While Jesse Eisenberg has played all sorts of people and characters like Mark Zukerberg, a zombie hunter, an orthodox Jew, a pizza delivery guy, and tons of troubled kids, in Now You See Me, Eisenberg takes on a new challenge: magician.  And based on what I’ve seen and learned about the film, he’s going to deliver another great performance.

While on set last year, I got to participate in a group interview with Eisenberg.  He talked about why he wanted to be in the project, reuniting with Woody Harrelson, what it’s been like learning the tricks, working with director Louis Leterrier, script changes, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

In director Louis Leterrier‘s Now You See Me, Mark Ruffalo plays an FBI agent trying to hunt down and capture a group of magicians who pull off bank heists during their death-defying acts.  However, while Ruffalo plays a tough guy on screen, he’s anything but that in real life.  In fact, in the few times I’ve gotten to speak with him, he’s always making people laugh and trying to have fun.

About a year ago, I got to participate in a group interview with Ruffalo on the set of Now You See Me when the film was shooting in New York.  He talked about why he wanted to be involved, working with Leterrier, filming on location in New Orleans and NYC, magicians, what kinds of scripts is he drawn to, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Last year on the set of director Louis Leterrier‘s Now You See Me, Isla Fischer, who plays an escapologist, was asked why she wanted to do the movie.  She said:

“I read the script and I loved it.  It just had elements of an interesting movie, a good story, interesting people were attached and so many weird contrasting elements — romance, action, a heist… It just seemed like a mixture of a bunch of different movies, like a lovechild of Clash of the Titans meets Ocean’s Twelve.”

Fisher also talked about her character, her chemistry with the cast, performing the tricks, the tone of the film, how the script changed with once the cast was set, and more.  In addition, she since had just wrapped on The Great Gatsby, we also talked about that film and her other future projects.  Hit the jump for more.

Last year on the set of Now You See Me, director Louis Leterrier talked about his reasons for wanting to make the film:

“I was looking for a great script. I wanted a great script with a great story, some great twist, some great characters. I was looking for it, looking for it, looking for it, and then I found this amazing script. So I was like, “This is it, this is for me.” And what I love about this script is that it’s very respectful of the art of magic but also gives you a little bit of a peek behind the curtain, the Wizard of Oz curtain, a little bit. Not too much, but that’s what I want. So it really is a love letter to magic.”

In addition, he compared the tone to Sneakers and Oceans 11, why he wanted to use practical effects and not CG, the importance of having the actors do their own tricks, why they shot on location in New Orleans, New York and Las Vegas, which tricks were the most difficult, how the project changed along the way, and so much more.

While Channing Tatum has made a lot of movies over the past few years, he’s about to enter a new phase of his career: action star.  And based on what I watched on the set of Roland Emmerich‘s White House Down last year in Montreal, he’s going to be great at it.

During a group interview in between set-ups, Tatum talked about if his outfit was an homage to Die Hard‘s John McClane, his thoughts on being in a big action movie, how he got involved in the project, his chemistry with Jamie Foxx, what it’s been like working with Emmerich, filming the action sequences, the success of Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street, the status of Magic Mike 2, and so much more.   Hit the jump for what he had to say.

When you think of Roland Emmerich, you think big budget Hollywood spectacle.  You also know you’re probably going to see something that you’ve never seen before.   If you’ve seen the trailer for White House Down, you know he’s likely done it again.  The film stars Channing Tatum as a secret service agent who protects the President (Jamie Foxx) when the White House comes under attack.

During a group interview on the Montreal set, Emmerich talked about why he jumped from his sci-fi movie Singularity to White House Down, how quickly the film came together, why he filmed most of the film on soundstages, the attention to detail when they built the White House, why he cast Channing Tatum as the lead, the tone, and so much more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Last year, on the set of White House Down, I was able to participate in a group interview with producers Brad Fischer and Reid Carolin.  They talked about how quickly the project came together, the crazy first meeting between Channing Tatum and Roland Emmerich, the tone (which they compared to Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and Independence Day), how the film is going to take us into parts of the White House that normally aren’t shown, how the script changed, why Tatum wanted make this project, and so much more.  Hit the jump for what they had to say

Over the past few years, producer/composer Harald Kloser has been working with Roland Emmerich on a number of projects.  However, while they’d both expected the sci-fi film Singularity to be their next movie, everything changed after a late night of writing.  Sony offered them the chance to make the thriller White House Down, and almost immediately after reading the script, they were in pre-production.

During a group interview on the Montreal set last year, Kloser talked about how the project came together, what it was like to build the White House from scratch, shooting partially in 48fps, scoring the film, script changes, the importance of having a strong antagonist, if the CIA or another government agency give them any notes, and more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Production design is a crucial, but often overlooked aspect of filmmaking.  It’s the production designer’s job to take what’s written on the page and bring the setting to life, often trying to make miracles happen in a very short amount of time.  Production designer Kirk M. Petruccelli had to be a miracle man on the set of White House Down.  Originally scheduled for a 15-week preparation period, the schedule got cut in half and then he found out that Jamie Foxx had to shoot all his scenes at the beginning of the shoot, which meant all of those scenes need finished sets.  For a big budget Roland Emmerich movie that features the White House, it was a major undertaking.

During a group interview on the Montreal set, Petruccelli talked about the challenging pre-production schedule, the locations, creating sets when reference material is scarce, creating “The Beast” (i.e. the President’s car), and so much more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

One of the reasons why G.I. Joe: Retaliation looks better than the first film is, quite simply, Dwayne Johnson.  I’m of the opinion that if you want to make any franchise better, all you need to do is add The Rock.  Look what Universal did with Fast Five…they added Johnson and it’s the best of the series.  And in the G.I. Joe sequel, Johnson has been brought in as Roadblock and he’s front and center leading the Joe’s against Cobra.

During a fantastic group interview on set when the production was filming in New Orleans, Johnson talked about how he got involved in G.I. Joe, why he wanted to play Roadblock, the WWE, his weapons, working with director Jon M. Chu, the Fast and Furious franchise, interacting with his fans on social media, and so much more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

As I’ve said many times, while it’s always great to talk to actors, if you really want to find out why certain decisions were made on a film, you always want to talk to the director and the producers.  In the case of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the set of which I visited in 2011, the one who provided the most of the information about the sequel was Lorenzo di Bonaventura (who also produced the first G.I. Joe and a few other movies like the Transformers franchise, Red, Red 2, Salt, , The Last Stand, Side Effects , Jack Ryan, and many more).

During an extended group interview on set, di Bonaventura talked about the differences between Retaliation and the first film, the sequel’s tone, Cobra Commander’s mask, Destro, the action, new castmembers like Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis, director Jon M. Chu, the merchandising, the humor, and so much more.  If you’re a Joe fan, it’s a great read.  Hit the jump to check it out.

While some had issues with the first G.I. Joe movie, most would agree the casting of Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow and Ray Park as Snake Eyes was dead on.  So when Paramount decided to make the sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, while they brought in a lot of new actors, I was extremely happy they kept Lee and Park as Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes.

During a group interview on the set when Retaliation was filming in New Orleans, Lee talked about returning for the sequel, the training, how Storm Shadow has a bigger role in the sequel, the fight scenes, the difference between making movies in Hollywood and Korea, his action figure, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

When you think of G.I. Joe, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow immediately come to mind for most people. After all, they’re two of the coolest characters in the “Joe” universe and they have a long history. If you’re one of those people that love the characters, you’re going to be happy to learn that G.I. Joe: Retaliation spends a lot of time with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.  We get to see their backstory, watch some great fights, and the film uses the silent interlude storyline from the comics for part of the film.  As I said, fans of the characters are going to love what director Jon M. Chu is planning.

When G.I. Joe: Retaliation was filming in New Orleans, I got to visit the set and participate in a group interview with Ray Park (Snake Eyes).  He talked about his new costume and weapons, the fight sequences with Storm Shadow, working with Elodie Yung (Jinx), and a lot more.  Hit the jump to read what he said.

If you saw the first G.I. Joe movie, you might have noticed Jinx in the background of two scenes (she was training in the P.I.T.T. and in the background of General Hawk’s speech).  However, in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, not only is Jinx being played by a new actress (Elodie Yung), her character has been given a lot more screentime including some major action sequences with Snake Eyes.  If you’re familiar with the G.I. Joe cartoons and comics, you’re definitely going to see a few things you recognize.

During a group interview with Elodie Yung on the New Orleans set, we talked about how she got cast, the action scenes, working with RZA as Blind Master and director Jon M. Chu, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what she had to say.

One of the new actors and characters making an appearance in G.I. Joe: Retaliation is D.J. Cotrona as Flint.  When the first Joe movie came out in 2009 (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), many fans were disappointed that Flint didn’t show up.  Clearly Hasbro/Paramount and the filmmakers heard the fans, as Flint is a huge part of the sequel.

During a group interview on the New Orleans set of Retaliaion, Cotrona talked about how he was cast, how Flint plays into the story, the action scenes, his relationship with Lady Jaye and Duke, his costume and the weapons,  whether he has scenes with Snake Eyes, what it was like to almost play Superman in George Miller’s Justice League movie, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.