Filming is currently underway in New York City on director Marc Webb’s sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Webb has been keeping fans up to date on the production with regular photo teases on his Twitter account.  Though most of them are either of crew members or innocuous pieces of the set, today he shared a picture from Oscorp that reveals that The Office star BJ Novak has a role in the follow-up.  Novak has a knack for popping up in unexpected features as he previously nabbed a role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of character he plays in the Spider-Man follow-up.

Hit the jump to take a look at the image of Novak in character.  The film also stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Shailene Woodley, Paul Giamatti, Felicity Jones, Chris Cooper, and Sally Field.  The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens in 3D on May 2, 2014.

Filming has commenced on Disney’s star-studded real life drama Saving Mr. Banks.  The film chronicles Walt Disney’s twenty-year pursuit of the film rights to author P.L. Travers’ novel Mary Poppins, and the rocky relationship that formed between the two.  Tom Hanks will take on the daunting task of portraying Disney (the first time he’s ever been portrayed in a dramatic film), while Emma Thompson is set as Travers.  Director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) has assembled a killer cast that includes Colin Farrell and Ruth Wilson (Anna Karenina) as Travers’ parents, Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) as Travers’ aunt who was the inspiration for the character of Mary Poppins, Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) as screenwriter Don Dagradi, and Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak as the songwriting Sherman Brothers.  Moreover, Paul Giamatti and Kathy Baker also appear in supporting roles.

Hit the jump for more on the project, including the film’s full synopsis.

If you’re going to center your movie’s plot around a cutting-edge technology firm, take a lesson from director Shawn Levy and choose Google.  Levy’s The Internship stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as two out of touch salesmen who reinvent themselves at a tech company through a highly contentious internship. Today on Twitter, Levy revealed that the company would be the very real, and very progressive, Google.  The director has also accompanied his Tweets of late with set photos.  Hit the jump to check them out.

Two on-the-bubble NBC shows have officially been given the order for new seasons.  The critical favorite yet ratings challenged drama Parenthood has been renewed for a 15-episode fourth season (per TV Line).  Showrunner Jason Katims is no stranger to ratings issues despite favorable reviews, as he led the stellar Friday Night Lights through five seasons of “will it be renewed?” drama.  I’m a fan of the ensemble and tone of Parenthood, but Katims will most likely have his hands full next season as his medical pilot County is said to be close to a pick up.  That show will star Jason Ritter, who led the doomed The Event and has been a frequent guest star on Parenthood.

Hit the jump for news regarding renewals for The Office and a final season for 30 Rock, as well as speculation about the fate of Community and Parks and Recreation. [Update: The Office hasn't officially been renewed yet, but with deals almost done for the main cast members a renewal is expected]

Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator has released a few images of Megan Fox and Anna Faris to drum up interest for their May 16th release date.  Having been buried under coverage of some sort of blockbuster superhero movie, The Dictator will have to pull a few more tricks out of his sleeve to grab headlines.  We’ve already seen the trailer, the opening of the film, a poster for General Aladeen’s (Cohen) visit to New York and the spilling of Kim Jong-Il’s ashes on the red carpet. The Dictator also boasts a solid supporting cast with John C. Reilly, Sir Ben Kingsley, B.J. Novak and J.B. Smoove. But, pictures of Megan Fox and Anna Faris certainly don’t hurt.  Hit the jump to check them out along with a few other actors from The Dictator.

Since Steve Carell left The Office, the happenings on the show have been anything but business as usual.  Robert California (James Spader) stopped by to run things for a time before leaving the Scranton branch in the capable, albeit self-conscious, hands of Andy Bernard (Ed Helms).  There has been recent talk of Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) leaving to retire to the beet farm bed-and-breakfast in a proposed spin-off.  That’s not to mention the expanding film careers of Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski and Craig Robinson, as well as Wilson and Helms.  As neither the cast members nor the show itself have been officially been confirmed to return, things are a bit up in the air at the moment.  Helms talked a bit about the future of  The Office in this recent interview with Steve.  Hit the jump for more on this possible series reboot.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s next film The Dictator is currently shooting in New York City.  For those who don’t know, Cohen plays “a heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.”  The film is inspired by the novel, Zabibah and The King, by Saddam Hussein.  The set photos we’ve seen so far make it look as nutty as Cohen’s previous films.  We have now learned of a new cameo in the film as well as how much a previously-announced actor will be in the film.

Hit the jump for more details.  The film, directed by Larry Charles (Borat) also stars Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, J.B. Smoove, John C. Reilly, and Megan Fox.  The Dictator opens May 11, 2012.

The seventh season of The Office already has a lot of hard work ahead to keep fans interested in the series as next spring, the conclusion will bring the departure of Michael Scott (Steve Carell). The good news is the beginning of the season starts with a bang as Andy kicks-off an office-wide lip-dub clearly inspired by the single-shot viral shenanigans of Connected Ventures and their collective lip sync of Harvey Danger’s Flagpole Sitta. Only this time around the employees of Dunder-Mifflin Sabre are singing along to the catchy fast-paced tune Nobody But Me by The Human Beinz. The bad news is this is as good as the season opener gets as the rest of the episode is mostly boring, only mildly funny but almost completely peculiar. Find out why after the jump.

Last week, members of the cast and crew from Inglorious Basterds stormed the red carpet at the New Beverly Cinema to celebrate the release of their film on DVD/Blu-ray.  Though just a DVD premiere, spotlights shone into the night, flashbulbs flashed, and pens scribbled on notepads. There were a few surprises – the arrival of stunt-woman extraordinaire and Tarantino alum Zoe Bell, for instance.  Or the lovely Diane Krueger (Nina Von Hammersmark) arriving with a dapperly dressed Joshua Jackson on her arm.

But for the most part, the focus of the evening was the cast and crew of the critically acclaimed World War II opus. Among them, most of the titular Basterds, including: Sam Levine, Eli Roth, Omar Doom, B.J. Novak, producer Lawrence Bender and, of course, the biggest “basterd” of them all – Quentin Tarantino.

Collider grabbed a few words with some of the cast before enjoying an evening of disemboweled, dismembered, and disfigured Nazi scum.  Hit the jump to read what they said:

Though it’s never been a ratings powerhouse, finishing outside the Nielsen Top 50 in each of its five seasons, NBC’s “The Office” has everything else a network could want in this increasingly fragmented era of television entertainment: Mountains of great reviews, a likable cast that stays in the public eye with budding film careers, plenty of opportunities for product placement, and a devoted following among the coveted 18-49 demographic. In fact, if you didn’t have any idea what the Nielsen rankings were, you might think “The Office” was a phenomenon of “Cheers” proportions, when in fact it hasn’t even managed “Night Court”-sized ratings. More after the jump:

You already know if you love or hate the films of Quentin Tarantino.  It isn’t that his films haven’t evolved over the course of his career but they do possess a singular style that is often imitated but never duplicated.  His detractors will find his newest film, “Inglourious Basterds” to be his worst while his fans will celebrate it as his best yet.  Count me in the latter category.  Not only is this film have greater intensity than any horror film in recent memory, it features one of the greatest villains in cinema history.  And no, it’s not Hitler.

While “Inglourious Basterds” has a lot of great performances, Christoph Waltz is the one you’re all going to remember and talk about. That’s because he’s so good as Col. Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, I think he’s going to be remembered at the end of the year during Award season. Yeah…he’s that good. Anyway, I recently got to speak with him about making the film and it’s after the jump. Take a look:

While Eli Roth is primarily known for his writing and directing skills, he’s slowly building up a resume as an actor. And as one of the leads in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”, this might be a role that opens up a new door for the filmmaker.

In the film, Eli plays Sgt. Donny Donowitz – also known as ‘The Bear Jew’. I won’t spoil the reason why he’s called that…but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to mention he’s not a nice Jew. Anyway, I recently got to talk with The Bear Jew about making the movie, working for Quentin, the violence in the film, and a lot more. Take a look:

A show that I absolutely loved was “Freaks and Geeks”. So anytime I can speak with a former cast member, I’m always happy to do it. But when they’re promoting a movie that features Jews killing Nazis, I’ll reschedule my day to make sure I can help promote the film! And that’s exactly what I did to talk with Samm Levine last week. While he wasn’t part of the official junket schedule, when I was offered the opportunity to talk with him, we arranged to meet up and the interview is after the jump. He talked about how he got the part, filming in Berlin, deleted scenes, running time, what he has coming up and a lot more. It’s a great interview so take a look:

Sometimes you need to sell a movie. Other times you can just write a new Quentin Tarantino movie is opening this Friday!

As most of you know, Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” hits multiplexes this weekend and I definitely recommend checking it out. While some may have issues with the violence or the long running time, I was into the film from the beginning to the kick-ass ending. So to help promote the movie, I got to interview most of the cast and the one you’re about to watch is with B.J. Novak. In the film, B.J. plays one of the Basterds. During the interview he talked about getting the part and tells a great story about meeting Quentin. Watch it after the jump: