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1-20 of 46 articles from 2008   « Prev | Next »

25 July 2008 10:28 AM, PDT | From Rope Of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman and Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder

Photo: Paramount Pictures Just when I was beginning to think originality and a real attempt at trying to make people laugh in movies may be at an end, along comes Tropic Thunder. It seems like it has been a long time since a comedy was designed around actual comedy instead of dick jokes, fart jokes, making fun of fat people and embarrassing situations. Tropic Thunder is unique in its own right. This is a comedy with multiple layers and you almost can't believe how much there is to it consider the genre has become known for its simplicity. Ben Stiller has managed to make a satirical film clever enough to entertain and just dumb enough to cater to those unwilling to look beneath a film's surface. Stiller hasn't gotten a laugh out of me for

Brad Brevet

23 July 2008 9:10 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Will Smith has been crowned the highest earning actor in Hollywood, with a fortune of $80 million (GBP40 million).

The Hancock star came first in the Forbes ranking to find the best paid actor of last year.

Cameron Diaz was Hollywood's highest earning actress with a fortune of $50 million (GBP25 million), with Keira Knightley and Jennifer Aniston in second and third place with $32 million (GBP16 million) and $27 million (GBP13.5 million) respectively.

Coming in behind Smith was Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp who got paid a whopping $72 million (GBP36 million).

The top five paid actors from June 07 to June 08 were rounded out by Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers who took home $55 million (GBP27.5 million) each and Leonardo DiCaprio who pulled in $45 million (GBP22.5 million).

The full list of Hollywood stars' pay cheques are as follows:

1. Will Smith - $80 million (GBP40 million) 2. Johnny Depp - $72 million (GBP36 million) 3= Eddie Murphy - $55 million (GBP27.5 million) 3= Mike Myers - $55 million (GBP27.5 million) 5. Leonardo DiCaprio - $45 million (GBP22.5 million) 6. Bruce Willis - $41 million (GBP20.5 million) 7. Ben Stiller - $40 million (GBP20 million) 8. Nicolas Cage - $31 million (GBP15.5 million) 9. Will Ferrell - $31 million (GBP15.5 million) 10. Adam Sandler - $30 million (GBP15 million).

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23 July 2008 5:08 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Hollywood funnyman Vince Vaughn has topped a list of stars who give their studios best value for money.

The Wedding Crashers actor came first in a Forbes magazine poll of stars who provide movie bosses the best return on their investment.

The star earned $14.73 (GBP7.36) for every $1 (GBP0.50) he was paid in his last three movies. The list also takes DVD revenues into consideration.

Vaughn came tops because, until recently, he didn't command huge sums to appear in films.

The full list of Hollywood stars who garner impressive returns for every dollar they are paid are as follows:

1. Vince Vaughn - $14.73 (GBP7.36) 2. Tobey Maguire - $13.44 (GBP6.72) 3. Julia Roberts - $13.19 (GBP6.59) 4. Brad Pitt - $12.73 (GBP6.36) 5. Naomi Watts - $12.16 (GBP6.08) 6. Matt Damon - $12.16 (GBP6.08) 7. George Clooney - $11.56 (5.78) 8. Jennifer Aniston - $10.48 (GBP5.24) 9. Hugh Jackman - $9.90 (GBP4.95) 10. Ben Stiller - $9.50 (GBP4.75).

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22 July 2008 4:03 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Ben Stiller has expressed his sympathy for Owen Wilson following the actor's recent troubles. Stiller admitted that he was devastated when his close friend was rushed to hospital following a suicide attempt in August last year. The Meet The Parents star explained that the most difficult aspect of supporting Wilson was trying to understand what had caused his despair. "It's (more)

By Daniel Kilkelly

21 July 2008 11:52 PM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Ben Stiller has described his Tropic Thunder co-star Robert Downey Jr. as a "genius". The comedian admitted that he began mimicking Downey Jr. during filming, hoping that some of the actor's skills would rub off on him. "I started trying to copy him," he told Playboy. "It was like, 'Wow, this guy's a genius - maybe if I do what he does, I'll (more)

By Alex Fletcher

20 July 2008 4:20 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Movie star Ben Stiller lives it up on film sets - he has his own custom-made trailer.

The Zoolander star insists he's no diva but he likes certain home comforts when he's filming.

He says, "I told them (manufacturers) some things I thought would make it a little more comfortable than average.

"You spend a lot of time in them. On the other hand I'm not Matthew McConaughey, who has literally lived in an Airstream trailer for the past 10 years or something."

And he jokes, "It's 500 feet wide and 30 feet tall... It's the largest man-made trailer on the North American continent. It has built-in speakers and a trampoline... It's just a regular trailer, nothing groundbreaking."

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20 July 2008 4:20 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Actor-turned-director Ben Stiller is convinced no one can help Owen Wilson overcome his personal problems - because it is hard to understand his emotional anguish.

Wilson was hospitalised last year after allegedly slashing his wrists at his home in Santa Monica, California.

And Stiller, a close friend of the funnyman, admits that his pal is battling depression - and it is hard for his family and friends to empathise with what he is going through.

He says, "It's impossible to understand that kind of pain - depression or anything like that - until you're in it.

"I love Owen. I felt bad that he had to deal with all the outside bulls**t."

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20 July 2008 7:03 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Ben Stiller is still scarred by his father's dog training methods - because they involved suppositories.

The funnyman has reluctantly revealed his dad, beloved comic Jerry Stiller, had an odd way of toilet training the family pet.

He tells Playboy magazine, "I don't think the practice is widely accepted. It's probably the most politically incorrect training method in history.

"The suppositories were supposed to stimulate the dog to go to the bathroom.

"My dad had to administer them - on the street... Jesus, now that I think of it, it's crazy. I can't imagine having to do it. God, that's a horrible image."

Stiller and his wife Christine Taylor have two dogs and a puppy.

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18 July 2008 4:35 AM, PDT | From PEOPLE.com | See recent PEOPLE.com news

Though Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of black soldier in the comedy Tropic Thunder is sure to turn heads, he already has one fan – his African-American costar, Brandon T. Jackson. "To be honest, he played a black dude better than anybody I've seen!" Jackson raved about Downey's performance in the Ben Stiller-directed film. But that doesn't mean Jackson didn't have initial hesitations. "When I first read the script, I was like: What? Black face? But when I saw him [act] he, like, became a black man," Jackson says.In the film, Downey, 43, plays Kirk Lazarus, an Academy Award-winning actor who

Tiffany McGee

17 July 2008 6:44 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Ben Stiller's new war comedy Tropic Thunder is the actor/writer's subtle attack on Hollywood stars who make a big deal of pre-film bootcamps.

The funnyman directs and stars in the new film - opposite Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. - as the leader of a troupe of actors who mistake a real warzone for a movie set.

And he reveals the idea for the project came to him after he read super-serious actors' experiences in soldier training.

The actor tells Playboy magazine, "Around 1985 all these Vietnam war movies were being made... I remember the guys who got those parts were always doing interviews about going off to bootcamp for two weeks, (saying) how it was the toughest experience of their lives.

"They had to camp out, shoot guns, eat C rations, all of that.

"There was something so ironic and funny about actors talking about how hard it was to go off for two weeks for a movie about a war when it obviously had nothing to do with the real experience of war.

"It might have been my own bitterness about not getting parts in these movies, but I did think there was the seed of something in the irony of actors taking themselves too seriously. Maybe this movie is my revenge."

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17 July 2008 6:59 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

The idea of playing a fat, balding movie executive in Ben Stiller's new comedy Tropic Thunder was all Tom Cruise's.

The actor is largely unrecognisable in the new film and Stiller admits he had to do nothing to get the movie icon into a fat suit.

The funnyman explains, "The role was his idea. It wasn't even in the script. I didn't have to persuade him.

"Tom is amazing. We'd be talking about the characters, and in the middle of the conversation he'd say something like, `My character should have these giant hands.'

"I seriously believe the man is a movie savant."

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16 July 2008 7:09 AM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

Justin Theroux is set to write the screenplay for Marvel’s sequel to this year’s summer action hit “Iron Man,” according to Variety.

Theroux is best known for his roles in “Mulholland Dr.,” “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and “Miami Vice.” He also wrote the script for Ben Stiller’s upcoming action comedy “Tropic Thunder.”

Marvel is also apparently wrapping up deals to bring back Jon Favreau as director and Robert Downey Jr. as the lead character. The release date for the sequel is set for April 2010.

At this stage, I’m not so sure what to think of this. I really love Theroux as an actor (especially in “Mulholland Dr.”), but with “Tropic Thunder” not yet in release, I have no clue whether he can be trusted as screenwriter. Plus, “Iron Man 2” is a pretty big deal.

Time will tell. At this stage, I’m pretty happy

Franck Tabouring

16 July 2008 4:18 AM, PDT | From Rope Of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

Danny DeVito's last feature film was one of the worst films I have ever seen. Duplex starring Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore earned a grand total of $9.6 million at the box-office and was the last time DeVito directed a feature length project, until now. Variety is reporting DeVito is set to direct Saoirse Ronan, Morgan Freeman and Pierce Brosnan in The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle from his own screenplay based on the novel by the author who writes under the name Avi. The 19th century-set tale centers on a young girl (Ronan) who joins in a shipboard rebellion. Filming is set to begin in September for 2009 release.

Brad Brevet

16 July 2008 2:41 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Justin Theroux has been hired to pen the sequel to Iron Man, reports Variety. More established as an actor for his roles in American Psycho, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Six Feet Under, Theroux recently had a hand in the script for Ben Stiller's upcoming war comedy Tropic Thunder. He is the cousin of BBC documentarian Louis Theroux. (more)

By Simon Reynolds

16 July 2008 12:23 AM, PDT | From GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news

We all know that Iron Man 2 is on the way - hell, we kind of knew that before the first Iron Man hit theaters - so I'm a little puzzled that the band is already being broken up a bit. Instead of bringing screenwriting duos Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, The Hollywood Reporter says that actor-writer Justin Theroux is taking over the script for the sequel.

Though you probably don't know his work in front of the camera as well if at all, you'll soon be slapped in the face by a steady stream of Theroux; he's a producer and co-writer of Tropic Thunder, which hits theaters on Wednesday, August 13th.

We know Robert Downey will be back (he had a sequel clause in his first contract, so this was never open to discussion), and we heard last week that Marvel and Jon Favreau

Colin Boyd

14 July 2008 8:42 AM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

We’ve been talking about it for quite a while already, and now it’s official: the sequel to Richard Linklater’s “School of Rock” is in development, according to Variety.

Mike White, who wrote the script for the first film, returns to compile the screenplay for the sequel, which is entitled “School of Rock 2: America Rocks.” This time, the plot follows Jack Black’s character Dewey Finn as he leads a group of summer school students on a musical journey across the country.

The good news at this stage is that Linklater is attached to return as a director. He most recently helmed “A Scanner Darkly.” Black is obviously also back on board.

The original “School of Rock” was produced on a $35 million budget and took home a domestic total of $81.2 million.

Black will next be seen in Ben Stiller’s upcoming action comedy “Tropic Thunder.” After that,

Franck Tabouring

10 July 2008 10:34 AM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

Robert Downey Jr. is in talks to star in Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes,” a new take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional super detective, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Not much is known about the plot at this stage, but the film is expected to portray the titular character as more modern and adventurous. Downey Jr. would star in the lead role.

Apparently, Downey Jr. got involved with the project through his wife Susan, who worked with producer Joel Silver on Ritchie’s upcoming crime drama “RocknRolla.”

Downey Jr. was last seen in Jon Favreau’s success hit “Iron Man.” He has two other projects due in theaters this year: Ben Stiller’s action comedy “Tropic Thunder,” which opens Aug. 15, and Joe Wright’s drama “The Soloist, “ which hits Nov. 21.

Downey Jr. is one of 25 artists to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2009, and

Franck Tabouring

9 July 2008 12:39 AM, PDT | From GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news

Here's another opportunity for a big time movie studio to do the right thing and let an animated creation remain in its original form. The Hollywood Reporter says Warner Bros. will adapt the comic series Elfquest, and that Rawson Thurber will write, direct, and produce it.

Elfquest began 30 years ago as a self-published comic by Richard and Wendy Pini. It's one of the few titles to have been released by both Marvel and DC at various points in its journey. The central characters were members of the Wolfriders, an elf tribe that fought with humans and trolls on some distant but similar planet. Also, they fought accident attorneys, who are the enemies of everyone.

That's not true. Well, accident attorneys are the enemy; Wolfriders didn't fight them, though.

Now, fans of the series will want to know who this Rawson Thurber character is. I had that same thought, the same Elfquestion,

Colin Boyd

8 July 2008 3:07 PM, PDT | From Rope Of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

Yet another trailer for Tropic Thunder has appeared online and it has folks all giddy for one reason and one reason alone... their ain't shit else to talk about... You see, with the possibility of an actors'strike becoming more and more likely as the bell may toll any day now there isn't a lot of news coming out of Hollywood, take for example, oh, I don't know, the fact that I am previewing an international trailer for a film headlined by all-American actors Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. Oh well, the movie looks good and I have high hopes to laugh once again in theaters, so check it out below and stay tuned as I hope to have a few pieces of a little more interest showing up by the middle of the day, barring I don't have any more computer hang ups (don't get me started

Brad Brevet

8 July 2008 11:47 AM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

Ben Stiller’s upcoming directorial effort “Tropic Thunder” just received a brand-new international trailer, which you can check out below. Starring Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr., the action adventure follows a group of actors who don’t realize the movie they are making isn’t a movie anymore.

While I personally prefer the way the domestic trailer is structured, this international version is still funny enough to catch your attention. Enjoy it below. “Tropic Thunder” opens nationwide in North America Aug. 15, 2008.

Franck Tabouring

1-20 of 46 articles from 2008   « Prev | Next »