I’ve updated the gallery with a high quality promo of Cameron and Fiona for ‘Shrek Forever After’. Enjoy!

LINK:
Movie Productions > Shrek Forever After (2010) > Promotional Photos

There’s a reason Hollywood calls it “development hell.” Even when it turns out well.

Such is the lesson of “Knight and Day,” a big-budget action comedy starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz that’s set to open on June 25, directly opposite Adam Sandler in his own comic romp “Grown Ups.”

As it happens, Mr. Sandler passed up a chance to star in “Knight and Day” about five years ago, when the project was known as “Wichita.”

That was before it morphed into “Trouble Man,” a quasi-romantic vehicle for Chris Tucker and Eva Mendes, but well after it was dreamed up, by the writer Patrick O’Neill, as “All New Enemies,” a sophisticated R-rated caper in which an off-kilter older guy who behaves a bit like Peter Falk in “The In-Laws” was paired with a troubled young one, like, say, Edward Furlong of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

The coming spring-summer blockbuster season is chock full of sequels like “Iron Man 2,” from Marvel and Paramount, and adaptations like the graphic-novel-based “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” from Universal.

But “Knight and Day” was made the old-fashioned way: by running an original, “spec” script through Hollywood’s brutal development mill, with its endless rewrites and changing star and filmmaker alignments. Finally, against all odds, it popped up as an event film on the summer schedule at 20th Century Fox, in partnership with New Regency Pictures.

“Knight and Day” is also notable because with it Mr. Cruise, once the most bankable star in Hollywood, is looking for his first runaway hit since “War of the Worlds,” which took in $234 million at the box-office in 2005.

The director of “Knight and Day,” James Mangold, is still finishing the film. But its trailers have turned into hot commodities on the Internet.

EW.com’s PopWatch column was among the first to voice approval, when its writer said in December: “I still don’t know exactly what it’s about, and that’s what’s so cool. What’s even cooler? These two superstars reminding us why they’re superstars.”

Actually, the story finds Ms. Diaz, as June Havens, trying to figure out what is real and what is not — not unlike Audrey Hepburn opposite Cary Grant in 1963 in “Charade” — after Mr. Cruise’s maddeningly unreliable secret operative, Roy Miller, takes her on a tear. Possibly in the service of a world-saving mission. Or not.

Most scripts die in development. Somehow “Knight and Day” survived. Asked why, Steve Pink, a producer of the film who helped work out the original idea with Mr. O’Neill, a high school friend from Evanston, Ill., pointed to its core concept, a shifty protagonist. “That, and the strength of Pat’s writing,” he said last week. “Otherwise I have no idea how it stayed alive.”

Mr. Mangold, Mr. Cruise and Fox executives declined to be interviewed about the film, which trades on plot twists, misdirection and big reveals. But several people who worked on the movie — most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid conflict with studio executives and others — described it as having gone through twists of its own, without quite as many laughs.

Mr. Sandler was offered a shot at the project about the time it was first set up, as “Wichita,” at Revolution Studios, with Mr. Pink and another producer, Todd Garner. It was Mr. Garner who had suggested that the troubled young counterpart to Miller, or Milner, as he was known then, become a woman.

Still, Mr. Sandler passed, declaring, by one account, “I just don’t see me with a gun.”

Revolution then folded. But its chief executive, Joe Roth, joined Mr. Pink and Mr. Garner in moving “Wichita” to Sony Pictures, by now with Chris Tucker, the madcap star of the “Rush Hour” series, cast opposite Ms. Mendes, who was riding high after appearances in “2 Fast 2 Furious” and “Hitch.”

Mr. O’Neill was still the writer. And Phil Joanou was supposed to direct — until Mr. Joanou’s “Gridiron Gang” opened poorly, and Sony got cold feet about the whole thing.

From there the project was off to Fox, with a new director, Tom Dey, who had just done the romantic comedy “Failure to Launch.”

Somewhere along the line “Wichita” had become “Trouble Man.” But Fox executives wanted more romance, so they brought on new writers, including Dana Fox, whose credits include “What Happens in Vegas.”

Eventually, according to the Studio System, an industry database company that is owned by The New York Times Company, more than a half-dozen writers followed Mr. O’Neill on “Knight and Day.”

Mr. Tucker and Ms. Mendes, however, dropped out, as did Mr. Dey.

Then Ms. Diaz, who had starred in “What Happens in Vegas,” stepped in. So did Gerard Butler. Almost. On meeting with producers, however, Mr. Butler announced that just that day he had agreed to do “The Bounty Hunter,” a competing comic caper, which paired him with Jennifer Aniston.

This left the door open for Mr. Cruise, who was on the rebound from a stretch of bad publicity and, on the strength of his widely praised performance in “Valkyrie,” was seriously auditioning at least five of Hollywood’s hottest projects as his prospective next film.

One of the five became “Salt,” a thriller set for release by Sony on July 23, with Angelina Jolie in the role that had been set for Mr. Cruise. Another was “The Tourist,” which now pairs Ms. Jolie and Johnny Depp in a thriller that has been shooting in Venice, for eventual release by Sony.

But Mr. Cruise became fixed on “Knight and Day.” Or, at least, on his vision for it.

An inveterate tinkerer, Mr. Cruise typically plays with ideas, characters and scripts, developing his slant on stories that are ultimately written by others. In this case, according to one person who was briefed on his work, Mr. Cruise wanted to superimpose a character of his own on top of Milner. Ms. Diaz too had ideas.

All of those became grist for Mr. Mangold, a writer-director with whom Mr. Cruise had nearly made “3:10 to Yuma,” before leaving the lead roles in that one to Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

One Cruise touch in “Knight and Day”: a trailer moment, in which Ms. Diaz’s character flips over the handlebars of a motorcycle, fully armed, facing Mr. Cruise ;as he steers.

As of last week the Writers Guild of America West had yet to determine final writing credits for the film. But Fox, in submitting the project for credits arbitration, said it viewed the story as having been written by Mr. O’Neill, with a script by Mr. O’Neill and Mr. Mangold — a tribute to the staying power of the original story, notwithstanding the many writers who were involved.

Mr. Pink, for his part, is pleased that Hollywood, at least occasionally, is still willing to go through the bother of developing an original script, however grueling the process may be.

“You have an idea,” he said, “and it’s a miracle it ever happens.”

source: .nytimes.com

Cameron Diaz reportedly treated her stunt double to a holiday after shooting wrapped on ‘Knight and Day’.

The actress – who stars in the upcoming movie
with Tom Cruise – paid for the on set action woman to holiday to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, as a way of saying thank you for all her hard work.

A source told the National Enquirer magazine: “There were a lot of serious stunts in the movie. The double got pretty banged up, Cameron sent her away to heal her bruises in peace.”

In the film, Tom plays secret agent Milner who goes on a blind date with Cameron’s character June Havens and the pair end up having to protect a powerful battery that can produce infinite power.

The majority of shooting took place at the end of 2009 in Boston, Bridgewater and Melrose, in Massachusetts, while some scenes were filmed in Spain and Austria.

The action comedy marks the first time the Hollywood pair have starred together since 2001′s ‘Vanilla Sky’ and it is due for release this coming June.

source: monstersandcritics.com

Comic-book publisher Dynamite has decided that 2010 is going to be the year of the “Green Hornet” and is gambling that it will be able to capitalize on that in a big way.

The “Green Hornet” movie, which will be released Dec. 22, is counting on overcoming the character’s lack of general familiarity with a cast that includes Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz, Edward Furlong and Edward James Olmos, and Dynamite has also assembled an eye-popping collection of talent to help ensure its five “Hornet”-related series catch fans’ eyes and make them open their wallets. (For more on that, see below).

For the flagship title, the linchpin of its new franchise, Dynamite has enlisted Kevin Smith to pen it – which is a no-brainer in many aspects but risky in others.

Smith’s “Green Hornet” comic is an adaptation of his unproduced screenplay for the film.

That’s good because it meant Dynamite did not have to worry about Smith’s well-earned reputation for being ridiculously late handing in his comic-book scripts.

When you read the first issue, especially the first half, you will wonder why Smith’s cinematic vision for the “Hornet” was rejected. There is the crisp, often humorous dialogue Smith is known for but also a kick-butt action scene, that looks both kinetic and polished, thanks in large part to Jonatha Lau’s clean pencils and Ivan Nunes imbuing the book with gorgeous colors.

Read the entire article HERE!

The very first still from Bad Teacher has been released via Entertainment Weekly. View the full-size version in the gallery by clicking on the thumb below. Enjoy!

When the first Shrek hit the silver screen in 2001, it wowed audiences with its fairy-tale storyline, its witty pop culture asides, and its impressive cast of voice actors: Mike Myers played the titular ogre; with Cameron Diaz as Fiona, his love interest; and Eddie Murphy as his wise-cracking donkey sidekick. In the two subsequent Shrek movies, other actors came on board to lend their talent and star power to the franchise — Antonio Banderas, Justin Timberlake, even Larry King.

And for the latest and last movie in the franchise — “Shrek Forever After” — Myers and the gang returns along with new A-list talent, like Megan Fox who plays “The Princess in the Tower.” But for the movie’s chief bad guy, the silken-tongued Rumpelstiltskin, Dreamworks hired the voice talent of Walt Dohrn.

Who?

Unlike much of rest of the cast, Dohrn doesn’t regularly walk the red carpet or make appearances on Letterman. Instead, he’s a writer and animator who started out working on “SpongeBob SquarePants” before landing a gig on “Shrek 2.” Since then, he worked his way up to Story Editor for this movie. So how did a guy with a below-the-line job land an above-the-line part? We tracked him down and found out.

“It just stuck,” he told me.

During the very beginning of production, Dohrn and his colleagues would hash out the characters and plot with storyboards, mouthing out all the voices. Later, he recorded the dialogue of many characters, from Puss-in-Boots to Fiona, as a part of a scratch track for the animators to animate to. Everyone loved the way Dohrn brought Rumpelstiltskin to life.

“The whole time, we thought we’re going to find an actor for the part,” he said. He didn’t know that he would be the actual, official voice of the movie’s villain until Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffery Katzenberg made the decision. By that point, Dohrn had already played the part, in various capacities, for over a year.

He said that he initially found working opposite the likes of Mike Myers daunting but those worries were soon assuaged. “He was great. He’s a filmmaker himself so he knows what it’s like to make a movie. And he’s been doing the part so long that really knows the inside of Shrek’s head.”

The animator-turned actor also revealed how he got into the part. “My character shouts a lot. So before going into the booth, I would drink, like, 20 cups of coffee and get good and yelly.”

So would this gig tempt him into the Hollywood fame machine? “It was sort of a joke around the office that I would go on to pursue my acting career, like appearing on ‘Law & Order’ or something.” In the meantime, he seems plenty happy finishing up the movie in time for its May 21 release date.

Watch the trailer provided by Yahoo!

Cameron Diaz couldn’t be happier to have ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake join the cast of her new comedy, “Bad Teacher.”

“We’re thrilled to have him,” Cameron told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday night. “He’s the best person for the job. He’s going to be hilarious.”

Justin might not be best known for his comedic work, but Cameron says he’ll be able to keep up with her and their co-stars.

“He’s clearly a very talented comedian, look at his ‘Saturday Night Live’ [skits],” she continued. “He’s fantastic, he’s going to be so great.”

Cameron told Access she had just finished her first day working on the comedy – which also co-stars Jason Segel, Lucy Punch, Molly Shannon and “Modern Family’s” Eric Stonestreet – on Saturday.

“We just had our first day of shooting yesterday with Jason,” she said. “And we just laughed all day. It’s so wonderful, I’m so excited.”

source: Access Hollywood

Twentieth Century Fox is moving up the release of Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz starrer “Knight & Day” by one week, from July 2 to June 25, in order to get a jump on possible competish.

Chiefly, “Knight & Day” has more time in theaters before Christopher Nolan’s Leonardo DiCaprio topliner “Inception” bows on July 16, followed by Angelina Jolie starrer “Salt,”directed by Phillip Noyce, on July 23. “Inception” is from Warners; “Salt,” from Sony.

Also, “Knight & Day” gets five days before Summit releases “Twilight: The Eclipse.” While not direct competish, “Eclipse” will take up plenty of oxygen.

Directed by James Mangold, “Knight & Day” tells the story of a small-town woman who thinks she’s met the man of her dreams. But as time goes by, she comes to suspect he’s a rogue spy. Pic also stars Peter Sarsgaard.

Source