Not afraid to show off his political side, Ben Affleck is giving his take on the current U.S. Presidential campaign. Hitting the road promoting his political thriller Argo , the director and star of the film compared Republican nominee to past hopefuls who did not make it to the White House. A past ardent supporter of liberal causes and a full-fledged Obama fan four years ago, Affleck only offered tepid support for the incumbent. “I think Republicans really had a chance to win,” Affleck told A.P. during an interview about Argo . And they kind of ended up with like a sort of Mike Dukakis, Al Gore, Bob Dole type – who just couldn’t get people to see him as a real person somehow. Romney just had such trouble coming off as just like the kind of person you see at the grocery store. And I truly believe that has cost him the election.” Affleck went on to add that it looks “quite unlikely” that the Republican hopeful will unseat Obama, saying “negative momentum” can at some point cause a downward spiral for a campaign. “You start making mistakes and then all your advisers tell you, ‘You’ve got to raise your arms more!’ ‘You’ve got to talk deeper.’ So people just get into becoming robotic.” Still, if Affleck shares the same enthusiasm for Obama as in the first go-around, he is clearly holding back, saying that with hindsight his opinions have changed. “”I voted for Obama last time although he got to be all things to all people then,” Affleck said. ”And now he’s got a record which makes it really different … I obviously have more complicated feelings.” Affleck has often thrown his hat in the political sphere, doing lobbying in Washington and traveling abroad for various causes. He’s also said he wouldn’t rule out a future run for an elected office in the future. And his latest film, which debuted last month at the Toronto International Film Festival has already prompted talk of possibly multiple Oscar nominations. The film recalls an international crisis that many attribute for the failed re-election bid of Jimmy Carter in 1980, ushering in the Reagan era. Directed and starring Affleck, along with Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman, Argo is set as militants take over the U.S. embassy in Tehran in the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. While 52 Americans are held, six others escape and hide in the Canadian ambassador’s residence. The film recalls a plan hatched by the C.I.A. and specialist Tony Mendez (played by Affleck) to help the six to escape Iran. [ Source: Associated Press ]
The fourth episode of the AMC drug drama’s fifth season has left us with many questions concerning Walter White’s future. Here are five of them. By Josh Wigler Bryan Cranston in “Breaking Bad” Photo: AMC
Friday’s Total Recall reboot trades heavily on brand enthusiasm for Paul Verhoeven’s original 1990 dystopian sci-fi actioner , but its makers had to be careful not to invoke too much of the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle. And cool as it would’ve been to see the former Governator pop up in the new, grittier reimagining starring Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, and Bryan Cranston, director Len Wiseman ( Underworld , Live Free or Die Hard ) explained to Movieline why he chose not to indulge his inner fanboy. “There was talk about it very early on, and the kind of teenager in me fan was very tempted by it,” Wiseman said of the possibility of a Schwarzenegger cameo. “But the further we got into production on it, I just thought it would be too gimmicky. I wanted the movie to be its own movie.” The tonal difference between the original Total Recall and Wiseman’s is one reason why such a wink-wink nod might have distracted audiences too much. “I had to kind of check myself,” he continued. “How often had I seen that happen where I really thought it worked well? I haven’t, actually. It refers to itself in such a gimmicky way that I think it just takes you out of the movie.” Another would-be stunt cameo that almost made it into the Total Recall reboot was a brief appearance by Ethan Hawke , who was widely reported last year to be contributing a mystery performance to the film. Hawke even filmed his scene, which was said to include a five-page monologue . [KINDA-SPOILER ALERT] Producer Toby Jaffe spilled the beans , revealing that Hawke had been brought in to play a version of Farrell’s character Hauser, who subsequently undergoes the mind wipe and a face lift and wakes up sans memories as Quaid. “Ethan plays who he was before they wiped his mind and changed his face,” Jaffe told ScreenRant during production. [END SPOILERS] Hawke’s scene, however, did not make it into the final cut. As Wiseman told Movieline, “it was deleted, as many scenes were, for pacing and what have you.” But he also says Hawke’s footage could make it into the film’s eventual DVD/Blu-ray extended cut, although exactly how remains to be seen. As for Schwarzenegger, who’s back in the acting game post-politics and has Expendables 2 coming out two weeks after Total Recall , Wiseman was hopeful Arnold would eventually see the film: “I’d love him to see it.” Stay tuned for more with Total Recall ‘s Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Will Ferrell, Kate Beckinsale and more cracked us up in the MTV News headquarters. By Kara Warner Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at Comic-Con 2012 Photo: MTV News
Between ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘True Blood,’ TV’s hottest shows had everyone in San Diego talking. By Terri Schwartz Bryan Cranston Photo: Mark Davis/ Getty Images
‘It’s the most revealing teaser we’ve ever had on the show,’ actor Bryan Cranston tells MTV News about the season five premiere’s cold open. By Josh Wigler Bryan Cranston in “Breaking Bad” Photo: AMC
Breaking Bad got the Comic-Con treatment ahead of tonight’s ultra-anticipated season premiere, with stars Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn and others joining series creator Vince Gilligan in San Diego to talk over all things Walter White — including how television has usurped movies’ standing as the home for serious storytelling for adults. But what of the oft-discussed feature-film treatment that might be in the offing as the two-part final season commences? Movieline pal Grace Randolph was there to talk it over with the Breaking Bad team; click through for her video report. Read more of Movieline’s Comic-Con 2012 coverage here .
Ben Affleck , director, makes his most ambitious movie yet in this fall’s Argo , the crazy true (and until recently, secret) story of how the CIA attempted to rescue six American diplomats during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis by disguising them as a film crew working on a science fiction movie. The first trailer for Argo ranks up there with the best we’ve seen all year, setting up the stranger-than-fiction premise with juicy moments from veteran thesps (John Goodman! Alan Arkin!) and up-and-comers (ladies and gentlemen, Scoot McNairy) alike as Affleck serves up a bizarre slice of history. Affleck directs from a script by Chris Terrio (based on Joshuah Bearman’s engrossing 2007 Wired article “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran”), casting himself as CIA officer Tony Mendez, the orchestrator of the so-called “Canadian Caper.” He’s joined by Goodman as Planet of the Apes Oscar-winner John Chambers, the Hollywood make-up artist who helped Mendez set up the operation, and Arkin as a producer delivering choice zingers (“If I’m doing a fake movie, it’s going to be a fake hit!”). In addition to folks like Goodman, Arkin, Victor Garber, Bryan Cranston, Michael Parks, Zeljko Ivanek, Affleck tapped a few rising actors to fill out his cast: Scoot McNairy ( Monsters ), Christopher Denham ( Sound of My Voice ), and Kerry Bishe ( Red State ) join Tate Donovan, Clea Duvall, and Rory Cochrane as the six imperiled diplomats. Add in the muted ’70s palette and sense of humor tempered by life-and-death stakes and you’ve got what promises to be an intriguingly layered ride, if Affleck the director can pull it off. Argo is slated for release on October 12, gunning for awards season. Verdict: If it measures up to the true story and the article it inspired, this could be great. Thrill me, Affleck.
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!
Len Wiseman remake, starring Colin Farrell, looks like a sleek, modern update of Arnold Schwarzenegger flick. By Kevin P. Sullivan Colin Farrell in “Total Recall” Photo: Sony If the trailer for Len Wiseman’s remake of “Total Recall” made one thing clear, it’s that this is not the “Total Recall” you know. Gone is the camp. Gone is the Martian setting. Gone is the Schwarzenegger. Instead, the new “Total Recall” is a sleek, visually impressive and modern sci-fi action thriller. Colin Farrell has stepped into the secret-secret-agent boots and the fit seems just right. Here are our five key scenes from the new “Total Recall” trailer. Total recall The trailer begins by giving a good sense of the setup of the story, and once Farrell’s character, Douglas Quaid, slips into the Rekal machine, that’s when all the trouble starts. Probably one of the strongest visual connections to the Paul Verhoeven-Arnold Schwarzenegger original, the Rekal machine should look vaguely familiar, albeit significantly updated. We do get the added benefit of a bleach-blond John Cho, but from the looks of the trailer, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be around for very long. “I know kung fu” After taking a seat in the Rekal machine, Quaid has his very own Jason Bourne moment. Once the police show up to arrest the very confused customer, his own secret-agent moves come back to him in a flash, and he’s able to dispatch all of the would-be arresting officers just as quickly. The camera jumps around with as much ferocity as Quaid, reminding us that Len “Underworld” Wiseman is definitely behind the lens. Kate Beckinsale: Villainess And if Len Wiseman is directing, his real-life wife, Kate Beckinsale , can’t be too far behind. After Quaid’s run-in with the police at the Rekal center, his loving wife, played by Beckinsale, turns out to be not so loving. In fact, she’s a deadly assassin set on killing Quaid once his past memories have been unlocked. She’s on the tail of Quaid and his new female companion, played by Jessica Biel . Frankly, it’s about time we got an evil turn out of Beckinsale. Anti-gravity gunfight Perhaps the horn blasts throughout the trailer aren’t the only nods to Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.” During the quick clips of scenes near the end of the trailer, we get a brief look at what appears to be a zero-g gunfight. Changing faces The final shot from the trailer is probably the most intriguing. The always fantastic Bryan Cranston , playing the president of Euroamerica, confronts Quaid, who seems more confused than ever. We then see Quaid’s face transform from Farrell’s to two other actors’ and back to Farrell’s. Schwarzenegger’s version of Quaid did some shape-shifting of his own, but never with this much style. Check out everything we’ve got on “Total Recall.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
