Monday, August 25

• Kevin Smith Loves Watchmen...with Profane Vagueness

  When Watchmen, Zack Snyder's $100-million translation of the classic Alan Moore graphic novel finally comes out in March, it will get the usual 100-word capsule reviews in all the best glossy magazines. In other words, people will still be interested in it, but not that interested. Because then it will be a movie playing in theaters, instead of an object of endless, abstract speculation. In its current incarnation, of course, it's eminently more fascinating. Thus, Entertainment Weekly devotes 624 words to Kevin Smith's reaction to an early screening of the movie -- never mind the fact that Kevin Smith doesn't actually say anything about Watchmen that the long-dead thumb of Gene Siskel couldn't have said, too, in a much more eloquent and witty fashion.

  
  

  Posted 08/25/2008 by reelz

  Related: Dailies | Zack Snyder | Watchmen

Wednesday, July 30

• Get Costner's Swing Vote with Sno-Balls.

  

  Jill Simonian is a correspondent for Dailies (ReelzChannel TV, weeknights @ 6PM ET), and occasionally shares stories from the field. This week: Swing Vote

  True, he’s an outdoorsy guy.

  But I’m talking about Hostess Sno-balls: the pink and white, coconut covered, marshmallow treats. After 61 years on the market, they may soon be used by the Presidential candidates to win Kevin Costner’s vote in November.

  Swing Vote is a tender, inspirational comedy about lovable loser Bud Johnson (Costner) and his precocious 12-year-old daughter (played by one of the most gifted onscreen criers I’ve ever seen, newcomer Madeline Carroll). After an Election Day snafu, the United States government needs Bud’s ignorant and apathetic vote to determine who will win the Presidential election. And yes, shameless political bribery ensues.

  Given this plotline, I asked Costner’s cast and crew what it would take in real-life to win Costner’s vote. Without a beat of hesitation, director Joshua Michael Stern said “frozen Hostess Sno-balls… with a big glass of milk.” 12-year-old Carroll seconded immediately, informing Costner that he “had one every day!” Costner threw his head back, laughed, and cited that he does have “a moral conscious” when it comes to choosing our next President. (Although he apparently ate so many Sno-balls during filming, they have a cameo in the movie.)

  As for the runner-up bribe? Nathan Lane told me that baby-back ribs work every time. (Maybe that explains Swing Vote’s promotional partnership with Outback Steakhouse?)

  Watch the story this week on Dailies.

  Swing Vote opens nationwide Friday, August 1.

  
  

  Posted 07/30/2008 by Jill

  Related: Dailies | Kevin Costner | Nathan Lane | Joshua Michael Stern | Madeline Carroll | Swing Vote

Tuesday, July 29

• Interview with Twilight Cast and Crew

  Buzz about Twilight continues to mount, particularly at the fan-dense Comic-Con convention last weekend. The cast and crew of Twilight had one of their first opportunities to engage the fans, and we interviewed them to gauge their reactions.

  
  

  Posted 07/29/2008 by reelz

  Related: Dailies | Twilight

Thursday, July 24

• X-Files Director Chris Carter Hears Dogs Barking

  

  Jill Simonian is a correspondent for Dailies (ReelzChannel TV, weeknights @ 6PM ET), and occasionally shares stories from the field. This week: X-Files

  Any "X-philes" out there?

  Watching old episodes to prep for the opening of The X-Files 2: I Want to Believe?

  It's been ten years (and $187 million) since the first X-Files movie hit theatres to satisfy "X-obsessed appetites" for all things inexplicable. Ah... remember the Black Oil, The Lone Gunman and that Cigarette Smoking Man? Great for past X-Files, but you don't need to know a damn thing about them for the movie. This one's a stand-alone folks. All you have to be ready for is a twisted kidnapping mystery... and violent, barking dogs that do very bad things for very bad people.

  But not Chris Carter's dog! The X-Files creator/director/writer/producer had his self-proclaimed inspiration -- or "muse," as Carter identified him -- in our interview room last weekend. In fact, I almost tripped over him when I walked in (the dog... not Carter). Turns out that Larry -- Carter's gorgeous, black oversized terrier -- is super-mellow and super-lucky. He hangs out everywhere the director goes, whether on a movie set or in a beautiful suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. And for good reason: Larry didn't make a single peep. (Which doesn't quite make sense, considering the plot-centric "I hear dogs barking" line in the movie...) But hey, whatever inspires you, Carter! The stories you cook up in that head of yours is beyond genius creativity.

  As for the "other" dogs -- the mean ones in the movie -- don't say I didn't warn you.

  Get more from Dailies.

  
  
  Next Showing: The X-Files 2: I Want to Believe opens July 25

  Posted 07/24/2008 by Jill

  Related: Dailies | Chris Carter | The X-Files | The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Tuesday, July 22

• Dailies Interview with Twilight Star Taylor Lautner

  Dailies got a chance to speak on set with Twilight star Taylor Lautner and we've got the interview. Taylor chews the fat on Twilight's wide appeal and what it's like to play a werewolf.

  
  

  Posted 07/22/2008 by reelz

  Related: Dailies | Taylor Lautner | Twilight

Tuesday, July 15

• Meet Dave Director Brian Robbins Critiques His Critics

  

  Jill Simonian is a correspondent for Dailies (ReelzChannel TV, weeknights @ 6PM ET), and occasionally shares stories from the field. This week: Brian Robbins

  And rightfully so.

  After 20-plus years of movie-making (directing, writing and producing), Brian Robbins' films have grossed almost $900 million worldwide. Yes, he may soon become a billion dollar man in the next few years, like the recent "Billion Dollar Club" inductee Michael Bay. But how do movie fans know him best? As Eddie Murphy's partner-in-crime who brought us Norbit ... and he also directed Murphy's current fish-out-of-water farce in theatres now: Meet Dave.

  I met Robbins for the first time last week at Paramount Pictures. A humble, and quiet -- but very friendly -- guy, he was working on location. And I was dying to ask him what I have been curious to know for almost a year:

  "What do you have to say to 'stuffy critics' and 'haters' of your movies?"

  I do believe that critics, especially with comedies, should have to sit in a room with an audience of people -- people who actually pay money for the movies -- and watch with them, and then review it. I just don't know how you can sit in a room by yourself and watch a comedy -- and review it -- when you're of "a certain age" ... I think you also have to review things in the context of who they're made for, you know? That's just my opinion.

  Well said, Robbins... well said. Here's to making a billion bucks.

  Watch the story this week on Dailies.

  See Also: Our recent interview with Brian Robbins.

  
  

  Posted 07/15/2008 by Jill

  Related: Dailies | Brian Robbins | Norbit | Meet Dave

Friday, June 27

• Ratzenberger Works the Cocktails

  

  Jill Simonian is a correspondent for Dailies (ReelzChannel TV, weeknights @ 6PM ET), and occasionally shares stories from the field. This week: WALL-E

  No, we're not talking drunken stoopers.

  In WALL-E, John Ratzenberger's character -- "John" -- is a human floating around in space. But Ratzenberger himself has his feet planted firmly on the ground. After putting his friendly-but-know-it-all mailman Cliff Clavin from TV's Cheers to rest in 1993, Ratzenberger quickly –- and affectionately -- became Disney-Pixar's "good luck charm." Since 1995's Toy Story, he's been the only actor to voice a role in every Disney-Pixar movie to date. (After Hamm the Piggy Bank, P.T. Flea, Abominable Snowman, Fish School, Underminer, Mack, Mustafa... finally he gets to play a "John!")

  At the junket for this impeccably-animated sci-fi love story last weekend, Ratzenberger himself told me that "feeling like a rabbit's foot" is a good thing. But when I asked WALL-E director/writer (and Pixar's ninth employee) Andrew Stanton about it, I found out how Ratzenberger pulled off this feat:

  To become Pixar's pet he simply went to cocktails with Toy Story's creative team after the press junket for that movie 13 years ago. As Stanton recalled, the team invited the entire cast to meet at the hotel bar for celebratory drinks that night after their interviews were over, and Ratzenberger was the only actor who showed up. Amazing. Stanton and the rest of the Pixar team appreciated his down-to-Earth personality that night, so they wrote a part for him in 1998's A Bug's Life, and the rest is history.

  Finally! The secret to having a steady gig for the rest of your life! (I guess all that work from Cheers paid off?) Drinks, anyone?

  
  
  Next Showing: WALL-E opens nationwide Friday, June 27

  Posted 06/27/2008 by Jill

  Related: Dailies | John Ratzenberger | Andrew Stanton | Wall-E | Toy Story | A Bug's Life

Thursday, October 11

• The real names of your favorite stars

  Would you be excited about seeing a western starring Marian Morrison? Or a screwball comedy starring Archibald Leach? How about a security surveillance video of Winona Horowitz shoplifting? John Wayne, Cary Grant and Winona Ryder are just a few of the hundreds of Hollywood icons who chose to adopt an alias before becoming stars. The Dailies crew recently went behind the scenes to find out why the practice has been so prevalent in Tinseltown over the years. Click here to watch the segment, then check out our list of the real names of some of your favorite stars.

  
  
  

  Fake Names

  Dailies looks at actors who've chosen to change their names.

  Posted 10/11/2007 by reelz

  Related: Dailies | Cary Grant | John Wayne | Winona Ryder