Loveless, jobless and possibly terminally ill, Frank has had enough of the downward spiral of America. With nothing left to lose, Frank takes his gun and decides to off the stupidest, cruelest and most repellent members of society with an unusual accomplice: 16-year-old Roxy, who shares his sense of rage and disenfranchisement. From stand-up comedian and director Bobcat Goldthwait comes God Bless America, a scathing and hilarious attack on all that is sacred in the United States of America. Our own Paulington James Christensen III recently met up with the two leads, Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr, as well as his personal idol Bobcat Goldthwait, to chat about this dark, twisted look at America.

Exclusive: Bobcat Goldthwait

Exclusive: Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr

God Bless America was released May 11th, 2012 and stars Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr, Mackenzie Brooke Smith, Melinda Page Hamilton, Rich McDonald, Guerrin Gardner, Kellie Ramdhanie, Andrea Harper. The film is directed by Bobcat Goldthwait.

This is definitely not the case, but Warner Archive is doing its best to fill in the gaps, releasing a slew of previously unreleased titles every week. The 1966 series Tarzan was one such series until recently, when Warner Archive released Tarzan: Season One Part One and Tarzan: Season One Part Two on DVD. The show starred Ron Ely as the title character, a.k.a. Lord Greystoke, and took a much different approach to the jungle dweller, first created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

I had a chance to speak with the actor over the phone about his role in the series, which ran from 1966 to 1969. Here's what he had to say.

I read that before the series came together, you were set to play a Tarzan impersonator on another show. I was curious how long the gap was between that series that didn't come together and Tarzan?

Ron Ely: Actually, it wasn't a Tarzan impersonator. I don't know where these ideas come from, I've heard it before. They had talked to me about doing the Tarzan movie, a couple of years before. I wasn't interested, my agents weren't interested in my behalf. They said, 'We're going to avoid this, because this will be you forever. This will end your career as an actor.' So we avoided it. Then when the series came together with NBC, it had a different feeling. It was a different entity, so when that came to me, that had more interest. The more I found out about it, and the way they wanted to do it, it became very interesting, and I completely forgot about the business of being stamped with that character, and having that impact on a career. I certainly was not wrong. It did have that impact.

This version seems to be the closest to the book than the previous versions. Was that one of the things that drew you to it, to bring this kind of gravitas to the character?

Ron Ely: I did, absolutely. Everyone involved in it was very serious about doing it, and doing it really well, and doing it with the utmost quality possible. That was everybody, every single person I talked to in advance of doing the show, imparted that to me. They were in it, 100%, to do it the best way they possibly could. It's hard to walk away from something like that.

I also read that you refused to have a stuntman for the fight scenes and the vine-swinging scenes. Were there any really serious injuries that forced the production to shut down at all?

Ron Ely: Well, actually (laughs), there are a bunch of questions in there. The business about me doing all of the stunts on the show, which I did do, was not a key aspect of my doing the character. It evolved. It just happened. As I have said to others, the design of it wasn't ego, it was simply to keep it as seamless as possible, so the audience was never rocked out of that new reality I had, saying, 'Oh, that's not him. There's somebody else doing that.' There were so many things that I was somewhat proficient at doing, that I could do them, maybe better than the average guy, but not at an expert level. I've often said that I'm a good swimmer, but I'm not an Olympic champion swimmer, like Johnny Weissmuller. When people said, 'Well, what were your qualifications for doing it,' I was just a decent athlete, and I was willing. Yeah, I had a high fall. The initial report was that killed me, that I was dead. I went head first into the ground from a very high position, and busted my shoulder, my wrist, and I had a concussion, but it didn't kill me, I'm happy to report.

That's good to hear. This only ran for two seasons, but this was back when seasons ran much longer. I believe the first season was 33 episodes, and the second season was 26 episodes. Can you talk a bit about the production schedule, and how grueling that was? Were you shooting basically the whole year?

Ron Ely: Yeah, Brian, it was a very grueling schedule. The ordinary hour-long show, at that time, shot each episode in six days. The first episode we shot in Brazil, I think it was 32 days. We had been in Brazil for six months, and I think we completed five or six shows, so we had to move. We moved to Mexico, which had a more sophisticated film industry, or, I should say, that was more in sync with the American film industry, at that point. We were able to cut that time down by about half. It took about three years to get all of the shows actually shot and done.

Wow. That's amazing. There were also a number of notable guest stars on the show, like Nichelle Nichols and Russ Tamblyn. I was wondering if you had a favorite guest star who came on and was really memorable for you?

Ron Ely: Well, I did have some because they were close friends of mine, like Jock Mahoney and Woody Strode. I would always look forward to any kind of a part that they could do, because I always wanted them there. They were great supporters. In terms of the people I didn't know who came on to work the show, there were some like Ethel Merman that were really a hoot. They were really fun and glorious people to know and to spend time with. People Neville Brand, people who had these strong characters that they had done for years. They bring a persona with them, and they don't bend from that persona much to facilitate a character. Their persona is bigger than the character they're going to play, and they use it. I enjoyed that. That was great fun. It livened up things for me, every time a new guest star would come in like Julie Harris or Maurice Evans, a New York stage actor. You couldn't imagine a setting more out of place for Maurice Evans. He was perfect, and he enjoyed it. He talked to me a lot about doing Tarzan on the stage. He could see that as viable, and something that would be attractive. As I look at it now, I'd like to see that done. I'd like to see someone do that, because it could work.

I read that you're actually writing crime novels now. Do you have any coming up, or are you setting any of these up for movie or TV adaptations?

Ron Ely: Not at this time. I have other books to publish, but I'm sort of in a holding pattern now, trying to get my son finished with college and done with that. Then I'll devote more time to myself and my various careers. Right now, I'm just slowly coming to the end of a long period of colleges and school sports, when I really stepped out of the business just to be with my family. I've been away from the film business for an extended period of time, and in that period of time, I started writing.

To wrap up, what would you like to say to anyone who is curious about the show, who have never seen it before, about why they should pick up this great new DVD set from Warner Archive?

Ron Ely: I would simply say that again, 'great' and 'new.' For years, people have been after me, contacting me... first it was the VHS copies of the Tarzan show, and then the DVD. Now, after all this time, Warner Archive has remastered the entire series in HD, and it is brilliant. It is really sharp, and it is really nice to say. If you've ever had an inclination to own the show, go get it, because it's sitting right there, and it's beautiful.

Great. That's my time. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure talking to you, Ron

Ron Ely: My pleasure, Brian.

You can watch Ron Ely as Tarzan in Tarzan: Season One Part One and Tarzan: Season One Part Two, which are currently available through Warner Archive. clickHere and clickHere for information on how to order these DVD sets.

School of Rock director Richard Linklater reteams with Jack Black for the true-crime comedy Bernie, which follows a small Texas town's beloved mortician accused of killing off a well-to-do widow played by Shirley MacLaine. Paulington James Christensen III recently caught up with the odd pairing of Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine to discuss the movie, channeling Tupac Shakur, and the fact that this is neither a sequel nor prequel to Weekend at Bernie's. Watch as Shirley MacLaine answers incoming phone calls from the dead!

Exclusive: Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine

Bernie was released April 27th, 2012 and stars Matthew McConaughey, Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Veronica Orosco, Tommy G. Kendrick, Rick Dial, Mona Lee Fultz, Gary Teague. The film is directed by Richard Linklater.

This came out the same year as The Shawshank Redemption, so I was curious if you shot Roadracers before that?

William Sadler: If I'm not mistaken, I think I shot this before I shot Shawshank. I'm not certain about that, to be honest with you. I know they happened in the same year. Shawshank was in the summer, in Ohio. We spent the entire summer there, 11 or 12 weeks or something like that. Maybe it happened right after Shawshank.

It must have been interesting to have these two roles go right up against each other, the prisoner and the cop. There's an interesting duality there.

William Sadler: Well, I'm always on one side of law enforcement or the other, aren't I?

That's true. What I enjoyed about this it's like this 1950s version of The Dukes of Hazzard, almost. What kind of vibe did you get when you first read the script by Robert (Rodriguez) and (co-writer) Tommy (Nix)?

William Sadler: You know, I loved the style he had. It had this sort of gritty style, that you don't see all the time, and I also liked the humor that he brought to it. There were bits that were funny that were designed to be funny. I only knew Robert from El Mariachi, which I had just seen, and he had called and asked me to do it. I was excited to meet him, this wunderkind. He really was. Everybody in Hollywood was talking about him. Everybody. He was this extraordinarily gifted director, who made a movie for like 20 bucks, selling his blood or something to get enough money to make a movie, and the movie turned out great. It was classy, and it was funny as hell. He was really the big draw for me. I liked the script, and I liked the role, and I liked what it was funny about it, but Robert was the reason I wanted to do the film.

I loved the first scene with Sarge, the whole pigs in the blanket introduction. It almost sets him up as this softy, but we learn that he's very much the opposite. Was it tricky to find that balance as this guy who just wants to clean up his town, and this guy who will stop at nothing to get Dude?

William Sadler: Well, it's not hard to get those two flavors in the same ice cream cone. That's like the Nazi who is into his puppies, and then turns around and kills people. People are complex that way, people are that way. He has this soft spot, he can wax poetical about pigs in a blanket, and then turn around and be a motherf*&%er. It's all about mother, and apple pie, and home, pride and country, but don't cross him, man.

They hinted at the history between Sarge and Dude's father. It isn't quite explored fully in the movie though, but was that something that you and Robert developed, just so you could have that history of the character?

William Sadler: Yeah, exactly. Sometimes that stuff is enough that we're on the same page. You can hint at it without going into great detail.

I loved how they kept focusing on that, 'This is God's Country' sign, and so many bad things keep happening right around that sign.

William Sadler: That's the thing. That's his sense of humor. He's always looking for the ironic twist, the unexpected, ironic, funny, and he seasons his movies with that. He makes them incredibly indelible.

This has some early performances from David Arquette, Salma Hayek, and John Hawkes. Can you talk about the dynamic on the set of being around a really up and coming cast?

William Sadler: You could tell that these were classy folks.

John Hawkes and Salma were amazing. Hawkes was hysterical in this. He was so fun to watch. You know, throwing the knife and sticking in the shoe, that whole sequence. You expect great things from people who are that good. Everybody was just starting out.

Can you give us a sense of how Robert works on the set? What really impressed you about working with him?

William Sadler: There was a great sense of playfulness, that I loved about working with Robert. You often hear this about directors, how it's like having the best set of toys. This fabulous train set, the biggest box of toys that a kid could possibly have. The best directors look like a kid having more fun than you're supposed to have. He was like running from one camera to another. It was his first film after El Mariachi, in which he did everything. He held the camera, he held the microphone, he did the editing, he did everything. Here, suddenly, he had the box of toys. There's a learning curve, and he was like, 'What do you do with this? Oh my God, look at this.' He really did look like a kid on Christmas Day, running around the set, with these huge 35 millimeter film cameras and cranes and special effects and a budget for costumes. It was the best train set a kid could possibly get.

We heard recently there was a script completed for Bill & Ted 3. I was wondering if you have heard anything about The Grim Reaper possibly returning in that sequel?

William Sadler: I'm not sure if it's a done deal yet. I know they're trying to write The Grim Reaper in. (Writer-star) Alex (Winter) said, 'How could we do this without the Reaper?' I'm hopeful. I'd love to go back and play with those guys again. That was one of the most fun roles I've done. I'll be there in a heartbeat, if they want to do it.

What would you like to say to any fans of Robert who might not be familiar with Roadracers, about why they should pick it up on Blu-ray?

William Sadler: Oh, they should absolutely check out the early work of one of our best directors. You have to look at where these people come from, who have gone on to impress you so much with bigger films. All the raw ingredients of greatness are there.

Excellent. That's my time. Thanks so much for talking to me, William.

William Sadler: Thank you, Brian.

You can watch William Sadler as Sarge in the early Robert Rodriguez movie Roadracers, which is currently available on Blu-ray.

Have you ever imagined a place where Vulcans and vampires get along? Where wizards and wookies can be themselves? Welcome to Comic-Con San Diego. What started as a fringe comic book convention for 500 fans has grown into the pop culture event of the year that influences every form of entertainment, now attended by over 140,000 strong. In the new documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope, acclaimed filmmaker Morgan Spurlock takes his cameras onto the convention floor for an unprecedented look at this annual event. Paulington James Christensen III recently caught up with Morgan for a chat about the movie, alongside Commander Holly Conrad, who is one of the attendees we follow throughout this charming and humorous look at nerd culture. Watch as Morgan Spurlock and Holly Conrad take us through the trials and tribulations of eating at the Con, the security situation, and whether or not the San Diego convention center is a wormhole that connect the beginning and the end of the universe.

Exclusive: Morgan Spurlock and Commander Holly Conrad talk "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope"

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope was released April 6th, 2012 and stars Seth Rogen, Kevin Smith, Eli Roth, Stan Lee, Holly Conrad, Jessica Merizan, Eric Henson, Scott Mantz. The film is directed by Morgan Spurlock.

In 2006, journalist Benjamin Mee, who was best known for his do-it-yourself columns in U.K.'s The Guardian, purchased the Dartmoor Zoological Park in Dartmoor, England. He eventually turned his tale into the non-fiction book We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives, adapted for the silver screen as We Bought a Zoo. This enthralling drama arrives on Blu-ray and DVD April 3.

I recently had the chance to speak with author Benjamin Mee over the phone about turning his true tale into a Hollywood movie. Here's what he had to say below.

I read that your actual purchase of the Dartmoor park took a lot longer to complete than in the movie. Can you talk about your initial desire to buy the zoo, and what kinds of things you had to do to be approved for the buy?

Benjamin Mee: The title of the film is the same as the title of my book, which details the process. It's interesting comparing the two, because every book has to lose things, to be translated into a movie, but (director) Cameron Crowe has done very well in keeping the essence of the story the same. Just as Matt Damon, in the film, wasn't looking for a zoo, we weren't either. We were actually looking for a big house for my mom to live in, with my sister and my brother and their kids, so that she wouldn't be on her own in her old age. The real estate details came through for this house, and it says there are 12 bedrooms and three bathrooms and 30 acres. Then you turn the page and it has seven tigers, three lions, and a pack of wolves, and you say, 'That's crazy. Who would buy that, and why is it for sale?' We made the big mistake of actually going to see it, because we're a real animal-loving family. I was writing a book on animal intelligence, when this thing came up, and we've all been interested in animals. So we thought we'd just see it, to rule it out, and as soon as we did see it, we absolutely fell in love with it. We thought we must do this, but it wasn't a simple process. The old guy who owned it, hadn't wanted to sell it, but he was forced to sell it by the bank. Something in him made him spike every sale for the past few years, and he was really hard to deal with, because he really couldn't bear to leave. I think if I would have been a proper businessman, I would've walked away, because he was so cranky. I'm not, and I actually ended up dealing with his sister instead. I'd call her, she'd call him, and she'd call me, and we'd move on, but it took about six months. It was very complicated.

Obviously, you hadn't set out to buy a zoo, let alone write a book about buying a zoo, so at what point in the process did you decide this is worth writing about?

Benjamin Mee: Well, I was a journalist before, and I knew that I could only do this thing if I could get some publicity for it. I was writing a weekly column on DYI, about putting up shelves and things, and I managed to squeeze in as many jokes as I could into it, to make it as interesting as possible. I thought buying and running a zoo was surely more interesting than putting up shelves, so I'm sure there would be interest there for a column. The column still hasn't materialized, but the book has done ridiculously well. I wrote it in three months, and people just kept coming up to me with this book in their hands, saying, 'Wow.' The TV series came, and now, unbelievably, this Hollywood movie with Matt Damon (Laughs).

Did you even have any inkling about who might play you, when the movie started to materialize? Does a thought like that even come into your head?

Benjamin Mee: It was out of my hands. The second you sign it over, they have total control, but they very kindly kept me involved in a lot of the process. They ran past all the major story line alterations past me, and explained to me. They always said to me, 'Don't get your hopes up, because these things often don't get made,' so I never relied on them. One day, I was building a treehouse for the kids, I think, and they called me and said, 'The writer is going to call you next week, and he wants a list of Hollywood A-listers that you like to play you. So think about that.' I said, 'What?' It's a Fox Christmas release, so it's going to be big and anyone will go for it. I asked some friends, 'Who would play me?' They came up with Hugh Grant, which I thought was a bit funny, Ewan McGregor, which I liked, but I was subsequently told that he was not a big enough star, and Matt Damon. I actually am a huge Matt Damon fan, because he's a hugely clever, funny, self-aware man, who has his feet on the ground. He's very aware of his position, and he uses it wisely for environmental causes and other things. He's got a sense of humor, and he's a writer. He wrote Good Will Hunting and got an Oscar for the screenplay, so I like him. There is something just grounded about him, and the others, you're sort of distracted by their star power, whereas with him, you just believe. So I thought, 'Yeah.' And he's got hair, which I don't have, which makes me look great (Laughs).

You mentioned how Fox kept you in the loop, but did you go on the set at all? Did you take a look at what was being built, and did it take you back, or was it a different environment?

Benjamin Mee: It was so uncanny. They were very, very thorough. I went just towards the very end of the shoot. If I was Damon, I'd be very distracted to meet the person I'm playing, having been playing him for the past seven or eight weeks, but he took it all in stride. It was uncanny because some buildings, like that tiger house, was replicated perfectly in the Hollywood Hills. You look left and it's Hollywood, and you look right, and boom, there's Devon (the English county Dartmoor is located). It was just very strange filming inside there. I sat next to (writer-director) Cameron Crowe, inside the tiger house, where everything is the same. There's a tiger, which I'm very used to, and everybody else seemed uneasy around the tiger. There's this huge camera behind the tiger, and then there's Matt Damon dressed as me, sitting in front of him. Cameron Crowe says, 'OK, for this scene, Benjamin Mee has to stand up.' So I said, 'OK, and I started to stand up. He said, 'No, not you, him.' OK yeah, this is very strange.

(Laughs) That's awesome. Cameron has done so many wonderful films throughout the years. Can you talk about getting the chance to see him work on the set, and what you thought was perfect about having him on this project?

Benjamin Mee: I'm full of admiration for him. I had only seen Almost Famous before, but that was enough. I was just bowled over by his kindness and humanity, not just being nice and polite to me, but everybody on the set. There was a real air of friendliness, busy friendliness, and I thought it's very much like the zoo now, where everybody is like a big family, all working towards the same aim, not out of coercion, but out of sharing this common purpose, with Cameron standing very calmly and smiling in the middle. Everything he did was gentle and positive and thoughtful and compassionate. He was a real inspiration, and he was astonishingly giving. I said to him, 'OK, you're a director. When we normal people see directors, they look at video monitors again and again and then say, Ah ha! That's the one. How do you know that's the one?' He said, 'Come and see.' So he invited me into the tiger house to watch a very emotional scene with Matt Damon and his son, deciding whether or not to euthanize this tiger, and discussing this '20 seconds of bravery' motif. That took about two hours, and these poor actors are choking with emotion, delivering these lines, and slight variations on the lines, again and again and again, really professionally. It was awesome, and I could see how Cameron was working. He said, 'It's just like writing. You're a writer. You could do this. Watch, you build a bit, and you've got that, you build a bit more, and you've got that.' It was awesome. I could sit next to that man for a long time.

Can you talk a bit about how the movie has affected your actual zoo? Has business picked up more than normal, since the movie has come out?

Benjamin Mee: It certainly has, yeah. The film has only been released in the U.K. for a few days, but it has been a very busy few days, let me tell you. Yeah, we've gotten some huge traffic on our website, which is much needed, because for the last few years, we've been facing closure every month. I've been literally having sleepless nights about paying wages and even at the beginning of February, our card was declined. I paid the wages and the mortgage, and that was it. There was no money buy milk for the next day, until three o'clock in the afternoon, when somebody came through. We've been living right on the edge, but I think this year, we might end up being a little more secure.

What would you like to say to anyone who didn't get a chance to see We Bought a Zoo in theaters, about why they should pick up the Blu-ray or DVD on April 3?

Benjamin Mee: Well, I think it's more than just an average family film. Because it's based on a true story, it has some resonance. I've seen it four times (Laughs), because of the various premieres I've had to attend, but I've gotten more out of it each time, and not just because it's about me. What I'm really impressed by, is how it deals with the process of bereavement, and how you can evolve through that and adapt. If you compare the film with the book, it's quite an interesting thing. There's also story of regenerating something, when everyone else says, 'Forget it. Just get on with your life.' How would he feel if he would have gone on with his life, and just bought a little house? He'd always be thinking, 'Oh, what if I had done that?' If you just feel that you can, even if people are saying you can't, maybe you should go and do it. I think that's a really good message from this film.

Great. Thanks so much, Benjamin. It was a real pleasure.

Benjamin Mee: Thank you very much.

We Bought a Zoo, which is based on Benjamin Mee's non-fiction book, arrives on Blu-ray and DVD April 3.

We Bought a Zoo was released December 23rd, 2011 and stars Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Angus Macfadyen, Elle Fanning, Patrick Fugit. The film is directed by Cameron Crowe.

Singer Cody Simpson, at just 15 years of age, is already drawing comparisons to another young superstar, Justin Bieber. He was discovered in 2009 after his YouTube videos went viral, and released his first single in 2010. The Australian vocalist was also asked to remake the classic song "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves as the theme song for Universal Pictures' Easter comedy Hop, which debuts on Blu-ray and DVD March 23. Cody Simpson is also showcased on the Hop Blu-ray bonus features in All Access with Cody Simpson, which follows him during his first red carpet experience at the premiere of Hop last year. I recently had the chance to speak with Cody Simpson over the phone, and here's what he had to say.

I'm always curious about the musical side of movies like this. The movie came out last April, so when were you first contacted about performing "I Want Candy" for Hop?

Cody Simpson: I think it was around the very beginning of last year. It all came together very quickly. I was given the opportunity to remake "I Want Candy," and I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I lived up to people's expectations of it. It's such a classic song, and I wanted to make sure I created a new, updated, 2011 version of the track.

I thought it was really fun. It gave the song a modern spin, while still retaining the flavor of the song.

Cody Simpson: Thanks.

When you were going in, did you see anything from the movie at all, just to get a feel for the movie before you did the song? Did you see any clips or artwork or anything like that?

Cody Simpson: Yeah, I got to see how the movie looked, the animation and the whole vibe of the movie. I got to see the whole vibe of the movie, and I just wanted to make sure that I matched that, you know? I think we did so, yeah.

In remaking such a classic song like this, was there a lot of feedback from the studio about how they wanted it to sound? Were they bouncing ideas off you a lot, about how they wanted it to sound?

Cody Simpson: I had a lot of my own ideas, as well as what a lot of the producers and everyone had. I thought we mixed them together quite well.

I watched the All-Access featurette with you on the Blu-ray. I believe that was your first red carpet experience. Can you talk about what that whole day was like for you, especially having a camera follow you around the whole time?

Cody Simpson: Yeah, it was quite an experience for me. I've had many of them since then, but it was definitely something new that I had to get used to a little bit. It was kind of strange because it was just after we moved to the States, and we were getting established and working on my music.

What was it like just being so up close and personal with the fans, as opposed to going on stage and performing?

Cody Simpson: It was a new experience, and I love new experiences. It was cool. I brought along a couple of friends, a lot of family members, and we just chilled and watched the movie. It was cool being able to see the movie and hear the song.

Your career is definitely growing as a musical artist, but do you have any ambitions to do any acting? Do you see yourself transitioning into movies at all?

Cody Simpson: Definitely in the future, but not right at this moment. I want to make sure I establish this one thing first. I'll just be working on this album for a little while, making sure that I establish my musical sound and my artistry.

You have a new single out now, and a new album coming out later this summer. Can you talk a bit about how this album might be different than your previous albums, or how your style has evolved?

Cody Simpson: I'm a little more mature this time, especially with this single with T-Pain. There are a lot of dub-step elements to it. I think it's something that my fans will really enjoy, and I think it will broaden my fan base. I just hope to gain respect from a lot of people.

Are you doing a music video for that single, and have you shot it yet?

Cody Simpson: Yes, we shoot it this month. I'll be in L.A. all month working on the music video and other stuff.

I believe you'll also be touring all summer. When does that start, and who are you touring with?

Cody Simpson: I'll be touring with Big Time Rush. They asked me to be a special guest on their summer tour, so I'm doing some things with them. It should be sweet.

After this new album drops, are you going back into the studio again, or are there any other tours or projects you'll be working on after the summer tour?

Cody Simpson: Not directly after. I'll be travelling a lot internationally this year, as well as doing a lot of promotion here in the States. Yeah, I'm just looking forward to a great year.

What would you like to say to fans of yours about why they should check you out on this Blu-ray featurette?

Cody Simpson: Yes, definitely. Honestly, I just think it's an incredible movie. It's a movie for the whole family, not only the kids, but the adults. You have Easter coming up, so it's the perfect timing, I guess.

That's about all I have. Thank you so much, Cody

Cody Simpson: Thank you very much. See you later.

You can watch Cody Simpson on the All-Access featurette in Hop, which debuts on Blu-ray and DVD March 23.

Hop was released April 1st, 2011 and stars James Marsden, Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, Hugh Laurie, Tiffany Espensen. The film is directed by Tim Hill.

Actress Kristanna Loken broke onto the scene playing the deadly/sexy T-X terminator in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, after many years of smaller guest-starring roles on TV. The actress has put together a diverse body of work since then, with bigger TV roles, recurring on The L Word and starring as Painkiller Jane, and film roles such as BloodRayne and SWAT: Firefight.

The actress is now delving into the comedy world with the spoof National Lampoon's the Legend of Awesomest Maximus, which debuts on Blu-ray and DVD March 20. I recently had the chance to speak with Kristanna Loken over the phone, and here's what she had to say about playing a character named Hottessa in this spoof.

It looks like it's been awhile since you've done a comedy. I was wondering what was more appealing to you, getting to do comedy again, or just playing a character named Hottessa?

Kristanna Loken: (Laughs) Well, a little bit of both. I enjoy doing comedy, and yeah, it had been awhile since I had done a comedy. Since we shot the movie, I've done some comedy theater a couple of times, one improv and one scripted, at the Improv here in Los Angeles. I really liked the script. As you know, it's a spoof of Troy, 300, movies in that vein. It was very politically incorrect, and very funny, so I thought what the hell? Why not do something outside the box?

At this point in your career though, do you get sent comedy scripts often? You have a background in big action movies, but do you get comedy scripts sent to you also?

Kristanna Loken: A little bit, a little bit. I think it depends, also, what the film is looking for. I think in this sense, since I've done some of those big, epic films, it feels right to have me do a spoof version of it. I do get some, yeah.

Did you find yourself going back and watching any of these movies like Troy or Gladiator, just to get into the right mindset before you went to the set?

Kristanna Loken: Some of the references were really broad, and I remembered them from the films, and it was pretty clear to me. The one thing that we did go back and watch, the love scene between myself and Will Sasso, my prince, was a blatant spoof of 300, where all of the sudden, the wind picks up in their bed chambers, and everything goes into slow motion, and everything has this hyper sense of reality. We did watch that a little bit, with the director, just to get an idea of what they did.

There is a great cast here with Will Sasso, Rip Torn, and even Dennis Haskins. Were all of these people attached when you came on?

Kristanna Loken: Well, Will was definitely on board, and I was familiar with his work. I thought it would be fun to play with him a little bit. I'm trying to think if anyone else might have been on board, at that point. I think Rip Torn might have been on board. I met with the director, Jeff Kanew, who obviously people remember from Revenge of the Nerds, and I thought it would be fun to work with him. He actually gave me a book called Lady MacBeth, by Susan King. He said, 'I want you to read it, and obviously keeping in mind that we're doing a spoof film, but your character, in a sense, is Lady MacBeth. She is the princess who is desperate to become queen, and she'll basically stop at nothing, to get what she wants.' There were some parallels to draw from Lady MacBeth, but in the very broad sense of the word.

That's cool though, he had that base established, of who the character really was.

Kristanna Loken: Yeah, even though we're doing a broad comedy, we wanted to make the characters as rich and full as possible.

Can you talk a bit about Jeff's style on the set, and what he really brought to a movie like this?

Kristanna Loken: He has a very, very laid-back demeanor, but he's definitely not afraid to go the extra distance to get the laughs. He goes to such an extreme that at times, I'm almost watching through my fingers, going, 'Oh my God, I can't believe they're actually doing this.' He was great. I really, really enjoyed working with Jeff, and I would be happy to do so again.

I was wondering if there was someone in the cast who was most susceptible to cracking up on the set?

Kristanna Loken: Well, Will is so quick and so funny, he's the type of actor who definitely goes off script, and rightfully so. He's got a lot of good material. We never quite knew what was going to come out of his mouth, or how it was going to come out of his mouth, and that's one of the reasons why he's a great comedian. I don't think two takes were ever the same. If we had a blooper reel, I'm sure it would be very rich with material.

You have a few projects which are in various stages of development right now. Can you talk about any of these projects, or what you might be doing next?

Kristanna Loken: Sure. I have a project that is very special to me. It's a film I'm also producing and starring in alongside Bruce Dern, who is such a legend and such an amazing guy to work with. It's called Love Orchard, and it's the polar opposite from Awesomest Maximus. It's a drama, inspired by actual events, and it deals with the immigration crisis in America. I play an attorney, Bruce Dern plays my father, and they own a fruit farm in upstate New York. They have Mexican migrant workers who live and work on the farm. One of the families that lives on the farm, they have three children, the two oldest were born in the U.S., so they're citizens, and the youngest was on an ill-fated trip back to Mexico, when the mother was dying. When they try to re-enter the country, the little girl, at the age of two and a half, faces deportation. My character ends up trying the case, on a national level, and ends up raising awareness of this family, who becomes a microcosm of the case as a greater whole. We are just about finished. We have our first screening of the film next week. We are very excited. I think it will be a festival darling piece. On the other end of the spectrum, I'm also going to be back on Burn Notice this upcoming season. They introduced my character last year, and I'll be back again. I have another project that's kind of in the mix, but I don't think I should talk about that one yet.

When are you looking for Love Orchard to hit the festival circuit?

Kristanna Loken: We have our first screening next week, and that will be the first time that any of us have seen it in its entirety. The first submission will be to Cannes. I think festivals, a lot of times, are brought towards films because of the subject matter. It's a very human story of keeping a family together, and human rights. It's about a lot more than immigration, but since immigration is such a topical theme right now, we feel it will have a widespread appeal for many festivals. Cannes is the next one coming up, so that's the one we're gunning for.

Finally, what would you like to say to your fans, or to anyone who loves a good spoof, about why they should pick up National Lampoon's the Legend of Awesomest Maximus on Blu-ray or DVD starting March 20?

Kristanna Loken: I think with this one, they'll be in for a good, fun, politically incorrect, wild ride. They'll definitely be seeing Kristanna in a different light, so it should be fun.

Great. Well, that's my time. Thanks so much. It was great talking to you.

Kristanna Loken: Yeah, you too. Take care!

You can watch Kristanna Loken as Hottessa in National Lampoon's the Legend of Awesomest Maximus, which debuts on Blu-ray and DVD March 20.

National Lampoon's the Legend of Awesomest Maximus was released March 20th, 2012 and stars Kristanna Loken, Rip Torn, Sophie Monk, Ian Ziering, Deon Richmond, Gary Lundy, Dennis Haskins, Tony Cox. The film is directed by Jeff Kanew.

Brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne may not be household names here in the States, but they certainly are in rarefied air, since they have done something only five directors have done before. They have won the prestigious Palme D'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival twice (Rosetta 1999, L'Enfant (The Child) 2005), joining Alf Sjoberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Bille August, Emir Kusturica, and Shohei Imamura as the only directors with two Palme D'Or wins. Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne return to cinemas with their latest drama entitled The Kid with a Bike, which opens in New York and Los Angeles March 16, before expanding nationally in the coming weeks. I had the chance to speak with Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne about The Kid with a Bike. Here's what they had to say below.

I read that you had this story in your head for awhile. I was wondering when you started writing it and getting it on the page?

Jean-Pierre Dardenne: I think we started probably around 2005, to write the first pieces, and the boy with the bike showed up first. In the beginning, the boy had the bike more for putting out his anger into the bike, and it was also his only friend. As you saw, the bike became the link in the movie from the boy to all the other characters. But, I would say that the story was really boring when the bike appeared.

This is Thomas Doret's first movie. Can you talk about the process of discovering him, and what qualities were you really looking for when searching for the boy who plays Cyril?

Luc Dardenne: We met him through a casting that we organized ourselves. We always do the casting ourselves. He's the fifth boy that showed up on the first day. We saw about 150 boys, but when we saw him, we were pretty sure, right away, that it was going to be him. We made them do a little audition, a little exercise, which was a smaller version of the first scene. We put him in front of a little table with a phone, and he was holding the receiver, and we said, 'OK, you're calling your father. You've been trying for several days to reach him, you haven't been able to reach him. He told you he'd call you and he hasn't. That's what you're doing. You're trying to reach your father again.' When we shot him, we really had the feeling that, when he was making the call, that somebody else was going to pick up on the other end. And I think it's the power of his concentration that really convinced us. We saw him two subsequent times, while we were still seeing the other boys, and the power of concentration he had really convinced us that was the boy for the part.

I was really impressed by that first scene, because it says so much in those first few minutes, without that much dialogue. It sets the whole story up so well. That's great you chose that scene for the audition.

Jean-Pierre Dardenne: Exactly, thank you!

Can you talk about bringing Cécile De France on board? She had a lot to bring to this role, and it was nice to see her in a role like this. I was curious what you first saw in her, and what you thought she really brought to the character?

Jean-Pierre Dardenne: For us, too, it was a great project to transform her. She came into the movie very simply. She rehearsed with Thomas for 25 days, and in the first part of the rehearsal process, we rehearsed all of the physical action. And at the end of those rehearsal days, we would pick costumes and we would dress her, and every day we would change the costume. We tried to find clothing that didn't close her in, but left her open. We tried to be simple with her hair style, and very little makeup. We had to pick shoes that didn't have very high heels, that were low heels, because we kept the camera at the eye level of Thomas, and we wanted to be able to keep that perspective and to shoot her, without having to distort the camera angle. What was good about the movie is the first scene that Cécile appears in, she falls on the ground. That was something of a metaphor for how we wanted to appear in the movie. She fell into our family, she fell into our universe.

I noticed also the use of music in here, which is very rare for both of you to use. It was used really uniquely, because instead of using music throughout the whole film, it shows up here and there and really heightens the scenes. Can you talk about your approach to using music in The Kid with a Bike?

Luc Dardenne: Well, yes, it's music that doesn't come out of the movie. One could say that it sort of floats above it. It's music that appears like something of a caress, something soft, that Cyril needs, that he's missing. One could say that it sort of demarcates different sections of the movie. But our first aim in using the music was really what is missing for him.

Your work is very highly regarded in France and throughout Europe. With IFC Films picking this up, what would you like American audiences to take away from The Kid with a Bike?

Jean-Pierre Dardenne: Well, I hope the public thinks that love can sometimes be stronger than death. This is a woman who is not the biological mother of a child can learn to love and lead him out of a world of violence, and go towards love.

Is there anything you can say about projects you're currently working on?

Luc Dardenne: No, it's too early.

OK. I really enjoyed this film and I'm looking forward to your next project.

Luc Dardenne: Thank you very much.

Finally, what would you like to say to anyone who is curious about The Kid with a Bike about why they should give it a chance when it hits theaters?

Jean-Pierre Dardenne: I think the public needs to adopt this boy, and love is stronger than death.

Excellent. That's my time. Thanks so much. It was a pleasure talking to you both.

Jean-Pierre Dardenne: Thank you.

Luc Dardenne: Thank you.

You can check out Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's The Kid with a Bike in New York and Los Angeles theaters March 16. The film will be expanding nationally in the coming weeks, so be sure to check your local listings.

The Kid with a Bike was released March 16th, 2012 and stars Thomas Doret, Cécile De France, Jérémie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione, Egon Di Mateo, Olivier Gourmet, Batiste Sornin, Samuel De Rijk. The film is directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne.

Actor Will Ferrell has tickled our funny bones in theaters for many years, and his new project proves he can do so in both English and Spanish. Casa de Mi Padre stars Will Ferrell as Armando Alvarez, a Mexican who has worked on his father's ranch for his entire life. The ranch is in financial trouble when Armando's younger brother Raul (Diego Luna) supposedly comes to the rescue, with his beautiful fiancee Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez). Things get out of hand when Armando falls for Sonia, and it is discovered that Raul isn't exactly the financial savior he claims to be. We were able to sit down exclusively with Will Ferrell, Diego Luna, Genesis Rodriguez, and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) to discuss this Spanish-language comedy Casa de Mi Padre, and you can take a look at what they all had to say below.

Exclusive: Will Ferrell talks Casa de Mi Padre

Exclusive: Nick Offerman talks Casa de Mi Padre

Exclusive: Genesis Rodriguez talks Casa de Mi Padre

Exclusive: Diego Luna talks Casa de Mi Padre

Casa de Mi Padre was released March 16th, 2012 and stars Will Ferrell, Diego Luna, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, Efren Ramirez, Adrian Martinez, Gael García Bernal, Manuel Urrego. The film is directed by Matt Piedmont.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum head back to school in the film adaptation of 21 Jump Street. The 80's TV drama made Johnny Depp a star, but gets a comedic update for 21st century audiences. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum play a pair of goofball rookies chosen to uncover a dangerous new drug's source at a Los Angeles High School. Ice Cube co-stars as their profane and frustrated Captain, while Rob Riggle almost steals the film as the hard-charging phys ed teacher.

21 Jump Street is really funny with great chemistry between the leads. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were a riot, doing the interviews in their bicycle cop outfits. Ice Cube discusses how he's gone from f**k the police in his NWA days to playing cops and roles of authority. Rob Riggle went the opposite route. He talks about his career in the Marines and how it lead to doing comedy. All together a great press day as every actor was very happy with the film. Check out our exclusive interviews.

Exclusive: Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum

Exclusive: Ice Cube

Exclusive: Rob Riggle talk 21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street was released March 16th, 2012 and stars Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, DeRay Davis, Ice Cube, Dax Flame. The film is directed by Phil Lord, Chris Miller.

Visual effects guru Wayne Stables has been working in the effects industry for over 15 years, after making his debut on Peter Jackson's The Frighteners. He went onto work on Contact, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and Avatar. Wayne Stables most recently served as the visual effects supervisor for the New Zealand effects house Weta on Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, which debuts on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD March 13. I recently had the chance to speak with Wayne Stables over the phone about his experiences working on The Adventures of Tintin. Here's what he had to say below.

First off, I'm curious about how early you come onto a huge endeavor like this. Were you brought on before they were shooting the motion-capture stuff?

Wayne Stables: I first came on, myself, before we did motion-capture, but only in a limited capacity. I came on when we were doing some tests, if you like, some visual tests to try some things out with early motion-capture. Then myself and the other supervisors, when they went off and did the actual motion-capture, we were busy doing other things. We came back on once the bulk of the motion-capture was done.

What was the early mandate from Steven about visual style? There is such a breadth of material from the Hergé novels. Did he want it, early on, to stand alone from those visuals?

Wayne Stables: That's actually a pretty good question. He kind of didn't give us a mandate for visual style, and that was kind of interesting for us, early on. What we ended up doing was we went and explored a bunch of things ourselves. One of the early tests we did, which was Captain Haddock going through the corridor on the Karaboudjan, we actually went back and looked at movies like Das Boot, these dank, confined corridors like in that film. We would present ideas to Steven, and say, 'Hey, we kind of did this, and we're going for this film, for this look.' We weren't trying to replicate Das Boot or anything, but we were just saying that maybe this type of scene might be good. Another thing we did is we actually went back and watched a lot of Steven's films, everything from Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, War of the Worlds, to see how he treated different scenes, and different feelings. We really tried to understand the visual language that he's comfortable with using the most.

I believe they only shot the motion-capture stuff for 30 or 40 days. Can you talk about any time you spent on the set, before working on the effects?

Wayne Stables: I wasn't on set, but I did see some of the visual things, like that corridor scene. I was on that for a bit before they actually shot. Those tests are not necessarily something that will usually make it in the film, but in this case, it actually did end up making it in the film. It's the kind of thing to just get people's thoughts flowing about different ways and treatments. I think that probably helps when Steven is shooting stuff, because he can also think a little bit about the visual style he will want to achieve at that point.

I remember during the awards season, with the two separate categories for live-action and animation, there was talk that maybe this shouldn't be considered an animated movie, with all of the motion-capture work that goes on. It did win the Golden Globe for animated feature, but I was wondering what your take on that is?

Wayne Stables: I absolutely think it should be considered an animated feature, especially for the fact that we had hundreds of animators here who worked really hard on it and put a lot of work into it. I think it's interesting, because if you look at the Oscars, it didn't go through for animation, and it didn't go through for visual effects, whereas in the BAFTA's, it went through for both. I think that alone says that people are still trying to make up their minds. I would definitely consider it to be an animated film. There is a huge amount of animation inside it. I know the whole performance-capture thing, obviously, tends to throw people a little bit. I guess I can't see it any other way. I'd need to hear a compelling argument about why it wasn't an animated film.

I was kind of surprised that it didn't get as much acclaim for the visuals as it did. I really loved the whole look, and there are so many epic scenes, like the boat going through the dessert, the motorcycle chases. Were there really hallmark moments that you thought would really stand out while you were working on the effects, that you knew would be huge moments in the film?

Wayne Stables: Yeah, there were definitely big moments for me inside the film. I agree with you. I think the pirate ship coming through the sand is amazing. I think a lot of those transition shots, when the story is going backwards and forwards, I think they worked really well. I did work on the big motorcycle chase, and I actually wanted to do that from the word go, just because it's a four and a half minute shot. It sounded so audacious, that I just really wanted to do it. I have some personal favorite moments. I love the pirate stuff, which is great for me to watch.

Can you talk a bit about how hands-on Steven was? The motion-capture shoot wasn't really that long, so how hands-on was he with the visuals? I know he had War Horse going on around the same time as well.

Wayne Stables: He was extremely hands-on. Obviously, he was around the world and we were here in New Zealand, but we would have conference calls with him most days, where we would play back the material and he would see it both in stereo and in 2D. Steven had a very strong visual sense, and a very strong sense of lighting and camera. He was extremely hands-on, in terms of his feedback and direction.

Did you have any personal connection to these Tintin stories? Did you follow the novels?

Wayne Stables: I did. I grew up with Tintin, because in the 1970s and 1980s, they were very prominent in New Zealand, which is where I grew up. For me, it was a great thing. If you would look at my room here, I have all the books inside. It was a great thing for me to work on, and I had a very strong connection to it. I think a lot of the other designers here grew up with it as well.

The plan is supposed to be for Peter Jackson to direct Tintin 2. We haven't heard much about when that is moving forward. Do you know any sort of timeline of when that might get started? Are there any discussions for that yet?

Wayne Stables: No, there is nothing we've heard, in terms of any sequels. I probably know as much about it as you do. I know Steven has said in the press that he really wants to do another one, and Peter is supposed to direct the second one. I assume, like many of these things, it will be in the hands of the studio, when they think it's the right time to do that.

Are you working on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey right now? Is there anything else you're currently working on?

Wayne Stables: No, I'm not working on The Hobbit. I'm just having a look at the technology we've used on movies like The Adventures of Tintin, and a little about where we want to go in the next couple of years. I'm helping to develop some of that, then I'll go on to another project at some point this year, when the right one comes up.

Can you talk about your experience actually seeing this film with an audience? What was the one thing that really stood out for you after seeing it in a theater full of people?

Wayne Stables: I visually enjoyed all of the film. For me, when I watch it with an audience, the biggest gauge I have with a film like this, is my wife. It's something that isn't in her usual demographic, but it's funny because I watched it with her, and we really enjoyed it, then we watched it again in the theater. She pointed out afterward that she noticed the sheer amount of detail in the world. I was really pleased to hear that, because there was so much work put into that. I was actually really pleased to hear that had been noticed, not as much for me, but for all the artists who put so much love and care and attention into it.

I have only seen it once, and I'm really looking forward to watching it again on Blu-ray. I had that feeling it would be one of those movies where, every time you watch it, you pick up something new. I'm really curious to see what else I'll discover. Finally, what would you like to say to anyone who might not have seen The Adventures of Tintin in theaters about why they should pick up the Blu-ray and DVD on March 13?

Wayne Stables: I think Tintin is just a great, old-fashioned adventure film. I think it's a movie well worth seeing in theaters and on Blu-ray, just for the sheer amount of detail inside. We're really proud of the world we created, and I think it's something you want to see on the biggest screen with the highest resolution you possibly can.

Great. That's my time. It was great talking to you, Wayne.

Wayne Stables: It was great talking to you too, man. Have a good day.

You can pick up The Adventures of Tintin on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD starting March 13.

The Adventures of Tintin was released December 21st, 2011 and stars Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Jamie Bell, Cary Elwes, Andy Serkis, Nick Frost, Tony Curran, Sebastian Roché. The film is directed by Steven Spielberg.

Actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt makes her feature directorial debut with Friends with Kids. She stars alongside Adam Scott as two best friends that decide to have a baby without the romantic entanglements. This surprises their inner circle, who are also struggling with raising children: Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, Kristen Wiig, and Jennifer Westfeldt's real-life boyfriend, Jon Hamm. Edward Burns and Megan Fox co-star as the love interests. Funny and dramatic, this ensemble works well together as they are all longtime friends. Check out our exclusive interviews.

Exclusive: Jennifer Westfeldt

Exclusive: Megan Fox and Edward Burns

Exclusive: Adam Scott and Chris O'Dowd

Friends with Kids was released March 9th, 2012 and stars Adam Scott, Jennifer Westfeldt, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, Megan Fox, Edward Burns. The film is directed by Jennifer Westfeldt.

Actor Willem Dafoe has been impressing audiences since the 1980s, with Oscar-nominated roles in Platoon and Shadow of the Vampire, big-budget movies like Clear and Present Danger and Spider-Man, cult classics like Boondock Saints, and practically everything in between. Willem Dafoe will next be seen as Tars Tarkas in John Carter, which arrives in theaters nationwide March 9. The actor talked about the motion-capture process he went through to portray the Thark, working with director Andrew Stanton, and much more. Take a look at what he had to say below.

I was reading that this film may hold the record for the longest period in development hell. There was a version that was being worked on way back in 1931. I was curious how familiar you were with this whole Barsoom series before you first read for Tars?

Willem Dafoe: I came in pretty plain. I knew very little about it, to tell you the truth. The initial attraction was really (director) Andrew Stanton. I certainly was a huge fan of Tarzan as a kid, and I certainly knew who (author) Edgar Rice Burroughs was, but I wasn't aware of the Barsoom series. It reminded me of when I did Spider-Man. I had never read a Spider-Man comic book in my life, so sometimes it's nice to come in plain for something.

Tars is a rather complex character. He's the first one to interact with John, and there is a lot of history with his daughter Sola. With a character like this, doing it as a voice...

Willem Dafoe: You know, let me stop you right there. It's not just doing the voice, and that's really significant. We played the scenes, I did Tars Tarkas. It's not just a voice. When people see things that are filtered through motion-capture, they imagine it's just the voice, but anyone that really watches clearly, it's my gestures and I think they'll be able to see a beating heart behind Tars. It's not just simply computer generated. We played all those scenes, and we played them and then the animators simply took the gestures and the movement and put it all in a different form. I performed it on three-foot stilts, with a camera on my head, and dots on my face, so they can correspond my movements and expressions to the nine-foot tall creature that they're making.

This is Andrew's live-action debut. I was curious if you could take us through the process of getting the chance to work with him, and his style as a director, especially on a huge undertaking like this?

Willem Dafoe: I worked with him on Finding Nemo, and, in that case, I was just doing the voice, but it was the same guy. When I worked with him on Finding Nemo, he was incredibly good with story, he's incredibly good with approaching a scene from every angle. He's really well-researched. Those guys at Pixar have really developed a good way of working. They really believe in trial and error. They built that into the schedule, into their process. When I worked with him on doing the voice, he would exhaust all the possibilities. He would do it as many ways as he thought were possible, and that was always exciting. With Tars, it was a similar thing. He was very clear about what he wanted to accomplish in each scene, and my job was to try and help him accomplish that. Given all the technical tasks, it became sort of like a fun game to find out how to deliver all those scene.

When you were on the set, did you find yourself going back to the books at all, to get you more in tune with the character? Or was it just Andrew guiding you the whole way?

Willem Dafoe: To start out, we wanted to really see the world we were creating. He and many people working on the film, grew up on the books and are very passionate about them. To share their passion, one of the first steps was to read the books, and I did. That really helped me to share their passion and know the world we were creating. Then, once we started working, I don't remember so much going back to the books, but just really trying to play the scenes. We had to learn the Thark language (laughs). It took a lot to get really agile on the stilts. There were many things to do.

What would you say was the bigger challenge? Working on those stilts or getting the language down?

Willem Dafoe: The language is used fairly minimally, but it's very important. It really helps define the world, and who the Tharks are. Sometimes, with all this technology, the trick is to embrace it and try to make it work for you and have fun with it, rather than to have it flatten out the scenes. The trick is always to stay in the scenes, and embrace what could be seen as obstacles, as tools, to find different impulses and a different kind of energy and a different kind of character than you've ever been able to portray before.

We ran a featurette on the site not too long ago, and in it you said there really wouldn't be a Star Wars and a lot of other movies without the original John Carter story. How do you think genre fans will respond to seeing this original inspiration for all these other films and book, on the screen for the first time?

Willem Dafoe: I don't know. It will be interesting to see, but when I watched the movie the other day, one of my feelings about it was it has real depth. It's not something that's very superficial. It's got a long history to it, and you feel that history. This was really born of the first imaginings of what outer space would be like, and imagining other worlds on other planets. It has deep roots, I'd say, a lineage.

I'm also very intrigued with another adaptation you have coming out later this year, Odd Thomas. It has a wonderful cast, and you play this father figure to Thomas.

Willem Dafoe: That's true. I'm getting to that age, I guess, where I play father figures (Laughs). Who would have thought?

I was wondering if you could talk a bit more about the character, and working with Anton (Yelchin)?

Willem Dafoe: I adore Anton. I think he's a really great actor. He's really bright, and I remain in touch with him after shooting the movie, because I think he's a really bright kid and such a great talent. (Director) Stephen (Sommers) is incredibly energetic. This is a real passion project for him. It's always nice when you're working on something that's special for the director. Other than that, I don't like to talk about it too much at this point. I should probably keep on talking about John Carter, because there will be time to talk about Odd Thomas when it comes out. I'm glad you're interested in it.

What would you like to say to people who might be on the fence about John Carter, about why they should check it out March 9?

Willem Dafoe: Oh God (Laughs). I don't really know what to say. That's not really my job, but what I will say that the proof is in the pudding. They should go and see it and then we'll talk about it (Laughs). I don't think they'll be disappointed. I think it's a very special film, so if they're on the fence about it, without having seen it, you can only assume that they should examine their prejudices (Laughs).

Excellent. Well, that's my time. It was great to talk to you, Willem. Thank you so much.

Willem Dafoe: OK, great. Bye-bye.

You can watch Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas in John Carter, which arrives in theaters nationwide March 9.

John Carter was released March 9th, 2012 and stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West. The film is directed by Andrew Stanton.

Our very own Ryan J. Downey joins Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Dominic West and director Andrew Stanton for a special look at Walt Disney Pictures' John Carter, which arrives in theaters this Friday, March 9th. Check out our exclusive chat to learn more about the rousing sc-fi adventure.

Exclusive: Andrew Kitsch talks John Carter

Exclusive: Lynn Collins talks John Carter

Exclusive: Willem Dafoe talks John Carter

Exclusive: Dominic West talks John Carter

Exclusive: Director Andrew Stanton talks John Carter

John Carter was released March 9th, 2012 and stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West. The film is directed by Andrew Stanton.

Every movie has a unique story about how it was made, but the story of Columbus Circle's inception is rather amazing. Actor Kevin Pollak was there every step of the way as a co-star, playing the meek concierge Klandermann, and he also co-wrote the script with director George Gallo and produced. Columbus Circle revolves around Abigail (Selma Blair), an agoraphobic heiress who never leaves her posh penthouse apartment, and whose bizarre way of life is turned upside down when a new couple (Amy Smart and Jason Lee) moves in next door. I recently had the chance to speak over the phone with Kevin Pollak about this fantastic thriller, which will hit the shelves on Blu-ray or DVD March 6, and you can take a look at what he had to say below.

I noticed there were several people involved with this who were involved with Middle Men, which I really loved. Was this story birthed during the development of Middle Men, or did it come before?

Kevin Pollak: That's an excellent connection, and there is one, the timing of which you will not believe. (Producer) Chris (Mallick) financed Middle Men, and then he flew us over to the Cannes Film Festival. While we were there being feted and celebrating Middle Men, Chris got a terrible phone call that a movie he was about to start as a producer and financier, had fallen apart. A day before we were about to fly home to Los Angeles from Cannes in the south of France, he tells us about this remake of a Korean film, where he had built two sets at a soundstage in Los Angeles, to the tune of $1 million, and he was supposed to start shooting in three weeks, and now he has no movie. I said, 'Don't worry, Chris, I'll come up with an idea tonight, for a movie that takes place in two apartments, because he told us what the sets were, and on the plane ride home, we'll have 11 hours to write the script. He said, 'I have to start shooting in three weeks,' and I said, 'It's not that hard. Don't worry about it.' He insisted that I was very kind to offer, and that he wouldn't have any expectations getting on the plane. I stayed up most of the night, breaking the story, characters and concept. It was actually kind of liberating to have the constraints and confines of the two apartments. The irony there is interesting, being locked down into these two sets, actually created a sense of freedom for me. So I came up with the heiress and she's been in hiding for many years. She hasn't come out of her apartment, she's agoraphobic, and this couple moves in across the hall. I pitched everybody on the plane, and we continued to beat out various nuances and story points on the flight home. We landed, and 19 days later, we started shooting.

That's amazing.

Kevin Pollak: Yeah. They don't really do it this way, and I understand now the reason. It was insane, and the fact that we pulled it off, to any degree, is a bit of a miracle, and certainly a tribute to everyone's effort. All the actors came together and was working on the cheap, and we just pulled this thing off. It's kind of miraculous. Also, George Gallo, the writer-director of Middle Men, hadn't flown in 35 years and had to be completely knocked out on the flight and on the flight back. So he wasn't conscious on the plane, and it was me Giovanni (Ribisi), Chris Mallick, and the composer for Middle Men as well as Columbus Circle, Brian Tyler, were pitching ideas.

Yeah, I noticed that Brian Tyler is an executive producer on this. I love his work as a composer, and I was curious how he became an executive producer on this, but I guess that makes sense now.

Kevin Pollak: Yeah, it really does, because he contributed wonderfully. When we landed, we were exhausted and we said to meet up the next morning and look at the actual apartments, because I had never even seen them. They were completely built. They were really going to start shooting in three weeks before the movie got yanked out from under Chris. So, Giovanni was on board to play the detective, and he's been lifelong friends with Jason Lee and suggested him. I thought he was exceptional. Selma Blair I believe was attached to the original movie that was supposed to shoot for Chris, so she got one of those, 'I've got good news and bad news' phone calls. Then we were very lucky to get Amy Smart and Amy Smart and Jason Antoon. I was thrilled that the cast came together so quickly.

Since this happened so fast, were you doing everything all at once? Were you thinking of who you wanted to play these guys, as you were writing it?

Kevin Pollak: There's usually weeks and weeks, sometimes months and months, of prep time, and everyone has a script. Every department head has a script for months, so it helped tremendously that the sets were built. The set designers had basically done all of their work based on the other movie, so that was done. When we went after the actors, there was no script to send them. We landed and shot 19 days later, but we didn't land with the script. The script itself got written over the next two weeks, so we didn't really have a script for anyone to read until about five or six days before we started shooting, but everyone really got what we were going after, and why they couldn't have a script. Everyone kind of took a flier, and, of course, with the agreement that, 'Look, when the script is done, and you want to back out, no hard feelings.' Chris Mallick, to his credit, sort of went, 'Look, I'm already out the money it cost to build these sets anyway. If we end up not being able to shoot in 19 days, I'm still out this money, and I'm no worse off than I was.' The whole pressure thing about shooting in three weeks, you only have a certain amount of time with these soundstages before the next people came in. There was the prep time then there was the shooting time, and he only had four or five or six weeks to shoot, and then he was going to lose these sets to the next picture.

One of the things I really loved about this is almost everyone in the cast is playing characters that we haven't seen them play before. We don't see Jason Lee as the abusive husband, or Selma Blair as an unhinged recluse, or even you as this timid concierge. Was everyone on board because they were playing people that they normally don't play?

Kevin Pollak: I think you've touched on it, I really do. For me, my character was a last-second decision on how to play him. It was decided almost instantly that I would play him, but I just put it on the back burner about what Klandermann's personality and speech pattern was going to be. He was just the concierge, and I said, 'Well, I'll just figure out his personality later,' because I had too much to work on. I do think the other actors were intrigued by a character they hadn't played before, especially Jason Lee. Yeah, I think you touched on the major factor.

We have several of these little flashback scenes of what really happened to Abigail, but we don't really get a clear explanation of what happened in her past. Did you guys actually develop that, even though it wasn't used in the movie? Did you develop that as a reference for you to use?

Kevin Pollak: Absolutely, yeah. I had always been sort of fascinated by the heiress gone missing. That was some sort of story that was in the back of my creative thoughts for a long time, and mistaken identity and that sort of thing. Fleshing that out was a lot of fun, and then the con artist, I've been working and writing in that milieu for a long time as well. Whether you use it or not, I hate plot holes, so I like to fill them, logic holes especially, and the best way to do that, for me, is to have back stories on everyone.

I really loved this, and I was kind of surprised it didn't get a theatrical release. Was this always earmarked as straight to DVD, or did you have plans for a theatrical release? Just hearing the story about how this all came together, it sounds like it was a miracle it was even made, let alone how wonderful it is. Were you aiming for a theatrical release at all?

Kevin Pollak: You know, that business side of it is not something I'm involved in. A lot of the business, of course, is driven by marketing, and has been for a number of years. You know, people in marketing clearly felt differently than people in creative. It was a tough one for me, but, at the same time, as you said, the whole thing was such a miracle, that there is a sense of, 'I can't believe this movie got made. I can't believe this movie is going to be seen.' As devastating as it is not to be in theaters, it's still a miracle. I've spent the last couple of days talking to foreign press. I guess we're getting a theatrical release around the world, which is nice. You're going to have to go to Paris to see the film (in a theater), is what I'm telling you.

Columbus Circle is an actual area in New York, so was that an area you were always intrigued by? When did that location sink in for you when you were breaking the story?

Kevin Pollak: That was last-minute, actually, the title and the location. The pinpoint location was very last-minute. It was not a priority where these two apartments were, within New York, and then it just sort of evolved through the process of George and I writing the script, almost near the end.

I'm not really familiar with that area, but it seemed to be the perfect setting for it, this really affluent, secluded neighborhood. I thought it was a wonderful touch.

Kevin Pollak: Yeah. I thought that the film celebrated Columbus Circle almost in a way that the neighbors of Columbus Circle may not be aware of (Laughs). They might have made it a bit more mysterious and intriguing than it is, which is always nice. That's what movies are for. It's not a documentary.

Is there anything you're currently working on, writing-wise, either by yourself or with George?

Kevin Pollak: Not with George. I have a script that I wrote that's in the same genre, sort of a twisty turny whodunit, contemporary noir, that I'm going to direct. I'm really excited about it. Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen are on board. We're out to a younger female ingenue, and when we find her, we'll start shooting. I just launched a comedy podcast called Talkin Walkin, with me doing Christopher Walken for an hour, and talking with somebody else in a conversation.

That's awesome, because I was actually telling a colleague of mine that I was going to talk to you, and he actually mentioned the Christopher Walken, the whole thing from The Tonight Show. I thought it was brilliant and hilarious, so I wasn't sure if I'd have time to bring that up.

Kevin Pollak: You have to tell your friend about this podcast. It's called Talkin Walkin and it's on iTunes and TalkinWalkin.com. Yeah, I literally put it up about five or six days ago, and it already cracked the top 10 of comedy podcasts, so I'm pretty thrilled about that. I've just been talking about it on Twitter, so I'm amazed it's doing so well, so quickly. It's become a new project. I'm going to record another one today, actually.

Is there a regular schedule for it? Is it coming out once a week on a certain day?

Kevin Pollak: I'm shooting for every week, sure. I recorded one in New York that I'm editing now, so hopefully it will be up Monday. I've also been doing this long-form conversation talk show on the Internet on KevinPollackChatShow.com.

Oh yeah. I ran into Samm Levine last year and he was talking about that show. It was also great to see him in the movie. That was a fun little role.

Kevin Pollak: Yes, we did throw Samm 'The Man' Levine in there, and he was fantastic as the smarmy bank man.

You can never go wrong with Samm as a smarmy guy.

Kevin Pollak: No, you can't lose. I'll tell him you said that.

Excellent. So, just to wrap up, what would you like to say to fans of yours about why they should check out Columbus Circle on Blu-ray or DVD this week?

Kevin Pollak: Well, listen, if you like that Hitchcockian psychological cat-and-mouse thriller, there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours, I guarantee it.

Excellent. That's my time. Thanks so much. It was great talking to you.

Kevin Pollak: Thank you very much for your interest. Thanks Brian.

You can check out the fantastic thriller Columbus Circle, which hits the shelves on Blu-ray and DVD March 6.

Columbus Circle was released March 6th, 2012 and stars Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Jason Lee, Giovanni Ribisi, Kevin Pollak, Beau Bridges, Jason Antoon, Jerry Penacoli. The film is directed by George Gallo.

Director Martin Scorsese took 3D to new heights with Hugo, his Oscar-nominated adventure which will be available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD February 28. The celebrated filmmaker recently sat down to discuss the unique challenges involved with making his first 3D movie, and you can take a look at what he had to say below.

You faced so many challenges making Hugo. It was the first time in your illustrious career you shot a movie in 3D, the sets were complex, two of the leads were young actors and there were so many other complexities. The question is, was the experience fun or a headache?

Martin Scorsese: It was a lot of fun and yes it was a headache (laughs). But it was a really enjoyable headache. (Cinematographer) Bob (Richardson), (production designer) Dante (Ferretti), (editor) Thelma (Schoonmaker) and (composer) Howard (Shore) could all tell you it was a discovery with each shot. Each sense of designing the picture and every facet of it was really a re-thinking about how to make pictures. Of course, that's with the element of 3D, but also the re-creation of a boy's memory of where he was in the past and how you create a sense of heightened impression of Paris in 1929 and 1930. All of this was built together in many different facets. It was arduous, but a great deal of fun.

You have achieved so much. Why put yourself through the stress of such a big film shot in 3D?

Martin Scorsese: As tough as it was sometimes, I thought it would be fun to go back to square one. I wanted to test the boundaries and see how far we could go. I loved the possibility of using depth. 3D is exciting. It also demands respect. The truth is I have always been excited by 3D and I felt Hugo was a perfect opportunity to explore 3D. Sometimes it was restrictive. Depth became very important and every shot changed. We had to place actors in different spots. The actors' performances had to be different. We needed things in the foreground and things in the background. It was difficult, particularly in the first few weeks, but after a while we got into our groove and 3D is a wonderful tool to tell a story.

It seems Hugo is the perfect movie for you. It is a magical story and journey, but also, as a lover of film history, it delves into the first motion pictures made by the great French filmmaker Georges Méliès which must have excited you. Can you talk about how you became attached to the project?

Martin Scorsese: When I received the material from (producer) Graham King, my wife read it. She loved it and gave it to me and I read it. It was from a beautiful book by Brian Selznick. It was a graphic novel in a sense from the look of it. But, also I have a young daughter. I guess it was two trains running in a way. I was with my daughter every day and I just began to see things differently and perceive life or the world around one in a child's view as it changes and the imagination of a child, the creativity of a child, but also a child's thoughts and storytelling. So, it just seemed to be a very happy coincidence that this story, and also the fact that this story resolves itself, through the device of motion pictures. Graham King said 'Marty this is you. You have to do it.' It all came together.

Can you talk a little more about your experience reading Brian Selznick's book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, for the first time.

Martin Scorsese: I had one of those experiences you often hear about. I was given the book about four years ago and sat down and read it completely in one sitting. I immediately connected to the story. When I was reading I didn't realize the man in the toy store would be Georges Méliès. Then I discovered it was a true story. He worked in the toy store for 16 years because he was broke and someone did discover him.

What in the book spoke loudest to you?

Martin Scorsese: I loved the idea of seeing the world through a boy's eyes. Hugo is 12 years old. I was particularly drawn to him because he is a vulnerable child. The boy was living alone in an attic type place in a train station, one of the biggest train stations in Paris. It had the atmosphere of a giant engine. The attic is filled with clocks and a big window that looks over Paris. I loved that.

Can you provide a quick summary of the film?

Martin Scorsese: The boy's father dies, he is alone, but he has the automaton that is broken down. It lacks some covering and you can see the gears and flight wheels inside. He meets Georges Méliès and a little girl, Isabelle, who is Méliès' goddaughter. She helps him find the answer to everything. But we also learn about the origins of film. I didn't realize there are generations who do not know about the origins of film. I love the fact young people may learn about this.

When you agreed to do Hugo, who among your collaborators did you contact first? Do you go to Dante and say 'How do we do this?'

Martin Scorsese: I think I did. Yes, I think we went to Dante. Then the film was cancelled (laughs). I wanted the look of the film to be the boy's memory of Paris in 1931 so it doesn't have to accurate. It has to be heightened, but it shouldn't be fantasy. So I was thinking about the surrealist films of the 1920s that they made there - René Clair's Le Million, but particularly Under the Roofs of Paris and A nous la liberate and the beautiful Jean Vigo films Zero de Conduite and L'atalante. That whole school of filmmaking of the time is what we really embraced. Apparently Brian Selznick too, in the book, used the references including The 400 Blows (by François Truffaut).

Can you talk about 3D and its place in filmmaking. 3D has its supporters and critics, just like Technicolor had its supporters and critics?

Martin Scorsese: The first time images started to move, immediately people wanted color, sound, a big screen and depth and that's just what we're doing now. Ultimately it took until 1935 to get the three strip Technicolor process working right and even then, from 1935 to 1960 or so, color was only deemed proper, or appropriate, for musicals, comedies and westerns. No serious, quote-unquote, films. Until finally in 1967, 68 or 69 or just about the time the color started to fade, that's when every film had to be made in color. I remember doing Raging Bull in 1979 and the studio was reluctant to do it in black and white. Irwin Winkler pointed it out to them every picture made in the 1970s in black and white had been a hit - Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show and Lenny - so they relented. You have to understand that is a mindset against color because there were so many attempts at color from 1895 . They were all hand tinted and painted. There were so many attempts and the audience always said 'It wasn't realistic enough. The skin tones are wrong. Everything is orange. Everything is blue' until finally they got it right. For me, 3D is just another element to tell a story. As I'm sitting here now, I'm seeing you in 3D. Most people have stereo vision, so why belittle that very, very important element of our existence? There's got to be, for all of our technical expertise, a comfortable way of dealing with it. The cameras are certainly getting smaller. The cameras are getting more flexible. The issue with glasses? No glasses. That's being worked on. Why not use it?

Where do you see the next big change in filmmaking?

Martin Scorsese: If everything moves along and there are no major catastrophes we're basically headed towards holograms. Why can't you have 3D Hamlet? He comes out to the audience and does 'To be or not to be?' I mean, they do in the theater. The actor walks right out into the center. Why can't you have it in a movie theater? You have to think that way. Don't let the economics and fashion inhibit you if you're being creative.

You have some great actors in the film - Sir Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee and Jude Law and the youngsters Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz. Probably the most interesting casting choice was Sacha Baron Cohen as the train station inspector. Can you talk about that?

Martin Scorsese: The station inspector's job is to question any kid in the train station who looks like a street urchin. If they have no family, they go to an orphanage. I asked Brian Selznick if we could open up the part because I didn't want him to just be a villain who is chasing after the boy. I wanted to bring more layers to the character and that's why I wanted to work with Sacha Baron Cohen. I know he would bring more layers to it.

Martin Scorsese's Hugo will be released on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD February 28.

Hugo was released November 23rd, 2011 and stars Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory. The film is directed by Martin Scorsese.

There are all kinds of ways for one to break into the entertainment industry, and producer/actor/writer Ali Afshar took a rather interesting route. After breaking into the drag racing circuit as a teenager, Ali Afshar moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of acting, appearing on Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Power Rangers Turbo, and in films such as Godzilla, The Siege, and Three Kings. He also continued racing throughout the years, launching the company ESX Motorsports, and his new project Born 2 Race, is a perfect marriage of both racing and filmmaking.

Born 2 Race, which is currently available on VOD formats and arrives on DVD February 28, gives us a legitimate look at the drag racing world, and the super-charged Subaru imports that Ali Afshar himself used to race against big block muscle cars. I recently had the chance to speak with Ali Afshar over the phone about Born 2 Race, which he co-wrote, produced, and has a brief cameo role in, and here's what he had to say.

One of the things I was intrigued by, was at the end of the film, there is a lengthy list of sponsors, auto parts manufacturers and other car companies. My first thought was that this movie was built like a race team. Would that be accurate, or was that more of just a thank you to all these companies that helped out during the production?

Ali Afshar: That's specifically a thank you, but you hit the nail right on the head. It's very much like a race team. I took 15 years of my racing sponsorships and relationships, and when I came back to acting... I used to act full-time, then I went back to racing. I took about a six-to-eight year break to race for Subaru of America. The economy shifted, so I got back into the acting world, but this time, not only did I want to come back to acting, but I also wanted to do my own projects. This was the first one, and I called everyone, because I wanted to make a movie that was technically correct. We didn't want people to laugh at the technical car side of it, and it was a lot of fun. It's basically all my sponsors, and some new people, from my race team.

I read that the first version of the script was written back in 2002. Did the story that's on the screen now change much from that earlier draft?

Ali Afshar: Absolutely. It's night and day. A lot of the ideas are the same, but it changed a lot. There are probably about 10 different versions of that first script now. But yeah, the story originated way back when the director, Alex (Ranarivelo) and myself were shooting a short film around the corner from one of my shops in Southern California. We got to talking and we thought it would be a cool idea if this kid gets a sponsorship and he gets in trouble. It's actually what happened to me. I got in trouble when I was a kid. It definitely evolved a lot. We changed locations and it changed drastically. But like the NHRA High School Drags, I actually won that in Northern California when I was in high school, so that's coming from my past. The town of Bradford, we were originally going to make it Petaluma, where I grew up, small town America.

Was the place you grew up in that car crazy, with all these kids racing?

Ali Afshar: Absolutely, yeah. I think the whole movie has that mentality. That small town, Petaluma, had a street called Petaluma Boulevard, and if you've seen American Graffiti or Peggy Sue Got Married, all those movies were shot in Petaluma. That little stretch of Petaluma Boulevard, in the 80s, was a total cruising spot. People would come from hundreds of miles away, on Friday and Saturday nights, just to go cruise the boulevard, and it was huge, just like in American Graffiti. They would go cruise, pick up girls, party, have fun, race. That street is literally the street that Harrison Ford has that race, that street is literally in the town where I grew up, and was marked by the film crew. We would use those same marks, because they were pretty accurate for a quarter-mile. That was were I grew up, and then I moved to L.A. in the 90s. Now, mind you, when I grew up in the 80s, there really wasn't that import-domestic rivalry. It was more like a Chevy-Ford rivalry. Then in the 90s, I moved to L.A., and street racing went through the roof. The beginning of this movie is 100% real. I've been arrested five times for street racing. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, I've never had a DUI or anything like that, but I've had run-ins with the cops many times, before I turned pro. That section of it is real-life L.A./San Fernando roads. I could name you a bunch of the streets we used to go racing on in L.A.

What I liked about this movie is it's the muscle cars versus the "rice burners," the imports. Do you think it's more intriguing to set up races like this, instead of imports versus imports or muscle cars versus muscle cars? I thought it was cool to see this little engine that could go up against these big blocks.

Ali Afshar: Absolutely. That's what happened in real life, when my Subaru came out. Before I started racing for Subaru of America, we were running really quick numbers with a little four-cylinder, all-wheel-drive Subaru. We were taking on big V8's in these sanctioned races, and that's kind of where it came from. We're going around the water box. We're not even burning out, because you can't burn out. You can't heat up all four tires. I think it was cool to see all those different horsepower cars. It's small engine versus big engine, and people like seeing underdogs. When you see a big block and then this goofy-looking car that you think is going to get killed, and the exact opposite happens, the car jumps out and runs an eight-second quarter mile, and the other guy is running 10.20, you're like, 'What the hell?' I think it is a little more interesting. Mind you, people in the know, know what little cars do these days. I'm sure you know, but still, you go to a majority of the big drag races, and there are a lot of people who still don't know, especially in the amateur races. We travel all around the U.S., and sometimes we'll just go to a Friday night race, just to play around. They have no idea we have a car that runs seven, or our street car that runs eight with a full interior. We sometimes piss people off. We'll set up and come up to the starting line, and usually it's against a big block nasty muscle car. I'll go around the water box and then we stop and three of the four doors open and the whole crew gets out. They close the doors and tell me to line up, just to jab them a little bit. It's fun. I think it's cool to pair these up.

This is your producing debut, and this is definitely within your wheelhouse, but as a producer, is it kind of a logistical nightmare to get all these cars together? You have literally hundreds and hundreds of cars racing against each other, so was that a problem for you at all, or was it just part of the process?

Ali Afshar: You know what, it really wasn't a problem, but it was definitely a challenge and a big task. Did it all work out great? Yes. We had a great relationship with the race track, racers, we did a lot of social media. We had a lot of our friends, family, and associates that we called in favors for. It was difficult because we didn't have multiples of a lot of cars. We just had multiples of a couple of lead cars, and we only had an 18-day shoot, which was a little bit tough. Coming from the racing world, it may be even more aggressive than the production world, because you just have to make things happen. It's just how it is. You may have to take a motor out in the middle of the night, because you're racing at 7 in the morning. My core guys are also the car wranglers of this movie. Was it a a day at Disneyland? No. It was tough, but it was doable. It's an independent movie, so we needed to do it this way. We don't have a Fast & Furious budget, but we tried to make it accurate and still exciting. I definitely had to call in all my favors and do everything I could with cars and sponsors. Like I said, a big part of it was making it legit. You don't hit nitrous 16 times and shift gears 12 times in a quarter-mile. It's a quarter-mile. You don't downshift in the sand at 40 miles per hour and do a wheelie and kill somebody. Even though that's fun and exciting, I thought we could get a niche market where car people will like it, and they will like it forever.

I also see that you're working on a sequel to Born 2 Race. Is there a script for that yet, or is there anything you can say about it?

Ali Afshar: There's definitely something in place. We're always developing it. There are a couple of automotive projects that I have going on, plus a couple that aren't automotive-related. I have three auto features, and two non-auto features going on, and we also have an auto-based reality show. There are a lot of things in the works, including Born 2 Race 2, which we'll hopefully get to later this year. We're trying to see how the movie does in North America, because it's one of the last areas of the world to show it. Most of the rest of the world has already released it, so that will dictate whether or not we'll get Born 2 Race 2, but we're definitely planning on doing it.

Are you shopping the reality show to networks right now?

Ali Afshar: Yeah, we're in negotiations with a couple of different networks right now, just trying to figure out where the right place is. The reality show is a car show with a lot of heart, and I'm just trying to find the right place for it. I'm not too trigger happy to go to the first place. We're in a couple of negotiations now to try and find the right place for it. It's a really fun thing that hasn't been done before. When it comes out, we can talk more about it.

Finally, what would you say that racing fans can expect from Born 2 Race that they haven't seen in a racing movie before?

Ali Afshar: What I want people to think of is that this movie, at it's core, is a father and son story. It's a PG-13 movie, it's not an R movie, and I want people to be able to enjoy it, particularly the car people, but I also made it in a way that mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmas can enjoy it to, because it's got a lot of heart to it. The cast did just a fantastic job, Joseph (Cross), Brando (Eaton), John (Pyper-Ferguson), Christina (Moore), everybody did such a great job. I think it's relateable to the whole family. I would like people to check it out and just enjoy it as a movie, and if you get into it, you'll get a heavy backdrop into these companies. As you know, I race for Subaru, so big thanks to Subaru and Pepboys and Injen, and all these companies who stepped up to help us. It's a legitimate movie that's fun and exciting, and it's 96 minutes well spent. Hopefully they'll go buy it and keep it on their shelves, and the next one, we're going to do it a little bit bigger. We're going to go for possibly a theatrical release, so I hope people like it.

Great. That's my time. Thanks so much. It was great talking to you, and I enjoyed the film.

Ali Afshar: Thank you. I'm really glad you liked it.

You can pick up Ali Afshar's Born 2 Race on DVD February 28, and you can also check it out on VOD platforms.

Born 2 Race was released February 28th, 2012 and stars Joseph Cross, John Pyper-Ferguson, Brando Eaton, Nicole Badaan, Sherry Stringfield, Spencer Breslin, Christina Moore, Erik King. The film is directed by Alex Ranarivelo.

Warner Premiere will debut Justice League: Doom, the latest adventure in their DC Universe animated series on Blu-ray and DVD February 28. Like all the past DC Universe adventures, Justice League: Doom stars a talented ensemble of voice actors, including Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum. The actor voices The Flash, a role he is reprising from the 2001 animated series Justice League. Michael Rosenbaum recently discussed his role in Justice League: Doom, and you can take a look at the actor's video interview segments, plus another Q&A below.

Justice League Doom: Michael Rosenbaum Interview, Part 1

Justice League Doom: Michael Rosenbaum Interview, Part 2

Justice League Doom: Michael Rosenbaum Interview, Part 3

Justice League Doom: Michael Rosenbaum Interview, Part 4

How was this Flash different from your past performances?

Michael Rosenbaum: This Flash is more mature, so he's taking things a little more seriously. But we still had some fun with the character. He's still fun loving, but he's taking business seriously.

What does it mean to you to be back with this group of actors again?

Michael Rosenbaum: It's amazing being back with the old team, to come back here and all be a part of something special. It's exciting. And everybody's really great. We always had a blast. We always were joking. Lots of great guest stars and always a lot of laughs.

What is it about Flash that so appeals to you?

Michael Rosenbaum: I think it's his sense of humor. In most superhero films and shows, everybody takes themselves so seriously - and you need that guy that's going to take the edge off, provide a little levity, give us a laugh to break the tension. He's no less of a super hero just because he's got a comedy schtick. He just knows how to have fun with danger.

Did you ever learn anything about yourself voicing Flash?

Michael Rosenbaum: I guess you learn a little from every character you play, This character is always a kid at heart. I really think deep down with The Flash that it's like this inner child that's just trying get out, and I think that everybody has got to keep that. So it reminds me that you've got to always have fun with things. Don't take work too seriously. Don't wait for the big part, and if you didn't get it, it's not the end of the world. It puts things in perspective. Be like Flash, he kind of goes with the flow.

Do you collect any kind of Flash memorabilia?

Michael Rosenbaum: I have toys at my house. I have Flash toys. I have Superman toys. I have lunchboxes. I have the original lunchbox of "Superman The Movie." It cost me a hundy. It's probably worth $105 now. Mm hmm. I even have The Warriors dolls. Remember The Warriors? One of my favorite things is an original Justice League painting by Alex Ross that hangs in my guest room. Alex is a genius. I was at this convention signing autographs. And I'm a nerd. Whenever I'm done signing, I want to go walk around like the fans because that's who I am. So I was walking around and I saw this amazing painting that was going for $2,000 and this guy says, 'Don't buy it, I know Alex.' So sure enough, Alex sent me one about a week later to my house. And then I met him later on. He's a great guy. He did my Lex Luthor portrait for TV Guide way back when.

What were you thinking coming back to the studio to record for the first time as Flash after all these years?

Michael Rosenbaum: I made sure that I got some sleep last night before I came to the studio because I knew that I had to really bring my A-game to Bruce (W. Timm) and Andrea (Romano) and the crew. The great thing about voice work is that you don't have to worry about too much because you work with a great team. You just kind of sit down and relax and have water and a bag of chips and you just say the lines until you get them right. The funny part is that, when you're alone in the booth, sometimes you don't have anybody else to talk to. You're just looking out through the glass partition, and if they don't want to hear you, they just let go of the button and you sit there talking to yourself. So I sit alone in this big room and I just kind of read copy. As long as you can read, you're okay.

You've worked with Andrea Romano for a long time. What makes her so special at what she does?

Michael Rosenbaum: She is the best in the business. She knows the material. She knows exactly what's happening at every moment. And she doesn't make you feel stupid. She's become a dear friend, sometimes she comes to my Thanksgiving dinners. Bruce doesn't. Okay, maybe I don't invite him. But with Andrea, she takes her job seriously but in a fun way, kind of like Flash. What's really funny about Andrea is that she'll sugarcoat things. You'll know you sucked on a read, but she'll make it sound like you didn't suck - but still get you to do it better. For instance, she'll say, 'That was really great, except this time you're a little more serious,' or 'Maybe with a darker tone,' or something that directs the actor without deflating him. She makes it playful and fun.

What was your reading of choice when you were a kid?

Michael Rosenbaum: I didn't really have a strong comic book relationship. I had more Fangoria magazines than I had comic books. I'm a big horror movie nut. Most kids would come home and do milk and cookies. My mother had milk, cookies and "Motel Hell." This is the crap I watched and this is why I can't sleep. I have an alarm system and a dog and a baseball bat next to my bed. But for some reason, I still watch horror movies. I actually directed a horror short called "Fade Into You." Check it out sometime. I got these great horror actors - AJ Bowen and Danielle Harris -- and we shot it at my house for two and a half days and nights. It was a blast.

You've played Lex Luthor and you've voiced Flash. Is there a character that your inner geek is craving to play?

Michael Rosenbaum: I think I'd be a fantastic Han Solo. Unfortunately, Harrison Ford played Han Solo. But I think that's my personality. Maybe someday they'll do a series where I could play Han Solo. Who knows? A guy can hope.

Justice League: Doom arrives on Blu-ray and DVD February 28.

Justice League: Doom was released February 28th, 2012 and stars Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, Susan Eisenberg, Nathan Fillion, Carl Lumbly, Michael Rosenbaum, Bumper Robinson, Carlos Alazraqui. The film is directed by Lauren Montgomery.

Back in 2008, director Antonio Campos made his feature debut with the indie hit Afterschool. The project came through Borderline Films and the principal trio of Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, and Josh Mond, who rotate as writers, directors, and producers. Last year, it was Sean Durkin's turn with his critically-acclaimed directorial debut Martha Marcy May Marlene, which arrives on Blu-ray and DVD February 21. I recently had the chance to speak with Sean Durkin over the phone about his feature directorial debut, and here's what he had to say below.

I was wondering if you could talk a bit about the inception, and getting the script started. There have been several comparisons made to this cult in the film and the Manson Family. Did you use that as a starting off point, or did it evolve into that from something else?

Sean Durkin: Well, it sort of naturally started there, in the sense that I had always wanted to make a film about a cult. I started my research with the most famous cults of the 60s and 70s like Manson and Jonestown. I ended up with something more like Manson, so yeah, it sort of naturally progressed from that. My intention was not to base it off that at all. I actually ended up starting to understand how cults work, and then I found people who have been in more modern cults, and I based it off their experiences.

Yeah, that was going to be my next question, actually, if you ever did get to speak with someone who survived a cult. Did you have anyone like that on set, or was that all in the research process?

Sean Durkin: Yeah, I talked to lots of people who had been in and then got out, some people who had just come across these places and left. I also met so many people over the course of the year, after screenings and things. I just sort of heard their stories, because I have never been to one or been in one, I had to find ways to connect. I just wanted to understand the emotion of it, and the emotion of what they went through. I found ways to connect to more every day or closer-to-life experiences. It really came down to understanding the dynamic between the people and the leader of the group, understanding people who have been in an abusive relationship. That's really what it is, at the core.

I read that after you cast Elizabeth (Olsen), you were shooting just a few weeks later. I believe you only had a 20-day shooting schedule as well. Do you find there is a benefit to having a schedule like that? I've heard other people say it helps because you don't have time to over-think things. Do you think that kind of a schedule helped shape this movie?

Sean Durkin: Yeah, I think it helped me. I can be indecisive with everything, except making a movie, so I think the less time I have the better, in some ways. But, it's also the only way I've ever made a movie, and we've ever made movies. I probably need to make another one with a lot of time, to really understand, but I think in this scenario, it was great for my first (feature) film. You just have to continuously trust your instincts. That's really more important to learn than anything else.

You have Elizabeth's breakthrough performance, and John Hawkes is the new indie king I guess, which is great because I love his work. You also have Hugh Dancy and Sarah Paulson, so can you talk a bit about the casting process? Was it as quick as finding Elizabeth?

Sean Durkin: Oh, finding Lizzie wasn't quick at all. With the other roles, like Hugh and Sarah and John, that was the casting director saying, 'Hey, what do you think about this person?' They met with me and they responded to the script, and I was lucky that they wanted to do it. Martha was the only role, really, where we had open casting, and that was like a search, a search for an unknown actress. We saw every unknown actress we could see, and that took, I guess four or five weeks. Finding Lizzie was seeing everyone we could that fit the description, and had never done a movie before. That was really important to me.

Can you take us through a day on the set, and the overall mood and tone you tried to establish during production?

Sean Durkin: I always try to build an atmosphere that is both relaxed and intense (Laughs) and friendly and focused. It's a friendly environment. If someone just gets to set, we're usually all at the bar together the night before, just all hanging out. The great thing about this film is there are two locations, and they're both so isolated that we got to set in the morning, and there's really nowhere else to go so you can't leave. You're there for all these days and weeks, and you're really feeling the environment and get settled in. Like at the farm, for instance, we'd be sitting around in between takes, on a summer day, in between set-ups, and everyone is sitting around playing guitar (Laughs). It really just felt like this warm and friendly environment, but everyone was also so focused on the work, that it was a very intense environment. Obviously, when we get into the darker scenes, they're very focused, but they had a good energy.

Did you always have it in mind to shoot this up in the Catskills, when you were writing this?

Sean Durkin: Yeah, that was a part of the original idea, to spend time up there. It could totally happen up there, it could happen so easily. Then we found the location very early on, and the location also helped dictate the values of the cult. What kind of people would live up here in this situation, and take over this farm, what would they do? What would their values be? It was really dictated by the land. We felt like they would be trying to be self-sufficient, self-sustaining, farming. Their beliefs would sort of follow that.

We reported awhile ago that Borderline signed a first-look deal with Fox Searchlight. Is there anything you can say about anything you're writing, or maybe Josh's project?

Sean Durkin: I can't talk about anything specifically. I don't have anything officially set right now, but I'm working on a couple of things. I'm just really focusing on writing right now, and just trying to figure out my new script.

What would you like to say to anyone who didn't get to see Martha Marcy May Marlene in theaters, about why they should pick up the Blu-ray or DVD?

Sean Durkin: Go with the ride. I like to think of Martha Marcy May Marlene as a journey, that takes you into this world. I used to tell people before screenings to just go on the ride with her.

Great. That's my time. Thanks so much, Sean.

Sean Durkin: Cool, thank you.

You can pick up Sean Durkin's Martha Marcy May Marlene on Blu-ray and DVD February 21.

Martha Marcy May Marlene was released October 21st, 2011 and stars Elizabeth Olsen, Christopher Abbott, Brady Corbet, Hugh Dancy, Maria Dizzia, Julia Garner, John Hawkes, Louisa Krause. The film is directed by Sean Durkin.

You show up on a bunch of shows and you guest star on a bunch of shows besides Archer. How do you find the time to work on everything or show up on everything all of a sudden?

Chris Parnell: I'm glad it seems like I'm constantly working. I do okay. I can't complain. But it's kind of scattered around, so there's usually not too much trouble fitting stuff in. Every now and then things will get in a bit of a press and it will be a little hurried and maybe not as much sleep involved, but normally things fit in without too much trouble.

How did you actually get involved with the show?

Chris Parnell: Well, I originally auditioned for a different role for the pilot for Archer, I believe it was maybe a Russian interrogator, like the fake interrogator who's testing Archer, and I didn't get that, I guess my Russian's not that great, my Russian accent, and I thought that was it. And then, lo and behold, not too much later after that I found out that (series creator) Adam Reed, he was making me the offer to play Cyril. And I didn't even have to think about it because I knew the pilot was great, so yes, it was kind of great.

As I understand it, everybody on Archer and most animated shows, for that matter, record in isolation. I know that you have a background in sketch and ensemble comedy with the Groundlings and obviously Saturday Night Live, so being in a booth alone recording lines for Cyril, does that ever present a challenge for you? What is that like?

Chris Parnell: It's a little challenging, in the sense that it's very easy to go in there and then just do the lines in a variety of ways without actually connecting to the lines, to use a little actor speak, so I have to remind myself to try to be present while I'm there. I sometimes picture the other actors there with me and try to imagine that I'm really speaking to them. Adam Reed will, if it's a long back and forth kind of sequence I'm usually on the phone with him in KC, or Matt Thompson, and we will read back and forth, I'll do my part and he'll do the other parts. But I've also found, having recorded in more group kind of situations, especially if it's scripted like Archer is, you probably don't have the lines memorized anyway, and so trying to actually look at or make contact with somebody while you're reading these lines, yes, there's a certain energy that can happen there that is helpful and it probably in some ways makes it easier.  But once you get used to it, it's fine. I enjoy it. Time wise, it's fantastic. If we recorded it all together in a room it would certainly be a lot of fun, because we actually all really like each other, but it would take a long, long time. And this way I'm usually done in less than an hour.

What has been the most enjoyable part of playing Cyril?

Chris Parnell: I guess watching it after it's done, because usually between the time we record it and the time that it airs, or I see it on DVD or something that FX will send me, I've probably forgotten a decent amount of it. So to actually then see it animated and see the facial expressions and the things that the animators do with Cyril, it adds a whole other dimension to the character.   bring as much as I can vocally and acting wise to it, but they add a whole other level to it, so that's really fun.  I like doing voice over stuff. I like acting obviously. But to do a voice over character like that you don't have to worry about what you look like, you can just be ridiculous physically and focus all your energy into this vocal performance, and that's kind of freeing in a certain way, so I quite enjoy that.

Would you say are there any similarities in terms of personality between you and Cyril?

Chris Parnell: Certainly there's some insecurity there that I can relate to. I don't think I'm too much like Cyril otherwise. I'm not whiny, I don't think. 'God, I hope not. I do not commit infidelities. I haven't gone on any missions like an agent.  And I don't really know that much about accounting and comptrolling and such.  So he's a pretty different person than me, which is also part of what's fun about doing it.

Archer has been around for three seasons now and it's taken a while but you guys are finally really starting to get a great groundswell, a really great cult following.  I was wondering if you had a take on why it took this much time, or if you just think it's getting better, or your opinion on that.

Chris Parnell: I think it's true with pretty much any show, and obviously a lot of people have cable now, but a cable show is going to almost always have less viewership than a primetime network show. But we went to Comic-Con, I guess for the second season, I don't even know, we might have gone at some point in the first season, but even from the very beginning the rooms were filled, we had a bigger room this year, but it definitely had an audience from the beginning, it feels like.  And, yes, it's definitely grown and I think a lot of it's just word of mouth.  My parents even, or my sisters, they'll say, hey, somebody told me they really like you on Archer, so it spreads. I think people that watch it almost always like it and want to continue to watch it and then tell other people about it.  Hopefully that will just continue.  I think it's been a strong show from the start.  I don't know that it's gotten better.  I think probably the actors have gotten better.  Adam was writing stuff from the beginning, but I think in some ways we've settled into our performances more, certainly I like to think I have, and have a better footing for the character and are thus able to add more personality, more nuance, and that kind of thing to it.  But, no, it's great.  Last year at Comic-Con it was a pretty good size room and it was packed and to be able to watch an episode with a room full of people like that who are really enthusiastic and love the show and hear how they respond to it is pretty fun, it's pretty exciting, because I really haven't had that kind of experience before with a television show or something.

When you're reading the script and you have really different types of interactions with each of the characters on the show, which characters do you find the most enjoyable and why?

Chris Parnell: To interact with? Archer, or Lana, or Malory, so those are the first ones that come to mind.  Malory is such an evil b****, so that's very specific to respond to and to deal with, although we did have a romance, a bit of an afternoon of love last season. Lana is a very strong, interesting character, and we of course have our history.  Then, like I said before, with Archer, Archer is also not the nicest guy and it's fun to play that reaction to him and just let all my feelings about him come out.  Adam writes subtly, so it's not all black and white.  There's definitely a range of reactions there to the different characters. Cheryl/Carol, and Pam, and Gillette, they also make me laugh a lot. I don't interact with them as much, I guess, but I don't know that I could pick favorites exactly.

I was just wondering, do you think there's any area in being an actual agent that Cyril will ever become confident at?

Chris Parnell: You know, we found out in "El Contador," which I think was two or three of this season, that Cyril actually is surprisingly competent at this mission.  I don't know that he'll ever be a well rounded agent, and I don't know how far Adam's going to explore his being an agent.  It definitely comes up some more.  I hope I continue to get to do that.  But, yes, he actually pulls off some stuff surprisingly well.  He cuts it really close a few times in that episode doing things that aren't that smart, but overall he impresses Lana and Archer, and I think himself at a certain level.  It impressed me when I read it.  I was impressed with him.

What do you look for in a screenplay, whether it's television or a feature screenplay, and maybe if you can say which scripts you've read that really, really jumped out at you and seemed great to you over the years?

Chris Parnell: Wow! The truth is, if I'm going to get a part it's often because somebody offers it to me.  I've certainly gotten things that I've auditioned for, but I think about Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, that was brilliant and fantastic and I felt lucky to be a part of that. Miss/Guided, a show I did for ABC a few years ago, which I actually did have to audition for and was able to make it through to that even though it was very short-lived, that was a great script.  Every 30 Rock script is fantastic. Suburgatory, the show I'm working on now, that was happily an offer, even though I came in later on as just a guest star this season, it made me laugh, and I guess that's what I look for.  Archer, when I read it, it was just so dense with nuance and specificity and comedy and all these characters that he just weaves into this little compact, tight 30 minute thing, I guess actually less with commercials, but at the end of the day I'm hopefully going to laugh at it, assuming it's a comedy, which is most of what I am going to audition for or be offered if I am. Lately, I've got a little part in 21 Jump Street and The Five-Year Engagement that are coming out in the spring and I got into those through table reads, but when I read them I was like, oh yes, these can be really funny, I knew who some of the actors were and could picture those.  But I got those parts due to doing table reads, which I wish I could get all my parts that way that weren't offers.  But it also helps too if I know who has been cast in it thus far, who the leads are or whatever and then I can picture that actor doing it, and that makes it come to life a lot more in my mind.  

Can you talk about the table read process in comedy?

Chris Parnell: Yes.  Happily, I had a lot of experience doing it at Saturday Night Live.  Every Wednesday that we had a show we'd read all of the pieces that had been written in the writers' room at this big table with everybody around listening and watching, and so we'd do about 40 pieces and you're probably not going to be in every piece by any stretch of the imagination, but you're going to be in quite a few.  And then you're playing different characters in each one, and you may or may not have seen the script before, so sometimes it's a cold read, so you're called upon to make these choices that are quick and hopefully strong and right. And then doing a table read for 21 Jump Street and The Five-Year Engagement, because they're not going to have the whole cast there, generally it's a table read because it's at an earlier stage in the making of a movie and casting it even, you are asked to play multiple roles in that setting, at least one of which you're hopefully being considered for as a possible real role, and then these other parts, so it calls on those same SNL skills of making character choices and all this.  So it gets to show a range of what you can do, which is fun. You also have time to prepare.  It's not like SNL, where it's kind of a very quick thing, but you can actually read the script and look at it and think about the choices you're going to make for each character.  So in a way you're not just doing the part that you might actually get, but you're also doing these other parts that show a range, and hopefully if you can get laughs on those other parts too it builds up that sense to the people watching, that oh, he's funny, he can do this, and he can bring something to it.  But it's fun.  I like doing table reads.

With the breadth of your comedy experience and with all the different things that you've done so far, do you still find that you're shocked or surprised by how outrageous some of these Archer storylines are?

Chris Parnell: Adam does surprise me sometimes, yes.  Part of it is not being used to having these kinds of freedoms of what is said and the content and the subject matter and all that, that you can do on a late night table show like Archer, versus what we can even get away with on Saturday Night Live.  The censorship on SNL, the NBC censor was a lot more censoring than what happens on Archer.  And so that's always a little bit of a surprise and a delight to see what comes up in that.  But honestly, not much surprises me, and now certainly having a pretty good sense of what Adam is capable of and his sense of humor and what he can get away with, there's not too much that surprises me on that anymore.  But I guess I sometimes read it, and although I'm not shocked, but I am like, oh, okay, cool, nice.  I wouldn't have thought you would have gone there, but it's cool.

I'm wondering if you've ever done any screen writing, and if so what kinds of things have you written or what would you like to write?

Chris Parnell: Well, it's funny you bring that up.  I just turned 45 and so I think calling it a midlife crisis is a bit overstated, but I wrote a lot when I was at the Groundlings and I wrote a lot when I was at Saturday Night Live.  I've never tried to write a screenplay or a pilot or anything like that.  Honestly, since SNL I've done almost no writing, and I know that that is something that I probably should do. It's a confidence issue, frankly.  It's like you have to believe in the idea and you have to believe in yourself enough to actually put the energy it takes into trying to write something, certainly something as massive as a screenplay.  I've got my book, Story by Robert McKee, that is largely unread, and it's something I would like to do if I can ever get it together and ever had the idea that was right and that I felt strongly about.  What it would be, I don't know.  I would try to avoid clichés as much as possible.  I would try to avoid doing things that I see in other movies.  I would definitely try to avoid quirk for quirk's sake, even though a lot of those movies are funny too.  I know that's a weird answer, but I guess that's the most honest answer I can give.  I haven't, but I aspire to.

You can watch Chris Parnell as Cyril Figgis on Archer, which airs Thursday nights at 10 PM ET on FX.

Earlier today, I had the chance to speak with actress Nikki Reed, who plays Rosalie Hale in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, which arrives on Blu-ray and DVD February 11. We also talked a bit about the franchise finale, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, which hits theaters November 16. Take a look at what the actress had to say below about the final installment of this vampire franchise, including her thoughts on actress Mackenzie Foy, who plays Renesmee, and Bella's transition into becoming a vampire.

Exclusive: Nikki Reed

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 comes to theaters November 16th, 2012 and stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Anna Kendrick, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Peter Facinelli. The film is directed by Bill Condon.

The new FX animated series Unsupervised continues its Season 1 run Thursday, February 9 with Episode 1.04: Fires & Liars. Actor Romany Malco, who voices Darius on the show, recently held a conference call to discuss the rest of Season 1. Here's what he had to say below.

I'm a big fan of the show, a big fan of your work, and I'd love to learn more about what was your interest in the show, how you first heard about it, and was there something in there that was appealing to you personally that you wanted to give it a go? Tell me about your original interest in Unsupervised.

Romany Malco: I don't know if most actors will ever admit this, but look, I tell on myself all the time, you can just look at my timeline on Twitter and it's obvious that I tell on myself, and straight up, I've always wanted to do voice over on something. And I got to do a little bit of stuff on American Dad!, but for whatever reason I had never really landed the gig that I wanted, so when I learned that there was an offer out to me to be involved with this project instantly I wanted to know more. But when I started learning who was involved, that had a lot to do with it. And no matter what happens the track record of these gentlemen, they're just brilliant people, they really have the type of taste that I like, and honestly speaking, the game has changed so much and FX is one of the networks that is in the business of empowering their artists. They have a different business model to the business model of a lot of these different networks, and what I mean by that is FX is encouraging co-ownership of material. I call it the network that builds rock stars. They don't just throw something out and if it doesn't get the ratings that you want in the first three or four episodes, can it. They really do take time to nurture and grow an audience around the material that they use, which tells me that they get behind the stuff that they believe in. So that was another major factor. Then when I realized Justin [Long] was going to be involved, you know I'm a fan, and..., everybody involved just made me excited to be involved. And at the end of the day it was the people. Then lastly and most important, I read that pilot and was busting up. My agent read the pilot and she was busting up. My manager read the pilot and she was busting up. My dog, who's going through the Evelyn reading school thing, read most of the pilot. I'm sorry for the long, extended answer, but all of those factors had a lot to do with it. I wanted to be in business with people that are in business with FX because somewhere down the line I will be doing that type of business with FX. And it's good to learn and know the options that you have, the type of business models, and the people with entrepreneurial mind sets are the people that I'm just usually attracted to. You can take almost any job you want in Hollywood, but I'm the type of person that I want to work with a certain quality of people, a certain mindset of people, and this is giving me that opportunity. The sensibility and the humor, the relatability of the project, all of it is just awesome.

You mentioned the flavor of the show and the type of show that it is, and what I liked about it, it was not extreme in its humor like Family Guy or like South Park. It's a show that I can watch really with my family if I want to. Give me your comments on the direction of the show and the style of the show. Was that part of what got you into it?

Romany Malco: Yes, well, the truth is, I did not know really what the show looked like until after the fact. But it really looked like places that I had grown up in Texas. I lived in Baytown, Texas and I literally ran around and lived and grew up with people like these guys. But the thing that I caught on to almost instantly was, and this is going to sound really cheesy, in fact it might be one of the first things I tweeted when I started doing this show was it was nice to be a part of a show where these kids, and these kids are like burdened, oh I shouldn't use this quote but I'm going to, as my longtime friend and producer, Jon Feldman says, "These kids are burdened with optimism," and I thought it was a rare quality for shows because usually there's so much sarcasm and shock value humor in cartoons, and it's rare that you come across a couple of lead characters that are almost motivational speakers in their own right. They're looking at it from such a young and naïve perspective. And of course as you get older you become more aware that your childhood and your upbringing had a major impact on your self-esteem and your outlook on life, and as a result of that it tends to, if you allow it to, if you're not aware of it, dictate what you become in life. But these kids are still in their naïve phase and they're completely unaware of that and working so hard to do better. I live for that. I'm telling you, look at my Twitter line, look at Tijuana Jackson's Twitter line, look at my Facebook page, I live for this. Before this show ever came along I was talking and doing this just from a different perspective. So I love that about it and I love the contrast of them being in the neighborhood with 'Jojo Vanetti' and all these guys, do you know what I mean? I grew up like that and I relate to that, and even though I was a lot skinnier, I was 'Darius' in Baytown, Texas.

So what did that bleed into, for lack of a better term, your inspiration for 'Darius,' like the actual character 'Darius' was your personal upbringing and where you were from and all that stuff?

Romany Malco: I'm going to just go ahead and say it, 'Darius' is inspired by a family that I grew up with called the Greene family in Baytown, Texas. I go to Baytown for two families; for that family and my cousin, Darlene. 'Darius' is inspired by my best friends; I grew up in their house, they grew up in mine, the Greene family, in fact, Cane Greene, to be specific. It's just a certain voice and a certain perspective. I remember one time there was this guy in Baytown who was a really crazy dude and he always had negative things to say and he came up in a conversation and Cane didn't say a word, and then my cousin was like, Cane, you know who he's talking about, right? And Cane's response was this, are you ready, he said, 'Two percent, homey, two percent.' I said, 'What the hell does that mean?' He said, 'Man, people like that get about 2% of my energy, dog. That's why I ain't talking about him, 2%.' That right there is how I see 'Darius.' He tells it like it is, but he doesn't waste much time doing anything else. And I love that.

It's like the voice of reason almost.

Romany Malco: It is. And he's conscious of his shortcomings but he doesn't kill himself for it. Whereas most, at least for me, I shouldn't say most of us, but I'm like the kids, do you know what I mean, I want to fix myself. I'm like 'Gary.' I want to fix me. But Cane and 'Darius,' they're wise, and they accept who they are and leave it at that.

When you're reading the script and you're seeing the show and you're seeing these different kids and these different personalities, do you ever point them out and say, you know we didn't kick it like that when I was in school, this kid reminds me of a kid I used to know, or this guy reminds me of a neighbor I used to have? Do you have any personal experience that you're really oh, wow that looks familiar?

Romany Malco: Literally every episode. I'm lucky, I get to read opposite David all the time, David Hornsby, who's actually one of the creators of the show, I get to read opposite him, and there's always a moment where it goes silent in the booth and he's like, what is it? Is everything okay? And I'm always like, yes, this just reminds me of - and I'm telling you I had West Indian parents, I grew up in the Caribbean, I grew up in New York, and I grew up in Baytown, Texas, and the fights at the games, we had those for real. This is no joke, Baytown, Texas, there are two high schools, Lee and Sterling, and they were serious rivals, and we literally would go to games with the intention of having fights. We were that school. The dude with the patch over his eye, we had that guy. The whole 'Yo, we built a lake you've got to come down and see it,' we built that lake. I'm not exaggerating. It's so weird because I didn't grow up in Hollywood, so as a result of that I think that my references tend to come from a different place. A lot of people have this huge catalog of movies and shows and cartoons that they can reference. I don't have that. I have real life experiences. I grew up with those dudes. Anyway, I can go on and on but one for sure is we had this creek that ran behind our house and once in a while you would see life in it, and we literally did go there and intentionally shovel the bank into an area so we could create our own little pond. Now, here's what's crazy, we've even done that in New York. In New York we dug a big trench when I lived in Queens, and we dug a big trench in my yard and filled it with water and then we went to a pond in Queens, and at the time we didn't catch any fish but there were a bunch of these little tadpoles so we brought the tadpoles back and put them in the pond that we made. And I kid you not you haven't seen anything until you see these frogs hopping all over your street in Queens, mashed, people freaking out because a frog chased them to their front porch and they think a frog is chasing them, because they got cut off by a frog, I've done it all.

When we got into the call we were talking about a pilot you were writing, is there anything you're working on for 2012, anything that we can look out for? What can we expect for Romany this year?

Romany Malco: Here's what's going on, I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm just going to say it anyway, let me think about it, I'm basically going out on camera to perform a show. I don't want to tell too much, but I'm going out for a show and literally meeting the people within the span of my social network, so anywhere from Facebook to Twitter to whatever, I'm actually going on the road on the tour bus and meeting with people and documenting it for a show. Yes, I'm really excited about that, because if you looked at my social network you'd get a good sense of how I engage, and it's very personal, because really I'm thinking out loud. And a lot of people would prefer not to share their private life like that, but for me it's the whole point. The people in my personal life, when I engage them I engage them on a very real level. Why wouldn't I do the same? If I could multiply my span or my outreach why wouldn't I do the same? I'm really curious on people's opinions. I grew up, like I said, in a West Indian family, a lot of my family's from the country, and I don't have that etiquette as a lot of people that was passed on from their upbringing. I don't have that etiquette. So a lot of times I can be offensive or I can be off the mark, and it's nice to learn other people's upbringing and their perspectives or culture, and so this has been an opportunity for me to do that. So now we're taking that whole thing and putting it on the tour bus and I'm actually going cross-country doing that and it is really exciting.

The nature of the episodes right now feel like they're random stories. Are we going to get into a serialized nature where we get to see 'Gary' and 'Joel' progress and maybe get more realization or less innocent?

Romany Malco: I will tell you something, I've been following it on Twitter and it's amazing how many quotes go up with the hash tag #UnsupervisedFX during the airing of these shows and throughout the week. It's amazing to me because I know for a fact that the show takes off, and when I say takes off it just hits a different level of entertainment starting on Episode 4, or is it Episode 3, Episode 4. So what I've experienced so far is this, the characters become much more refined and the relationships among the characters become much more defined, but it does not become any more serialized. It's different episodes, not continuing, it doesn't lead into the next ..., but it does have more of a...line in regards to the living conditions of the kids and the relationships that the kids have at school and amongst one another. So you get a look into each individual character's life and how the guys play into it. It gives us this feel of a continuation because you're suddenly aware of the quirks of the different characters, so once you get that opportunity to step into their personal lives, it doesn't seem like it's out of nowhere.

Will we see a bigger role for 'Darius'? Right now he's like the scene stealer and, like I said earlier, the voice of reason, but does he tend to take on a bigger role or a deeper friendship with 'Gary' and 'Joel' and maybe even 'Megan'?

Romany Malco: He sure does. Not only does he do that, but he also has a few of his own episodes. How else can I say it, I think that what happens with most shows is that you're figuring it out as you're going along, you don't know how the characters are going to mesh, you're feeling it all out, you've got to do testing to see what people are responding to, and I genuinely believe that, those guys, man, they struck a chord when they started writing 'Darius.' All I've noticed since I've been coming back is more and more and more material for 'Darius' to perform.

So, yes, he's going to have a much more in depth role starting around Episode 4. They said that 'Darius' really gets to shine, so, yes, definitely. But we're just feeling it out. My first job... they didn't know if I was going to suck at doing this thing, they didn't know if I was going to hit the right beats, and voice over is difficult, and also it's the beginning of the pilot and you've got to establish the main characters and establish them well and then you build around it. So you guys be patient. If you disappoint you can tweet me directly, man, I'll give you your viewership back.

One thing I also want to wrap up with this group of questions, is you normally are working with other actors, you get to interact with them, see their faces, see their reactions, are you reading alone or do you get to read in the booth with all the other actors?

Romany Malco: The truth is, I'm not technically reading alone, because I do read with David. I read with David almost every single episode, and sometimes I get to read with Rob (Rosell). But what it is, is they're sitting in a sound booth in LA, and I'm in New York, because I just recently moved to New York because I've been doing The Good Wife here. And I'm in New York so I don't really have anyone in the booth, which is a different experience, but I will say something about that, I think it's kind of cool. One, David and Rob know what they want so they know how to guide me along. They also encourage me to try different takes, different perspectives, we improvise together, a lot of that stuff sometimes ends up in it, sometimes it doesn't because sometimes I just stink. A lot of times I'm just asking them for lines, but the point is this, I have a reference point that I think a lot of people don't have, and that reference point is I grew up in a neighborhood and amongst people like these characters. So as a result of that there's this picture and this idea of where they are, what the room is like, what the people are like, what it smells like, what it sounds like in my head that I've had since childhood, and getting to play off of that and incorporate that into the show, I can always tell when David and Rob are really excited about that, because, first of all, they let you know. And second of all, it really does resonate as if it's coming from somewhere genuine. I guess I just sounded really arrogant right there, but you can tell. That's all I'm saying. There's a difference between a guy who talks about fighting and a guy who's been punched in the face. That's all I'm saying.

You have such an interesting career, you kind of flipped back and forth to comedy and drama and now you're doing voice over stuff. What's your advice to actors?

Romany Malco: First of all, let me just tell you this, thank you so much for acknowledging that. Thank you so much for acknowledging that. My advice to actors is, everything I tell you comes with a story, and my advice to actors is honor the stories. Honor the stories first. A lot of people will jump into work because they get to do something, or they'll jump into work because of the instant gratification of feeling like you're working and feeling like you're doing something, but the truth of the matter is I have a great agent, I have great management, but my best piece of representation comes from my body of work. And I'm beginning to believe that the patient are the ones, in the long run I believe the patient people are the ones who ultimately get to that place. I honestly thought because of the fact that I was being so picky, and not just being picky, but being an African-American who was being picky in this industry, I really...weirdest, I don't know why I thought this, and it doesn't even have anything to do with race, I just thought I was being penalized because I always would see my peers getting so much press and being in so many different things, and I couldn't bring myself to being involved in a lot of the projects that were being offered to me. And I thought that I was maybe pissing Hollywood off and executives off because I kept saying no, thank you. And over the last ten years it was kind of trying and I was tempted to get involved in projects that I wasn't really excited about. But I didn't and suddenly I'm looking at today, I'm looking at the fact that I've got Unsupervised on the air, and I'm extremely proud of it. I've been doing guest appearances on The Good Wife. I've got a movie called Think Like a Man coming out, which is my first urban film. I've got another movie coming out with Kate Hudson which is a full blown drama where I play her best friend. I'm doing a show now, an online show, and I get to go online and meet my social people in my social network face-to-face. And I don't know, man, I feel really lucky and very fortunate to basically stay true to honoring good story, and that's it, my advice to actors is to honor a good story and study.

Unsupervised, featuring Romany Malco voicing Darius, airs Thursday nights at 10:30 PM ET on FX.

Unsupervised episode 1.4, "Fires & Liars" stars Justin Long, David Hornsby, Kristen Bell, Romany Malco, Fred Armisen, Cherise Boothe, Glenn Howerton, Rob Rosell and is directed by Todd Redner.

On Blu-ray and DVD starting today, February 7th, Anonymous is the latest dramatic thriller from acclaimed director Roland Emmerich. It attempts to solve the mystery behind the true author of William Shakespeare's most iconic works. Xavier Samuel stars in the film as the Earl of Southampton, a William Shakespeare dedicatee and the focus of his sonnets. We caught up with the actor to discuss some of the controversy behind this exciting new release. Our conversation is below.

There's not much ocean in Anonymous. So what was the draw for you?

Xavier Samuel: (Laughs) Yeah, you are right. I do try to find movies that are near or on the ocean. (Laughs) Look, I think this is a pretty controversial story. Its not often that you get to be in an Elizabethan thriller. I have always been fascinated by William Shakespeare. I jumped at the opportunity to be involved in a story like this.

Roland Emmerich doesn't shy away from the fact that there isn't a lot of truth telling in this story. It's not based on fact. As an actor, that must mean you have to pay more attention to the authenticity of the era, just in selling the piece home.

Xavier Samuel: John Orloff wrote a great script, so that is your starting point. My character, the Earl of Southampton, did exist. Though a lot of the relationships have changed, who he is has stayed consistent. I read a lot about that guy. Also, you have to be aware of the ideology of the film. It's a fast paced, thrilling story. Also, aside from the whole authorship thing, it's ludicrous to come up with any theory...Because there is so little information about it. There are a lot of strange coincidences that point to some of it being correct. But in terms of the whole authorship thing, you have to work out that the film is more about the relationship between art and politics, than how art can affect a great deal of change. So I focused on that aspect of the story, and less on "who dunnit?"

Those watching the movie, who are not well versed in the history of it, might not realize Earl of Southampton was a real person. In keeping with the themes of the movie, do you feel, through this project, that you have any authorship on the character of Earl?

Xavier Samuel: You have a bit of license, you know? You have to make the character your own. Because he's not around to talk to, and get to know. You have to go off the history books, and use those pieces of information that you find. Those becomes little springboards that are useful. As I was reading about him, I discovered that he was the rock star of his time. He had a massive entourage with him, wherever he went. He lived well beyond his means. He was an ambassador to the theater. He gave a lot of money to the writers to keep them writing. He really supported the theater. He was a very loyal guy. He stood by what he believed in. He stood by is friends. You grab those pieces of the picture, and you can start to assemble, little by little, what this guy might be like. Then, it's kind of up to you.

He can't speak for himself, as you said. His backstory has been filtered through god knows how many different writers throughout history. And many different voices get added to that. It really becomes a collage of who this person truly is...

Xavier Samuel: Yeah. You have to offer just a fragrance of who this guy might have been. Also, you can't be too egotistical about it. You have to remember what the function of the character is in the story. In this instance, it was to stay loyal to Essex and his good friends. I think if we incorporated everything I read about him, it might end up being a little inappropriate.

You call the Earl a rock star of the Elizabethan age. Was it hard for you to discover exactly what that means, and what that might be?

Xavier Samuel: Well, there was no guitar! I was actually a bit bummed when I learned that. When I say "Rock Star", its about the qualities that come with that sort of attitude. It's not about always being obnoxious. But it is about presenting yourself as someone the people want to listen to. As someone who is charismatic. In terms of rock stars, I think of those guys as being charismatic. You want to be around them. It's about the qualities that make a person exist. That's the type of guy he was really. He was flamboyant, and funny.

Speaking of flamboyancy...Roland Emmerich is a very flamboyant filmmaker. This could have been a small, indie movie, but he put his iconic, bombastic spin on it. Do you think this would have been a different movie had he not been attached to it?

Xavier Samuel: No. Not at all. I think he was the guy for it. People always forget that he directed The Patriot. Which was a really compelling period drama that dealt with similar issues. I knew he had that string in his bow. Also, he is known for blowing things up...In this film, he rebuilds them. He does something profound in recreating the London of that time. We get to see that. It's an amazing thing in itself. If you go see the movie for no other reason, that is something that is equally as interesting as well. Also, he really is an actor's director. He is insightful, and he has great instincts. He is able to communicate exactly what is at the heart of a scene. I really enjoyed working with him. I can't imagine it being someone else.

I don't think anyone else would have been able to capture this world with the same eye he brings to it...

Xavier Samuel: It is very dark, and very intimate...Isn't it?

Where do you stand amongst the controversy? It was interesting to watch the chord this struck amongst viewers. Do you lean to any particular side?

Xavier Samuel: Uh...I think its an elitist theory to say that a working class man like William Shakespeare couldn't have possibly written these plays, because he had no idea what it was like to be an aristocrat, or be in the cause. He wouldn't know about the lineage of kings...I think it is valid to have a working class genius. I think that's what he was. The idea that it had to be an aristocrat is a bit elitist to me. But then you look at the information that is there, and there are a lot of strange coincidences about Edward De Vere that pop up. You go, "That is pretty hard to reconcile with." If you study it long enough, you can come up with the theory that the Earl of Essex wrote the plays. There is a lot of information that can be perceived in many different ways. But, I also think, when all is said and done...It doesn't matter to me. There is still this body of work. You can call it whatever you want. It still exists. The plays are still profound. They are very contemporary and relevant. That is where I stand on the whole thing. You can say whatever you want. The work still exists.

History tells us that working class geniuses not only exists, but they account for probably 80% of the art in this world.

Xavier Samuel: Exactly. You said it.

What is your take on the Anonymous title, in terms of yourself as an actor, taking a written work, and interpreting it through yourself, filtering it to the point where other parties may become anonymous to what we're seeing you do on screen...

Xavier Samuel: I'm not sure what you mean...

(Laughs) I'm almost not sure what I mean either...

Xavier Samuel: (Laughs)

I guess, what is the parallel between what we see play out in the movie, and your relationship with John Orloff, once his written words are in your hands? How anonymous does he become? Because this really seems like a writer's movie...

Xavier Samuel: Right. You are talking about the people behind the scenes that you don't actually get to see in bringing this performance to life. They are not thrown into the limelight. Anonymity is an interesting thing. No one has it. If you go to your hometown, you see two or three people who know you. It's an interesting concept. To overcome a pseudonym. Look at all the great authors who've never put their name forward. Like George Elliott. The kind of great authors that haven't been unmasked. It's an interesting thought process. I remember reading about Stephen King. At the height of his success, he'd received a lot of criticisms. People said, "Just because you're Stephen King, people read your book." So he started this blog under a different name. He would release a chapter every month. It generated a massive following. He was able to go, "Its not just about my name. Its about the way I am forming these words." I think it's an interesting concept. What you decide to put your name on. I haven't thought about it in that way. I'm glad you ask this question. I think it's a whole other conversation, isn't it?

It speaks to your role as in actor in the movie. You are in Elizabethan drag. You're not recognizable as yourself. You can hide under that costume, and in a way, become anonymous...

Xavier Samuel: Yeah. That is what you hunger for as an actor. The opportunity to disappear. To be unrecognizable. To create something that doesn't look anything like you. Obviously, it still has an essence of who you are. That's what makes any character interesting. It is still a part of you. That's what audiences marvel at. The ability to be unrecognizable. You know? It's great when your mom goes, "Oh! I didn't even know it was you!" You hear that from your friends and family. "I forgot it was you!" That is endearing. It means they've been involved in the story. You can't be too egotistical about it as well. Because you want to be able, as an actor, to step out of the way of a story. You don't want to get in the way. You want to facilitate it, so it's told well.

You also have a movie coming out called Bait. That's a movie that finds you trying to save yourself from sharks inside a flooded grocery store, right?

Xavier Samuel: (Laughs) Yes. Sharks in a supermarket. It's a new genre of filmmaking. Can you imagine being stuck in a flooded super market? What happens is, a big Tsunami hits this coastal town. It blows the town apart. My character happens to be in this super market. Conveniently, my old girlfriend happens to be there with her new boyfriend. Also, conveniently, a criminal is holding up the super market. All of this stuff times up in the super marker at the time that this tsunami hits. Then it floods. They are all trapped in there together. Aside from being trapped in there together, with your ex-girlfriend and a criminal, there is also this shark wading around. It's a lot of fun. It doesn't take itself too seriously. Its very tongue and cheek. And very action packed, I suppose. It's nice to do something that is so off the wall, and packed with craziness. Who wouldn't want to do a film about a shark stuck in a super market. It's kind of a bizarre thing.

When do we get to see this movie in the states?

Xavier Samuel: I don't know for sure. Maybe September. I'll keep you posted. I'm pretty sure its in September, but please don't take my word for it.

Buy Anonymous on Blu-ray and DVD today!

Anonymous was released October 28th, 2011 and stars Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Sebastian Armesto, Rafe Spall, David Thewlis, Edward Hogg, Xavier Samuel, Sam Reid. The film is directed by Roland Emmerich.

Set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds alike: Who was the author of the plays credited to William Shakespeare? Anonymous poses one possible answer, focusing on a time when cloak-and-dagger political intrigue, illicit romances in the Royal Court, and the schemes of greedy nobles hungry for the power were exposed in the most unlikely of places: the London stage.

Anonymous is available for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD starting today, February 7th. To celebrate this exciting release, we caught up with the film's director, Roland Emmerich. This is our conversation.

How does it feel to have your old nemesis Roger Ebert splashed across the front of your DVD?

Roland Emmerich: (Laughs) I don't know...I haven't seen that yet...(Laughs) Life is full of surprises!

When I first heard about Anonymous, I thought it was going to be this dank little art house flick. But it's as lush and detailed, and as wide in scope as any of your disaster movies. Are you incapable of making a small movie, even when the story is considered "more intimate"?

Roland Emmerich: Listen, that's what I like. I didn't have much money for this film. You just do it like you think it should look. I am really very proud of how it looks. It was how I felt it should be brought to the screen.

I was a little bit blown away by how it looks. It's gorgeous. But that seems to be your aesthetic as a director. Even working small, you can't help yourself. You can't help but pull those dynamic, larger than life images in. Do you think that is a true statement?

Roland Emmerich: Yes! Yeah, yeah...I've always said, whatever I do, it hopefully has to have my handwriting on it. (Laughs) Otherwise they could just go get another director.

You can't deny, after making a string of films like Independence Day, and the Day After Tomorrow, and 2012, that this is a sharp left turn for you. What grabbed you by the throat here? What screamed, "Roland, this is your career change!"

Roland Emmerich: It was the script, which came out of nowhere. I read it. It was just a writing sample, and it immediately grabbed me. The tragedy of this figure, this artist, who, at the end of his life, had written all of these things, yet he cannot put his name on them. That got to me.

Have you ever experienced that in your own career?

Roland Emmerich: No! But I can empathize with someone like that. Because, when you see yourself as a creative person, and an artist, you can very much feel for someone like this. Sometimes, I want to show a new world. Something that people have not seen. I realized that through this story, I could give people a look at the Elizabethan age in a way they've never seen before.

Through any medium, the writer is often overlooked or forgotten. Especially in cinema, when you have a name director such as yourself attached. Did you intend for Anonymous to shine a light on the writer in particular? Or do you feel it speaks to all artists in any medium?

Roland Emmerich: I think this is mainly a writers' movie and an actors' movie. People do talk a lot about how it looks. But in its true essences, it is an actors' movie. More so, it is a writers' movie. So, in that way, that was different for me...

In terms of the acting...How difficult or challenging was it to find actors that could fit into and really represent the Victorian age?

Roland Emmerich: For me, the casting was a very long process. I took this very seriously. Casting this movie. There were a couple of bigger names squirreling around. But I said at a very early stage that these actors would not fit. You know? They were out. Luckily, because the movie was at Sony Pictures, and not really a big movie...I think they only spent $22 million on it...So, for that, I had the freedom to choose however I wanted. We went to England, and saw every actor that country has to offer. It builds slowly. We found, slowly but surely, the right cast for this movie.

When it hit theaters, the movie really struck a chord with those who saw it. It became one of those coffee shop thrillers, where you hunker down in the booth with your friends and really discuss some of the implications that the film presents after it is over. What is your stance on the argument that Anonymous presents? Is it the voice we see in the movie?

Roland Emmerich: You know what? Its like this...I am totally, 100% convinced that William Shakespeare of Stratford didn't write these words. I don't think that my movie, in any way, tells a true story. It is my interpretation, it is the writer's interpretation, of what could have happened. That's why we use this prologue. Let's tell you a different story. Let's tell you a darker story. Whatever you think you may know about William Shakespeare of Stradford? I consider that all science fiction. In a way, that's that. Then you come to the way a lot of people see the film. I think a lot of film critics critiqued the theory. They didn't criticize the film, or how it was made...No, no, no...They criticized that I had the audacity to tell this story. Which was very strange to me. But I also understand that most high-class film critics have studied literature. In a weird way, we went totally against the literary establishment. Whatever you do, you want to have endless discussions at the podium. You want to hear from people on both sides. I saw it through all of these discussions. After it came out, I was even more convinced that what the movie says is the truth. Its like, when you sit with literally professors...I sat with some at Oxford Union, and you see how flustered and emotional they get. You realize all of a sudden, how much this is an infliction for these people. When somebody goes against the Dogma, if this were the middleages, you'd get beheaded. Or burned at the stake.

I guess, in this day and age, they just call that a film review.

Roland Emmerich: When they look at a movie like Anonymous, they say it's nonsense and conspiracy. That's what they do.

The young kids are into this movie. The college kids. Does it surprise you that there is still such an interest there? That Shakespeare never fails to thrive amongst the youth?

Roland Emmerich: He is the biggest writer of the English language. He started modern English as a writer. He was the first to write characters that dealt with psychology. I think that's why William Shakespeare will never die. Because he is the first one that did it.

With so much coming at us in this day and age, kids could have easily looked at a film about Shakespeare and went, "Ugh, that looks boring." But the film is anything but boring. Do you have to take into consideration that the subject matter might be a little dry for some tastes? Especially that all important youth market? Did you do anything to curb that?

Roland Emmerich: No! I am not that kind of filmmaker. Not when I am doing this kind of movie. I am not trying to think about anybody. I am only doing what I like. And I wanted to follow that. Because this is not a movie that costs money. It's affordable. So I followed my own instincts. I didn't worry about whether young people would want to see it, or not see it. I think I only made this movie for me and my friends.

Yet, on that note, it seems that you are incapable of making anything that is not viscerally exciting, no matter what it is...

Roland Emmerich: (Laughs) It's just my taste. That's how I see other movies. I must immediately become engaged in something.

Since this interview is for the DVD, and I notice you have a commentary with screenwriter John Orloff...Do you get excited to participate in something like that for the studio? Or do you see it as more of a chore?

Roland Emmerich: Not necessarily. I know that a lot of people like to listen to them. And they want me to do one. That is why I normally say yes to it...But do I really enjoy it? It depends. I like doing it with people. That always makes it easier. The one with John Orloff was pretty easy. It was fine, because we could both discuss this movie to the scene.

There was a rumor floating around that you are going to direct a movie based on the video game Asteroids. Is that a substantiated rumor at this point? Are you really thinking about doing such a thing still?

Roland Emmerich: No! That is wrong. I was, for five seconds, interested in it. But I chose not to get involved. It was a very interesting script. A friend of mine is the producer. It was one of those moments where he said, "We have to do something!" Because I really like him, and he is the producer of Transformers...I felt inclined to listen to him. To engage. You know how this goes. Then the studio gets wind of it. They are super excited. They leak it to someone, to boost up the project. Then all of a sudden, I am getting asked by all of these mental people, "So, Asteroids is your next film?" No! I have tons of other projects. And Asteroids is not one of them.

Does this mean you may stay in line with Anonymous on your next project? Are you going to stay a little more grounded in your storytelling? It seems, structure and form wise, this movie was praised a little differently than your action thrillers of the past...

Roland Emmerich: You know what? I try not to be discouraged by critics. If I was, I would not make any more movies. I would have stopped after Independence Day. You know? When I did it, I got some of the worse reviews of my career. It then became one of the most beloved movies amongst audiences. If that movie came out today, it would make $1.8 billion dollars. What I am saying is, I can't look at critics. When they have someone on their target list, on the bad side, it becomes increasingly hard to get any good reviews, no matter what the genre is. They have to wait and see what you give them.

For you, though, if you get a bad review, all you have to do is walk into the theater and hear the audience for yourself. There's your review. Audiences were very vocal in their love for 2012 while the film was playing...

Roland Emmerich: It's like this. I have a measurement for success. The Cinema Scores. When the people come out, they do a survey of the audience. They learn how much people like it. What the word of mouth will be. Anonymous? It has an A-. For a movie like this? It's unheard of.

You talk about having all of these other projects lined up, but I don't see that you are in production on anything...

Roland Emmerich: I am off being an artist. That's why something like Asteroids happens. I have several projects that are in active preparation. I am actually working on something for ABC TV. I'll shoot a pilot I wrote with Harald Kloser, my co-writer on 2012. We will shoot it in March.

Is that the extension of the 2012 movie? I know you guys were discussing the prospects of turning that into a TV show...

Roland Emmerich: No! This is something completely original. Its like...I have agreed with ABC that we keep the title and what it is about under wraps. They want to have it when they pick up the pilot...They want to have that surprise then. It is a very provocative title and subject matter.

So it will pull people in on the title alone?

Roland Emmerich: Mm-Hmm. Mm-Hmm. I am going to start shooting it on the 6th of March. These things go really fast. When it is finished, ABC will have audience tests. They will see if this goes. By that time, I will already be preparing another movie.

We might see it this fall?

Roland Emmerich: Yeah. Could be.

What happened to Singularity? You guys were trucking forward on that at the time of Anonymous' theatrical release...

Roland Emmerich: It is in active development. We stopped production on it, because we were not happy with the script. Though, I am now developing another script.

Buy the Blu-ray and DVD today!

Anonymous was released October 28th, 2011 and stars Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Sebastian Armesto, Rafe Spall, David Thewlis, Edward Hogg, Xavier Samuel, Sam Reid. The film is directed by Roland Emmerich.

Last week, I was invited up to the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco to celebrate the Blu-ray debut of Lady and the Tramp, which arrives in three-disc Blu-ray and two-disc Blu-ray February 7. The setting was quite fitting, since one of the special features, Diane Disney Miller: Remembering Dad, was shot in the museum, and offers a unique glimpse into Walt Disney's life, as told by his daughter, Diane Disney Miller. The special feature gives us perspective into a rather hectic period of Walt Disney's life, when he was in production on Lady and the Tramp and also working on plans for his now-iconic theme park Disneyland.

I had the chance to sit down with Diane Disney Miller to chat about Lady and the Tramp, the Disney Family Museum, and more. Here's what she had to say below.

I was watching the special feature on the Blu-ray, and it seemed that Walt really included his kids in his films. I believe you were in your late teens or early 20s when Lady and the Tramp was in production, so can you talk about what really struck you about the story when you first heard about it?

Diane Disney Miller: It's a story that Dad had been interested in for a long time. All of the sudden, it emerged and they were going to do it. I don't remember, exactly. I think you're right. I would have been like 16 when he started. We had just moved into our new house, but I just don't remember. I remember he was thrilled and he really liked it, but I don't have any real memories of them making it. i was too involved in my own life.

At that point, this was his 15th animated feature. I'm curious how involved he was in the day-to-day operations on a project like this?

Diane Disney Miller: That I don't know. (Director) Hamilton (Luske) was one of his most trusted guys, who was with him forever. I really can't tell you what his involvement was. He created some of the scenes with Frank Thomas (like the iconic pasta scene).

When you think of this movie, that's often the first image that comes to mind.

Diane Disney Miller: Yeah, that's interesting. It's still regarded as one of the best love stories.

Can you talk a bit about the creation of the Disney Family Museum?

Diane Disney Miller: We began when I was really angry about a certain rotten book that had been written. To combat that, we had written a CD-ROM biography, which didn't go anywhere. We felt we got a lot of great interviews for it, so then we did a film. It's been running on CNBC. From the film, a website, and the website billed itself as a virtual museum. We kept getting inquiries about where the real museum was. We started thinking then, maybe that's what we should do. We have all these Academy Awards and a lot of other awards, and we had the train (Walt Disney had a legendary train set that he would ride around his house), so we thought we should find a place someplace where people could come in and look at what we've got. It just grew to this.

Just knowing the kind of background Walt came from, working his way up, it seems the museum's trajectory is really fitting.

Diane Disney Miller: I agree.

Is there a particular favorite film of your fathers, when you think back on his work?

Diane Disney Miller: No, it's all together. It all swarms together. One of my favorites is Dumbo, and, I understand that's one of the ones he was least involved in.

One of the things I'm so intrigued by with Disney is how they put their films in the vault for, I believe, eight years, and pull them back out, to generate more interest again. Is that something that was always his idea?

Diane Disney Miller: I think so, yeah. I know with Fantasia, I was surprised to read that he compared it to a ballet company, where you go to the ballet every year, and they have your favorites and also something new. He wanted to do that with Fantasia, but he didn't, and ended up doing a sequel.

Can you talk about making the Remembering Dad special feature on this Blu-ray? What was it like revisiting that time with your dad?

Diane Disney Miller: We did that about six months ago. It was done up here. I thought people should see the museum, because not everybody will go in there. They won't know that Walt and Lillian had this charming little apartment that they spent nights in down there.

Are you planning any expansion for the Museum, or do you have any special events coming up you'd like to talk about?

Diane Disney Miller: We can't expand physically. We're limited by the space that we have, but I think, in terms of programs, we're certainly looking at ways we can supplement things, and be more of a force and a resource to the community. We will be having a Snow White exhibit, because its the 75th Anniversary of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

What would you say to any fans of your father's work about why they should pick up this new Blu-ray?

Diane Disney Miller: They should pick up the Blu-ray, definitely, because this is a timeless film and a timeless story.

That's about all I have. Thank you so much. It was a real pleasure.

Diane Disney Miller: Thank you.

You can pick up Lady and the Tramp, which arrives in three-disc Blu-ray and two-disc Blu-ray February 7. You can also clickHere to learn more about the Disney Family Museum, which is located inside the famed Presidio building in San Francisco (104 Montgomery Street, The Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94129).

Lady and the Tramp was released June 16th, 1955 and stars Peggy Lee, Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Bill Thompson, Bill Baucom, Stan Freberg, Verna Felton, Alan Reed. The film is directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske.

Tonight, Comedy Central premieres its original half-hour sketch series Key & Peele, starring comedians Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key. Whether it's satirizing the President, spoofing Nazis, or ordering up some soul food, Key & Peele will showcase their chemistry, camaraderie and unique point of view, born from their shared background and experiences growing up biracial in a not quite post-racial world.

We managed to catch up with both stars for a fun and insightful conversation. Check it out below.

Keegan Michael Key: I don't know why you make me wake up so early in the morning!

I watched the pilot last night, and I have to say...Pretty bold that you would eliminate half your viewing audience with just your second sketch out...

Keegan Michael Key: I assume you are talking about the "Bitch" sketch, yeah...

My girlfriend crossed her arms, got up, and walked out when she saw how hard I was laughing at that. I had to go in the basement, just like the guys in the sketch, to finish watching the episode...

Jordan Peele: (Laughs) Why would we alienate more than half of the population of the world?

Keegan Michael Key: The funny thing is, that's our sketch for women.

Jordan Peele: That is our sketch for them, exactly!

Did you know that it might illicit a strong response? It was the part about the restaurant that got me in trouble. There will be no laughing at that in my house.

Keegan Michael Key: The stuff that hits on true things for all of us? Yeah, it can do that. It can trigger a response. (Laughs)

We see a show like your sister show, Workaholics, and they are tackling some taboo subjects. And the audience has grown a little numb to that. But this, here, this "Bitch" sketch must be one of the most taboo subjects to tackle when reaching for a mixed gender audience. This is the real shit you can't talk about...

Jordan Peele: I can't believe this. You are flattering us out of the gate. (Laughs) That's so funny. It's a different kind of comedy from Workaholics.

Keegan Michael Key: We wrote in some of the issues that guys have with girls in every relationship. We would think that sketch would hit home with every relationship. Honestly, we didn't shy away from any subjects. We really concentrated on choosing something fresh, and relevant, and very universal. We just try to get as much comedy as we can out of it.

Well, I am a fan right out of the gate. This premiere episode is so good. What was the give and take here? Did you focus on putting all of your best stuff right up front? Or can we expect a whole season of solid episodes?

Jordan Peele: The other thing is, we wrote over 265 sketches, then whittled it down to 54. We do believe that we have the cream of the crop, just due to our extensive writing process.

You open with some of the bi-racial humor on stage in this premiere episode. Do you feel audiences have really broken through that racial barrier at this point? Or do you think there is still apprehension there, in terms of what you can and can't laugh at? I'm not sure how it works for you guys...

Keegan Michael Key: We find that if we get the laugh we are looking for, because something is true, that it's something slightly universal. People have these thoughts, these things they don't want to say...So, yeah, despite what some people might think, this is far from a post racial world. It is in fact very racial. It seems to be going in the right direction. We are hoping to get our last licks in on racial comedy, and do some things that haven't been done before. (Laughs) Before the whole world is brown.

Can you give us a hint at what some of those licks might be? Or are you pulling the J.J. Abrams card, and keeping your laughs a secret until the moment we see them on screen?

Jordan Peele: Let me see if we can be specific and amorphous at the same time here. We have a number of sketches about the internal competition between Keegan and I on who's blacker, and who can be blacker. Because, you know, in this day and age, that's what makes us cool. There are sketches that are set up, to make the audience expect to see the sketch they would normally see, about a certain stereotype, or something...And we try to flip that on its head. We want to take what you expect and give it an entirely different angle. So you don't know what is coming, exposing everyone's own stereotypes. You can see that in the very beginning of the first episode with the phone call. We love using the audience's mind against them.

Keegan Michael Key: It's like comedic Judo.

Jordan Peele: Yeah. There you go.

There are a lot of sketch shows right now, and we've seen a lot of them on Comedy Central. This has such a fresh, immediate voice, and it is different. Did that uniqueness come directly from you guys? Did you find the voice for this show through the editing room? How did you discover exactly what you wanted Key & Peele to be?

Keegan Michael Key: I think it mostly has to do with us. Whenever we were writing...When we started writing the pilot, we locked ourselves in Jordan's apartment. And we came up with a criteria for what we wanted to be in this show, as we were finding our voice. That evolved as we got into the writing process, once the show got picked up. Part of that criteria was...What have we not seen in comedy, in general? And what have we not seen in racial comedy? How do you put a twist on "black people do this" and "white people do that"...What is the twist for that? Since we are split in the middle, because we are actual hybrids, and we exist in the middle, we wanted to say, "Here's how we see it. Here is how a half-black, half-white person, who identifies himself as a black person..." Aaaaaah! That is where we started, and that is the filter we are trying to push all of our comedy through. Another piece of criteria is...What is the comedic engine...Jordan and I like to call it the nugget...That makes each and every scene seem really funny. I have always been really weird about...I don't understand comedians who go..."Hey, if you don't get it, too bad." If I don't get it, then whom are you doing the comedy for? A poet can feel free, in my estimation, to write a poem for himself. Or a painter can paint a painting for himself. You can write a short story for yourself. But for me, comedy by its nature is communal. If other people don't get it, I'm not sure why you are doing it. I think the same can be said for being offensive, for no other reason than being offensive. Me personally, it boggles my mind.

Have you seen the new Tim and Eric movie yet?

Keegan Michael Key: It's so funny. Two minutes before you called, I was talking about Tim and Eric... But, no, I haven't seen it.

Keegan Michael Key: There is an interesting thing, like...There was something very lighthearted about the way Andy Kaufman performed. I don't know if you agree with this Jordan...But there are times when I felt that Andy Kaufman was being solely a performance artist. I don't know that. Maybe he was always trying to get the laugh. But I don't know...That's so...With Tim and Eric...I don't get it...

Jordan Peele: Those guys? It's kind of correct to put them in a similar category as Andy Kaufman. I would, myself. Anyone can agree or disagree as to the quality. Truth of the matter is, Andy Kaufman went through some really dark times, where people didn't like him, or get it. Tim and Eric? Those guys are a very specific breed of rock star. I admire their artistry, and their commitment to it. But Keegan and I do something completely different. We really try to get the audience as cozy in their seat, and give them as many laughs in as short of time as possible. We're less worried about shock for shock's sake.

I think you are right about some of what they do being performance art. There is a scene in a swimming pool that is just two minutes of high-pitched screaming. Which isn't fun for anyone.

Keegan Michael Key: (Laughs) We're laughing. But that's our reaction...We're laughing at the idea of that, because of the absurdity of it. Which they are experts at. There have been times when I laugh at Tim and Eric, and I am going, "What the heck is going on?" You find yourself giggling, like we are now.

Jordan Peele: It will be interesting to see in ten or twenty years if those guys are the representation of our times, or not.

Its been ten years since Freddy Got Fingered, so...It's kind of figured itself out at this point, somewhat...

Keegan Michael Key: That's a good point. (Laughs)

What made me laugh? Sitting in Tim and Eric, watching the lady who was between 40-50 years old, who is there to review the movie, get up and walk out on the swimming pool scene. That made me laugh. That's where the joke was for me. I understood it from that angle. Watching her become disgusted with this screaming, and not being able to take it...

Keegan Michael Key: That actually sounds very funny. Yeah, yeah...

Jordan Peele: It's like my in-laws...They went to see Borat...My father and my mother-in-law, they are in their 70s. I just remember, my father-in-law just couldn't take it during the wrestling scene. He was like, "Jesus Christ! What is happening?" It was not working for him.

Do you know David Koechner?

Jordan Peele: David Koechner and I are acquaintances. Yeah. We're friends. It's a small world here.

Keegan Michael Key: David Koechner and I both belong to Second City. More people to rag on, huh? (Laughs)

No! This is for a whole new question. I love Dave, and I talk to him frequently. When he was doing his show for Comedy Central, The Naked Trucker Show, he didn't want to do the staged bits before the filmed segments. He felt it was wrong for the show, and one of the reasons it failed. It seems to be the staple of all Comedy Central shows, and we once again see you guys utilizing that. I wanted to get your take on that aspect of the skit genre. If you think it is necessary, if it was a requirement by Comedy Central...

Jordan Peele: I'd like to add, we have a great deal of fun doing it.

In the last couple of years, its been mostly these solo guys going up there. In the past, you had duos like Bob and David, and you can go all the way back to The Smothers Brother. With you two on stage, what I notice is, there is a genuine surprise in the exchanges between you. Jordan says something, and Keegan, you respond with a laugh as though you have yet to hear what he as to say. The monologue is fresh. Do you not fully rehearse to keep each other on your toes. Has this type of interaction always been a part of your relationship? Do you thrive on surprising each other in the moment?

Keegan Michael Key: For me, it is the latter. It is a joy for me to be with Jordan. Because he makes me laugh out loud every day. Whether I am standing right next to him, or whether we are on screen. There has to be a vulnerability. Like we were discussing, there is nothing wrong with that live part. So is there a way we can enhance it? That comes with finding a guideline in knowing what we will talk about on stage. Then we go out there and loosely do it, trying to surprise each other. I feel like you're going to have fun, and you are going to be comfortable, and you will have a spirit of frivolity if we're having fun, and we feel comfortable, and we have a spirit of frivolity. I think it can be infectious.

Jordan Peele: Those moments aren't staged. I'm pretty sure we break each other up because we do surprise each other with a line. We keep each other on our toes for that specific reason. I am getting that vibe.

Keegan Michael Key: Sometimes there are these guidelines. We can talk about this thing, or we can talk about that thing. But there is a profound lack of rehearsal. Which we prefer. Now, the sketches are a completely different animal all together, you know? Sometimes one of us will think of something we know the other one is not expecting. There is a lot of improvising on stage. We improvise together often. We haven't been able to do it super often, because we have been doing this. But it is a delight to improvise with Jordan.

I don't want to compare these two shows, but with Chappell's show, it always seemed like the audience was into the stand-up introductions. Like, they were there to watch a show. But with Nick Swardson's show, I get the sense that his audience is just there as set dressing. Extras pulled into an environment where this is work. What kind of audience do you have in front of you?

Jordan Peele: This was the first time we'd ever done this. So we were learning as we went. We were interested in trying to do a lot of things, and this was such a supportive crowd. To be honest, I don't know if they were fans of MadTV...

Keegan Michael Key: I had a lot of people that would come up to me after tapings. They would Facebook me, and they would say, "You don't know me, but I was at your taping..." Especially out here in Hollywood, people get jaded. They say, "I'll go out to this taping, and I'll do the best for these guys. I'll try to laugh. Maybe I'll get on TV." A number of people came and they said, "This was like we were watching a comedy show." They said, "I was laughing out loud! I want you to know I was laughing for real! Not just because it was for a taping, and they told us to laugh." I think, to answer your question literally, it would be more the former than the latter. The funny thing about Dave Chappelle is, if you watch him during his live segments on his show, they are really simply a function for him to throw to the scenes. There's not a ton of stand-up. I'd say it's evolved. I didn't know what to expect from our audience. And they seemed to really be enjoying us bantering, and playing off of each other. As if they were only there to see that show. Someone said to me, "My gosh! Its as though the sketches were just a bonus."

Jordan Peele: It's a very multicultural audience. They come from many different colors. They are multi-social, too, I think. It was cool to see some Hollywood insiders show up, like Mandy Moore and Maribeth Monroe. Its cool actors showing up and giving support.

Keegan Michael Key: We didn't know what to expect, and it was cool to watch it evolve. Each night, I certainly felt like Jordan and I were walking out in front of an audience to entertain them. As if we were a comedy duo, as opposed to, "Let's just get through this so we can get to the sketches." It ended up being a really delightful surprise.

My time is up. I just want to express, as you've just said...This show really got some genuine laughs out of me. I didn't just smile and think it was cute...

Jordan Peele: Your biggest problem is, you need to learn where not to laugh when you are watching some of these sketches with your girlfriend.

Trust me. I know that now. I have learned my lesson. This could be my special show that I go watch by myself, in the shed...

Keegan Michael Key: In the shed! (Laughs)

Jordan Peele: That is so funny. That was once a beat in that scene.

Keegan Michael Key: That's right. That was a beat in that scene. That scene had a different ending for a while. We went to a shed, and we lit up a lighter. The two girls appeared behind us in the shed. At the end of the scene, as we continued to talk about how they were "Bitches", one of us grabs a rope and starts to fashion a noose for himself. The other one grabbed a shovel and started digging a grave for himself. The women just stood behind them with stern faces. That used to be the blow of the scene. They were hiding in the shed. It's too funny that you said that!

The found footage genre has had its ups and downs since The Blair Witch Project became a national phenomena back in 1999. While most of these films are planted within the horror world, 20th Century Fox's Chronicle throws the whole genre for a loop by putting a supernatural spin on things. The story centers on three Seattle teenagers (Alex Russell, Dane DeHaan, and Michael B. Jordan), who make an incredible discovery outside a party, and emerge with amazing new abilites. I was able to speak with Alex Russell, Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, and director Josh Trank about Chronicle, which debuts in theaters nationwide February 3. Click on the video players below to see what they had to say.

Exclusive: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan Interview

Exclusive: Josh Trank Interview

Chronicle was released February 3rd, 2012 and stars Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly, Ashley Hinshaw, Bo Petersen, Anna Wood, Rudi Malcolm. The film is directed by Josh Trank.