The Muppets scribe Nick Stoller has had quite the varied career. Stoller wrote the screenplays for TV’s Undeclared, Gulliver’s Travels, and wrote and directed Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the upcoming Five Year Engagement that stars his partner in creative crime, Jason Segel. Segel and Stoller have combined forces to bring back The Muppets for a whole new generation and the writer-director visits with Movie Fanatic to exclusively take us inside the creative process of a comic mastermind.

Segel and Stoller have crafted a story (check out our The Muppets review) that feels modern, while still staying true to what makes The Muppets magical.

Movie Fanatic: Now that The Muppets are about to be re-released into the world, how are you feeling about it all?

Nick Stoller: I’m really excited to get it out there. I’ve worked on it for four years. I worked on it for college [laughs]. It’s been many years. It’s been a college length of time to work on a script so I’m just excited to get it out there. I think James Bobin (director) just did such an awesome job.

Movie Fanatic: When you sat down to write this and do a new Muppet movie, how did the idea of a new Muppet, Walter, enter the script-writing process?

Nick Stoller: Basically at the beginning Jason (Segel) had a meeting at Disney and they asked him if he was interested in any properties of theirs and he said, “What are you doing with the Muppets?” And they said, “We don’t know.” He said, “I’d like to do the Muppet movie.” Then he called me on the drive back from Disney and said, “Do you want to write a Muppet movie?” And I said, “Of course. Do you even have to ask?” On that phone call, which was probably 20 minutes or a half hour, we beat out the entire movie. There’s a lot of stuff that’s changed since then but the big things, including the existence of Walter, were in that first phone call.

Movie Fanatic: What did you envision for Walter?

Nick Stoller: We knew that we needed a stand-in for us. We needed a super fan. Part of the Muppets breaking up is they’ve kind of lost their enthusiasm a little bit and we needed this super enthusiastic super fan who just loves the Muppets and wants them to get back together. We needed that figure in the movie. And also we needed an entry point for kids who might not know who the Muppets are. So we created this character and made him hyper-enthusiastic in that when he meets Kermit he faints, all that stuff. We even had an early draft where when he gets nervous he yells “Peanut” which was a strange thing [laughs]. Even though that didn’t make the movie that kind of summed him up as a character. His character was kind of the same from the beginning. His origin story changed and went through different iterations, but his personality was the same.

Movie Fanatic: Was it a challenge to combine paying homage to the classic Muppets and bringing them into the current times, all in a 90 to 100 minute movie?

Nick Stoller: We wanted it to be an homage but we didn’t want to get bogged down by nostalgia. Over four years we did I don’t know how many drafts of the script -- there was a lot of rewriting. Then when James came aboard, he also is a great comedy writer -- he added his own stuff to the script as well. So there was a lot of rewriting. But the nostalgia thing, I actually think we shot a lot of speeches and nostalgia and very earnest stuff. In the very long cut, it became clear that you needed just a little bit of it to make it work. The decision to have them all bond at the end with Rainbow Connection, it was nice to harken back to the nostalgia. James had an awesome idea of recreating the scene from the first Muppet movie on stage. But then we do end the movie with a new song. I think there were versions of the script where we ended with Rainbow Connection but that felt like it could just be a nostalgia thing. So to end with a new song brings it into the now.

Movie Fanatic: What’s it like working with Jason Segel and how well do you work together?

Nick Stoller: I just feel so lucky that I met him. We just click, in terms of our comedy stuff. I think we both were inspired by the same comedy growing up -- Muppets, Monty Python, Saturday Night Live, and all that. But that we really like to come at it from a character place, a place where there are no villains, except for maybe Tex Richman (Chris Cooper in The Muppets), in a place where things are slightly emotionally complicated but still entertaining. It’s hard to put into words but when we sit and beat out movies, whether it be Sarah Marshall or Muppets or Five-Year Engagement, which is what I’m in the midst of cutting, it’s hard to put into words, but we just click with each other. We both find guys crying really funny. There’s something about that that’s really funny [laughs].

Movie Fanatic: When you click with someone it’s really hard to describe exactly what “it” is…

Nick Stoller: Whatever thing he brings on screen is I feel like this movie character star version of who I am a little bit. That pre-existed our collaboration. I didn’t work with him on Freaks and Geeks but I watched him on Freaks and Geeks, pining after Linda Cardellini’s character and I was like, “That was me in high school.” I feel like that’s true of a lot of director-star collaborations, there’s something about whatever that star is bringing to the screen that it’s like who you are in real life put on the movie screen.

Movie Fanatic: Obviously you’re a huge Muppets fan, but what do you think it is about the Muppets that has resonated with people for so long now?

Nick Stoller: I think that it’s a lot of things. First of all, they’re adorable [laughs]. They’re perpetual underdogs, so you’re always rooting for them. There are so many different personalities so there’s always a new thing to look at. They also, in many ways, originated the comedy style of jokes for kids and sophisticated jokes for adults. And The Simpsons kind of went with that and ran with it. So I think it’s all those things. The other thing too is they’re just a charming group of characters. I think that’s a testament to the genius of Jim Henson.

Days ago, Movie Fanatic debuted a single new still of Rooney Mara from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Today, it is her co-star’s turn for the spotlight. Daniel Craig stars as Mikael Blomkvist in Dragon Tattoo, a journalist who when the movie commences, is being sued for libel. In Sweden, libel is even more of a serious matter as it can result in jail time.

Today, November 22, is a day to celebrate in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo world. It means that in less than a month, audiences get to feast on the vision of David Fincher’s take on Stieg Larsson’s best-selling book. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hits theaters December 21.

Home video heats up this week with a slew of summer smashes including the Conan the Barbarian remake, Super 8, Sarah’s Key, Spy Kids 4 and a couple of new Beauty and the Beast films.

Conan the Barbarian: Director Marcus Nispel sought to reboot the Conan the Barbarian franchise after the original made a star out of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1982. Theatrical audiences failed to see the point, but the film has its merit. It is fun and is honestly more devoted to the original Conan idea put forth by author Robert E. Howard. Nispel’s Conan is less camp and fuller on sword and sandal epic. Jason Momoa stars as the titular character and is more than right for the part. The DVD and Blu-Ray contains extras including audio commentaries and two featurettes on the choreographing of the action scenes. But, what stands out with the extras is A History of the Conan Franchise and the stellar bio-doc, The Man Who Would Be Conan: Robert E. Howard.

Super 8: Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams combined forces to craft one of the best films of 2011 so far. Abrams wrote and directed while Spielberg produced the story of a group of younger teenagers making their own Super 8 movie in 1979. As they are shooting a pivotal scene, a massive train crash unleashes a secret on their small town. When the military shows up it becomes clear that the truth is out there, but not being volunteered by those in charge. The young cast shines and veteran actor Kyle Chandler stands out as the town’s lawman handling questions by his community and misleading information by the authorities. This is not simply an alien loose in a town story -- it possesses emotional power that excels beyond its genre. Stay with Movie Fanatic for a full Super 8 review of the Blu-Ray as well as our coverage of the film’s home video premiere this evening!

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas: Disney releases two new Beauty and the Beast films on home video this week to fan fans’ fire for the series. The first, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, is a holiday tale told by Mrs. Potts that recalls when the court composer, Forte, attempted to keep Beast and Belle apart. The film has brand new songs and bonus features including the delightful As Long As There’s Christmas music video.

Also available is the bonus Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World. Inspired by the original classic, the story involves Belle, Cogsworth and Lumiere and some new additions to the franchise as they discover the importance of working together toward a common goal. The gang give the castle a makeover, turning it from drab to fab.

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World: The fourth in the Robert Rodriguez-directed franchise about the youngest of James Bond types. Jessica Alba is a mom who has retired from the spy game, only to be drawn back in when the Timekeeper begins to erase all time -- second by second. Jeremy Piven and Joel McHale star in the flick that works for kids, but parents may find a little monotonous. Extras include an interesting interview with Rodriguez, deleted scenes and a commentary track by the filmmaker.

Sarah’s Key: Kristen Scott Thomas (The English Patient) stars as a journalist who delves into an apartment’s history when her husband inherits the property. The abode was involved in a notorious 1942 incident where French authorities gave up a group of hiding Jews to the awaiting German forces. The Blu-Ray and DVD extras are sparse, but the film itself is compelling and more than worth a look.

Bill Nighy has had the most esteemed of careers and as he proves in Arthur Christmas, the actor is only getting started. Nighy phoned Movie Fanatic from London for an exclusive chat about his latest film, what’s coming next (a film with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith!) and what it means to him to appear in a holiday film with Arthur Christmas that will be seen this time of year for generations to come.

Nighy is a familiar sight to audiences who appreciate stellar acting. From Love, Actually to series such as Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean as well as his astounding work on The Constant Gardener, Shaun of the Dead and the BBC’s State of Play, if the name Bill Nighy is attached, audiences know they will find excellence.  

In Arthur Christmas, Nighy plays Grand Santa, a century-old Santa Claus who has given up his position to his son, who himself is about to give the position to his son Steve (Hugh Laurie). The film is a marvel and answers the question: How does Santa deliver billions of presents in one evening?

Movie Fanatic: What was the big appeal for you in doing Arthur Christmas, after reading the script?

Bill Nighy: I loved the script. It was one of the best scripts I’d read in a long time. It was Aardman -- I’d worked with Aardman before and I loved working for them. The script, I thought, was smart and funny and made the Christmas family kind of real. The basic thing is it expresses the essence of Christmas to do with generosity of spirit. It’s not a cynical thing. It’s a proper kind of Christmas feeling. So I badly wanted to be in it.

Movie Fanatic: What does it mean to you to be in a classic Christmas film that will be played for years?

Bill Nighy: From the moment I read the script I felt that same thing. I thought it would become a perennial. It’s a beautiful thing, the idea of being in something that will hang around and will become associated with Christmas. I really believe it has the kind of magical quality to do that. And it’s funny and smart enough for generations of people to want to watch it. So it’s a very good and satisfying feeling. I love the idea of entering the Christmas language in that way.

Arthur Christmas New Trailer

Movie Fanatic: Where did you go to come up with that zany yet heartfelt performance as Grand Santa?

Bill Nighy: It’s odd. They do it in various ways with animation. But in this case, they already had the drawings so I knew what he looked like. So you just really try to match what sound comes out of a four-foot, 136-year-old man. Sarah Smith, the director, had an idea that he was, not literally but in the spirit, ex-military, in English terms, a middle-ranked military man, whose speaking voice had perhaps deteriorated over the years -- with an insouciant period voice. It’s almost Victorian, I think. That’s the idea anyway.

Movie Fanatic: And how was it working with Sarah Smith? I know in animation, many times it’s just you and the director working together…

Bill Nighy: I thought she was, and this is not PR, she was completely and utterly exemplary -- smart as anything. And not all directors know how to communicate about acting and she really does. She has, in my view, great taste. So if you do wander into cliché, she drags you out of it. She’s also very good on the actual intonations. Some actors like to be given line readings, where the director speaks as they hear it in their mind. I love to be given line readings, particularly when it’s comedy stuff because there’s often something that someone else can hear that you don’t hear yourself. She had a real ear for comedy because she’s a comedy writer as well as director. She was absolutely exemplary.

Movie Fanatic: You’ve mentioned working with Aardman before, what do you think is in the water over there that makes them so perfect?

Bill Nighy: They’re incredibly clever. Nick Park, the great character maker and a great artist, and the whole outfit inspires great work. But I think it’s because the people involved are believers, they’re believers in something decent. They have total respect for the form. And they’re not manipulating animation in order to cynically pull heartstrings or make money. Obviously everybody is in it to make some money, but they actually are believers in a certain degree of quality born of decent material which is not cynical, which is full of humanity as well as being funny or touching. But it’s got a kind of generosity of spirit. They’re very decent people to work with… Not many things move me to patriotism, but Aardman is one of them. The Rolling Stones obviously.

Movie Fanatic: The animation process for you as an actor, does it differ for you from capturing a character for live action?

Bill Nighy: I think, in essence, not really. Because in the end you still have to find the performance. Even though the only bit they use is your voice, it’s still a full-blown performance. The difficulty is that you have to retain it in your mind over a long period of time. The film took five years to make and my association was over two years, obviously not every day. But you have to go in for a dozen sessions or 20 sessions or something and you have to sustain a sense memory all the way through. But it is a proper performance. I kind of apprenticed as a young man at BBC Radio here in London and that’s when I started to learn about acting because I was given parts that I wouldn’t get to play, like in animation. I’m not going to get to play a 136-year-old man, except for in animation. And similarly on the radio you got to play a great range of parts and I got to concentrate everything into vocal performance which turned out to be great preparation for when you then have to act in other mediums.

Movie Fanatic: What’s coming up next for you?

Bill Nighy: The next thing you’ll see, I think, is a film made in India with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Tom Wilkinson which is called The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, directed by John Madden for Fox Searchlight. I hope you enjoy that. And also later in the year, you’ll see me in Clash of the Titans 2 and in Jack the Giant Killer, in which I play the Giant.

Hollywood veteran John Goodman and up-and-coming actress Missi Pyle star in The Artist, one of the most buzzed about films of 2011. Goodman portrays Al Zimmer, a movie studio tycoon bridging the gap between silent films and talkies and Pyle is Constance, an actress struggling to maintain the limelight. Both sat down for an exclusive video interview with Movie Fanatic to discuss the magic that is The Artist.

John Goodman and Missi Pyle Exclusive Interview

The film’s leads are Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo (stay with Movie Fanatic for our upcoming exclusive with!), who play a pair of Depression era stars -- the former on his way down the celebrity chain and the latter on her way up. The Artist is a silent film, shot in black and white, and it captures old Hollywood as few films have with a power and presence that makes it one of the year’s best.

Want further insight into Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol beyond the five new Mission Impossible photos we premiered yesterday? Paramount Pictures has released two new clips from the Tom Cruise starring fourth installment of the Mission Impossible franchise. The first features Simon Pegg, returning to his role of Benji Dunn, and his attempt to reassure Cruise’s Ethan Hunt that Dunn has Hunt’s back.

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Clip: I'll Catch You

The second of the clips is called Fan Jump, and it’s so sensational, we’ll just let you watch it below without further description!

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol arrives in theaters December 21, but debuts on IMAX screens December 16. The story follows Hunt’s IMF team as they are blamed for an explosion at the Kremlin in Moscow. Hunt’s crew must go undercover to find out who is responsible for the blast and clear their name so the IMF can come out of the cold.

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Clip: Fan Jump

The latest character banner from The Avengers (check out the first Avengers banner!) has premiered and it has our favorite superhero team ready for action -- oh… and one bad to the bone villain.

Sam Jackson is the leader of The Avengers and his Nick Fury leads the character banner, gun at his side, ready to defend all that is right in the world.

Just to Fury’s right is our Avengers villain, Loki. Seems we did not see the last of him in Thor, which is a very good thing for movie fans as Tom Hiddleston is stellar in the role and we cannot wait to see him take on the entire Avengers team in The Avengers when it arrives in theaters May 4.

After Loki on the character banner is Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, armed with his deadly bow and arrow. Lastly, we have Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, as always, looking fierce and fine.

Creating Christmas movies can be a difficult and thankless task. Get it wrong and your film goes down in movie history with an air of “never to be seen again.” Score and instantly the work can be thought of as a Christmas classic. Arthur Christmas lands firmly in the latter.


Arthur Christmas, from Aardman Animation and Sony Pictures Animation, is a delight from the get-go. The filmmakers behind this stellar flick have their Christmas movie firing on all cylinders.

The movie answers the question: How does Santa deliver billions of presents in one magical evening?

In Arthur Christmas, it is established that Santa Claus is much like a royal family. We meet all the former Santas through portraits of all the icons going back to the dawn of time. Each serves for decades before passing the mantle on to the first-born son. As Arthur Christmas begins, Santa (Jim Broadbent) is rumored to be retiring and his son Steve (Hugh Laurie) is more than ready and able to take on the title for next Christmas.

Steve has set up a military-type operation that is efficient and technologically wired to the “T.” He has more than established his ability to be the next Santa, commanding an army of elves that work much like Tom Cruise’s team from the Mission Impossible films.

The crux of the Arthur Christmas story comes as another successful evening of present delivery is completed, and Steve’s little brother Arthur (James McAvoy) discovers one toy has not been delivered. The film’s next 80 minutes set in motion not only a story, but characters we look forward to visiting each holiday season for decades to come.

Arthur Christmas’ cast is stellar. McAvoy delivers a subtle performance as Arthur that is equally charming and charismatic, while still buffoonish to provide the film with its many laughs. Also amazing is Bill Nighy as Grand Santa, current Santa’s father and the zany patriarch of this North Pole-based clan. Hearing his characterization of Grand Santa is a lesson in voice acting taught by a master. And don’t get Movie Fanatic started on the eager beaver characterization of the gift wrapping elf maestro played by Ashley Jensen.

Arthur Christmas New Trailer

Director Sarah Smith’s first foray into animation not only produces a visual marvel, a nearly perfect motion picture, but a holiday film model that sets the standard for how to tackle the Christmas movie genre with originality and wit while still touching the soul.

Would you believe that a Christmas film could deliver action, suspense, humor and heart all within one movie? Arthur Christmas achieves that goal and in the process produces one of the more memorable films of the year. When it comes to holiday surprises, Smith’s movie delivers in droves. We cannot wait for the sequel.

Julia Ormond relished the opportunity to play classic movie star Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind) in My Week with Marilyn opposite Kenneth Branagh’s Laurence Olivier and Michelle Williams’ Marilyn Monroe. Audiences most recognize Ormond for her roles in Legends of the Fall, Sabrina and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Ormond visits Movie Fanatic for an exclusive video interview to discuss what it was about portraying a Hollywood legend that she most admired and how My Week with Marilyn spoke to her on so many levels.

Julia Ormond Exclusive Interview: My Week with Marilyn

Also, don't miss our exclusive video interview with My Week with Marilyn star Dominic Cooper.

John Carter is heading to the big screen on March 9 in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D and yet we have yet to witness the iconic beast that is featured prominently in the classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs -- the White Ape. The first still of Carter and the beast has finally been released.

Carter is played by Taylor Kitsch and judging by his predicament in the still above, he will need to summon all his strength to battle the White Ape. John Carter director Andrew Stanton spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the Carter foe and said it is “a formidable creature that you kind of hear about through the movie, but you never witness.”

He adds that they are “nocturnal, almost like moles -- they stopped using their eyes, and just had a heightened sense of smell.”

Hope Carter doesn’t smell too bad in the above scene!

The Lion King came back to theaters in 3D earlier this year and became a blockbuster all over again, landing atop the box office weeks in a row. Now Walt Disney is giving one of its all-time classics, Beauty and the Beast, the 3D treatment and the film’s first trailer has premiered.

Beauty and the Beast 3D Trailer

Beauty and the Beast will be merely the first of a series of Disney and Disney-Pixar films to get the 3D makeover and come back to the silver screen. Finding Nemo arrives in 2012, followed by Monsters, Inc. and The Little Mermaid.

Beauty and the Beast 3D lands in theaters January 13 to add to its already incredible gross of over $380 million. Movie Fanatic cannot wait, as Beauty is one of our Top 10 Best Animated Films.

Sarah Smith should have a massive hit on her hands, and not simply this calendar year. The director of Arthur Christmas has crafted the type of film that will be on permanent replay this time of year for decades to come. Smith sat down with Movie Fanatic for an exclusive chat to take us inside the Arthur Christmas magic -- from dishing the story’s humble beginnings to how the first-time animation director found her bearings and delivered a modern Christmas classic and even tells us her own favorite holiday flicks.


Movie Fanatic: Where did the genesis for this story come from, as you’re not only the director, you’re one of the writers on this unique take on a Christmas story?

Sarah Smith: The original idea came from Pete (Baynham), my writing partner. I was working at Aardman and he said to me that he thought he’d had one of his five best ever ideas, although at the time he was thinking maybe it could be live action. He’d really just been thinking about what it would take for Santa to get round the whole world in one night, deliver two billion presents, thinking about the absolute real logistics of the modern world and the size of the cities and air traffic control. He came up with the idea of this giant military-style operation. And then the second part of his idea was, well what if something went wrong? And Santa had a bit of an idiot son who was a bit like him basically [laughs] and it was down to him to put it right. Because Pete’s the most impractical person in the whole world [laughs]. And that was the beginning of it. When I heard those two ideas, from there I just got really excited by it. You feel that there’s a whole world in there. Then he and I spent about a year fleshing it out.

Movie Fanatic: Animation takes so many years to get to the big screen. Did the power of the story help keep you going?

Sarah Smith: Yeah, it was about five years from beginning to end. The story has a lot of variety in it. There are a number of key characters, all who have emotional character arcs, etc. Just the world itself also has so many different ideas, details, fun and jokes. I suppose it’s all that as well as the unique idea to be rich in order to keep delighting you for all of that period of time. And you need to be a sort of detail person who loves all the little crazy stuff that goes into it -- that sort of keeps you amused.

Movie Fanatic: For you personally, what would you say was the biggest challenge in bringing Arthur Christmas to the big screen?

Sarah Smith: There were so many different challenges. I had to learn so much, never having done an animated movie before. It is this marathon that you run at this pace, at a sprint, and I think holding onto the joy of it all is the other hard thing, and keeping a team behind you over such a long period of time -- all of those things. The other thing that I think was the hardest challenge is that many of us had to move around the world several times in order to make the movie. Some people moved from different parts of the world to Bristol for a year and a half and then to California and then back to London to finish it out. It’s an enormous investment from a huge number of people to get one of these things done.

Movie Fanatic: What are your emotions as the movie finally comes out?

Sarah Smith: It’s already out in the UK, which is nice, and that’s sort of like a comfortable home place. It’s had a really lovely reaction in the UK so that makes us feel nice and like we’re coming from a warm beginning. It’s a very strange feeling. It is a bit like having a child and it does feel like sending your child off into the world. It’s very difficult because there’s so many things beyond your control, in terms of the marketplace, and other people deciding to release a movie at the same time [laughs], and all these things that really have nothing to do with anything that one can do anything about. For me, I’m trying to look to the long-term because I think my hopes for this movie really are not so much what it does this week or what the box office is immediately or what awards it wins, or any of those things that people ask you about, but I would love to have made a movie that becomes beloved for Christmases to come. That would make all of that work worthwhile if it’s something that lasted beyond its opening weekend and became a movie that people enjoyed at future Christmases.

Movie Fanatic: As the filmmaker behind Arthur Christmas, as your amazing cast came together, was it a pinch-yourself moment?

Sarah Smith: Yes, it was fantastic that all of them said yes. I think I’m very lucky to be able to be making this movie under the Aardman banner because particularly in the UK there’s huge affection for Aardman. It’s like the royal family. When I got the call from Aardman I was very excited. I think for actors as well Aardman is something that makes them immediately interested. I think it was a combination of that and the idea of potentially a Christmas movie that might be seen for years to come was what appealed to them. So it’s a fantastic calling card to be able to go after all the actors you’ve always wanted to work with [laughs]. You might be much more inaccessible on other projects. It was just brilliant because I wanted the Santas to be like the royal family and we’ve got the royalty of British acting in there which was fantastic. Particularly Bill, he just loved the project and he’s been so dedicated to it all the way through which was fantastic -- but all of them. James McAvoy is one of my total hero actors. I think he’s brilliant. And this is very different, I think, than anything he’s ever done before so that was a huge pleasure.

Movie Fanatic: How was the learning curve in doing an animated film and now that you’ve completed it, is it water that you would wade in again?

Sarah Smith: It’s an exponential learning curve. You don’t even know what you don’t know. It’s so different as a process. What Aardman traditionally do in stop-frame is much more like live-action in many ways. You’re talking about physical sets which people come to, stand around at the moment of shooting a shot, the art directors, the cinematographers and so on are all together on a set when you’re shooting. So that’s much more like the rhythm of live-action. CG is completely different, and the process, and the timeline. The way that different people touch the movie to input their particular part of the process is completely different. You’re almost protected by not knowing what you don’t know because if you realize how hard it was, I’d probably never have been foolish enough to start [laughs]. But I had a very generous team who said to me, “Look, you don’t need to know this. We know how to do this, this and this. We can tell you what you need to know and help you. But what we need is the story and the visuals.” And that kind of makes it worthwhile, something that makes it all add up and gives a reason to make any of the choices that get made along the way.

Arthur Christmas Teaser Trailer

Movie Fanatic: What do you think it is about the creative juices at Aardman that makes it so special?

Sarah Smith: I think it’s really that people are following their passion and their hearts. I say this with love and respect but it’s a glorious uncommercial company. To some extent, it’s basically the Arthur Christmas of the movie world. Arthur is the guy in the corner who just completely loves Christmas. And the people at Aardman just completely love movies and animation and what they do for their own sake. They’re not chasing Oscars, or commercial success. They’re not chasing the theory of what will make it a hit in America. They’re just making things they love and believe in. When you do that, if you’re lucky, the thing you put up is authentic and original in itself and it’s full of that joy. Ironically, that’s what attracts the world. They’re coming at it from that place, I think. One of the reasons I wanted to join Aardman was because, to me, I always believe in that as a way of operating. But Aardman is one of the places where they’ve made that a huge success story.

Movie Fanatic: Besides Arthur Christmas, of course, what are some of your other favorite Christmas movies?

Sarah Smith: I love Elf and I love Planes, Trains and Automobiles, a kind of road movie between two mismatched characters. And there’s Elf, the innocent with the spirit of Christmas. Also there’s a beautiful animated movie called The Snowman that came out in 2D in the UK when I was a kid, which is about a kid flying over a silent, snowy Christmas night with a snowman. That was a very magical memorable thing for me as a kid. And all of those movies I wanted to capture a little of in this one.

It is about as crowded as it can be this Thanksgiving weekend at the local movie house. Three big films that should please everyone in the family debut today: Arthur Christmas, Hugo and The Muppets. Then, on Friday, the Oscar contenders arrive in The Artist, My Week with Marilyn and A Dangerous Method.

The Muppets: Jason Segel and writing partner Nick Stoller have brought The Muppets back for a whole new generation, but also have crafted a film that longtime fans will adore. The Muppets features classic songs and new terrific tracks as well. As many Muppet movies have done in the past, there are also cameos galore (we won’t reveal… don’t want to ruin the surprise for you!). Check out our The Muppets review for all the details on this five-star film.

The Muppets Official Trailer

Hugo: Martin Scorsese has outdone himself with his work of art that is Hugo. The film is based on the best-selling book and is beautiful as a vision, but also as a cinematic experience. Hugo is an orphan living in the Paris train station. His only companion is a wired like a clock “robotic” man. That metal face holds a secret left to Hugo by his father that will unify all the colorful characters in Scorsese’s latest classic in one heart-warming tale that is perfect for the holidays or any time of year. Be sure to read our Hugo review for further insight into a modern masterpiece.

The Trailer for Hugo

Arthur Christmas: Aardman Animation (Wallace and Gromit films) takes a slightly different turn and creates a 3D animated Christmas film with all the heart, action, suspense and family camaraderie an audience could ask for of any film. Director Sarah Smith takes us inside how Santa delivers billions of presents in one evening... and it’s thanks to an army of elves and one very well-oiled machine. Steve may be heir apparent to the Santa Claus throne, but it seems his younger brother Arthur captures the Christmas spirit as no one else in this house of Santas. Don’t miss our Arthur Christmas review to discover why we have got a brand new Christmas classic.

Arthur Christmas New Trailer

Out Friday (All three films will be reviewed on Friday):

My Week with Marilyn: When Marilyn Monroe ventured to Britain to film The Prince and the Showgirl with Sir Laurence Olivier, her challenges were many. To aid her, a twenty-something Brit named Colin Clark was assigned to Monroe to be her assistant. He wrote two books about his time with the icon, The Prince, The Showgirl and Me as well as My Week with Marilyn. Those memoirs serve as the landscape for this fascinating film that features Michelle Williams in a role that could earn her Oscar gold.

My Week with Marilyn Trailer

The Artist: A black and white silent movie in 2011 that is one of the best of the year? You bet and the film works on so many levels and is truly a marvel of modern filmmaking. The Artist follows the rise and fall of a silent movie star and the ascent of a starlet who will be Hollywood’s first movie star of talkies. The Artist is powerful and features an all-star cast including James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller and John Goodman.

The Artist Trailer

A Dangerous Method: Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were mentor and student and in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, the director explores what happens when the student breaks out on his own while a woman comes between them. Michael Fassbender is Jung and Viggo Mortensen is Freud while Keira Knightley is the woman with whom both men become enthralled.

A Dangerous Method Trailer

Movie Fanatic was out in Beverly Hills last night at the Blu-Ray premiere of Super 8 and writer-director J.J. Abrams stopped by to chat about his latest smash. Super 8 is out on Blu-Ray and DVD and contains a plethora of extras that is sure to thrill the Abrams fan, as well as fans of cinema in general.

Abrams wrote and directed Super 8 with his idol Steven Spielberg producing. The story of a group of teenage kids in 1979 making their own Super 8 zombie movie is clearly all Abrams, but possesses an uncanny feel of the Spielberg classics of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Fitting, since Abrams himself made Super 8 movies during that period as a teenager, inspired by the man who would come to produce his latest movie.

"I grew up in LA making movies with friends, making the same kind of stuff. Of course, not with a massive train crash,” Abrams told Movie Fanatic and laughed. One of the greatest scenes in the entire film is a spectacular train crash that lets loose something mysterious that will haunt the kids’ small town and bring the weight of the U.S. military to town establishing an almost martial law.

Abrams cast a group of unknowns, save Elle Fanning who stars as the sole woman in the boys’ film, and clearly could not have been happier with their performances and professionalism. “They were amazing, especially because they hadn’t done much before. That was the greatest -- working with a group of kids that were so naturally talented and came to work really prepared,” Abrams said and smiled wide. “I thought they might have trouble with their lines. No, they were awesome.”

The Super 8 DVD and Blu-Ray contains several bonus featurettes that take the viewer inside the process of making the film and really allow you to see how Abrams found and worked with these teenage actors and helped produce brilliance.

Super 8’s other features that astound include a commentary track by Abrams, cinematographer Larry Fong -- a longtime collaborator of Abrams’ since he was a child -- and producer Bryan Burk.

Also astounding is a feature on the score by Michael Giacchino. Its haunting melodies (as heard prominently in the Super 8 Blu-Ray trailer) and sweeping epic soundscapes, according to Giacchino, truly came from the heart.

“The sadness of this story really speaks for itself. There’s this kid who loses his mother and he doesn’t have a great relationship with his father. It all really came out of that. Then there’s the boy trying to figure out his relationship with this girl -- that was always very appealing to me too. Those feelings in the film are what drove me. It wasn’t the sci-fi or monster aspect of it. It is all really about relationships,” Giacchino said.

And for the film’s composer, the release of Super 8 on Blu-Ray and DVD marks something for him that transcends the here and now. “You get into these things and you hope what you make is enjoyable for people for a long time,” Giacchino said. “The thought that somebody can pull this off the shelf at any time, that’s cool. I really like that. That means that you did something good. We’ll be long gone, and hopefully people will still be watching it.”

For Abrams, Super 8 and its resonance, he hopes, is on the scale of the Spielberg films that inspired him to first pick up a camera. “As a byproduct of this movie, if any kid gets inspired to make a movie, it would be awesome,” Abrams said. “But it is far more understood now than when I was a kid. To be 14 or 15 years old and have a camera making movies was kind of a novelty at that time in ’79 or ’80. Now, everyone’s got phones with cameras on them at all times. With editing equipment being off the shelf, downloadable on your computer, it’s so much easier -- to shoot the movie, to edit the movie, to show it to people. In a weird way, I hope that people get equally excited about trying to tell a story on film, but with video.”

One thing has been lost with all the good new about Breaking Dawn breaking box office records: The film is making certain audience members sick and some are even having seizures. And no, those having a physical response to the birthing scene of Bella will not be getting refunds.

Brandon Gephart of Sacramento went to see Breaking Dawn, never expecting that he would have a seizure. But, according to the Sacramento CBS station, that is exactly what happened to the California resident. He is merely one of a slew of stories popping up about people getting sick since Breaking Dawn debuted November 18.

Apparently it’s not so much the actual Bella birth that is making people ill, it is director Bill Condon’s filmmaking technique that employs flashes of white, black and red during the scene that is triggering the episodes.

Are any of our Movie Fanatics having a reaction to Breaking Dawn other than euphoria over seeing their favorite vampire and human get married? Let us know!

Michelle Williams is Marilyn Monroe on so many levels in My Week with Marilyn. It’s hard to think how the actress will not be earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

My Week with Marilyn, based on the memoirs by Colin Clark, has arrived on screens and is easily one of the best of the year. The film is not only astounding because of the performance by its lead actress, the entire ensemble is fantastic, the script is taut and Simon Curtis’ direction is perfection.

When Monroe went to Britain to film The Prince and the Showgirl with director-star Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh), she was at the cusp of being an international icon and was desperately trying to be taken seriously as an actress. She brought legendary acting coach Paula Strausberg (Zoe Wanamaker) along and the shoot would prove challenging for all those involved.

One who found the period of the best of his life was Clark. A production assistant to Olivier, Clark was assigned to serve as Monroe’s aide throughout the shoot. Monroe found great comfort in the Brit’s company and their week-long relationship is chronicled in My Week with Marilyn. In the film, through Clark’s eyes, audiences see a side of Monroe that shows her as vulnerable, yes, but also someone with a clever sense of humor coupled with a sprinkle of mischief and a whole lot of self questioning.

Eddie Redmayne is Clark, a child of privilege who could do anything he wanted in life, but chose the artistry of the cinema as his life’s dream. His wide-eyed passion for the art form shows itself in the film’s opening moments as he does anything he can to get a job with Olivier’s production company. Besides providing a window into Monroe, his young eyes also give the audience a look into the wonder of a movie fanatic who is living his dream working on a film set.

Then, there is Williams. Her performance as Monroe is a marvel. It goes beyond anything she has done before and that is saying something. She is not doing an imitation of Monroe. Her take is unique. Williams gives the superstar layers that are all at once powerful ingénue, human soul yearning for acceptance and an individual seeking respect within the confines of her career that has only painted her in one light: Song and dance sex symbol. Williams has given a career best turn as Monroe. She literally and figuratively sings on the screen and rivets with every second.

My Week with Marilyn Trailer

The supporting cast of My Week with Marilyn brings their A-game as well. Branagh is his usual astounding self capturing a legend that is human in every way. Julia Ormond inhabits his wife Vivien Leigh with a flair that makes her one of the film’s most joyous surprises. Judi Dench, well, is her usually delicious Dench self with her performance as aging British actress Dame Sybil Thorndike. Emma Watson takes a small role as a wardrobe assistant working on the film that shows she is much more than Hermione. And finally, Dominic Cooper also takes his small role as a Monroe production company executive and delivers a knockout punch with every frame in which he appears.

Director Curtis has crafted a piece of cinema that will stand the test of time. It captures a moment in film history when an actress went from being a celebrity to a Hollywood icon and he's given it heart, texture and timelessness. Curtis employs an even hand and tells a story that could have solely focused on an icon and instead paints a canvas of light and dark with layers of gray -- much like life itself.

The Artist is a piece of art and for a film that is in black and white, that fact speaks volume about what is at the film’s heart: A terrific story told with power and grace.

Could anyone have imagined that one of the most astounding films of 2011 would be a black and white silent film? The Artist proves that with a great tale, acting that doesn’t require words to emit emotion, plus a director working at the top of his game, film possesses the ability to transport an audience, regardless of actors delivering lines to move the story.

Since The Artist debuted at Cannes, the buzz has been fierce. Jean Dujardin won Best Actor at the film festival, and rightly so as his performance is the stuff of legend. Dujardin deserves Oscar consideration as well. The actor portrays a silent film actor, who is arguably the most renowned of his generation. As the era of silent films is beginning to wane, he holds the belief that talkies are merely a fad, and that the art of silent cinema will still be the way audiences choose to see their films. Of course, history has proven him wrong. In The Artist, that shift in popular taste is showcased through Dujardin’s character and his slow downfall and Berenice Bejo’s portrayal of a young starlet who would become the talking pictures’ first real star.

The chemistry between the two leads is stellar. There’s a hint of romance that may or may not play out over the course of the film, but what The Artist is at its heart, is a love story for movie fans who appreciate the history of motion pictures. Routinely in the film, Dujardin’s character is asked why he doesn’t speak. Yes, The Artist is a silent film, but his lack of vocal pronouncement has more to do with his pride than his ability to enunciate his feelings through sound. It is a powerful paradigm that reflects the themes that lie at The Artist’s core. The film reflects the natural human condition to resist change and the lengths we go to to convince ourselves that the old guard will remain in place, despite proof that is otherwise palpable.

The Artist is a unique movie-going experience in 2011. To witness the magic of the movies, where the only sounds are that of the commanding soundtrack is one to treasure. It is a tall mountain to climb for its cast that has grown up and spent their years becoming actors studying the craft of delivering lines. Not only do Dujardin and Bejo shine, but also John Goodman and Missi Pyle as a studio executive and starlet, Penelope Ann Miller and James Cromwell as Dujardin’s wife and driver respectively.

The Artist Trailer

Director Michel Hazanavicius had to have a complete mastery of the filmmaking process to be able to make a silent movie in today’s marketplace that would move audiences accustomed to a verbal movement of story. Hazanavicius' use of his actor’s physical prowess as a replacement for vocal resonance is the stuff of modern movie brilliance. That is why The Artist not only works, but excels.

James Cameron has given his masterpiece Titanic a 3D upgrade as only the 3D wizard can. Cameron has painstakingly gone through, frame by frame, the second highest-grossing film of all time, and given it the 3D makeover while promising not to change a single word of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s classic love story set to the backdrop of one of history’s great tragedies. Paramount has released a featurette of the legendary director taking audiences deeper into the entity that is his Titanic.

James Cameron on Titanic 3D

Titanic 3D is arriving on screens April 6, 2012 and judging by fans’ response, they are excited to go back to the Oscar-winning film and witness it in three dimensions.

In The Artist, James Cromwell and Penelope Ann Miller had to disregard decades of training in delivering lines to master the art of silent cinema. The Artist is a silent movie, in black and white, and provided the pair with a challenge they welcomed after years of masterwork for each. Cromwell and Miller sat down with Movie Fanatic for an exclusive video interview that provides priceless insight into the making of a modern classic.

James Cromwell and Penelope Ann Miller Exclusive Interview

The duo are central to the film, albeit with smaller supporting roles than ones they usually fulfill. Cromwell is Jean Dujardin’s driver while Miller portrays the silent movie star’s wife. The story follows the rise and fall of a silent movie legend while simultaneously following a starlet (Berenice Bejo) and her rise to the first star of talking cinema. Both Cromwell and Miller’s characters suffer because of the silent movie’s downfall, and they express that through body and facial gestures where once the uttering of lines served as their vehicle of performance. Don’t miss our The Artist review and exclusive John Goodman and Missi Pyle The Artist interview to discover the magic of silent cinema.

Michael Fassbender is having a career year for the ages. Earlier in 2011, he stole scenes from Mia Wasikowska in Jane Eyre (one of our top 10 of 2011 so far), and then he made us forget about Ian McKellen with his role as Magneto in X-Men: First Class. Now arrives a pair of powerful films that put Fassbender front and center: Shame and A Dangerous Method. Fassbender took a few moments out of his busy schedule to talk to Movie Fanatic about A Dangerous Method and working with his dream director in David Cronenberg. A Dangerous Mind follows Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Fassbender) as their tutor and teacher relationship hits a crossroads with the arrival of a mysterious woman (Keira Knightley).

Movie Fanatic: Were you looking to work with David and was working with him as you expected?

Michael Fassbender: I was a fan of his, for sure. I was very envious when they were filming Eastern Promises, as I live near where they were filming. I thought, “Oh God, wouldn’t it be great to be on a David Cronenberg set.” It was very exciting, the idea and the prospect of working with him. And yes, was different than what I expected because you see his films and they can be quite violent, yes [laughs]? They are dark. He’s kind of the opposite. He’s very sweet and loving, sort of energetic and very generous and very humorous. So having that humor is a nice device for that because it gives a nice relaxed and light feeling going into scenes that can be heavy and deep with heavy themes.

Movie Fanatic: Going all the way back to Fish Tank, and now with Shame and A Dangerous Method and even Jane Eyre, your characters walk a fine line with issues: social acceptance, psychological, moral acceptance. What is it about those roles that appeal to you?

Michael Fassbender: I think it’s conflict, first and foremost. I think what we do is a heightened reality. People say, “It’s not real.” Yeah, real can be really boring. We’re trying to ask questions and seek out drama, that’s the best way to have that is to have conflict -- conflict between characters or conflict within the character itself. I think it makes for more interesting viewing and it’s more provocative and makes us question things a bit more. That’s life. I’m not interested in things that are like here’s the villain, here’s the good guy. That’s boring for me. What happens if you draw the two together?

Movie Fanatic: Talk about the different dynamics you had separately with your co-stars Viggo and Keira and especially with Keira, considering the interesting places that you have to go with her.

Michael Fassbender: That’s the same with every piece. OK, guy comes into the room… who’s in the room? How does that person make me feel? How do I make them feel? Do they make me feel inadequate? Do I feel powerful?  Whatever, there are various stages of that with both those characters. Who’s in control changes all the time. When she comes into the hospital, I’m definitely the guy who is in control. At the end of the film, she comes to visit me, she definitely has more power when Jung is about to go into this breakdown. Again, the thing with Freud, at the beginning, he’s like, “Oh my God. He’s my hero. I can’t believe I get to meet him. This is the most amazing thing.” Then, of course, that master-pupil sort of relationship turns. He’s like, “In order for me to really grow and really explore my philosophy of psycho analysis, I have to break away from him and grow as an individual. What’s really interesting about this, and what I think Christopher (Hampton, screenwriter) has done so well is you’ve got these heavyweights, Jung and Freud, and it’s like, “Whoa, OK, this is an amazing world to be entering into.” But, then he shows them as very human, with faults. And you go, “Wow, they did really petty and stupid things. These two guys have massive egos.” Anybody that went against Jung or Freud in their camps was swiftly discarded. You’ve got that to play with -- two egos. I always found it really funny. I found the script very funny. Viggo and I tried to find the comedy in it, as much as possible. That was fun. I’ve always been a massive fan of him. He’s an impressive human being.

Movie Fanatic: Continuing with the Viggo thought, you and he have an amazing spark. I was curious how you found him as an acting partner?

Michael Fassbender: First of all, I was nervous. I’m about to meet Viggo Mortensen. Then, very quickly we just got along. It was just like that. He’s very supportive and generous. Obviously, he’s very well prepared. Nobody knows when Viggo is going to arrive, that’s the thing [laughs]. It was like, “Viggo will be here one of these days.” They started filming with Keira and I first. He arrives, there’s nobody at the airport to meet him because nobody knows when he’s going to be there [laughs]. He gets a rental car and turns up on the set. And slowly his trailer starts to get all this character. It was the World Cup at the time, so he’s a massive football fan, so all these flags started going in his trailer. He had a picture of the Queen of Denmark up. I was watching him from my trailer, “What’s he doing today?” [Laughs] He’s a very interesting guy. He writes poetry. He takes photographs. He’s very artistically rich. I just tried to watch him and learn as much as I could.

A Dangerous Method Trailer

Movie Fanatic: There are all sorts of rumors that you’re attached to great projects. One is the Robocop remake. Is Robocop something that you would like to do?

Michael Fassbender: I’m always open, I’ll take a look at the script and sit down with the director and have a conversation. It’s not like, “I’ve got to play Robocop before I retire.” [Laughs] I don’t have that about anything. I don’t desire to play the Dane one day or Hamlet. I don’t think like that. I wait to see what comes up. I’m always open to it if I react to the script.

Movie Fanatic: Would you dread wearing a metal suit?

Michael Fassbender: No. It would be kind of fun. It’ll be good to have a helmet I could hide behind [laughs]. That sounds kind of appealing.