Jack Black

Jack Black to Star in WILD OATS Alongside Shirley MacLaine, Jacki Weaver, and Alan Arkin

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: May 17th, 2012 at 3:17 pm

Though the two just starred together in Richard Linklater’s Bernie, Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine are already planning a reunion of sorts.  It was announced today (via ScreenDaily) that Black and MacLaine will star in the comedy Wild Oats alongside Jacki Weaver and Alan Arkin.  The caper follows two fugitives who are forced to outwit a trio of conmen and the law, with Howard Deutch (Pretty in Pink) onboard to direct from a script by Gary Kanew and Claudia Myers.

The cast is impressive, but Deutch’s recent filmography (My Best Friend’s Girl, The Whole Ten Yards) isn’t exactly up to par with his earlier material.  Production on Wild Oats is set to get underway in mid-July, but Black is also attached to star in Charlie Kaufman’s incredibly promising Frank or Francis.  That film has a solid cast, but producers are still firming up financing before production can begin.

Jack Black and Shirley MaClaine Talk BERNIE, Favorite Movies, and More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 27th, 2012 at 11:07 am

Opening this weekend, in limited release, is director Richard Linklater’s (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, Before Sunrise) new film Bernie.  The dark comedy is based on a true story and stars Jack Black as an assistant funeral director of a small Texas town who wooed and then murdered a cantankerous, affluent widow.  Black is surrounded by a terrific supporting cast that includes Shirley MacLaine as said widow and Matthew McConaughey as the one person in town who suspects Bernie of wrongdoing.  While I’ve been less than impressed with Black’s recent film choices, I thought his work in Bernie was incredible and it’ll remind you that when he has the right material, he’s a great actor.  For more on the film, here’s seven clips.

Last week I got to sit down with Black and MaClaine.   They talked about their favorite movies, were they shocked to learn the story was based on actual events, what changed while filming, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

7 Clips from Richard Linklater’s BERNIE Starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 20th, 2012 at 8:44 am

We’ve been provided with seven clips from director Richard Linklater’s (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, Before Sunrise) new film Bernie to share with our readers.  The dark comedy is based on a true story and stars Jack Black as an assistant funeral director of a small Texas town who wooed and then murdered a cantankerous, affluent widow.  Black is surrounded by a terrific supporting cast that includes Shirley MacLaine as said widow and Matthew McConaughey as the one person in town who suspects Bernie of wrongdoing.  While I’ve been less than impressed with Black’s recent film choices, I thought his work in Bernie was incredible and it’ll remind you that when he has the right material, he’s a great actor.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  The film opens on April 27th.

Watch a Montage of Famous Actors in Their Feature Film Debuts

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 5th, 2012 at 2:35 pm

It’s always a fun treat when a now-famous actor pops up in a small role in an older movie you haven’t re-watched in a while.  We previously posted a “Before They Were Famous” supercut, but now someone has edited together a montage of actors in their very first feature film roles. While you’re most likely aware of the majority of these appearances, I’m willing to bet you’ll find at least a few surprises in this video.  I had no idea Jon Hamm was in Clint Eastwood’s “old guys can be astronauts too” movie Space Cowboys, but I now feel compelled to move the pic to the top of my Netflix queue.

Watch Jack Nicholson, Woody Allen, Emma Thompson, Zach Braff and many more make their feature debut after the jump.

Tenacious D Returns in Cameo-Filled Video for “To Be the Best”

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: March 26th, 2012 at 3:28 pm

It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen anything from Jack Black and Kyle Gass’ greatest rock band of all time, Tenacious D, but the dry spell has now come to an end. The duo has released a video chronicling their return and teasing their new album, Rize of the Fenix. The video begins with an Extra special covering the demise of Tenacious D following the box office failure of Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, then brings on a slew of celebrity cameos (Val Kilmer! Dave Grohl! Josh Groban?) that help bring the band back to its former glory. It’s pretty funny and definitely worth your time, especially for the Val Kilmer awesomeness.

Hit the jump to watch the video. The band’s new album, Rize of the Fenix, will be released on May 15th.

First Trailer for Richard Linklater’s BERNIE Starring Jack Black

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 29th, 2012 at 4:00 pm

The first trailer for director Richard Linklater’s (Dazed and Confused) new dark comedy Bernie has gone online. Based on a true story, the film stars Jack Black as an assistant funeral director of a small Texas town who wooed and then murdered a cantankerous, affluent widow. I’m a big fan of Linklater’s work, and while I was wary of Bernie after getting a look at the first poster, I really like this trailer. It’s strange, it’s weird, and it’s really funny. Matthew McConaughey is in fine form here as the one person in town who suspects that Bernie is in the wrong, and Shirley MacLaine looks to be wonderfully crabby as the victim of Bernie’s crime. I like the almost documentary-like style that Linklater uses to tell the story (not found footage), and I can’t wait to see more.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Bernie opens April 27th.

PSA Sunday: Jack Black Says, “Don’t Be a Douche. Stop Piracy.”

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: January 22nd, 2012 at 1:24 pm

In the wake of SOPA/PIPA legislation and the resulting fallout, we thought we’d bring you a celebrity anti-piracy PSA today. If you haven’t heard about SOPA/PIPA before, they’re bills from the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate respectively that seek to prevent copyright infringement on websites (you can read more about them here). Although they are intended to protect artists, musicians, etc from unlawful distribution of their material, many have protested certain specifics in the legislation that could potentially limit freedom of speech and impinge on individual rights. Protesters were more than just sign-wavers as websites like Google, Wikipedia and popular comics site, The Oatmeal, all blacked-out their pages in response to the pending legislation. Things got even uglier after that, but it’s lucky for everyone that Jack Black is here to smooth everything over. Hit the jump to check out his anti-piracy PSA.

First Trailer and Poster for THE BIG YEAR Starring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: September 6th, 2011 at 4:50 pm

Fox 2000 has released the first trailer for the competitive birding comedy The Big Year.  Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson star as three men who try to outdo each other during a year-long competition to spot the rarest birds in North America.  Martin, Black and Wilson can all be incredibly funny given the right material, but nothing in this trailer made me laugh. Given the story, it’s possible that the film is more of a dramedy, but one would think there would be at least some laughs to be had given the excellent cast. I’m hoping that they’re holding back the goods, so I’ll reserve judgement until we see more.

Rosamund Pike, Jim Parsons, Joel McHale, JoBeth Williams, Brian Dennehy, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Anderson, and Tim Blake Nelson also star.  David Frankel (Marley & Me) directed the adaptation of the Mark Obmascik book. The Big Year opens October 14th.  Watch the trailer after the jump.

New Images from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL, MELANCHOLIA, THE BIG YEAR, and THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 18th, 2011 at 11:47 am

New images have gone online for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia, the bird-watching comedy The Big Year, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Hit the jump to check out all the images along with synopses and brief descriptions for each film.

Watch 25 Actors Before They Were Famous in Three Minutes, Including Seth Rogen, Jack Black and Natalie Portman

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: August 15th, 2011 at 4:16 pm

Thank the Maker for YouTube. With the advent of the video-on-demand digital age, no longer is that TV movie role that Actor X did when he was 11-years-old lost forever, and now someone’s put together a compilation of 25 “before they were famous” first roles for our viewing pleasure. Did you know that Daniel Craig was in A Kid in King Arthur’s Court? How about Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Roseanne or Jake Gyllenhaal in City Slickers? No need to hit up Netflix, some choice scenes are now all in one place.

Hit the jump to watch the montage, which includes 25 sometimes painful scenes featuring Jim Carrey, Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Ryan Gosling, Keanu Reeves, Nicole Kidman, Seth Rogen, Jake Gyllenhaal, Harrison Ford and more.

Jack Black, Nicolas Cage, and Steve Carell in Talks for Charlie Kaufman’s Musical FRANK OR FRANCIS

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: July 22nd, 2011 at 12:50 pm

Jack Black, Nicolas Cage, and Steve Carell are in talks to star in Charlie Kaufman’s next directorial feature, Frank or Francis.  Kaufman is also brewing another collaboration with his Being John Malkovich/Adaptation director Spike Jonze with Joaquin Phoenix attached to star — until today, that seemed to be in pole position on Kaufman’s slate.  However, Deadline says Frank or Francis is tentatively scheduled for a 2012 start, a more definitive date with more bankable stars than Phoenix circling.

Details are mostly under wraps, but here’s the logline: “The film chronicles a volatile back and forth between a film director (Frank) and an online blogger (Francis), who takes delight in berating his cinematic talent.”  Oh, and it’s a musical.  More after the jump.

Millenium Acquires Rights to Richard Linklater’s BERNIE

by Jason Barr    Posted: July 14th, 2011 at 8:47 pm

Having opening the 2011 LA Film Festival back in June, director Richard Linklater’s (Dazed and Confused) Bernie has now landed a distributor. Deadline reports that Millenium Entertainment is nearing a deal to distribute the black comedy domestically. Starring Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Shirley MacLaine, Bernie is set in a small Texas town and tells the story of a beloved mortician (Black) who kills an adoring rich widow (MacLaine) and then plays it off as if she’s still alive. There is no word on when Millenium will release the pic theatrically but I’m hoping it’s sooner rather than later.

As for Linklater, the director is still working on his real-time coming-of-age tale Boyhood (a.k.a. Growing Up), a film starring Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, and Ellar Salmon that he began shooting back in 2002. The completed pic will chronicle a young man’s (Salmon) trek from six years old to the twelfth grade and, as Linklater told The Playlist back in June, will continue shooting through 2014.

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: July 7th, 2011 at 5:19 am

The era of Jack Black comedies is coming to a close. With Gulliver’s Travels, Black has made his way into the “family comedy” zone and that’s the last refuge for comedic performers. That the film flopped stateside (though it made a bundle internationally) suggests that Black will now be relegated to supporting turns. Here he’s Lemuel Gulliver, a mailroom clerk who’s going nowhere in life when Amanda Peet sends him on a journalism assignment to cover a small island near the Bermuda Triangle. He gets sucked into a world where he’s a giant. My review of the Blu-ray follows after the jump.

TOP 5: Snow White War, Movie Theater Projection, R-Rated RIDDICK, Michael Sheen Reads Fan Fiction, and Jack Black Discusses Where Not to Rub Soap

by Jason Barr    Posted: May 29th, 2011 at 7:03 am

If you’ve been hanging around the site for a while, you know that we tend to post a lot of content throughout the course of a week. From interviews and reviews to general entertainment news, set visits, and niche stories, we always do our best to provide you the reader with a wide spectrum of coverage. Nevertheless, our front page only holds fifteen stories at a time meaning that some of our most interesting content has a tendency to fall through the cracks.  In an attempt to bring these stories back to the forefront, we are introducing this weekly “Top 5″ feature which we hope will prevent readers from missing out on the best Collider has to offer.

In this, our inaugural week, we’re bringing you a recap of Brendan’s mathematical breakdown of dueling Snow White films, our look at dimly lit 2d theater projection, a possible R-rated Riddick, Michael Sheen reading Twilight fan fiction, and Jack Black discussing with Steve where not to use body soap. Check out the quick recaps and links after the jump.

Dustin Hoffman and Jack Black Video Interview KUNG FU PANDA 2

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: May 26th, 2011 at 3:31 pm

With Kung Fu Panda 2 opening this weekend, I recently got to interview Dustin Hoffman and Jack Black for our partners at Omelete.  While some sequels spend a lot of time reminding the audience who the characters are, one of the many things that’s great about Kung Fu Panda 2 is that it starts like you know the world and it never slows down.  In addition, while I’ve been very vocal about bad 3D, Kung Fu Panda 2 features some incredible 3D and the best part is the filmmakers used 3D to help tell the story.  If you have the option, you really want to see this in 3D.

While I’ve been doing interviews for almost six years, my conversation with Hoffman and Black is without a doubt one of the craziest I’ve ever had during a press junket.  Even though I don’t want to spoil what happens, I’ll say that wearing my Threadless t-shirt that says rub me on your butt was not my best idea.  Or maybe it was.  Judge for yourself after the jump.

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