
The first trailer for the action romantic comedy Hit and Run has gone online. Dax Shepard stars as an ex-getaway driver who exits the Witness Protection program to drive his pretty girlfriend to Los Angeles so that she can land her dream job. The authorities and his former gang (led by Bradley Cooper) get wind of his reappearance and set out to chase him down. Shepard wrote and co-directed the film with David Palmer, and it actually looks like a pretty fun comedy. Cooper appears to be having a blast as a flashy gang member, and real-life couple Shepard and Bell have some excellent chemistry. Moreover, Tom Arnold is in fine form as a U.S. Marshal who’s trying to protect Shepard’s character.
Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Kristin Chenoweth, Beau Bridges, David Koechner, Joy Bryant (Parenthood), and Ryan Hansen (Party Down). Hit and Run hits theaters on August 24th.

Kristen Bell, Lily Collins, Logan Lerman, Nat Wolff, Liana Liberato have joined Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly in Josh Boone‘s comedy-drama Writers. Deadline reports that “the film follows the members of the Borgens family and their love interests over the course of one tumultuous year.” Kinnear plays Bill Borgens, a famous novelist obsessed with ex-wife (Connelly) even though he’s sleeping with his friend Tricia (Bell), who’s trying to help him get over his ex. Collins plays Bill’s daughter Samatha, who is being pursued by a fellow writing student (Lerman), and Samantha’s teenage brother (Wolff) is experiencing his first love with Kate (Liberato). This is how they all became The Borgens Bunch.
Shooting will begin next week in North Carolina. Boone wrote the script and will make his feature directing debut on the film.

While HBO made some big cuts from their original programming towards the end of last year, Showtime is keeping shows around as EW has learned that the cable network has given an additional season order to Shameless, House of Lies and Californication. Shameless gets a third season after its stellar ensemble cast, including William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum, has come through with a great second season while House of Lies, with Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell, has gotten stellar ratings to earn a second season while its first season is still in progress. Finally Californication is still going strong to nab a sixth season, but I don’t know if it will last beyond that. Either way, it shows that Showtime has faith in their shows and should please fans of all three series.

On the new Showtime comedy series House of Lies, actress Kristen Bell plays Jeannie Van Der Hooven, a talented and highly ambitious member of Marty Kaan’s (Don Cheadle) team of management consultants. Crafty, flirtatious and a bit mysterious, Jeannie does everything she can to keep her personal life personal, but she’s not above getting down and dirty with a different guy in every city she visits.
While at the TCA Winter Press Tour, Collider got the opportunity to sit down with Kristen Bell for this exclusive interview to talk about how the head of the network approached her directly about doing the role, the appeal of doing more provocative storylines, how much fun she’s having working with the extremely talented Don Cheadle (who is also an executive producer on the series), how she never would have imagined that she would have her toes sucked on TV, and that she craves diversity in her acting roles, but is also spontaneous when it comes to choosing projects. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

Exclusive Media Group has acquired worldwide rights to the comedy Outrun. The “high-octane, action romantic comedy” was written by Dax Shepard, who will also star in and co-direct the film with David Palmer. Joining Shepard in the cast is Kristen Bell, Bradley Cooper, Tom Arnold, Kristin Chenoweth, Beau Bridges, David Koechner, Joy Bryant (Parenthood), and Ryan Hansen (Party Down). The film centers on an ex-getaway driver (Shepard) who exits the Witness Protection program to drive his pretty girlfriend (Bell) to Los Angeles so that she can land her dream job. The authorities and his former gang (led by Cooper) get wind of his reappearance and set out to chase him down. This isn’t Shepard’s first time behind the camera, as he also co-directed 2010’s Brothers Justice with Palmer.
This is a pretty great cast here, and I can see them having fun with the silly premise. I’m actually surprised Cooper is fitting the film into his schedule, as he’s quite the busy guy at the moment. He’s currently filming David O. Russell’s The Silver Linings Playbook, and he’s set to move on to Alex Proyas’ Paradise Lost next, followed by Steven Soderbergh’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Shepard has actually proved himself to be a solid dramatic actor on NBC’s vastly underrated Parenthood. The show comes from Friday Night Lights’ Jason Katims and if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend you check it out. Hit the jump for the full press release regarding Outrun.

Showtime has released the first promo for their new comedy House of Lies. It doesn’t tell you anything about the show, which centers on “a team of cutthroat management consultants who will do anything in their pursuit of money.” In fact, it’s just stars Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell, Ben Schwartz, Josh Lawson, and Dawn Oliveri in one of those bare, grayish sets designed for promo shoots. But the clip (and Cheadle especially) are so infectiously silly, I got a big laugh out of it. The cast drew me in, but now I definitely want to see more.
House of Lies premieres on January 8. If you don’t mind a bit of juvenile humor, watch the promo after the jump.

Universal has released the first trailer for Ken Kwapis’ feel-good whale-rescue movie Big Miracle. Formerly titled “Everybody Loves Whales” (not a great title, but far more informative than the generic “Big Miracle”), the story is inspired by the true story of a group effort to get three gray whales back to the ocean after they’re trapped under ice from the Arctic Circle. Combined with Dolphin Tale and Shark Night, it looks like people are ready to care about sea life again.
Hit the jump to check out the trailer. The film stars Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, Dermot Mulroney, Tim Blake Nelson, Stephen Root, and Ted Danson. Big Miracle opens February 3, 2012.

Two upcoming Relativity Media films may not have titles, but they now have release dates. First up, James McTeigue’s Untitled Raven Project (previously titled The Raven) will open on March 9, 2012. Per the press release, “The film is a gritty thriller in which Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders.” The untitled movie also stars Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.
Relativity has also set the date for the Untitled Farrelly/Wessler Comedy that has an absolutely ridiculous cast starring in a series of interconnected stories. Just some of the names on board include Johnny Knoxville, Gerard Butler, Anna Faris, Seann Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Halle Berry, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet, Terrence Howard, Liev Schreiber, Elizabeth Banks, Justin Long, Kristen Bell, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Stephen Merchant. Hit the jump for the full press release.

A new TV spot for Scream 4 has been released, this one giving Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin a little bit of screen time. Helmed by franchise staple Wes Craven, the film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Alison Brie, and Adam Brody. Hit the jump to check out the spot. Scream 4 hits theaters April 15th.

Last December we heard that Don Cheadle signed on to star in their dark comedy series House of Lies from Matthew Carnahan, creator and writer of the FX series Dirt. Based on Martin Kihn’s book of the same name, the half-hour comedy follows Marty (Cheadle), a highly successful, cutthroat consultant who is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his clients the information they want. Now Showtime has announced that Kristen Bell, who first made waves on TV as Veronica Mars, has landed the role of Jeannie Van Der Hooven, a razor-sharp, Ivy-League graduate who works at Marty’s firm. Stephen Hopkins is directing the pilot with production beginning this month, so we’ll be looking forward to checking the show out later this year.

In August, we reported that Kristen Bell has signed on to the dark indie ballet comedy Dance of the Mirlitons. Today, THR is reporting that Chloe Moretz, Jackie Earle Haley, and Bailee Madison (Brothers) have joined the cast. Per THR, the story centers on “an ambitious, slightly overweight ballerina (Madison) with an overbearing mother (Bell) who will stop at nothing to become a star. The girl enters a Mean Girls-type environment when she has to prove her worth in class.” Moretz will play the Madison’s nemesis and the star ballerina of the class while Haley is “a subtly sadistic Russian ballet teacher of the highest order.” Evan Greenberg wrote the script and will direct.
The project sounds like it could be a lot of fun. It’s currently trying to close down the final piece of funding for a shoot next year. Hit the jump for a refresher on the other projects these actors are currently attached to.

Sony has sent us eight clips from their upcoming film Burlesque. Directed by Steve Antin, the film stars Christina Aguilera as an aspiring performer whose vocal talents help revive an ailing Burlesque theater. The movie also stars Cher, Eric Dane, Cam Gigandet, Julianne Hough, Peter Gallagher, Alan Cumming, Kristen Bell, and Stanley Tucci.
Hit the jump to check out the clips and look for interviews with the cast soon. Burlesque opens November 24th.

In the comedy You Again, actress Jamie Lee Curtis plays Gail, a woman who has put her family’s life and happiness ahead of her own. As the mother of Marni (Kristen Bell) and Will (James Wolk), she is helping to make sure that everything is perfect in the planning for her son’s wedding to Joanna (Odette Yustman). When Marni returns home to find out that the young woman her brother is marrying happens to also be the same one who made her life hell in high school, Gail also realizes that Joanna’s aunt Ramona (Sigourney Weaver) is someone she shares her own teenage rivalry with, and all of the women have to keep their deeply rooted jealousies from overpowering them.
During a press conference at the film’s press day, Jamie Lee Curtis talked about being a cheerleader in her own high school years, finding honesty and integrity in life’s relationships and being at a point where she now puts family before career. She also shared how being the spokesperson for Activia has surprisingly changed her life. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Director/writer/producer Andy Fickman has had huge success with family comedies, including such features as Race to Witch Mountain, The Game Plan and She’s The Man. His latest is the Disney comedy You Again is about a young woman named Marni (Kristen Bell) who returns home to Northern California for her brother’s wedding, only to find out that he is marrying Joanna (Odette Yustman), her high school arch nemesis. And, to make matters worse, Marni’s mother, Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis), realizes that she attended the same high school as Joanna’s aunt, Ramona (Sigourney Weaver), where they had their own rivalry some 30 years ago.
In this exclusive interview, Andy Fickman talked to Collider about working with his muse Kristen Bell, whom he’s known for nearly a decade, the importance of creating a family atmosphere on set, finding the right balance between comedy and drama, and how everyone can relate to not being able to fit in, in high school.
He also gave an update on his upcoming features Us and Them, starring Billy Crystal, and The Undomestic Goddess, based on the book by Sophie Kinsella, and shared his passion for Heathers: The Musical, which he is currently developing for the stage with the film’s screenwriter, Dan Waters. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

In the new Disney comedy You Again, actress Odette Yustman is playing Joanna, the beautiful, popular girl in high school, who was also the arch nemesis to the shy, quiet Marni (Kristen Bell). When Marni returns home, now a successful publicist with a promising career ahead of her, she realizes that Joanna is marrying her brother Will (James Wolk). And, when Joanna acts, not only like nothing bad ever happened between them, but that she doesn’t even remember Marni, Marni sets out on a mission to prove that the sweet young woman that her family all seems to love is not who she appears to be.
During the film’s press day, Odette Yustman talked about her own mean girl in high school, working in romantic comedy for the first time and planning her own real life wedding. She also talked about her upcoming projects – Group Sex, Operation: Endgame, And Soon the Darkness and The Double – as well as doing a voice for Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. Check out what she had to say after the jump:
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