‘Adam Sandler has always been one of my comedy idols, so to get to work with him was really fun,’ Will Forte tells MTV News. By Kara Warner Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler in “That’s My Boy” Photo: Sony Pictures No matter what you thought about Adam Sandler ‘s last few zany comedies, there are more than a few reasons to be excited about his next release, “That’s My Boy.” First, it’s Sandler’s first-ever R-rated comedy. Second, it features a cast of former and current “SNL” players like Andy Samberg and Will Forte , as well as James Caan and Vanilla Ice. And third, the outrageous plot revolves around a deadbeat father (Sandler) who attempts to reconnect with his long-lost son (Samberg) on the week of his wedding. MTV News recently caught up with funnyman Forte to find out all about the on-set antics, Sandler’s genius abilities in the art of swearing, how awesome Vanilla Ice is in the film and if we’ll ever see a “MacGruber” sequel. MTV News : In looking at the cast and concept of this film, it seems as though you probably had a lot of fun on set. Will Forte : It was a ton of fun. I’ve always watched Sandler movies and thought, “Oh my God, that looks like it would be so much fun.” They’re always in Hawaii or some glamorous setting, and it really is as much fun as you would think it would be. It was like going to summer camp for this. Everyone was so cool. He’s such a loyal and good person. He always works with the same people on the crew, so it’s a real family-like atmosphere. MTV : How does your character fit into the mix? Forte : I play this guy named Bill, and he is Andy’s best man. I don’t really know Andy that well, so you find out later when Adam comes to find Andy on his wedding weekend, I give up my best-man duties to Adam. It’s definitely not a straight man; he’s kind of a weirdo. It’s a fun character. There’s a mix of different types of characters in there. I’m one of the ones who gets to have a lot of fun and be an idiot. MTV : How does the R rating enhance the fun factor? Forte : It’s a completely different situation. There is so much going on in this movie. It’s a really fun movie. Adam Sandler has always been one of my comedy idols, so to get to work with him was really fun, and to add into that the R-rated part of this movie, it was so fun. There are very few people who can swear with the style and enunciation of Adam. He just hits them just right. It was so much fun. This movie feels like a throwback to some of the earlier Sandler movies, with the addition of swearing. I cannot tell you how fun this experience was. I feel like when you watch the movie, you can tell how much fun we had. MTV : How was it working with Vanilla Ice? Forte : I got to hang out with Vanilla Ice quite a bit. It was awesome. He is so different than I thought he would be. He’s this very sweet and loving person, just kind of normal for Vanilla Ice, if that makes sense. He’s this wonderful, warm person, but still the Vanilla Ice you want to see. He doesn’t disappoint you in not being Vanilla Ice-y enough. He’s an awesome guy. MTV : You have a lot of things on your plate in addition to this movie, like “Rock of Ages,” the comedy pilot “Rebounding.” What are the odds we’ll ever see a “MacGruber” sequel? Forte : We would love to do a “MacGruber” sequel! I don’t know if anyone with any money would love us to do a “MacGruber” sequel, but we talk about it all the time, and we might even — to just get it out of our heads — we might sit down and write a second one. If we could somehow talk somebody into putting some money up for it [that would be great]. We’re so proud of that movie and had so much fun doing it. There is no serious talk about making a “MacGruber” sequel, but there’s some non-serious talk about it. A couple of the people who were a part of it sit around and get drunk and talk about it; that’s the level of talk. “That’s My Boy” opens everywhere June 15. It’s Summer Movie Preview Week, and MTV News will be bringing you exclusive interviews, clips and photos for the most anticipated summer movies . Get ready to gorge on inside looks at “The Avengers,” Robert Pattinson’s “Bel Ami,” Kristen Stewart’s “Snow White,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and more! Related Videos Summer Movie Preview 2012
Director Len Wiseman tells MTV News about Kate Beckinsale going bad and Bryan Cranston’s complex villain. By Kara Warner Colin Farrell in “Total Recall” Photo: Sony Pictures We still have a while to wait for the August 3 release of the new “Total Recall,” but now that we’ve seen and obsessed over the official full-length trailer , we have a better idea of what to expect from Len Wiseman’s re-telling of the classic Philip K. Dick story, as well as how it compares to the 1990 cult favorite starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by Paul Verhoeven. In addition to providing MTV News with his expert commentary about the well-received trailer , Wiseman also gave us some in-depth insight into how he’s handled the precedents and expectations set by Verhoeven’s film, how closely the 2012 film sticks to Dick’s original story, as well as what fans can appreciate and expect from stars Colin Farrell and a villainous Kate Beckinsale . MTV : How much fun has incorporating all the new technology been? Wiseman : It’s great. And, I will be honest: It’s a blessing and a curse for me, because I’m so of a school of practical effects and practical stunts. And when you develop a movie like this, which is an entire world you’re creating, you can only build so much, and then you go into your effects world. And actually, there’s a lot of practical elements in here that people assume are CG, because CG is used so often. In the trailer, we did this really complicated shot of Colin doing a fight sequence shootout. The camera is spinning around, it’s 100 percent practical. And it’s funny when I really kicked the “how much time and how expensive” nightmare kind of math in to figure that all out and everything to put in, and what surprised me is a lot of people think that is CG. I think because you maybe don’t immediately process how that’s being done. But it’s funny, because I look at that and go, “That’s actually the shot that’s entirely 100 percent practical.” So I really do find it a blessing and a curse, because I started as a prop guy. I actually started building models initially and then went into the prop department, and I’m so much of a practical mind. But then you get into a point where, “OK, now we have to build a world that is 100 and some odd years in the future.” And your construction budget, that’s a surprise. MTV : How will fans be impressed by Colin’s performance? Wiseman : I think they’re absolutely going to love him. It’s a very different take on the character. It’s much more of the internal struggle that he’s faced with, and he did such a great job with this mystery of his own soul, really. It’s such a mystery, this film. It’s got the action and sci-fi, everything hovering on the perimeter of what makes it feel like a big action film. But in its core, it’s a mystery, and it’s a mystery of himself. And I just think people will be really captivated by following his journey. He really does allow you to be him. So I really think they’ll be excited by him. MTV : What about seeing Kate Beckinsale playing a villain? Wiseman : It’s fun for us as well. She’s never done anything like that. So to be able to have some fun with playing a villain — and she had fun doing it too, because she’s always like, “You have to be so earnest when you’re saving the world. Wow, you can actually just loosen up and just, the bad guys have more fun.” I would love to get, I’ll probably put this out on the DVD, but these girls are just kicking each other’s asses and really brutal. We wanted to attack it. It was just a really vicious brawl, and in between the cuts, they both get so girly. Right on “cut.” There’s plenty of times when Kate actually just nicked Jessica [Biel]’s nose or same thing with Jessica, and they immediately just go from these vicious badass lethal killers to immediately very apologetic and very polite and girly. It’s great to see. MTV : Will we see Mars? Wiseman : We won’t see Mars. And I got to say, it’s one of the things that attracted me to the script, because I really, I along with a lot of other people, I really loved the Verhoeven film. I was very skeptical on just the reboot, just the idea. And until I read the script, with a lot of speculation going, it takes it in such a different direction from that film. Because it didn’t go to Mars, funny enough, is why I was interested. And it’s also just like I said: It plays a little bit into the threat of what the Philip K. Dick story had of, much more of bringing the threat back, really Doug’s mission to save Earth, not Mars. MTV : What can you tell us about getting Bryan Cranston? Wiseman : He’s got one really fun personality. I think a lot of people, if you’ve seen him in his prior TV show, I’m sure, I happened to be introduced to him through films and then “Breaking Bad” as well. I’ve never seen “Malcolm in the Middle,” and I was taken by how fun and charming and funny the guy is. I probably came late to that game. That’s no surprise to anyone else. He really has a balance of evil and charming, which I really like. He plays off great [with Colin]. I wish they actually had more scenes together. It’s a bit of a weird structure, where the villain is kind of split between Kate and Cranston. So when they’re together, though, it’s great. He’s really got a good balance there, where when there’s a pure tendency that a lot of people have to play just very villainous, he has a little bit more passion for what he’s doing, where you actually believe it is the right thing, rather than twirling your mustache a bit too much. It’s Summer Movie Preview Week, and MTV News will be bringing you exclusive interviews, clips and photos for the most anticipated summer movies . Get ready to gorge on inside looks at “The Avengers,” Robert Pattinson’s “Bel Ami,” Kristen Stewart’s “Snow White,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and more! Related Videos Summer Movie Preview 2012 ‘Total Recall’ Trailer Breakdown Related Photos Get Psyched For 2012’s Summer Movies!
‘Huntsman’ director Rupert Sanders also discusses the ‘fiendish’ Charlize Theron for MTV News’ Summer Movie Preview Week. By Kara Warner Kristen Stewart in “Snow White and the Huntsman” Photo: Universal Pictures It’s clear from all we’ve seen from the “Snow White and the Huntsman” trailers, photos and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks that this film is a stepping stone for Kristen Stewart in many ways. When MTV News caught up with the film’s director, Rupert Sanders, recently, he explained how everyone involved in the project stepped up their game for this modern take on a medieval story. “Kristen is a very driven, visceral, intuitive actress. From a director’s point of view, it’s great to get into her headspace,” he explained. “We did a lot of work together on the script and character, and she really helped inform me how that character was feeling, which really helped my process getting the character onscreen. Kristen was doing a lot of her stunt work, she was riding horses, she was jumping from high precipices into freezing cold water, she was fighting dwarves — she’s gung-ho. Sanders said Stewart’s co-star Charlize Theron was equally gung-ho with respect to the lengths she went to take her beauty into a dark and horrible place. “[She] becomes fiendish,” Sanders said. “She was willing to get in tubs of black oil, surrounded by dead ravens, and crawl her way out. For a director, what’s great about these two actors is that they will go beyond what you ask of them, and I think it really shows in the performances they’ve given. They’re both very unlike any performance I’ve seen either of them deliver.” The first-time feature director promised that fans will not be disappointed by what they’ll see onscreen when the film opens June 1. “What I’m most proud of is that it’s not a popcorn movie in that respect. It’s big and it’s epic and there’s lots of battle sequences, but it really hits you,” he said. “There’s not a lot of weeping, but it’s a very intense ride. You’re really at the edge of people’s boundaries. There are new ways of seeing action, which I’m excited about. It’s a very modern take on a medieval film but doesn’t feel like we’re trying to do anything trendy or of the minute. It still feels practical.” It’s Summer Movie Preview Week, and MTV News will be bringing you exclusive interviews, clips and photos for the most anticipated summer movies . Get ready to gorge on inside looks at “The Avengers,” Robert Pattinson’s “Bel Ami,” Kristen Stewart’s “Snow White,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and more! Related Videos Summer Movie Preview 2012 Related Photos Get Psyched For 2012’s Summer Movies!
‘The first year or so we were dating, we wrestled a lot with, you know, my past,’ says Shepard, who also wrote and directed the movie. By Kara Warner Dax Shepard in “Hit and Run” Photo: Open Road Films Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are putting their love on the line, so to speak, for the sake of their upcoming action-packed R-rated comedy “Hit and Run.” The plot revolves around former getaway driver Charlie Bronson (Shepard), who busts out of the Witness Protection Program to drive his girlfriend (Bell) to Los Angeles so she can land her dream job. Their road trip becomes increasingly complicated and dangerous when they are chased by the feds (led by Tom Arnold) and later Charlie’s former gang of criminals (led by Bradley Cooper). When MTV News caught up with the fun-loving, real-life couple recently, they provided expert teasery and commentary as to why we’ll all be dying to see them onscreen together in the film. “The first year or so we were dating, we wrestled a lot with, you know, my past,” said Shepard, who also wrote and directed the movie. “Uncovering details of his sordid lifestyle,” Bell added. “The movie became a metaphor for that, for a couple dealing with people’s past,” Shepard explained. “So we put that in a car-chase movie.” “Of course,” Bell said with a smile. “Naturally, it’s such an easy fit,” Shepard agreed. “Where I am in Witness Protection and Kristen’s [character] is a professor.” “Of course,” Bell agreed again with a smile. “Naturally. And, you know, I have an even shadier past than I’ve really let on, and that kind of becomes obvious over the course of me trying to drive her to L.A.,” Shepard said. “The sh– hits the fan, basically, to sum it all up,” Bell offered. And if Shepard and Bell’s witty and pretty adorable repartee doesn’t entice you to check out “Hit and Run” when it hits theaters August 24, you should also know that there are a lot of fancy and fun cars in the film. “I play one of the supporting characters in the film,” Bell said. “The lead lady is played by Lady Lincoln, this 1967 Lincoln that Dax has … ” ” … sunk our savings [into],” Shepard admitted. “Yes, for years, [he] spent every paycheck on and put a lot of heart and soul into,” Bell added. “He put race-car bucket seats in, 5-point harnesses … ” ” … 700 horsepower,” Shepard cut in. “700 horsepower. I got this,” Bell said to Shepard. “It’s beautiful. There are a lot of cars in the movie.” “If you couldn’t bring 500 horsepower to the table, your vehicle was not invited to be in it,” Shepard said. It’s Summer Movie Preview Week, and MTV News will be bringing you exclusive interviews, clips and photos for the most anticipated summer movies . Get ready to gorge on inside looks at “The Avengers,” Robert Pattinson’s “Bel Ami,” Kristen Stewart’s “Snow White,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and more! Related Videos Summer Movie Preview 2012 Related Photos Get Psyched For 2012’s Summer Movies!
‘He’s a guy who loves challenges,’ enthuses director Adam Shankman, as part of MTV News’ Summer Movie Preview Week. By Amy Wilkinson Tom Cruise in “Rock of Ages” Photo: Warner Bros This summer, the city — and the cinema — will be built on rock and roll when ” Rock of Ages ” packs its ax, journeying from Broadway to a theater near you. Set in Los Angeles and featuring the biggest jams of the ’80s, the movie musical follows busboy/ aspiring rocker Drew Boley (played by Diego Boneta ) as he falls for new-in-town Sherrie Christian (played by Julianne Hough ) and lands a gig opening for rock legend Stacee Jaxx ( Tom Cruise ). All the while, greater forces are at work trying to convert the drug- and sex-fueled Sunset Strip into a safer, gentler piece of prime real estate, much to the chagrin of the bandannaed masses. In anticipation of opening night (June 15), MTV News caught up with director Adam Shankman (“Hairspray”) to chat about Tom Cruise’s crazy work ethic, ’80s nostalgia and the perils of working with a baboon. MTV News : Movie musicals are nothing new for you. What is it about translating a work from stage to screen that is so compelling? Adam Shankman : It’s a matter of, I guess, finding a story you enjoy telling and a medium you enjoy. I grew up doing musical theater, so it’s something that’s in my bones, and I love it. I feel it’s always informed a lot of the way I think and the way I approach material. It’s just sort of a natural thing for me to be doing, given my history with music and dance and all that. All I ever wanted to be in my life was a chorus boy, so how things turned out couldn’t be a bigger surprise to me. MTV : What was it specifically about “Rock of Ages” that drew you in? Shankman : I thought, “Holy moly!” Here’s an opportunity to make a musical truly for straight men. I mean, straight guys walk into the theater and they know every word of the music. So it’s a completely different experience from girls having to drag their boyfriends to boys dragging their girlfriends. MTV : There’s been a lot of ’80s nostalgia in pop culture lately. Is that an era you’re particularly nostalgic for? Shankman : I mean, that was my time. I graduated high school in ’82. My dad’s office was on Sunset. I saw my first concert at the Roxy. I was choreographing music videos in ’87 when, it happens, I actually choreographed a video for someone whose music is in the movie. It was, you know, the last time I remember everything being kind of innocent. Everything kind of shifted then, suddenly fun became drug addiction and crazy, casual sex became AIDS. It was the end of all of that. MTV : Diego Boneta, who plays Drew, is a fairly under-the-radar talent right now. How did he land the role? Shankman : His audition just sort of stopped me in my tracks. I saw it on my casting website. I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of guys on there, and his stopped me because there was no acting — he just was that guy. And he also sang so great. In the best casting moments, you’re looking at somebody and saying, “How much do I have to do with this person to get them there?” I just looked at him and he just dropped into it very easily and naturally. And then, of course, there’s that face. MTV : One of the film’s many familiar faces is Tom Cruise, though I have a feeling this is a Tom Cruise we’ve never seen before. Shankman : We have definitely never seen him do this before. A lot of the joy in this for him was just the adventure of trying something that was so foreign. I think part of the reason that he said yes to doing it was that he was so stunned that he was asked, and he thought, “Oh my god, of all the millions of things I’ve done in my career, nothing has ever been like this.” He’s a guy who loves challenges. MTV : We did see him sing in “Top Gun.” Shankman : Not like this. MTV : For fans of the original, how closely does the film hem to the Broadway musical? Shankman : It’s pretty close. I mean, I changed who the villains are. They were Europeans in the play, and I wanted them to be more L.A.-based so it had more of a local resonance. The character Lonnie, the Russell Brand character, isn’t the narrator. I didn’t think the movie should have a narrator. But in terms of spirit, the boy-meets-girl and what happens to the boy and girl is very close. MTV : Is there a favorite musical number for you? Shankman : I never cease to be in awe of “Pour Some Sugar on Me” because it was Tom on his first day of shooting, and he spent the day performing it for a giant crowd, and Def Leppard showed up on set and were there. That was an incredibly crazy, magical day. MTV : Conversely, there’s always a scene or two that give a director pause. Any particularly difficult moments for you on the set? Shankman : Well, I have one of those that turned into one of the best scenes in the movie. There’s a giant protest outside of the Bourbon, where Catherine Zeta-Jones and all the anti-Bourbon moms and all the rockers are fighting and they do a mash-up of “We Built This City” and “We’re Not Going to Take It.” Then, you know, we had the baboon there and the baboon got loose, and it was a nightmare and nobody could move because it was going to eat your face off. And then we were standing there for 20 minutes stuck on the street. Bizarre, bizarre day. On top of which, it was just really daunting because there was a lot going on. We had Sebastian Bach and Debbie Gibson and all these rockers there from that period. It was insane. Check out everything we’ve got on “Rock of Ages.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . 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In addition to alien-vs.-soldier action, the film has a softer side, as our exclusive clip shows. By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Amy Wilkinson Taylor Kitsch in “Battleship” Photo: Universal Pictures “Fire all the weapons!” Liam Neeson yells in the first “Battleship” trailer , a command dutifully followed by a young naval officer in the film but one that failed to trigger the dude-I-gotta-see-this-movie jones of many moviegoers. But we had a feeling a lot of folks were missing the point of both the popcorn flick’s whiz-bang alien-vs.-soldier brawling and the sun-dappled human-on-human seduction giving “Battleship” its warm, gooey center. The film is perfectly constructed to fill the “Transformers”-sized hole in the summer movie calendar. Audiences overseas are already responding, shelling out $58 million to check it out since the April 11 foreign release. Our turn comes on May 18. Before then, and having seen the CGI-heavy theatrics in “Battleship” trailers, it’s time to take a look at the film’s softer side. That’s where MTV News’ Summer Movie Preview comes into play, delivering an exclusive clip featuring Taylor Kitsch and his bodacious birthday wish, Brooklyn Decker. The scene in the clip comes early in the film, with Kitsch’s unemployed slacker, Alex Hopper, sharing a sad-sack birthday party in a dingy bar with his brother, Stone (Alexander Skarsg
Matthew McConaughey opens up about his hit man character for MTV News’ Summer Movie Preview Week. By Kara Warner Thomas Haden Church and Matthew McConaughey in “Killer Joe” Photo: LD Distribution “Killer Joe” is the type of genre film you only need to know a few key details about to be intrigued. First, Matthew McConaughey plays a crazy contract killer. Second, the plot revolves around a desperate young man (Emile Hirsch) who plots to kill his mother with help from his family (Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon), who are asked to offer up their teenage daughter (Juno Temple) as a retainer to hire the hit man. Third, the film landed an NC-17 rating for all its gratuitous violence. Bonus highbrow fact: The seemingly crazy story is based on Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts’ award-winning play. See what we mean about intriguing? When MTV News caught up with McConaughey recently, we asked him to set aside the film’s outrageous factors for a moment in order to name a few of his character’s redeemable qualities, aside from the killer-for-hire part. “He keeps to himself until he has to go do his business. He’s a very structured guy,” McConaughey said. “Everyone understands, on the up-and-up, what his plan is and how he’ll go through with it. It’s a very clean business, and he doesn’t want anyone else to know anything they shouldn’t know that could implicate them. He’s very, very clean and he’s a very good businessman. He just happens to have a job that’s kinda heinous and absurd.” The “Lincoln Lawyer” and “Magic Mike” said the fun of the film is in not knowing when to laugh or gasp — or both. “It’s a comedy, but everyone played it straight,” McConaughey explained. “It wasn’t a comedy where you played the joke. The situations are absurd. It’s a bit of a hyper-reality, like in some good Tarantino films — very violent, at the same time it’s very funny. It’s the kind of late laugh that you go, ‘I’m not supposed to be laughing, but I just found myself laughing, and is it OK for me to laugh at that? ‘Cause I just did.’ I like it.” It’s Summer Movie Preview Week, and MTV News will be bringing you exclusive interviews, clips and photos for the most anticipated summer movies . Get ready to gorge on inside looks at “The Avengers,” Robert Pattinson’s “Bel Ami,” Kristen Stewart’s “Snow White,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and more! Related Videos Summer Movie Preview 2012 South by Southwest 2012 Related Photos Get Psyched For Summer Movie Flicks 2012!
‘Her story is among my favorites, because she’s not a hero,’ he says of Scarlett Johansson’s character for Summer Movie Preview Week. By Kara Warner Captain America in “Avengers” Photo: Walt Disney Studios One of the most intriguing aspects about the very highly anticipated and superhero-studded “Marvel’s The Avengers” is in wondering how much the audience will see of each individual character, as well as what the actor in question has brought to the table in portraying a new side of their respective Marvel hero in the massive film. When MTV News caught up with mastermind and director Joss Whedon recently, we asked him if any of his castmembers brought something extra to the film via their pre-production knowledge or ideas about their storied characters. “They’re all very serious, dedicated people,” Whedon said with pride. “Scarlett [Johansson] knew more about the Black Widow than I did; that was a bit of a surprise. She claims that it was all from Wikipedia, though.” Whedon said Johansson’s character arc is one of his favorites in the film, because it’s so much different from that of the other bona fide superheroes like Captain America and Iron Man. “Her story is among my favorites, because she’s not a hero. She doesn’t live in a hero’s world; she lives in a very noir/duplicitous world of being a spy, and there’s a darkness to her and her past,” he explained. “There’s also a real beauty to her relationship with Clint Barton [a.k.a. Hawkeye] that, for me, is as exciting as anything in the movie, really.” For her part, Johansson joked with us recently at the film’s premiere that because Widow isn’t a superhero, she’s happy she survived the action-packed shoot. “We all took a pretty big beating,” she said. “I would have to say either [Black] Widow or Hawkeye [get their butts kicked hardest]. We’re on the ground, so we’re fighting hand-to-hand and it hurts.” She also teased a pretty epic fight sequence with another character she couldn’t name. “All I can say is that I had to fight someone else in this film, and they beat the crap out of me in stunt rehearsals. I have to say I could not believe it,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Can you hold it back, OK? You know, I’m trying to work it out here. I’ve got smaller muscles than you,’ ” Johansson said. “I was dragged across the [floor]. When we finally finished [filming] that scene I was just happy to be alive.” It’s Summer Movie Preview Week, and MTV News will be bringing you exclusive interviews, clips and photos for the most anticipated summer movies . Get ready to gorge on inside looks at “The Avengers,” Robert Pattinson’s “Bel Ami,” Kristen Stewart’s “Snow White,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and more! Related Videos Summer Movie Preview 2012 Related Photos Get Psyched For Summer Movie Flicks 2012!
Get a whiff of that—the smell of explosions and leading hunks! The stench is summer movie season. With each touting a new or classic Hollywood stud, we decided to put these fellows in a…
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