With Star Trek Into Darkness opening soon around the world, our partners at Omelete recently sat down with director J.J. Abrams.  During the interview, they talked about what Star Trek mean to him, where he thinks Star Trek should go next and what he’s accomplished, and more.  In addition, with Abrams preparing to direct the next Star Wars movie, he talked about who shot first, his feelings on the Star Wars prequels, and what’s his favorite Star Wars movie.  Hit the jump to watch.

Star Trek Into Darkness  stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, and Alice Eve.  The film is now playing in IMAX 3D and in 2D and 3D on May 17th.

The Tyler Perry name-brand provokes an impulsive knee jerk response. Either you’re on the bandwagon or you’re vehemently against. This Friday’s Peeples presents quite the conundrum for the Perry-less faction of viewers. While the film sports Perry’s name on the one sheet, the man didn’t direct the film instead serving as producer. The credit here belongs to Tina Gordon Chism, the writer behind the much-better-than they-ought to-be Drumline and ATL. Peeples – her first stab as writer/director – is no exception to this norm. I’ll admit a certain amount of trepidation before the lights dimmed; but within the first reel, I was quickly won over by the film’s quick and gentle wit.

Much of the film’s merit can be laid onto its game cast – in particular David Alan Grier (In Living Color)and S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order) as the patri/matri-arch to potential son-in-law Craig Robinson. In the following interview with the duo, Merkerson and Grier talk acting opposite film-legends Melvin Van Peebles and Diahann Carroll and reveal the art in using comedy to deal with serious subject matters. In addition Grier discussed the planned reboot of the classic sketch-comedy In Living Color and why ultimately it failed. For the full interview, hit the jump.

While their previous filmography is rather diverse (Crazy/Beautiful to Clash of the Titans), screenwriters Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay tackled a whole new genre with the upcoming R.I.P.D.—a buddy cop movie.  The film is based on the Dark Horse comic of the same name and stars Ryan Reynolds as a newly deceased cop who joins a group of undead officers in the “Rest In Peace Department” to help combat a rising force of nefarious corpses.  Reynolds is introduced to the world of the dead by an R.I.P.D. veteran played by Jeff Bridges, and what follows is a buddy cop film of sorts with a supernatural bent as gleaned by the pic’s recent trailer.

With the film hitting theaters July 19th, I recently sat down with Manfredi and Hay for an extended interview.  During our wide ranging conversation they talked about how they started writing together, how Crazy/Beautiful happened, R.I.P.D., Ride Along, The Boys, Big Man Japan, their writing process, and so much more.  Hit the jump to watch.

With Star Trek Into Darkness opening soon around the world, our partners at Omelete recently sat down with Zoe Saldana.  During the interview, she talked about what kind of personal challenges the sequel brought to her character, Uhura’s relationship with Spock, the pressure of playing such an iconic character, the level of humor in the sequel, working with the whole team again, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Star Trek Into Darkness also stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, and Alice Eve.  The film opens in IMAX 3D on May 15th and in 2D and 3D on May 17th.

There’s an interesting pairing schematic to this week’s Tyler Perry produced comedy Peeples. Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington star as a seemingly perfect couple… The only hitch: she’s yet to introduce her beau to the family (David Alan Grier & S. Epatha Merkerson). Both Robinson and Grier are primarily thought of as comedians, the former – a utility player in pretty much every comedy of the past five years, the latter – a founding member of one of the great sketch comedy shows: In Living Color. Their other halves however are played by dramatic actresses: Washington – the elusive object of affection in Django Unchained, Merkerson – the longest running cast member of Law & Order. The intermingling of drama and comedy performers lends the film a strong balance as a ‘dramedy’. Sure Peeples is a familiar riff on Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner/Meet the Parents; but it’s also a surprisingly charming film – and that can all be attributed to the cast and their interplay within.

In the following interview with Robinson and Washington, the duo discuss how Peeples allowed them to branch out from their comfort zones and how they choose film projects given their heavy television schedules. Robinson also discusses his penchant for playing children’s teachers (the comedian has a background in education) and gives a brief update on the status of Hot Tub Time Machine 2. For the full interview, hit the jump.

With Star Trek Into Darkness opening soon around the world, our partners at Omelete recently sat down with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto.  During the interview, they talked about what kind of personal challenges did the sequel bring to them both as actors and to their characters, do they now feel beloved by the Trek community, what’s the sequel about, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Star Trek Into Darkness also stars Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, and Alice Eve.  The film opens in IMAX 3D on May 15th and in 2D and 3D on May 17th.

A few minutes before DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns was scheduled to sign at Golden Apple in Hollywood on Comic Book Day, we sat for an exclusive interview.  During our wide ranging conversation we talked about his run on Green Lantern and when he first realized it was coming to an end, Aquaman, his thoughts on digital comics, The CW’s Arrow, future DC properties on TV, his reaction after watching Man of Steel, future animated movies, the reaction to The New 52, the status of the Booster Gold TV series, future Green Lantern plans, his most prized comic book,the status of 100 Bullets, Wonder Woman, favorite DC Collectibles, and so much more.  Hit the jump to either watch the interview or read the transcript.

[This is a re-post of my interview from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  While I rarely re-post interviews, this was one of my favorite interviews of 2012 and with the movie now playing in limited release, I decided it was worth another post.]

Every once in awhile you land an interview that you can’t wait to share. The one you’re about to watch with Chris Evans is one of those. At this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, I got to sit down with Evans for over twenty minutes (we were scheduled for a lot less) to talk about his great work in director Ariel Vromen‘s The Iceman. As you can see in the trailer, Evans plays a killer and is nearly unrecognizable in dirty long hair as Richard Kuklinski’s (Michael Shannon) friend and partner.

I’ve spoken to Evans a lot over the years, and one of the things I love about him is his honesty and willingness to talk about everything. If you ask him a question about his career, or even his contract with Marvel, he’ll talk about it. Most actors will try and deflect the question, or give a politician’s answer. That’s not how Evans operates and it’s very refreshing. So besides talking about The Iceman and working with Michael Shannon, Evans talked about how his career has blown up, the intricacies of his Marvel contract, the business of Hollywood, playing a critical character of the Marvel universe, Captain America 2 (Captain America: The Winter Solider), whether he knows anything about Captain America 3, the success of The Avengers, Joss Whedon, Thor 2, Bong Joon-ho‘s Snowpiercer, the greatness of Hayley Atwell, his upcoming anti-romantic comedy A Many Splintered Thing with Michelle Monaghan, and so much more. Hit the jump for more.

With writer-director Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3 now playing around the world, I recently got to speak with the cast and filmmakers here in Los Angeles.  During my video interview with Don Cheadle, we talked about collaborating with Black, the awesome dialogue, filming the action, changes on set, the collaboration with Marvel on Rhodey, if he’s talked to Joss Whedon about The Avengers 2, will he make an appearance in Captain America 2, and the future of Captain Planet.  Hit the jump to watch.

With writer-director Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3 now playing around the world and opening in America this weekend, I recently got to speak with the cast and filmmakers here in Los Angeles.  During my video interview with Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall, we talked about how their families reacted when they were cast, script changes during production, how it’s hard to talk about the movie without giving away some of the twists and turns, what it was like working with Shane Black, and more.  In addition, I tried to get Hall to talk about Wally Pfister‘s Transcendence (it didn’t work), and Pearce talks briefly about The Rover with Robert Pattinson.  Hit the jump to watch.

While their previous filmography is rather diverse (Crazy/Beautiful to Clash of the Titans), screenwriters Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay tackled a whole new genre with the upcoming R.I.P.D.—a buddy cop movie.  The film is based on the Dark Horse comic of the same name and stars Ryan Reynolds as a newly deceased cop who joins a group of undead officers in the “Rest In Peace Department” to help combat a rising force of nefarious corpses.  Reynolds is introduced to the world of the dead by an R.I.P.D. veteran played by Jeff Bridges, and what follows is a buddy cop film of sorts with a supernatural bent as gleaned by the pic’s recent trailer.

Steve recently sat down with Manfredi and Hay for an extended interview, and the two talked extensively about their work on R.I.P.D.  They spoke about how they were first brought on to the film adaptation, the difficult road to production, nailing down the right tone in the vein of Blues Brothers or Ghostbusters, script changes throughout development that resulted in a new finale and a much larger scope, the possibility of starting a franchise, changes to the comic book, and more.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

Now playing in theaters is director Michael Bay’s fantastic dark comedy Pain & Gain.  The film is based on a crazy true story and stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as two bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring and kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.  Pain and Gain also stars Anthony Mackie, Rebel Wilson,  Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rob Corddry, Ken Jeong, and Bar Paly.  For more on the film, watch some clips or the red-band trailer.

At the Miami press junket, I landed an exclusive interview with Ken Jeong & Bar Paly.  We talked about what it was like to work with Michael Bay, their reaction to finding out the story was based on real events, the great work by all the actors, and more.  In addition, they talked about upcoming films like The Hangover Part III and Non-Stop with Liam Neeson.  Hit the jump to watch the interview and definitely check out Pain and Gain.  It’s absolutely worth seeing.

With writer-director Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3 now playing around the world and opening in America this weekend, I recently got to speak with the cast and filmmakers here in Los Angeles.  During my video interview with Black and Marvel President Kevin Feige, we talked about if they considered doing the demon in the bottle storyline, deleted scenes (they’re going to save some for the eventual Phase 2 box set), what’s the status of Black’s Doc Savage movie, and more.  In addition, Feige reveals that it was Robert Downey Jr. who helped come up with the tag at the end of the credits.  Hit the jump to watch.

A feature film adaptation of the Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic The Boys has been in the works for quite a while, but thus far the project has had trouble getting off the ground.  Adam McKay (Anchorman, The Other Guys) has been attached to direct since the summer of 2010, but studios have thus far been wary of greenlighting a big budget hard-R anti-superhero movie that centers on a group of special agents tasked with policing the world’s superheroes by any means necessary. Steve recently sat down with screenwriters Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay in anticipation of this summer’s supernatural actioner R.I.P.D., and during the course of the conversation the duo also talked extensively about The Boys.  They gave an update on the project’s status, talked about McKay’s vision for the adaptation, how involved Ennis and Robertson were in the crafting of the script, and the possibility of Simon Pegg starring.  Hit the jump to read on.

With writer-director Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3 now playing around the world and opening in America this weekend, I recently got to speak with the cast and filmmakers here in Los Angeles.  During my video interview with Sir Ben Kingsley, we talked about the way Kevin Feige told him about the role and the arc of his character, how it’s tough to talk about the film without giving away some of the twists and turns, the way he prepared for the role, whether he took home the rings, and more.  In addition, Kingsley talked about his work in director Gavin Hood‘s Ender’s Game.  Hit the jump to watch.