AMC News

Film Guests, News and Discussion

Opening Night

Opening Night - James Marsden, Cameron Diaz and the Playboy Roots of The Box

At the premiere of The Box in New York Wednesday night, as you may have noticed if you follow AMC News on Twitter, we had some laughs. The movie is a thriller from Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly, and it centers around this question: Would you let a stranger die in exchange for a million dollars? That moral dilemma is at the center of this film, and it was a question many on the red carpet were talking about.

The Box is an adaptation of the 1970 short story "Button, Button" by author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) that first appeared in Playboy magazine. Did stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden or the other cast members ever think they'd appear in a movie that had its roots in a nudie magazine? Watch my Opening Night Report to find out.

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Filed under: Opening Night, Video
Tags: cameron diaz, celia weston, holmes osborne, james marsden, richard kelly, the box

Opening Night - Amelia's Richard Gere Backs up Every Conspiracy Theory

This week -- as you may already know if you follow AMC News on Twitter -- I was in New York to sit down with the stars of Amelia, Hilary Swank, Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor, and to attend the premiere. The movie, directed by Mira Nair, shows you another side of world famous aviator Amelia Earhart, not just the story of her going down in the Pacific while she was trying to complete the first around-the-world flight by a woman. As the movie shows us, Earhart was a celebrity with a keen intellect and a complex love life. Watch my Opening Night report for all that, plus, stay tuned for the very end of the video to see what happens when the FDNY, New York's Bravest, interrupt my interview with McGregor.

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Filed under: Opening Night, Video
Tags: amelia, ewan mcgregor, hilary swank, richard gere

Opening Night - Where the Wild Things Are Director Spike Jonze Gets Called an "Idiot Savant"

In adapting Maurice Sendak's children's book Where the Wild Things Are to the big screen, director Spike Jonze tried to capture the feeling -- for adults and kids both -- of being nine years old. Furry creatures that had never before spoken a word were given dialogue, and brought to life by Jim Henson's Creature Shop and the actors Catherine O'Hara, Lauren Ambrose and Forest Whitaker. I sat down with them -- as well as Catherine Keener and star Max Records -- in Los Angeles to talk about how Jonze approached the movie and more.

At the premiere this week in New York, the film's executive producer Tom Hanks and I talked about the popularity of the movie and the trouble I had getting a Max Halloween costume. According to Keener, even President Obama has read the book, and she tells us in the video how she knows. Take a look.

To following along with me AMC News live for photos and updates every red carpet premiere, check out AMC News on Twitter.

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Filed under: Opening Night, Video
Tags: catherine keener, catherine o'hara, forest whitaker, lauren ambrose, max records, tom hanks, where the wild things are

Opening Night - Vince Vaughn Explores "Wax On, Wax Off" as Relationship Builder in Couples Retreat

At the premiere this week of Couples Retreat, Vince Vaughn told me the film -- which is the first he's taken a writing credit on -- came in part from his own experiences, where he found "the funny is an overcommitment to the absurd" in relationships and marriage counseling. Jon Favreau, who wrote the first draft of the movie before starting work on Iron Man 2, said Vaughn wasn't afraid to suggest something different while shooting, something Kristen Bell seemed to enjoy. Watch the video for our conversations and my report:

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Tags: couples retreat, jean reno, jon favreau, kristen bell, vince vaughn

Opening Night - Jennifer Aniston Says Love Doesn't Happen as Fast as It Does in Love Happens

Love Happens might be a romantic comedy -- or a romantic drama -- depending on who you ask.

At the premiere in Westwood this week, which we covered live via AMC NEWS on Twitter, some of the stars leaned one way, while others -- including director Brandon Camp -- felt differently. This is a film that comes from a personal place of loss for Camp, and a story that star Jennifer Aniston (but not co-star Aaron Eckhart) said was tough to wrap one's head around. Take a look at this week's Opening Night to find out why.


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Filed under: Opening Night, Video
Tags: aaron eckhart, brandon camp, dan fogler, jennifer aniston, love happens

Opening Night - AMC News Keeps It (Relatively) Vanilla at the Extract Premiere

Extract is Office Space director Mike Judge's latest movie, and it examines the goings-on in a vanilla extract bottling factory. To call the factory dysfunctional would be an understatement: Mila Kunis wreaks havoc; Jason Bateman can't seem to get anything right; and Kiss' Gene Simmons plays an ambulance-chasing lawyer. Watch my Opening Night report from the premiere to see why Kunis thinks her character could be employee of the month and precisely what Gene Simmons thinks of lawyers (we don't bleep it out)!

Why wait for these details? For instant updates and pictures from any premiere I go to, follow along with me and AMC News on Twitter.

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Filed under: Opening Night, Video
Tags: david koechner, dustin milligan, extract, gene simmons, jason bateman, mike judge, mila kunis

Opening Night - Inglourious Basterds's Brad Pitt Can't Resist Tarantino's Visions of Violence

As you might have seen if you follow my AMC News update on Twitter, the Inglourious Basterds premiere was almost -- but not quite -- as wild as the movie.

What happens when you mix Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, Mike Myers, B.J. Novak (The Office) and Nazis? You get Inglourious Basterds, a movie ten years in the making in which writer-director Tarantino gets to flesh out his version of the second World War, as seen through the eyes of a group of American soldiers known as the Basterds. The movie turns history on its head using Tarantino's signature "pulpicity." In my one-on-one conversations with the cast and during our red carpet interviews, we talked all about why only Tarantino could make this movie, why Brad Pitt would want to star in it -- and had a few laughs. Take a look.

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Filed under: Opening Night, Video
Tags: b.j. novak, brad pitt, diane kruger, eli roth, inglourious basterds, quentin tarantino, samm levine

Opening Night - Time Traveler's Wife Offers Challenge for Eric Bana That Star Trek Did Not

Brad Pitt is a man on the move. We saw him earlier this week at the Inglourious Basterds premiere (see the pictures we posted on the AMC News Twitter feed) and yesterday he was on the red carpet in New York for the premiere of The Time Traveler's Wife, a movie he produced. Watch my Opening Night report to find out what stars Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams have to say about this time-shifting romance. As always, you can beat the rush and get the behind-the-scenes info from our red carpet shoots live by following me and AMC News on Twitter.

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Tags: eric bana, rachel mcadams, robert schwentke, the time traveler's wife

Opening Night - Stanley Tucci Says, "Sex Was Food, Food Was Sex, It Was All Intertwined" in Julie & Julia

At first glance, the new movie Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as blogger Julie Powell, might seem to be merely a story about two women cooking rich, fatty, fabulous French food. And on some levels it is. But, according to its two stars, the story is really about love, sex and good marriages that can withstand change.

Julie & Julia depicts the late chef, author and television personality Julia Child's rise to culinary fame and intertwines it with the adventures of Julie Powell, a self-professed "government drone by day, renegade foodie by night." In 2002 Powell set out to challenge herself by cooking all 524 recipes from Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook in exactly one year. Powell blogged about her daily successes and failures in her kitchen and eventually turned those stories into a book, Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment

Behind both of these headstrong, driven women were their loving, supportive, and well-fed husbands. Paul Childs (Stanley Tucci) and Eric Powell (Chris Messina) were there almost every step of the way as their wives searched for meaning in their own lives through the art of cooking. Writer and director Nora Ephron told AMC News that these men weren't "threatened by their wives ambitions." Streep summed up the movie's portrayal of these two marriages nicely, saying that having a supportive spouse who takes you as you are is "the greatest gift life can give you."


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Filed under: Opening Night, Video
Tags: amy adams, chris messina, julie & julia, meryl streep, nora ephron, stanley tucci

Opening Night - Apatow and Sandler's Real-Lives Shape the Comedy and Drama of Funny People

Emotional pain and how to deal with it is the driving force of most stand-up comics' material. It's also the throughline of Judd Apatow's third movie, Funny People. So when AMC News caught up with Apatow and his cast, it's no surprise that pain and stand-up comedy were the main topics of conversation.

Apatow and Funny People star Adam Sandler were roommates in North Hollywood a few decades ago when they were both starting out. In fact, the movie's opening scene where a young George Simmons (Sandler) makes prank phone calls to a deli is actual footage of Sandler shot by Apatow from back then.

During our sit-down interview, Apatow told me how he always wanted to write a story using those real-life experiences: Starting out on the comedy circuit, working for free, and writing material for other comedians. Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill, who play comics in the movie, told me Apatow really nailed it with his hard-knock life depiction of young comedians who have yet to "break." They compared Funny People to Almost Famous and what that film meant to aspiring music journalists.

And then both guys promptly went off the rails also comparing Funny People to the importance of movies like Quicksilver (for bicycling), Airborne (for rollerblading) and even Will Ferrell's Blades of Glory (for figure skating). Even on the tail end of a painful 8-hour day of non-stop press interviews in a small hotel room, these comedians still found a way to make it all funny.

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Filed under: Opening Night, Video
Tags: adam sandler, aubrey plaza, bryan batt, eric bana, funny people, jonah hill, judd apatow, seth rogen

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