said we should ask you, since he shows his mom his scripts that he writes. Did you share this script with your mom? Especially since your mom in 50/50 (Anjelica Huston) must be a hyped up version of a worried Jewish mother.

Will Reiser: No, the only way I could get my mom to read is if it’s a book on tape [laughs]. She’d listen to it while she was sewing. No, I’m just making fun of my mom. She just loves books on tape. I do not show my mother my scripts. I have shown my father. My father is a writer and my sister’s a writer as well. My first draft of 50/50, which at the time was I’m with Cancer. I showed both my sister and my father but not my mom.

Movie Fanatic: How have you prepared her for the film?

Will Reiser: We’ve had significant conversations at length about how to prepare her. She saw a few scenes being shot up in Vancouver so she knows. It’s interesting when Anjelica Huston met my mother, Anjelica Huston’s first response was, “You were not what I was expecting.” They’re two completely different people. The way I write is I take elements of people around me and I fictionalize characters around them. That’s how I ground my characters. Adam is very true to me, he’s very much an extension of me. But there’s no other character in the movie who is 100 percent based on another person. I wrote Kyle for Seth knowing his voice as a comedian but I didn’t do it based on Seth as my best friend. It was more this idea that I had this group of friends and no one knew how to deal with my illness and so thematically I used that to help create that character.

Movie Fanatic: How is Seth as a collaborator? Is it hard to get through the day without cracking each other up?

Will Reiser: Oh yeah. And that’s just for Seth. This movie was an incredibly fun set to be on -- even though we were making a movie that could be really intense at times. We’d joke around a lot.

Movie Fanatic: Are you worried about what traumatic life event you’ll have to go through next for your next script?

Will Reiser: Well, my next script is about Alzheimer’s so… [Laughs] But I do like writing about, whether it happened to me or someone else, I like writing about things that are real. I like writing about real life. That for me feels the most satisfying, creating worlds in which people go through real life struggles but also finding the humor in those situations. I like that challenge. Filmmakers who are heroes of mine that was what I felt like they could really accomplish, the ability to make you laugh and cry within 90 minutes. Those are the movies that I really love to write.

Movie Fanatic: Can you talk about working with Joseph Gordon Levitt and the work he did, essentially playing you?

Will Reiser: We only had one week to prepare with Joe because he came on right as we were shooting. I didn’t want to impose anything on him and this was something I discussed with Seth, Evan and Jonathan was that we would just let Joe approach the character the way in which he felt most comfortable. And Joe just naturally sort of gravitated towards talking to me a lot. We spent a lot of time together because I spent a lot of time on set so we were around each other all the time. He would just look to me and ask questions like, “How were you feeling in this situation? What was it like going through this?” Also, he lost one of his best friends when he was a teenager so this is something very close to him as well. I don’t want to speak for Joe but he went through this so I think he was also able to draw on some of those emotions that he went through then. I think that it was important to let Joe make Adam his own and for Joe not to feel like he needed to stay true to the Adam who was me. We would talk about it and we worked on the character together. He would point things out to me in the dialogue that he felt like the character might not say and I think that’s great. When an actor feels so connected to a character and they know that character’s voice, it almost makes my job easier. Because then I’m on set and as I’m working with them, I’m looking at the script and I can rewrite it based on new things that they’ve added to the characters, little nuances. I would just rewrite scenes almost daily, add things, tweak scenes and come up with alternate scenes.

Movie Fanatic: What’s your best advice for someone who has a friend going through a serious illness?

Will Reiser: My advice is to just be the person’s friend. Something I saw a lot was people have this sort of impulse, this hero’s complex, where people feel like they have to save their friend, they have to do something. It makes sense because you’re in this very scary place of not knowing, where there’s so much uncertainty and your friend is mirroring back your own fears, your own mortality. It all comes from a great place where you really want to help and do everything but it gets so overwhelming. People came to me with so much advice and at a certain point you just check out. Advice like there’s a shaman in Peru, there’s a place in Palm Springs where you eat nothing but green food and blueberries for three months, oxygen injections. It’s a lot and those things probably do work but when you’re in that situation, it’s really hard. There’s a sense of panic and you just want to do whatever the doctor tells you to do. If I was in a different circumstance I might think to myself, if I was in that situation, I would want to do everything possible the alternative way. I might want to try changing my diet. I might want to experiment with different alternative medicines. But when you’re actually up against something so severe and you have a tumor in your spine and they’re telling you, “Your spine might break at any moment. It might rupture.” When you’re dealing with things that are that serious, you think, “Just cut it out. Get it out.” And you worry about the ramifications of that surgery later. To bring it back to that point, it does get overwhelming.

Movie Fanatic: Did friends walk away?

Will Reiser: People get really scared. I had friends and people really close to me and they ran away. I think that’s just an inability to communicate. People are so scared by it they don’t know how to talk about it so they don’t say anything. But I think it’s a far healthier thing to look at yourself and identify the fact, yeah, I don’t know how to deal with this. I’m going to tell my friend, “Honestly, this is scaring me. I don’t know how to deal with it. I’m sorry.” Just laugh at yourself. Looking back at it in the process of writing this movie, working on it with Seth, it was like, yeah, we didn’t know how to deal with it. The way we did it was we laughed about not knowing how to deal with it. No one’s going to deal with it the right way and I feel like if you can just give yourself permission and admit you’re not going to deal with it the right way, which immediately helps the situation.

Movie Fanatic: Was writing 50/50 hard at times, in the sense you were reliving it, or was it cathartic?

Will Reiser: It was both. It was heavy at times. I had a lot of stuff I had to say. I came out of that experience with so many mixed emotions, whether it be anger or gratitude. This was a really amazing way to process it. Even though I wasn’t writing my autobiography, just taking those emotions and feelings and putting them on paper, getting them out of my head, that was incredibly cathartic. But there were times when I would write those scenes, like the scenes between Adam and Rachel and the scenes where Adam’s going in for his surgery, I could identify with that character and that would get really heavy. At the same time, by processing that, that was really cathartic.

50/50 Trailer

A sequel to the 2008 action hit Wanted is closer to a reality than ever before.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriters Derek Haas and Michael Brandt - the same duo who adapted graphic novels by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones into the original movie - have signed on to the project. Haas and Brandt are expected to base the story for Wanted to on a draft by Evan Spiliotopoulos.

Angelina Jolie is not expected to reprise her role in the sequel, although James McAvoy will likely return. No release date has been set.

The Big Year has released its first real clip taking audiences inside a first in Hollywood film lore. Fans of birding look out: A big-time Hollywood film is paying tribute to the art of bird watching.

The Big Year stars Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin as birders who are all going after a Big Year. What is a Big Year, you say? Well, it’s when a bird watcher declares on January 1 that he or she will take the entire following year to witness as many species of birds in the U.S. (including Alaska and Hawaii) as humanly possible. In the film, Wilson’s character is the record holder with over 700 species seen in a single calendar year.

Movie Fanatic has seen the film, and although we cannot say too much, let’s just say this: The Big Year manages to make the art of bird watching a thriller, complete with a beat the clock feel, while still possessing a heart of gold.

The Big Year is directed by David Frankel and also stars Dianne Wiest, Anjelica Huston, Joel McHale, Rosamund Pike and Rashida Jones.

The Big Year Clip: The Bridge

Steven Spielberg has a full plate between the upcoming The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse. If Warner Bros. has its way, the director will keep his filmmaking streak going as they are putting out feelers to see if the filmmaker will tackle the story of Moses.

Honestly, we cannot think of a more qualified individual on so many levels to bring one of the Jewish people's favorite son’s story to life. The plot of Warner's Moses movie centers on the great Exodus, but would also cover his entire life.

The film has a tentative title, Gods and Kings, and would be a classic biblical tale in The Ten Commandments meets Ben Hur scope.

Can you imagine what Spielberg would do with the Red Sea parting scene? How about all those plagues? Come on Steven: say yes to Moses!

What’s Your Number director Mark Mylod first met Anna Faris on the set of his Entourage, where he served as director and co-executive producer. When he heard about Faris being attached to What’s Your Number, he “knocked down doors” to get involved.

No stranger to comedy work, Mylod directed the Sacha Baron Cohen film Ali G Indahouse. The director was born and raised in the U.K., but moved to Hollywood in 2007 to make his mark. His work on Entourage was astounding and now that the show is over, his first project for movie audiences is the romantic comedy What’s Your Number. The film also stars Chris Evans and a bounty of comic actors. It follows Faris as she goes through her exes believing that one of them is “The One.”

Movie Fanatic: What grabbed you about What’s Your Number and why did it have to be your first film after Entourage?

Mark Mylod: I saw the script and loved it. So, I got in touch with the producers and talked to Sony who had the movie at that time. I kind of knocked down doors until they gave me the movie. I got attached to the movie then, but Sony didn’t want to green light the movie for another year because it didn’t work into their distribution plan. New Regency was smart and picked up the project which was in turn around. They put it on the fast track and we all got together and got into production.

Movie Fanatic: What was it about meeting Anna on Entourage that made you insistent on being a part of What’s Your Number?

Mark Mylod: She came along as a guest star for a few episodes and just hit it off. It’s not like we kept in contact. We got along terribly well, and I did have an ambition to work with her because really funny women in Hollywood -- they’re there -- but there are not that many are them.

What's Your Number? Trailer

Movie Fanatic: The film is based on a book. Did the author have much say in the script?

Mark Mylod: To be honest, no. Because the needs of a screenplay are so different than a novel, the screenwriters really know how to write screenplays, so Cam was around on the set as a guest and part of our production family, but in terms of the actual adaptation, that was a clean slate.

Movie Fanatic: What was it about Chris Evans that you thought was perfect?

Mark Mylod: That was a fun process hiring Chris because we kind went through the ringer trying to find our Colin. I met with a whole eclectic group of actors, I don’t want to name names, but it was a huge group. Chris was really passionate about it. In terms of the big star he is now, post Captain America, he wasn’t then. When he first came in to read for the role, in fact he missed the first read because he was sick. He flew himself in the next week. He really wanted to read for the role. He just killed it. It’s very easy to cast someone as a director when the right person walks in. It’s only when you don’t see the right person that you have to compromise. When the right person walks in, you know. Chris walked in and he had that combination that he brings to the Captain America character -- which is strong and masculine and sexy -- but there’s a lovely vulnerability as well. Plus, I didn’t know he could be that funny. I’d spoken with Danny Boyle, who had worked with him on a very serious drama, and Danny said he’s got great comic timing. He was that perfect combination of what Colin is.

Movie Fanatic: What was it about Anna that you most enjoy directing?

Mark Mylod: With Anna, it was like Cinderella with the slipper fitting. There was such a great match there. With her aboard, we did work on the physical comedy -- like in the DC library scene where she moves the table…

Movie Fanatic: Which is hilarious…

Mark Mylod: Exactly, that was added. Originally it was her just moving a chair. We adjusted it to give Anna her space to shine with her physical comedy.

Movie Fanatic: Was the strip basketball at the Boston Garden her idea too?

Mark Mylod: Actually that scene came out of duress because we were supposed to be shooting in DC where Chris’ character comes to visit Anna’s character who is down in the dumps. They end up doing a naked tour of DC monuments and it quickly became clear that the FBI would arrest us if we did any such thing [laughs]. We were shooting in Boston too, obviously, so we started thinking about naked walking the Freedom Trail -- that was deemed too disrespectful. About a week before we were to shoot the scene, plucked from somewhere, we came up with the idea of playing strip Horse at the Garden, which was just inspired. It turned into one of my favorite scenes in the movie.

The film Bunraku took the art of filmmaking to a whole new level with the Bunraku Art Experience in Los Angeles this week. The film tars Josh Hartnett, Ron Perlman (fresh off of Drive -- don't miss our Drive review) and is directed by Guy Moshe.

The event celebrated the September 30 release of Bunraku with mixed media artist Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell. The artist unveiled a series or original art pieces that were inspired by the film.

Bunraku Art Experience took place at the famed Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard and celebrity guests abounded including Grey’s Anatomy’s Kevin McKidd and legend Mario Van Peebles.

Bunraku is the story of what happens when a drifter (Hartnett) and a Japanese warrior (Gackt) arrive in a town marred by extremely violence. Woody Harrelson plays The Bartender, a man who distills wisdom with his drinks. Perlman is the leader of all that is evil, along with his girlfriend Alexandra (Demi Moore at her devilish best).

The film describes itself as a hybrid of “past, present, fantasy, reality, Samurai and Western.” 

Bryce Dallas Howard is having quite a year. Currently starring in 50/50, Howard is fresh of the phenomenal success of The Help (don't miss our The Help review) and has a film that she produced, Restless, also out in theaters. Oh, and did we mention: She’s currently expecting her second child. As she strolls into our interview room, Howard is beaming and one could expect nothing less.

Howard speaks about everything from producing, the power of 50/50 (don't miss the 50/50 trailer) to the power of The Help. From when she career first began through her incredible 2011, I’m reminded of a famous saying in Hollywood, “The kid stays in the picture.” That is never truer than it is in 2011 for Bryce Dallas Howard.

Movie Fanatic: How are you doing with this whirlwind of promoting Restless, 50/50 and being pregnant at the same time here at the Toronto Film Fest?

Bryce Dallas Howard: Well, I was feeling incredibly sick up until about two weeks ago. That’s the same time with my first son that I was really ill from exactly six weeks to exactly five-and-a-half months. With this baby, it was the exact same timeline. When I was feeling so sick and throwing up ten times a day, I was having a bit of a tough time with that. But just two weeks ago it was like a light went off and I just feel fantastic. So I feel like my old self right now, maybe a little slower. Things are a little more cumbersome, but I’m very happy so it’s great to be at the festival -- plus the fact there’s two movies here I’m getting to promote.

Movie Fanatic: When you read the script for 50/50, how did you envision playing your character, Rachael? And did that change at all during filming?

Bryce Dallas Howard: What’s interesting about a movie like this is the script was very complete before shooting but because of the style in which Jonathan (Levine, director) shoots, they were very open to improvisation. So in seeing the movie, you’re not quite sure which version of the character is going to be cut together. We always knew we wanted to play her as someone who was not maniacal -- she was genuinely a misguided person. They’d been in a relationship for probably three months and were definitely not well-suited for each other. They’re definitely not supposed to be together and probably wouldn’t be together for another seven days. And then he comes to her and tells her he has cancer. I got that she’s a very immature girl and this brings out the worst in her. But she’s not like, “Oh, I’m going to go and ruin his life.” They just shouldn’t be together.

Movie Fanatic: It seemed your character started with good intentions, like she genuinely believed she could handle her boyfriend’s cancer.

Bryce Dallas Howard: She probably was thinking to herself when she found out, “Oh, I was already telling my girlfriends I was going to break up with him.” He got me a drawer in his room and that was sort of uncomfortable. So I think she already had her exit strategy and then this was a curveball with him getting ill. She didn’t have the maturity to deal with it. The thing that she should have done was to say to him, “I don’t think that we are appropriately matched romantically, but I would love to support you through this.”

Movie Fanatic: Being put in that position, you don’t want to just walk out on someone…

Bryce Dallas Howard: Even though it’s a three month relationship, walking out on somebody I don’t think is the right solution -- being honest with your feelings and being able to be vulnerable with another person as opposed to being, “I’m going to pretend to be the world’s best girlfriend and then cheat on you.” It’s ridiculous.

Movie Fanatic: What is the best thing, in your mind, about the 50/50 experience?

Bryce Dallas Howard: I would say the best thing in this movie is the friendship between Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character (Adam) and Seth Rogen’s Kyle (Don't miss our Seth Rogen interview). When I read the script, that was the thing that I really took away from it. This is a guy who’s in his mid-20s and he’s still defining who he is, defining who he is and the people he can rely upon. He probably never would have thought to himself, “Yes, the most reliable person in this circumstance is going to be my friend Kyle from work.” It’s just an amazing story.

Movie Fanatic: What can you tell us about your film Restless, another movie concerning cancer and showing here in Toronto? What did you learn as a producer?

Bryce Dallas Howard: I learned a lot absolutely. It was a very particular circumstance because I developed it for a long time with Jason Lew, the writer. Then when people started getting involved in it, the people who were involved were like 800 pound gorillas. Once it was not just Jason and I, the movie quickly became a movie. Gus (Van Sant, director) came aboard and we only had five weeks of pre-production and then we were shooting. Normally you’re working with the director for like a year, a couple years. It’s not normally like that where it happens so fast. So the things that I took from my experience from Restless are -- I don’t know if you can apply them to every single circumstance because it was a unique thing -- but I would say the biggest thing that I learned was really how to navigate compromise. Because there are compromises that you must make in order for your movie to move forward. But you have to be discerning enough to know whether or not those compromises will undermine the creatives, the filmmaker, the actors, the writer, in a way that they will not be able to deliver the product that you are promising everyone. And that’s kind of the balance you always need to navigate as a producer -- because if you make no compromises your movie can’t move forward. But if you make too many compromises, then at the end of the day, it becomes something different than everyone intended it to be. That’s sort of your job.

Movie Fanatic: In 50/50, the casting switched last minute from James McAvoy to Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Did you have to adjust anything because of that?

Bryce Dallas Howard: We were very early in the process so of course that was definitely a surprise. But like I said we were very early in the process so that was something that could shift at that point.

Movie Fanatic: Through this role, have you learned how to treat someone who is seriously ill?

Bryce Dallas Howard: There was a great article in the New York Times about someone who had a very aggressive form of cancer. The article was basically the do’s and don’ts of how to support someone who is going through an illness. Even now in talking to people ever since reading that article I catch myself saying things, “Oh, I shouldn’t be saying something like that.” It was a really, really interesting article. A lot of it said it’s really important to provide the opportunity for someone to have a sense of humor about it. Instead of just sitting in the hospital and saying, “How do you feel? I’m sorry.” They’re dealing with this every minute of every day. Come in and say, “Omigosh, do you wanna hear some gossip?” They’re people and that’s just not something they want to dwell on is their illness. So that article was really interesting to me. And when I read it and applied it to this movie I thought, “Wow, the Seth Rogen character really was a huge relief for the Joseph Gordon-Levitt character.” The way in which he dealt with it was not always perfect but he was a true friend to him.

Movie Fanatic: Now that The Help is such a big hit, what are you hearing from people?

Bryce Dallas Howard: People are happy and supportive and celebrating it. It’s mostly my mom’s book group friends [laughs] and stuff like that, emailing me, saying, “Oh, I’m so happy. I’m so proud of you.” But it’s fantastic. We all hoped because we thought it was a solid film and we all put our hearts into it. But you never really know how it’s going to resonate. And we hoped that maybe it would resonate or at least meet the expectations of people who had read the book, which was already a very high bar. But the fact that it’s had the success it’s had is fantastic -- and rare.

Movie Fanatic: It’s especially nice that a supposed “chick flick” has done so well.

Bryce Dallas Howard: Right. And I think too between The Help and Bridesmaids, it’s been a good summer for these female ensemble films. That’s nice for me in the business because I’m a woman. It’s great that maybe some more of these movies are possibly going to get the green light because of that.

The trailer for the highly anticipated action-thriller Contraband has debuted starring Mark Wahlberg.

Wahlberg portrays a family man who will go to great lengths to protect his wife (Kate Beckinsale), family and way of life he has worked so hard to achieve. Contraband delves into the underbelly of the world of international smuggling and paints a landscape full of nefarious characters all looking out for one thing: Their own self interest.

Contraband is set in New Orleans and continues to show a Hollywood establishment doing their part to rebuild the city after Hurricane Katrina. Countless films, it seems, of late, take place in New Orleans.

Wahlberg portrays Chris Farraday, a man who has left the criminal life behind. When his brother-in-law Andy (Caleb Landry Jones) partakes in a drug deal gone wrong, Chris must swing into action to save his family and maintain the status quo he has come to be quite accustomed to. Back in the day, Chris was one of the best smugglers. In order to set things right, he assembles a team to head to Panama and return with a bounty of counterfeit bills.

Contraband arrives in theaters January 13, 2012.

Contraband Trailer

Moneyball tells the true tale of the Oakland A’s and their General Manager, who bucked the system and made baseball history. Actor Stephen Bishop plays David Justice in the film and spoke to Movie Fanatic exclusively about the experience of not only working opposite Brad Pitt (Check out our Brad Pitt interview) and Philip Seymour Hoffman, but also portraying one of his good friends and a mentor from his baseball days in David Justice.

Bishop met Justice when he was with the Atlanta Braves organization. In many ways, the playing a baseball player aspect of the role was not difficult, but like any good baseball player does, the challenge is fulfilling your role within the team, like an actor in a film, is the key to success.

The ballplayer got into acting after leaving baseball and has already compiled an impressive resume. Besides Moneyball (Don't miss our Moneyball review), Bishop has Safe House opposite Denzel Washington and the 2012 summer blockbuster Battleship already on his resume.

Movie Fanatic: What you personally found most resonant about that story?

Stephen Bishop: The thing that stays with me the most about the film is the ending: Pitt’s relationship with his daughter and how that song plays such a big part in his mind. That fact that director Bennett (Miller) pushes in so close you can see the emotion in his eyes, you can read what he’s thinking. That song is so touching. As far as the story, it’s a great illustration how somebody can change things without having to go with the norm. If they believe in something strong enough, they can just put their heads down and make it happen.

Movie Fanatic: Also, the film also talked about how people can be undervalued. In the game of baseball, everybody can play a role. Your character is asked to be a leader, if that was something also that appealed to you?

Stephen Bishop: I enjoyed that part of this world. He comes into this situation with a different type of clubhouse than what he’s used to and he’s asked to younger guys to a place that even he has never been. Him taking on that role, after being a little bit reluctant to acquiesce to the changes around him -- says a lot about David Justice and Billy Beane. From what I understand, they were very tight and David was his go-to guy. It’s great that it rings true in the film.

Movie Fanatic: You have that great scene with Brad Pitt as Billy where he is asking you to be the leader of the A’s. First of all, how was it working opposite Mr. Brad Pitt?

Stephen Bishop: Ah, man, it’s the pinnacle of my acting career at this point. Brad was such an awesome guy. He’s a regular guy, not a prima donna like that. He’s clearly such a megastar, but you would never know it. That scene was great for me -- it gave me an opportunity to do what I did naturally, which was hit, while I was working across one of the best actors of our time. The fact that I was hitting put me in that comfort zone, it felt so real and natural. It was easy to work. I wanted that scene to be the best it could possibly be. It was my favorite scene in the script. To pull it off with Brad is such an honor.

Movie Fanatic: That’s the second part of my question actually, I thought it would have been difficult to hit and act at the same time.

Stephen Bishop: That’s the thing -- that was really me hitting. All the balls you hear are really coming off my bat. It put me in a place that I had been before, talking to a manager or a GM while I was taking batting practice. I’ve spent lots of time in batting cages, talking to coaches -- that was a scene I’ve lived many, many times.

Movie Fanatic: Did you have a chance to talk to David Justice before filming to get into his head as to what he was thinking during that period with the A’s?

Stephen Bishop: David is a friend of mine and has been for quite some time. He was a mentor, a big brother to me when I was with the Braves in the minor leagues. I was able to call him before I started shooting and find out where he was in his career mentally.

Movie Fanatic: Since you did know him so well, was it a little weird or surreal at all, during the filming or even watching it on screen, witnessing you play someone you know so well?

Moneyball Trailer

Stephen Bishop: [Laughs] It was weird doing it. Watching it was weird because David was sitting right next to me [laughs]. Shooting was weird because I wanted to make sure I was able to portray him in a light that he would enjoy being portrayed while not compromising the story that needed to be told. That was the biggest stressor in the entire process, actually.

Movie Fanatic: As David Justice was a mentor to you as a baseball player in your playing days, were you a mentor to the actors playing baseball players on the set?

Steven Bishop: I was, Chris Pratt (check out our exclusive Chris Pratt video Q&A) was the guy I bonded with the most. We started working out together about three weeks before filming because both of us needed to work on our left handed swings. He didn’t have any real baseball experience, so I taught him some things and gave him mannerisms to make it look like an authentic ball player. I was so proud him.

Movie Fanatic: Next up you have Safe House with Denzel Washington?

Stephen Bishop: It’s coming in February. I got to go to Cape Town, South Africa to shoot it and do scenes with Denzel, which was another bucket list for me. It’s funny, people ask me: What actors do you really want to work with? Well [laughs], you should have asked me this a year ago. I had great answers for you. Right now, I’ve accomplished those things working with Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington.

The Avengers is, without a doubt, one of 2012’s most anticipated films. To feed that fire, three new behind the scenes photos have been released.

The first (above) shows Chris Evans (check out our Chris Evans What's Your Number interview) in his full Captain America get-up standing next to a very serious Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Entertainment Weekly released the photos, giving fans more insight into what they can expect when the Marvel superhero showcase hits screens in summer of 2012.

Next photo up is Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner in action. Notice the pair standing in front of a green screen. One can only imagine what magic director Joss Whedon will be creating behind them.

The last of the three Avengers photos shows our heroes enjoying themselves as director Whedon hangs out too. Whedon looks quite relaxed as well, although the man, who holds the key to the Marvel universe, has to be nervous! There has been no bigger film in the young studio’s history.

Want a visual treat? Check out The Avengers sneak peek in the Captain America Blu-Ray preview trailer.

In our Seth Rogen interview part one, Rogen let us in on how the creative aspect of 50/50 came together. Rogen dished working closely with his friend and the film’s screenwriter, Will Reiser, to capture his harrowing real life battle with cancer.

Now in part two of our Seth Rogen 50/50 interview, the star and producer of the incredible film talks about filming in his home city of Vancouver, how it occurred to Reiser and Rogen to bring their story of friendship overcoming cancer to the big screen and how one sells a cancer comedy.

Movie Fanatic: What did you like most about filming in Vancouver?

Seth Rogen: Well being from there, it was literally the most amount of time I’ve gotten to spend there probably since high school [laughs]. It was just a good excuse to be there. I got to hang out with my friends and my family, eat at the restaurants I like to eat at and go hang out at the places I like to hang out at. I mean, it was very personally gratifying for me. I’m sure my experience is different than your average person who goes and films a movie in Vancouver because, you know, I grew up there. It was funny, though. Me and Will Reiser (Will Reiser interview) stayed at my parents’ house throughout the entire filming of the movie.

Movie Fanatic: Why did you have to add Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the last minute to the film?

Seth Rogen: James McAvoy was going to be in the movie, but he had to leave due to a family emergency.

Movie Fanatic: But what an actor you got in Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Seth Rogen: Well, he did it really fast. He got cast a week before we started filming the movie. We had around five days to prepare him for the role. That head-shaving scene was the first day of filming [laughs]. Joe had read the script a week before we shot that scene. I’ve known him a little tiny bit socially. I knew that he was into all sorts of other creative stuff. I knew that he had his website and I knew that he was interested in other approaches to film than the traditional one, which was exactly what we needed -- especially if we were going to find someone a week before we started filming to tackle a role of this intensity [laughs]. He was fearless once he signed on to do it. He just did it. He’s almost exactly the opposite in real life as he is in the movie. He’s like one of the most confident, articulate, expressive people I’ve ever met. It was great to work with him. It’s cliched to say it, but he made the scenes easy. He was always so present and just so good that it made it really easy for me to do what I was doing. It always felt really real and natural. We got along well, which was helpful. And he had a similar approach, which was improvising and trying different stuff. He wasn’t precious about it or too delicate about it like some actors might be.

Movie Fanatic: When did it occur to you and Will to make your life experience into a film?

Seth Rogen: We would joke about it while he was still sick, honestly. It was like the joke we would make to each other. I literally remember the night that we first started. We were at a bar and he was still sick and we started joking around like, “Oh, we should make an R-rated Bucket List about a dude who gets sick and they go (expletive) hookers and try heroin and stuff like that.” [Laughs] Yeah, we would literally just joke about it. Then it wasn’t until after he got better that we were like, “Seriously, you should write this into a movie.” He was a writer, you know. He wanted to write. So we thought, you just lived through this incredible thing and you kind of followed the story arc that a movie character follows and then a bunch of funny stuff happened, so why not just write about it?

Movie Fanatic: Has the experience of producing a movie changed how you deal with producers as a writer yourself?

Seth Rogen: You’ve kind of always got to feel it out. Different people react differently. I mean, we’re open to notes. We want the scripts to be as good as possible. And I guess the key is just working with people who you’re willing to listen to and who you think are actually going to make it better -- which was nice with Will because we’d known him a long time. So he was always really open to our notes and thoughts. It was never like he was shutting them out. Yeah, I guess the more we write the more your instinct is to listen to as few other people as possible, but we have a lot of guys who we write with who are our good friends. We send all of our scripts to them in every step of the process. They read it and give us very honest notes.

Movie Fanatic: Any advice you’d give to someone who’s just learned their friend is very, very sick?

50/50 Trailer

Seth Rogen: I don’t know. I did not deal with it very well, as was illustrated in the movie. That’s a very personal thing. I wish I’d been at least a little bit more articulate about the fact that I was emotionally available to him as a friend. But at the same time, I mean, maybe that would’ve not helped things. Maybe that would’ve just bummed everybody out a little bit. It all turned out OK, we’re still really good friends, so it obviously didn’t ruin anything. I would say try to get something positive out of it. If we did one thing right, it’s that we took what happened and made something positive out of it. I think that was a good thing.

Movie Fanatic: Honestly you have one of the best movies of the year on your hands. But, do you think it will still be hard to sell a comedy about cancer?

Seth Rogen: It’s tough. Every movie presents marketing challenges. I like to think that we as producers -- if there’s one thing most of our movies have in common -- it’s that we’re kind of good at cracking how to do a trailer for a movie that is not traditionally done before. And I like the trailers for the movie and the marketing. I think the first decision you have to make is to not shy away from what the movie’s about. I think you have to let people know it’s about cancer and then let them know that it’s not (expletive) miserable to watch. That was kind of our entire goal with the marketing -- to really represent what the movie is and really let them know that it’s honest and what it’s about. It’s going to be a very truthful experience, but at the same time it’s funny and it’s ultimately an enjoyable experience. That was really our goal. And I think that people go to movies about much more graphically horrific things than this -- and those movies aren’t funny -- so I think people are open to it, honestly. I would go to this movie.

Has Berenice Marlohe landed the role of a lifetime?

According to Twitch Film, this young French actress has been cast opposite Daniel Craig in the 23rd James Bond film as the agent's main love interest.

No details regarding the installment have been released, except that Sam Mendes will direct and it will hit U.S theaters on November 9, 2012.

Craig, of course, is back in the iconic title role and will next be seen in the upcoming Dream House. Check out that film's official trailer NOW.

What’s Your Number? That’s the titular question of the new Anna Faris romantic comedy. Based on the book 20 Times a Lady, What’s Your Number follows Ally in her quest to find the perfect ex because it is her belief - thanks to a woman’s magazine article - that women who have slept with more than 20 men have trouble finding a husband.

Ally’s number is 19.

What works about the film’s concept is witnessing Ally rediscover her exes which allows the audience to enjoy a stellar group of comic actors doing their best cameos. The first to strike a chord is Disgusting Donald played by Faris’ real life husband, Chris Pratt. He is the first boyfriend that she truly believes is the one who got away - that is until Ally meets his nuclear biologist former model fiance. Pratt is his usual hysterical self and it is a pure joy to see him and his wife shine on screen. Other exes include Joel McHale, Andy Samberg and Thomas Lennon, although a funny scene between Faris and Samberg from the trailer is not in the film. But Faris’ moments with Samberg that are in the film are gut-busting hilarious.

The key to What’s Your Number’s success or failure lies with Anna Faris (read our interview with Anna earlier this week). Her star power has never been brighter than it is in the film. She is a modern day Lucille Ball with her comic timing and facial funniness.

Faris can incite a laugh simply by a look -- a rare commodity. She carries the film and it is because of her talents that this romantic comedy is both romantic and funny. The actress is particularly on point in her scenes with co-star Chris Evans (who we also interviewed about the film).

Evans, otherwise known as Captain America, shows a comic repartee that has only been previously hinted at. When it comes to physical comedy, he excels going toe-to-toe with the queen of physical comedy in Faris. His Colin lives across the hall and in exchange for being able to hide out away from women he has hooked up with the night before, he promises to help Faris find her 19 former partners.

Their attraction is immediate, and in a sense, formulaic. Audience sees cute guy with protagonist girl and their connection can be seen a mile away. But credit is due to Faris and Evans as they navigate the storyline, moving their potential romance ever closer inch by inch. Even though we’ve seen it before, audiences pull for the duo to become a couple.

Whether they do or not, you’ll have to see. In the hands of Faris and Evans, the journey of What's Your Number is worth the ride.

What's Your Number? Trailer

Seth Rogen and screenwriter Will Reiser lived the experience that is portrayed onscreen in 50/50. The movie is a symphony of sensational storytelling coupled with pitch perfect highs and lows that should accompany the story of a young man who learned he has cancer and a 50/50 chance to survive.

Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are Kyle and Adam, best friends forever. In 50/50, both work at a public radio station in Seattle. Adam has a girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) and he has just cleared a drawer for her at his house. His life is on cruise control zooming towards success on all fronts. Walking into his doctor’s office to find out the cause of his odd back pain, Adam is blindsided by a reality no twenty-something ever expects: He has life threatening spinal cancer.

In reality, Rogen and Reiser (Check out our Will Reiser interview) were friends working as writers on Da Ali G Show. Although the situations and the locale may be different, the healing power of the institution of friendship for Rogen and Reiser as embodied by Adam and Kyle in 50/50 is inspiring.

Levitt and Rogen combine to bring audiences an astounding character study. Knowing that much of what is seen onscreen was lived by a pair of friends faced with life’s ultimate challenge is moving beyond compare.

Director Jonathan Levine has woven a web of astounding emotional authority. Combining both the hysterical and heartbreaking, Levine’s 50/50 is a revelation. The journey that both the characters embark on and the audience revels in is priceless. From the film’s soundtrack to how it was shot only contributes to the command 50/50 has over its audience.

The movie’s supporting cast, perhaps feeling the high bar set by the screenwriter, filmmakers and leads, excels. Anjelica Huston was born to play Adam’s mother. Howard finds another role against type after The Help to prove she’s so much more than a support system for a movie’s major character. Howard can be downright evil and deliciously so. And finally, Anna Kendrick emits a control over her character unlike she has achieved thus far in her brilliant career. Equally out of her element as Adam's counselor as she is drawn to do what she can to improve his life, Kendrick proves her Academy Award nomination for Up in the Air was simply the beginning to her acting excellence.

50/50 is easily one of Movie Fanatic’s favorite movies of the year. Whether it lands among the list of Best Picture nominees come Oscar time is up to voters. But let’s make one thing clear: If 50/50 is not among the honorees for 2011, voters need to hang up their credentials.

Movie Fanatic saw the film weeks ago and the fact that its resonance has only increased speaks volumes as to the brilliance that is the 50/50 experience. Prepare to be moved, drawn in and never the same after its credits roll.

And if you haven't seen the 50/50 trailer, don't miss it.