“How did you end up in All My Sons?

I met with the director, gee, several months ago. Heh—you do a play set in the ’40s and you start saying things like “swell” and “gee whiz!”

So, no profanity for you?
[Laughs] No, never. Actually, a lot of rehearsals feel like college again, like drama school. It’s nice to be refreshed on why you do this for a living.

Like drama school—as in trust falls and stuff?
Close. I mean, there’s a truth to all those drama-class stereotypes. But most of those things are geared toward camaraderie and trusting your cast. Even the trust fall has its place.

I feel like John Lithgow would drop me, just to be funny.
That’s why you have to work on your trust! You have trust issues, don’t you, Allison?

Busted. All My Sons is about war and profiteering. Is there any talk of pointing out the modern parallels?
The sad truth of it is that I don’t think you need to. The business of war is such a huge umbrella over all our heads. You don’t have to hammer it into people’s heads.

It’s kind of bleak.
With all of Arthur Miller’s plays, there’s the current of deconstruction of the family. I mean, it’s a hard sell. How do you sell Shakespeare? It’s Shakespeare. If we hold up our end of the bargain, it should be great. But I don’t think it’s a big downer.

How does Katie Holmes fit into the group?
She works in great. We’re all coming from very different backgrounds. We’re all in the same boat.

Is she comfortable taking on something as heavy as Arthur Miller her first time out?
Well, I’m not going to give answers for her… I thought these questions were going to be funny! You’re asking me about war, and Katie Holmes’s dramatic whatever. Come on!

Okay, I have a copy here of Time Out New York from December 2000, with you naked on the cover.
Yes. Now we’re talking.”

source: Time Out New York

Lawyers for Warner Brothers, which has already shot a movie of this graphic novel about the seamier side of superhero life, and lawyers for 20th Century Fox, which claims it owns the rights to the material, laid plans for a frenzied fight in a joint report submitted to the federal court here on Friday.

Fox has said it will seek an injunction blocking Warner’s planned release of the film next March. Warner has argued that Fox should not be allowed to stop the movie, after standing by while Warner and its partners on the film, Paramount Pictures and Legendary Pictures, spent more than $100 million on the production, directed by Zack Snyder (“300”).

In a summary of its position in Friday’s report, Warner said Fox “sat silently” as one of the producers of “Watchmen,” Lawrence Gordon, took the project “to studio after studio with Fox’s express knowledge.”

Fox, which filed a lawsuit in February, has claimed in its own filings that Mr. Gordon did not keep the studio apprised of his plans, as required by a 1994 agreement. That deal granted Mr. Gordon rights to “Watchmen” in “turnaround” — an industry term for arrangements under which producers can move a project from one studio to another under certain conditions.

In Warner’s version of events, Mr. Gordon, who is not named as a defendant in the Fox suit, actually offered the project to Fox in 2005, shortly before bringing it to Warner after years of trying to make the movie with Paramount. “Fox simply rejected it,” Warner said in the Friday filing.

On Friday Warner said Fox had gone so far as to grant it rights to the title “Watchmen,” which Fox had earlier registered with the Motion Picture Association of America.

Fox, moreover, was paid $320,000 by one of Mr. Gordon’s companies for rights to “Watchmen” as early as 1991, Warner lawyers said in the report. Fox has said that agreement was superseded by a later deal, under which Mr. Gordon was supposed to deliver a much larger buyout price that has never been paid.

The report also outlined conflicting requests for a trial date: as early as next June, if Fox has its way, or April, if Warner prevails.

Friday’s filing makes it clear that not only Mr. Gordon, but also Paramount, Legendary and even Universal Pictures can expect to be drawn into the fray. Universal had tried to make a version of the film in 2001, before Paramount took over. And though Paramount dropped its plans for the movie, it became involved as a partner when Warner teamed up with the director Mr. Snyder in the wake of the box office success of “300.”

source: nytimes.com

Purple Violets was released yesterday on DVD.  Check amazon for it if you can’t find it anywhere!

MSN has released a new clip from Lakeview Terrace, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Wilson. In the movie, directed by Neil Labute (The Wickerman) Jackson plays a LAPD officer who will stop at nothing to force out the interracial couple (Wilson, Kerry Washington) who just moved in next door. Check out the clip below. The flick opens September 19.

The bill image marking Katie Holmes’ Broadway debut has been revealed.

The poster for the revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons simply highlights the actress, along with costars John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Patrick Wilson. The family drama premieres Oct. 16, with previews beginning Sept. 18.

The play has already been dogged by rumors of slow ticket sales, with vendors reportedly complaining that theatergoers are showing little interest in the production.

A seller recently said, “I bought 1,000 tickets to the show I still have them.”

Holmes is rumored to have picked up a $1 million fee for her run in the show.

Katie’s husband, Tom Cruise, recently flew all the way to New York in order to walk his wife to rehearsals.

The Top Gun star, 46, reportedly jumped on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles on Thursday last week to join his wife as she gears up to take to the stage.

The pair were seen strolling through Manhattan’s West Village with daughter Suri, 2.

A source said, “Some construction workers asked for a picture, but Tom politely said, ‘Sorry guys, I can’t stop. I’m walking my wife to work. She’s got rehearsals to get to.’”

Hey guys.  I’ve added a couple of photos of the Watchmen movie to the gallery.  Check them out here:

Twentieth Century Fox are lobbying to halt the release of upcoming graphic novel adaptation Watchmen over a rights dispute.

The film, starring Billy Crudup and Patrick Wilson, is due for release in March 2009, following a lengthy development process.

But Fox, which claims to have bought the intellectual rights to the Alan Moore comic books in the 1980s, has launched a legal bid to prevent Warner Bros from releasing the movie.

“Warner Bros’ production and anticipated release of the Watchmen motion picture violates 20th Century Fox’s long-standing motion picture rights in the Watchmen property,” said a Fox statement.

“We will be asking the court to enforce Fox’s copyright interests in Watchmen and enjoin the release of the Warner Bros film and any related Watchmen media that violate our copyright interests in that property.”

Alan Moore’s acclaimed graphic novel, heralded by many to be the greatest comic book ever written, has taken a tortuous route to cinemas, with directors such as Paul Greengrass, Terry Gilliam and Darren Aronofsky, as well as screenwriter David Hayter, attached to the project.

But 300 director Zack Snyder has taken the project closer to completion than his predecessors, commencing shooting in September last year and now working on post-production ahead of a 2009 release.

Warner Bros appear confident of the legality of their possession of the rights to distribute the film, commenting: “We respectfully disagree with Fox’s position and do not believe they have any rights in and to this project.

“The judge did not opine at all on the merits, other than to conclude that Fox satisfied the pending requirements,” the studio added.

Moore’s book, published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series in 1986 and 1987, tells of a group of ‘superheroes’ – without superpowers – whose role in society is called into question in a mid-80s US nearing nuclear war.

source: inthenews.co.uk

Here’s a video from Patrick at Comic Con about Watchmen and his role Nite Owl: