Though he’s currently gearing up to direct the comedy sequel The Hangover Part III in September, director Todd Phillips is planning on trying his hand at a straight drama in the near future.  THR reports that Phillips is in talks to direct the crime drama The Gambler, a remake of the 1974 film of the same name starring James Caan.  The Paramount project previously had Martin Scorsese attached to direct with Leonardo DiCaprio circling the starring role, but it now appears that Scorsese has left the remake.  Hit the jump for more details.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories regarding sequels to share today.  First up, Mike Epps in negotiations to reprise his role as “Black Doug” from The Hangover in director Todd Phillips’ upcoming sequel The Hangover Part III.  Original cast members Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis are all set to return, and we recently learned that the debauchery will be taking place in Tijuana this time around.  Ken Jeong is coming back for an expanded role in the third pic, and Variety reports that Epps will be another returning favorite.  The Next Friday actor didn’t appear in The Hangover Part II, but he was great in his few scenes from the first film so this comes as welcome news.

Hit the jump for casting regarding the action sequel Red 2.

Ken Jeong (Community) spent his time in The Hangover as a mean, naked gambler that hit so hard; he returned in The Hangover Part II, but [spoiler alert] spent the better part of the movie presumably dead.  In The Hangover Part III, Jeong’s role will be substantially more involved.  Plot details are being kept under wraps at the moment, but we do know that the story takes place in Tijuana and may include breaking Alan (Zach Galifianakis) out of a mental institution.  Jeong’s schedule is being massaged to avoid conflicts with Community, which shoots this August, while The Hangover Part III is set to begin in September.  THR also reports that the threequel will feature the return of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and director Todd Phillips.

Though we’re all currently focused on the promising summer movie season at hand, production is scheduled to get underway on another high profile film later this year.  We learned back in January that director Todd Phillips and stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha were all game to return for one last entry in The Hangover franchise.  Deals were closed a few months later, with production set to get underway this coming September for a May 24^th, 2013 release date.  Plot details have been slim save for Galifianakis’ claim that The Hangover Part III would find the guys breaking Alan out of a mental hospital, but now reports have surfaced that suggest the film may not only find the Wolf Pack returning to Las Vegas, but also heading down south to Tijuana.  Hit the jump for more.

Back in February, we learned that The Hangover director Todd Phillips was developing four projects at Warner Bros. as possible directorial vehicles.  One of said projects was an adaptation of Tony D’Souza’s novel Mule.  The story centers on a couple who decide to traffic drugs as a result of the economic downturn and the wife’s unexpected pregnancy. The husband quickly rises up the drug trafficking ladder to become a drug boss and the two find themselves way over their heads.  At the time, Phillips and producer Scott Budnick were looking for a writer to put on the project.  Now it appears that Mark and Jay Duplass have been tapped to pen the adaptation.  Hit the jump for more, including a synopsis for the book.

Danny McBride is set to write and star in the adaptation of the Danish TV series-turned-film Klovn (Clown) with Todd Phillips attached to produce.  Per Deadline, the logline is “two men and a 13-year old boy embark on an R-rated vacation.”  In the TV series, two guys plan a “canoeing trip”, which is actually what they’ve deemed a “Tour de Pussy” where they plan to party hard and have lots and lots of sex.  When one of the guys discovers that his girlfriend is pregnant and wants to get rid of the baby, he attempts to prove he can be a good father by taking her son on the canoeing trip even though the guy and his pal still plan to embark on their “Tour de Pussy.”

Hit the jump for more.

All’s well that end’s well. Earlier today Warner Bros. announced a May 2013 release date for The Hangover Part III, and now a press release has been sent out that confirms filming on the conclusion to Todd Phillips’ trilogy is targeted to start this September. Phillips has been talking up the concluding chapter since The Hangover Part II came out, and last we heard stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms were poised for a major salary increase to reprise their roles. Everyone is now set to return in order to close out the trilogy, and Phillips promises fans will be surprised by their “fitting conclusion to our three-part opera of mayhem, despair and bad decisions.” I sincerely hope that means deviating from the first film’s formula that was directly copied in the sequel.

Phillips co-wrote the script with The Hangover Part II co-writer Craig Mazin and will return to the director’s chair a final time. The Hangover Part III is slated to open on May 24th, 2013. Hit the jump to read the full press release.

Director Todd Phillips‘ (The Hangover) stock-and-trade has been frat-house comedies.  They don’t necessarily take place inside a frat-house, but they all share the common theme of guys getting rowdy, doing dumb shit, and the comic consequences that follow.  However, back in 1998, Phillips and co-director Andrew Gurland (who would go on to direct The Virginity Hit) took a serious documentary approach to the world of fraternities.  Their hour-long doc, Frat House, was shot for HBO’s America Undercover series, but was never aired due to controversy over whether or not some parts were staged.  Now the film has landed online (although who knows for how long) and it’s definitely worth your time.  I’ve only watched the first ten minutes, but the movie is unlike anything you’ve seen from Phillips, and I’m always fascinated by documentaries on sub-cultures.

Hit the jump to check out Frat House (warning: NSFW).

With producer Todd Phillips and director Nima Nourizadeh‘s R-rated teen comedy Project X opening today, last weekend I got to talk with the filmmakers and cast about making the film.  Starring Thomas Mann, Miles Teller, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Dax Flame, Nichole O’Connor and Alexis Knapp, Project X is about a group of outsiders that decide to throw a party where things get absolutely out of control.  Trust me, there is no way you see this movie and leave the theater disappointed.   For more on the film, here’s a ton of images and four clips.

During my interview with Phillips and Nourizadeh we talked about whether or not they had to cut out anything to get an R rating, the soundtrack and how they picked the music, the editing (including how they used extras to shoot some of the movie), and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Imagine the ultimate high school senior year house party from the male perspective and push it over the edge. That’s a rough description of the absurdity and chaos that breaks out in the latest handheld camera film called Project X. Following three seniors trying to throw a party that will get them noticed once and for all, they end up losing control and everything turns into absolute chaos as it expands. However, that’s after they have a whole hell of a lot of fun getting there. Unfortunately, like waking up with a hangover, the ending of this film almost ruins what happened before. Almost. Hit the jump for my full review.

A new red band spot for the Todd Phillips-produced party comedy Project X has gone online. The previous trailers have been entertaining enough, but this red band spot really brings out the “Rated R” aspect of the film. The movie looks to be sufficiently filthy, and this trailer highlights the first jokes from the film that I’ve found more than marginally funny. If the rest of the movie is like this trailer (which I assume it is), then I can definitely understand how most of the films jokes aren’t exactly age-appropriate. I’m still not on board with the whole “dwarf punching people in the balls” bit, but I think Project X takes an interesting approach to the comedy genre and Steve said he laughed his ass off, so I’m looking forward to checking it out.

Hit the jump to watch the red band spot. If you haven’t already, enter our contest to win some movie-related swag. The film stars Thomas Mann, Miles Teller, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Dax Flame, Nichole O’Connor and Alexis Knapp. Project X opens on March 2nd.

It’s been compared to Superbad and is touted as being produced by Todd Phillips, the director of The Hangover, but the time has come for Project X to grow up and stand on its own. We’ve seen a pretty encouraging trailer and now we have 4 clips from the R-rated teen comedy to let you decide amongst yourselves whether it’s the biggest party movie ever created.  I spoke to Steve after he caught an early screening and he said it’s extremely funny and absolutely rated R.  He also said it’s going to be a big hit for Warner Bros.

Directed by Nima Nourizadeh, the film stars Thomas Mann, Miles Teller, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Dax Flame, Nichole O’Connor and Alexis Knapp. Project X opens March 2th, 2012. Hit the jump to check out the clips.

Director Todd Phillips quickly became a household name following the smashing success of 2009’s The Hangover. Phillips wasn’t exactly an unknown before the comedy-megahit, as he had success directing raunchy comedies like Old School, Road Trip, and the PG-13 adaptation of Starsky and Hutch, but The Hangover (and its subsequent sequel) allowed the director to have considerable creative control in developing his own projects. The director is currently prepping a third (and likely final) installment of The Hangover, but he recently re-upped his deal with Warner Bros. paving the way for four possible directorial projects at the studio:

• Mule – A young couple turn to drug trafficking in order to make it through the recession.
• Arms and the Dudes – Two stoners make it big in the arms dealing business but then are cleaned out by the government.
• The Island – Plot details unknown, but Due Date’s Adam Sztykiel wrote the script.
• Million Dollar Strong – Feature film version of the YouTube and Funny or Die shorts from Ken Jeong and Mike O’Connell.

Hit the jump for more on Phillips and these four projects.

The ratings are in, and Super Bowl XLVI just barely edged out last year’s game to rank as the most watched program in television history. Nearly 111.3 million people tuned in to watch the Giants vs. Patriots match-up and, subsequently, a whole lotta advertising. Last night we brought you a compilation of all the movie-related spots that ran during the game (including an extended version of The Avengers ad, which is fantastic), and today we’d like to bring your attention to the actual commercials. While most of us are looking for the cleverest or most laugh-inducing spot when judging these super-sized budgeted ads, quite a few notable filmmakers were actually behind many of last night’s spots.

After the jump you’ll find a compilation of ads directed by Peter Berg, Todd Phillips, David Gordon Green, Craig Gillespie, Bobby Farrelly, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., Lance Acord, Joe Pytka, Jake Scott, Fredrik Bond, Chris Smith, Miguel Arteta, Wayne McClammy, and Noam Murro.

A few days ago, we showed a sneak peek at the Honda CR-V Super Bowl Ad featuring Matthew Broderick playing off his Ferris Bueller role.  Directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover), the ad is pretty cute and funny, although it has a notable lack of Alan Ruck.  The ad would be perfect if the CR-V belonged to Alan Ruck’s dad, they took it, and then Ruck destroyed it in a fit of cathartic rage at the end.

Hit the jump to check out the ad.  A shorter version will play during the Super Bowl on Sunday.