The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman is director Fredrik Bond’s first feature film.  Premiering at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, it stars Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood as a couple who meet under strange circumstances and have an impossibly strong mutual attraction.  As LaBeouf’s character Charlie falls for the beautiful and grieving Gabi, he gets caught in the sights of her dangerous husband (Mads Mikkelsen) and his life comes into immediate and grave danger.  The film feels like a modern fairy tale story of love and pain colliding set in the gritty world of Bucharest, Romania. It also stars Til Schweiger, Rupert Grint, James Buckley, Vincent D’Onofrio and Melissa Leo.

At the press conference at Sundance the morning after the premiere, Collider was present as Bond, LaBeouf, Wood and James Buckley (The Inbetweeners) spoke about the film.  They discussed the making of the film, the chemistry on set and what they learned from previous works and relationships.  Hit the jump to read some highlights from the press conference.

A few weeks ago I got to participate in a press conference with Naomi Watts and Doug Liman’s for their new movie Fair Game.  Based on the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson (Watts), the film also stars Sean Penn as her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson.  While I sort of knew their story before watching the film, Fair Game does an excellent job showing what both Wilson’s were doing before the Bush administration compromised her status as a CIA agent.  I really think after people see the movie, no matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, there is no way you can excuse the administrations behavior for what they did to this family.

During the press conference (which Summit videotaped!), you can see Watts and Liman talk about making the movie, answer how involved was Valerie Plame, the politics of the movie, what changed after Cannes, and literally so much more it would be impossible to sum it up in an intro.  Like we always do for video interviews, we’ve time indexed the entire 40 minute press conference so you can watch Watts and Liman answer the questions that interest you.  Hit the jump for more:

With director Todd Phillips (The Hangover) Due Date opening this weekend, Warner Bros. recently held a press conference with the cast here in Los Angeles.  While some press conferences are boring and a waste of everyone’s time, I’m happy to report this one is actually worth checking out.  The reason?  Robert Downey Jr.. Unlike some actors that watch every word they say, Downey Jr. always says what’s on his mind and it’s so refreshing in a town filled of political correctness.  On top of that, he’s always on his game when he does press.

In addition, like the movie Due Date, the back and forth between Galifianakis and Downey Jr. during the press conference was very funny and they elevated what could be a boring press event into something worth checking out.  During the event, Downey Jr., Galifianakis, director Todd Phillips and Michelle Monaghan talked about making the movie, who is likely to start laughing first during filming, future projects, and a lot more.  Trust me, it’s worth your time. Hit the jump to check it out:

There has already been an exhaustive coverage of Back to the Future leading up to today’s release of the 25^th Anniversary Blu-ray Edition, but who doesn’t want more of Marty McFly, Doc Brown, and Einstein? And so, hot off the heels of our sneak peek at two clips from the Blu-ray set last week, and footage of a young Eric Stoltz portraying Marty, we are pleased to bring you the Back to the Future 25^th Anniversary Blu-ray/DVD Press Conference.

Most of the cast, including Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and Lea Thompson, talk about the film – fondest memories, the social impact the film has had, etc.  While the footage doesn’t reveal anything new (except that Lea Thompson doesn’t think her pink dress from the film is appropriate for her daughters) it’s always fun to see the gang back together. Check it out after the jump.

While I’ve already posted my exclusive video interviews with Bruce Willis and Karl Urban, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and Mary Louise Parker for their new movie Red, while attending the New York City press junket for the Summit Entertainment movie, I was also able to participate in press conferences with all the actors.  Even though press conferences are not as intimate as roundtable interviews, I found all the interviews for Red quite informative.  Of course it helps that Red is made up of an all-star cast and they have plenty of things to talk about.

Some of the highlights were Helen Mirren revealing she based her character on Martha Stewart and she has a crush on Bruce Willis – which is one of the reasons she agreed to be in Red. Later on, during Willis’s press conference, he was told how Mirren felt.  It was a funny response.  Mary Louise Parker talked about how much she loved John Malkovich and told some good behind the scenes stories.  And Willis and Urban had a lot of fun answering the press questions. If you’re a fan of any of these actors, you’ll enjoy watching the interviews:

At the New York City press junket for Red, I got to participate in a press conference with Ernest Borgnine.  While it was great to be able to talk with Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, the chance to hear Borgnine reminisce about his decades in the movie business was also extremely cool.  Also, with Borgnine being 93 years old, I’m well aware this might have been my last chance to interview him.

During the press conference, Borgnine talked about how he first got into the “picture” business, making such films as Marty and From Here to Eternity, working with Frank Sinatra, what really went on behind the scenes of McHale’s Navy, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch what he had to say:

A few days ago I was sitting at the Harvard Club in New York City, as I was invited to cover The Social Network press conference.  While I usually dread press conferences, I’ll admit to being excited to cover this one for one reason: Aaron Sorkin.  Unlike most actors and directors who are constantly doing press to support their movies, Sorkin is a man of mystery.

Also, while most studios only let you record a press conference with an audio recorder, Sony filled the room with a professional video crew and they even used a crane!  So instead of me only being able to offer you a transcript of what was said, after the jump you can watch a professionally shot video of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, Justin Timberlake, Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer talking about The Social Network for yourself.

During the 40 minute press conference they revealed what it was like to work for David Fincher, the amount of takes they did and why they didn’t mind, fact vs. fiction, and so much more.  It was actually a great press conference that I really recommend checking out:

There are two very important things to know about writer/director Adam McKay’s (Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers) The Other Guys:

1. The movie is extremely funny.

2. While press conferences are usually terrible, The Other Guys press conference was one of the best I’ve covered in five years.

Thankfully, Sony let me video tape the entire thing, so you can watch Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton and Director Adam McKay do improv for about 40 minutes with hysterical results. The thing to know about press conferences is, no matter how good they are, the studios never let you use video, and trying to write up great back and forth banter is nearly impossible.  But now that the studios are finally taking a more 21st Century approach to interviews (i.e. letting us use video), I’m optimistic this is a sign of things to come.

Trust me when I say, if you’re a fan of Will Ferell and Adam McKay movies, you REALLY want to watch this press conference.  Especially since they talk about how to keep your pimp hand strong and when asked what they’re favorite cop movies are…the answers are awesome.  Also, make sure to watch Wahlberg’s reactions to some of the questions and answers…it’s priceless.

For the amount of people who trounced M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender, very few had the guts and/or the chance to talk to him about it to his face.  There’s now a video from a foreign press conference (it’s labeled Mexico City but Shyamalan says he’s in France so who knows) where one ballsy reporter asked him if he was making films more commercial now because the audience had lost faith in him as a filmmaker.

“I think if I thought like you I’d kill myself. Everything you said is the opposite of my instinct as an artist. The way you just thought, I literally would kill myself,” Shyamalan said.  And that’s just the start of a near 3 minute answer. Check it out after the jump.

A few weeks ago, Warner Bros. held a press conference with the cast and filmmakers of Inception.  Included on the lineup were Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Director Christopher Nolan, Composer Hans Zimmer and Producer Emma Thomas.  While I hate posting press conferences as they’re usually dry and boring, with this all-star group and the fact that its Inception (which is awesome, btw), I’ve decided to make an exception.  So if you’re curious what they had to say about making the movie, hit the jump.  I’ve provided both the full transcript and the audio:

Opening this Wednesday is Walt Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.  To promote the film, the studio held a press conference here in Los Angeles with Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Teresa Palmer, Toby Kebbell, director Jon Turteltaub & Jerry Bruckheimer and they let me videotape it.  If you read Collider on a regular basis, you know studios only let you record roundtable interviews/press conferences with audio recorders and not video, so a big thank you to Disney for letting me use my camera.

Also, while I dread attending press conferences as you can almost never get a great conversation going and in turn the interviews suffer, I think you’ll enjoy watching the video as you can see everyone’s reaction answering the questions and you’ll laugh at some of the answers.  Press conferences usually don’t translate well to the written page.

As you might expect, they talk about what got them involved in the project, what it was like making the movie, what they have coming up, why it isn’t in 3D, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to check it out:

Usually press conferences suck.  They’re almost always a waste of time.  After all, when you’ve got a group of actors and filmmakers sharing a stage, you can never get a good rhythm going with any one person because as soon as they answer a question, it’s the next persons turn.  This is why I’m happy to report the press conference for Jonah Hex was awesome.  Unlike some that can be boring and filled with safe answers, Josh Brolin and Megan Fox were really open and honest about everything.  Also, I never knew Brolin could be so funny, as he had the room laughing many times.  And on top of that, Megan Fox quoted The Lord of the Rings message boards when answering if she felt the freedom to take liberties with her character as opposed to staying true to the comic books.  My jaw hit the ground as she said:

“I go on to Lord of the Rings forums, because I’m a fan, and they’ll complain that Frodo was eating the Lambis bread outside of Mordor instead of the mines of Moria, and they get really mad. I think you have to take some kind of liberties to make it into a live action film, or it wouldn’t work.”

Um…wow.  So if you’d like to read or listen to an awesome press conference with Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, Director Jimmy Hayward and Producer Andrew Lazar about making Jonah Hex, hit the jump!