The romantic thriller Safe Haven, from director Lasse Hallström and adapted from best-selling author Nicholas Sparks’ (The Notebook, Dear John) novel of the same name, tells the story of Katie Feldman (Julianne Hough), who arrives in the tiny coastal town of Southport, North Carolina, looking to make a new start.  Even though she’s hoping to keep a low profile, she finds herself interested in and attracted to local store owner Alex (Josh Duhamel), who has two young children.  Each are haunted by their past, but hopeful for their newfound happiness and love.

At the film’s press day, actress Julianne Hough spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how she came to this role, what it’s like to be part of a Nicholas Sparks movie, what a big fan of his work she’s been (A Walk to Remember was her favorite movie, growing up), that she finds the emotional work more challenging than the physical, and how scary it was for her to try improvising.  She also talked about how excited she is for people to see another side of her, as Lamb in Diablo Cody’s directorial debut, Paradise.  Check out what she had to say after the jump. 

Now in its third year, the Athena Film Festival, a celebration of women and leadership held at Barnard College in New York, is an engaging weekend of feature films, documentaries and shorts that highlight women’s leadership in real life and the fictional world.  Co-chaired by producer Debra Martin Chase, filmmaker Mira Nair, actress Greta Gerwig and writer/director Diablo Cody, among others, the four-day festival, which has quickly established itself as one of the most prestigious festivals of its kind, includes conversations with directors and Hollywood stars, and workshops for filmmakers.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Cody talked about what sets the Athena Film Festival apart from other film festivals, why she wanted to get involved, the female writers and directors that she admires, and what it means to her when  young women or aspiring filmmakers tell her that she’s inspired them.  She also talked about why she decided to make her directorial debut with Paradise (she’s 99% sure that’s the title now) and what made Julianne Hough her leading lady, and said she was still working on the Sweet Valley High movie (based on the books by Francine Pascal), that it’s a musical with songs written by Tony Award winners Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, and how she saw that project as a great opportunity to tell those stories and appeal to the people who grew up with them, but also subvert them and make it really funny.  Check out what she had to say after the jump. 

While we reported on one of those pesky internet rumors the other day about how the release date on Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien prequel had been pushed back an entire year, it turns out the validity of said rumor was less than solid. Vulture reports that the release date, in fact, has not been pushed back. But that’s not all! The title of said Alien prequel is reportedly Paradise. In addition, Scott has been looking to cast actors Michael Fassbender and Michelle Yeoh in a couple of the supporting parts. Hit the jump to find out what roles Fassbender and Yeoh would play, some details on the plot, why Fassbender’s deal may not work out, and how that crazy internet rumor started in the first place.