HBO has released a new extended featurette for director Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming Liberace film Behind the Candelabra.  The 12-minute video takes us behind-the-scenes of Soderbergh’s possibly final feature film, as we get an intimate look into how the filmmaker crafted his chronicle of the tempestuous relationship between Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his lover Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) throughout their secretive five-year love affair that began in 1977.  Much of the featurette’s focus is on the insane costume and production design of the film, but we also get some footage of Sodbergh operating the camera himself and of a nearly unrecognizable Rob Lowe as Liberace’s plastic surgeon.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette.  The film also stars Debbie Reynolds, Scott Bakula, Dan Aykroyd, Cheyenne Jackson, Paul Reiser, and Boyd Holbrook.  Behind the Candelabra will premiere on HBO on May 26th at 9pm/8c.

After a couple sneak peeks, a full trailer has been unveiled for Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra.  The film stars Michael Douglas as the famous musician Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson.  The plot centers on the tempestuous relationship between the two throughout their secretive five-year love affair that began in 1977.  Judging by the new trailer, the story seems to be heavily from Thorson’s perspective as he took a unique relationship with Liberace.  It’s intriguing.  Not quite as intriguing as Rob Lowe‘s hairstyle, but close.

Hit the jump to check out the full trailer.  The film also stars Dan Aykroyd and Debbie Reynolds.  Behind the Candelabra premieres on HBO on May 26th at 9/8c.

Check out some recent casting announcements below:

• Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters) is in negotiations to join the road trip comedy Tammy, starring Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Mark Duplass and Kathy Bates.
• Michael Peña (End of Watch) joins the Oscar-award winning cast of David O. Russell’s new untitled picture that stars Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence.
• Omar Sy (The Intouchables) is on board director Stephen Gaghan’s Candy Store, also starring Jason Clarke.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

Surprise!  Those still crossing their fingers for the very long in-development Ghostbusters 3 were granted a glimmer of hope when we recently learned that the sequel could start filming next summer, but that hope has now swiftly been dashed out.  Due to some financial uneasiness, Sony Pictures Entertainment is currently reassessing all of their projects in the pipeline.  Per THR, any decision on Ghostbusters 3 has been postponed until the end of March, which means that the hoped-for Summer 2013 start date is no longer a possibility.  Should Sony ultimately decide to move forward with the sequel, filming likely wouldn’t be able to get underway until next fall at the earliest.

The most recent draft of the script was written by Etan Cohen, and Ghostbusters I and II director Ivan Reitman had been set to return.  I’m not sure we really need another Ghostbusters movie (especially now that Bill Murray is out), and I remain skeptical as to whether Ghostbusters 3 will actually come to fruition.

The first trailer for the animated feature Dorothy of Oz has been released.  The CG-animated musical centers on Dorothy (Lea Michele) returning to the Land of Oz, only to find that the kingdom and its inhabitants are in grave danger from a wicked Jester (Martin Short).  The low-budget film comes from the studio Summertime Entertainment, and the visuals are sadly a far cry from Pixar or DreamWorks Animation.  That said, the colorfulness and strange cast of characters would have been a big pull for me as a kid so maybe this will play better to younger audiences.  The film is almost reminiscent of the dark and twisted unofficial sequel Return to Oz, but with decidedly more singing/Broadway stars.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The voice cast also includes Dan Aykroyd, Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, James Belushi, Bernadette Peters, Hugh Dancy, Megan Hilty, and Oliver Platt.  Dorothy of Oz will open sometime in 2013. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about how The Five-Year Engagement over-indulged its actors’ improvisational comedy, which caused scenes to run on for far too long.  Director Jay Roach wisely dodges this problem by cutting his new film, The Campaign, down to a lean 85 minutes.  There’s clearly plenty of more material as stars Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis‘ strong chemistry and comic mastery play brilliantly off each other, especially when the humor gets particularly crass.  It’s a film that can deliver big laughs, and yet it features an odd concoction of broad comedy that grazes up against targeted political commentary.  The brew tastes a bit off as it highlights a missed opportunity to truly take advantage of the political arena.

Dan Aykroyd has somehow become the Mark Millar of his own franchise.  While Mark Millar is an outsider who pretends like he knows the daily goings-on behind the adaptations of his comic books, Aykroyd is actually a producer of the Ghostbuters movies.  However, he exposes the key flaw in trying to give people specific status reports: the facts change on a daily basis.  Just because it’s sunny today, doesn’t mean it’s going to be sunny a year from now.  If everything Aykroyd said about Ghostbusters 3 was accurate, filming would have taken place this past spring.  But the most frequently asked question for Aykroyd hasn’t even been, “When do you start filming?”  It’s been, “Is Bill Murray coming back?”

The chances of Murray returning have always leaned towards no with the star highly reluctant to reprise his role as Dr. Peter Venkman.  There was a time when he seemed slightly up on the idea of the character returning as a ghost, but that’s about it.  Now it looks like Aykroyd is finally willing to move on without Murray.  Hit the jump for more.

Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis will duke it out in the upcoming comedy The Campaign, and six clips, 10 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, and over 25 new high-resolution images from the pic have been released.  Ferrell stars as an incumbent congressman who is surprisingly challenged by the green and inexperienced Galifianakis in a North Carolina race.  Jay Roach (Recount, Austin Powers) directs the pic, which takes the ridiculousness of American politics to another level.  Ferrell and Galifianakis appear to be having a blast, and I’m looking forward to seeing the two take on the world of politics with gusto.

Hit the jump to check out the cilps, featurettes, and images, and if you missed any of our set visit coverage click here.  The film also stars Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Dan Aykroyd, Brian Cox, and John Lithgow.  The Campaign opens on August 10th.

As we gear up towards one of the most heated elections in our country’s history, people are getting a little (OK, a lot) stressed out:  political pundits are viciously attacking one another—and Batman movies—in the press, candidates are slinging mud via increasingly-aggro campaign ads, and voters on both sides of the aisle seem poised to tear one another limb from limb.  Seems like we could all use a good laugh right about now, doesn’t it?  Good news is, Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, writer Chris Henchy and director Jay Roach’s The Campaign is here to provide that much-needed dose of anger-deflating political comedy.

I visited the set of the film a few months ago, and have returned with 20 things you need to know about The Campaign before it opens next month.  Wanna know more?  Meet me after the jump.

Dan Aykroyd continues to be the most vocal supporter of the struggling Ghostbusters 3 project.  Last summer, Aykroyd rekindled our hopes that the film would shoot in the spring of 2012 with or without Bill Murray’s involvement (which clearly never happened).  Then, Aykroyd floated the possibility of recasting Peter Venkman and admitted to needing more time to work on the screenplay by Bad Teacher scribes, Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. He more recently confirmed that Murray would have nothing to do with the project.  Now it seems as if the writing duo of Eisenberg and Stupnitsky are out as well, as Aykroyd recently commented that a new team was in place.  While I admire the man’s tenacity in bringing a suitable project to the screen, I’m beginning to wonder whether or not we should just leave well enough alone.  More from Aykroyd after the jump. 

Here are today’s casting notes at a glance:

• Dan Aykroyd will join Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace picture, Behind the Candelabra.
• Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting), Shirley MacLaine (The Apartment) and Oliver Cooper (Project X) will star in the ensemble comedy, A Film by Alan Stuart, from writer/director Andy Bergman.
• Evanna Lynch (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) will join Gary Oldman, Malcolm McDowell and Dominic Monaghan in Monster Butler.

Hit the jump for more on each picture.

Earlier this week, we showed you a couple of fake campaign ads for Jay Roach‘s comedy The Campaign starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis.  Today, Warner Bros. has released the first trailer and poster.  The film centers on an incumbent candidate (Ferrell) who doesn’t expect to be opposed in his run for a fifth-term, but he finds an unexpected challenger in the unassuming and dim-witted Marty Huggins (Galifianakis).  I was hoping that the trailer would deliver more laughs than the campaign ads, but no dice.  Yes, there’s some baby-punching at the end, but overall this looks like another weak comic effort from Roach.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars The film also stars Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, and Dan Aykroyd.  The Campaign opens August 10th.

About a month ago, we brought you these set photos from The Campaign (previously known as Dog Fight), starring Will Ferrell (Old School) and Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover). Now, we have the first official image from the movie which features Ferrell and Galifianakis’ characters as political opponents posing for a photograph. The plot of The Campaign follows Cam Brady (Ferrell) and Marty Huggins (Galifianakis), two North Carolina politicians who each have Presidential aspirations and are vying for a congressional seat in their district. This image isn’t as colorful as the previous set photos, but Galifianakis’ awkwardness is shining through loud and clear.

Directed by Jay Roach (Meet the Parents), The Campaign also stars Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Brian Cox, John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd. Look for The Campaign to appear in theaters on August 10th. Hit the jump to see the image and a bonus quote from Ferrell. [Update: We've updated the image with a hi-res version]

As Ghostbusters 3 is looking less and less likely with each new non-update from Dan Aykroyd, the actor/screenwriter has announced that he’s now getting to work on a new comedy with fellow Saturday Night Live alum Chevy Chase. No plot details were given, but Aykroyd said that he’s beginning to start work on a script concept for a comedy movie with Chase. Aykroyd hasn’t had a script produced since 1998’s Blues Brothers 2000 (yeah, that movie actually happened) and Chase’s last writing credit was the short-lived The Chevy Chase Show in 1993, but apparently the two have an idea for a new comedy that they’d like to see come to fruition. Hit the jump for more.

Dan Aykroyd has been looking to bring Ghostbusters 3 to life for over a decade, and real studio interest has picked up in the last few years. He’s got a script from The Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (which apparently Aykroyd is still working on) that would see the original cast handing their proton packs over to some fresh-faced spirit chasers that can really appeal to the kids, with their Twitter and their Justin Bieber. Alas, his good friend Bill Murray (who, I’m told, is also an actor of some repute) is dead-set on playing party-pooper. Today, in an interview with the Telegraph, Aykroyd briefly discussed the film and Murray’s assured absence.  Said Aykroyd:

“At this point it’s in suspended animation. The studio, the director Ivan Reitman and [co-star] Harold Ramis feel there must be a way to do it, but Bill Murray will not do the movie. He doesn’t want to be involved.”

Hit the jump for more.