LYNN COLLINS | The Princess of Mars in “JOHN CARTER”

It’s common wisdom among actresses and pretty much everyone else, too, that great parts for women in the movies are hard to come by. Playing a wife, girlfriend or best friend is easy enough to do—those parts are a dime a dozen. But roles that portray smart, strong, fully developed women, much less ones who know how to use a sword and hold their own in battle, are rare to the point of nonexistent. Imagine, then, how excited Lynn Collins (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “True Blood”) is to be playing Princess Dejah Thoris in Academy Award®–winning writer/director Andrew Stanton’s action adventure film “John Carter.”

Channing Tatum's “THE VOW” wins Pinoy hearts, grosses P34-M in 7 days!!!

MANILA, Feb 17 – Columbia Pictures' touching romantic drama “The Vow” stole the hearts of Filipino audiences as it grossed an outstanding P34.08-million nationwide in its first seven days of release (Feb 10-16) and on only 61 screens. This was announced today by Vic Cabrera, managing director of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. which distributed the film.

Shooting two ADAM SANDLERS together for “JACK AND JILL”

To handle technical challenges of filming Adam Sandler opposite himself playing the titular twins “Jack and Jill,” the filmmakers turned first to director of photography Dean Cundey, the cinematographer who shot “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “The Parent Trap,” “Back to the Future,” and “Jurassic Park.”

JONAH HILL, from comedian to Oscar-Nominee with “MONEYBALL”

Moments after the Academy Award nominations were announced several weeks ago in Beverly Hills, “Moneyball” star Jonah Hill still seemed stunned upon learning of his Oscar nomination.

"I saw it on TV and started freaking out," Hill admitted. "My mom was the first to call and then [producer] Scott Rudin shortly after that. This whole thing... it doesn't feel real yet."

TAYLOR KITSCH, screen's newest action hero in “JOHN CARTER”

It isn’t often that an actor gets the opportunity to play a Civil War veteran who gets transported to the planet Mars and meets a beautiful, strong-willed princess so that he can help her fight a civil war of her own. For Taylor Kitsch, who put himself on the map playing Riggins on the highly acclaimed TV series “Friday Night Lights,” the chance to play the title role of John Carter in Academy Award®–winning writer/director Andrew Stanton’s “John Carter,” was something he was not going to pass up.

“When I first read the script, I was drawn to the character-driven story and the fact that it will benefit from being a big studio movie,” he says. “It gave the filmmakers a chance to make the film in an amazing way. You get to know John Carter’s background with his family, the Civil War and everything. It’s heavy to play but it gives me such a base to draw from through the whole movie. For example, in one scene, you’ll see Carter playing with his rings and you’ll know what that truly means to him. It’s great as an actor because it’s something to really dive into."

MAX VON SYDOW gets Oscar nomination for “EXTREMELY LOUD”

Venerated actor Max von Sydow plays a mysterious old man who can communicate only via scrawls on a notepad yet becomes a boy’s only confidante on his quest across New York, in Warner Bros.' “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.” Von Sydow recently won a much-deserved Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for portraying the enigmatic, silent man known only as “The Renter.”

MICHELLE WILLIAMS interview on “MY WEEK WITH MARILYN”

Michelle Williams takes on the iconic role of Marilyn Monroe in The Weinstein Company's critically acclaimed "My Week with Marilyn." Earning for Williams a Best Actress Oscar nomination, the film is based on Colin Clark's book of the same name and chronicles his time spent working with Monroe while she was in England shooting the romantic comedy "The Prince and the Showgirl" in 1956.

Williams sat down with journalists to talk about portraying Monroe, the film, shooting her current role of Glinda the good witch in Sam Raimi's "Oz: The Great and Powerful" and her six-year-old daughter Matilda with late actor Heath Ledger.

Question: Did you have an awareness of Marilyn Monroe and her starpower when you were younger?

Michelle Williams: "I was interested in her, but then I kind of lost track of her over the last 10 years or so. I had a poster of her up in my room. It wasn't a picture of her as the icon, it was a picture of her looking like an ordinary joyful girl. So I definitely had some kind of connection. (Working on this film) reignited whatever initial, sort of, attraction I had to her when I was a teenager."

How stylists turned ADAM SANDLER into “JILL”

For the behind-the-camera crew of Columbia Pictures' new comedy “Jack and Jill,” the primary challenge was in making lead star Adam Sandler into two titular characters. The primary task went to makeup department head Ann Pala, hair department head Thomas Real, and costume designer Ellen Lutter.

In the film, Jack (Sandler) was living an almost perfect life, with the exception of one, annoying constant – his twin sister Jill (also played by Sandler). Every year he has to tolerate a Thanksgiving visit from his smothering sister, who doesn’t take long to turn his life upside down.

Pala and Real went through dozens of hair styles, textures, colors, and lengths (short, curly, and long), various nail colors and lengths, lip colors, skin tones, lashes, and teeth, all in different combinations. Working with three Sandler look-alikes, they created a number of different options for the filmmakers to choose from.

“Adam had played a girl in various sketches on ‘Saturday Night Live,’” says Pala, indicating that they had some idea of what might work with the actor. “The key factors in giving him feminine features were his eyes, cheeks, teeth, and bangs. We used nine different makeup skin tones to highlight and conceal.”

3D for “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST” breaks new ground

Through the magic of Disney and the leaps in modern computer animation technology developed at the Walt Disney Animation Studios, a team of artists, under the guidance of stereographer Robert Neuman, found a way to breathe more dimensional life into “Beauty and the Beast” by turning it into an eye-popping 3D experience.

Numerous and dramatic challenges awaited Neuman and his team. In discussing the complications of making “Beauty and the Beast” into a 3D film, Neuman emphasizes that because there was no dimensional reality in which to put a second camera, he and his team had to invent a brand new set of computer tools that would allow the filmmakers to sculpt depth into the existing images and thereby create a second eye in order for the 3D to be achieved.

First-Look: “WRATH OF THE TITANS” posters!!!

Warner Bros. Has just released new marketing art for its upcoming 3D fantasy-adventure “Wrath of the Titans.” The materials consist of bus-shelter art individually featuring Perseus and Kronos, and a totem layout featuring the main characters Perseus, Andromeda, Agenor, Hades and Zeus.

Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, “Wrath of the Titans” stars Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson as gods at war.

Best Picture nominee “MONEYBALL” soon in Philippine cinemas

Nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor, Columbia Pictures’ critically acclaimed sports-oriented film “Moneyball” is based on the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) – once a would-be baseball superstar who, stung by the failure to live up to expectations on the field, turned his fiercely competitive nature to management. 

Directed by Bennett Miller (“Capote”), “Moneyball” also bagged nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

SANDRA BULLOCK, incredibly affecting in “EXTREMELY LOUD”

Two years after winning an Academy Award for “The Blind Side,” Sandra Bullock takes the role of grief-stricken mother whose apparent absence in her son's life is not quite what it seems, in Warner Bros.' heartwrenching drama, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.”

Nominated for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards, the film is a story that unfolds from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open. A year after his father (Tom Hanks) die on 9/11 in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day,” he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears.

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN | Exclusive at Ayala Malls cinemas

The Weinstein Company's critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film “My Week With Marilyn” starring Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh will be shown soon exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma).

Early in the summer of 1956, American film star Marilyn Monroe (Williams) set foot on British soil for the first time. On honeymoon with her husband, the celebrated playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott), Monroe came to England to shoot “The Prince and the Showgirl” - the film that famously united her with Sir Laurence Olivier (Branagh), the British theatre and film legend who directed and co-starred in the film.

That same summer, 23-year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) set foot on a film set for the first time in his life. Newly graduated from Oxford, Clark aspired to be a filmmaker and found a job as a lowly production hand on the set of “The Prince and the Showgirl.” Forty years later, he recounted his experiences of the six-month shoot in a diary-style memoir entitled The Prince, the Showgirl and Me. But one week in Clark's account was missing...

ADAM SANDLER plays the dual roles of “JACK AND JILL”

Director Dennis Dugan re-teams with Adam Sandler for the eighth time on Columbia Pictures’ new comedy “Jack and Jill.”

In the film, Jack (Sandler) was living an almost perfect life, with the exception of one, annoying constant – his twin sister Jill (also played by Sandler). Every year he has to tolerate a Thanksgiving visit from his smothering sister, who doesn’t take long to turn his life upside down. As the weekend intrusion starts stretching into a month, the siblings fight, tease, and bicker in the way only twins can. When it becomes clear Jill is never leaving, Jack sets into motion several schemes that he hopes will return Jill to where he loves her most – the other side of the country.

TANGLED "EVER AFTER” to debut short feature with “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST” 3D

Walt Disney Pictures has announced that "Tangled Ever After," the short film follow-up to their 2010 hit animated feature “Tangled” will be an added attraction to “Beauty and the Beast” 3D when it opens in the Philippines on Feb. 22.

By popular demand, directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard are bringing back some of Disney’s most beloved characters when "Tangled Ever After" picks up where "Tangled" left off. The Kingdom is in a festive mood as everyone gathers for the royal wedding of Rapunzel and Flynn. However, when Pascal and Maximus, as flower chameleon and ring bearer, respectively, lose the gold bands, a frenzied search and recovery mission gets underway. As the desperate duo tries to find the rings before anyone discovers that they’re missing, they leave behind a trail of comical chaos that includes flying lanterns, a flock of doves, a wine barrel barricade and a very sticky finale. Will Maximus and Pascal save the day and make it to the church in time? And will they ever get Flynn’s nose right?

CHANNING TATUM & RACHEL McADAMS talk about nudity in “THE VOW”

Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum are set to warm audience's hearts in Columbia Pictures' upcoming romantic movie, "The Vow," but when it came time to shoot the movie's racy scenes, Channing had a few tricks up his sleeve - and down his pants!

"He bared his ass quite a bit," Access Hollywood correspondent Tim Vincent said of Channing's performance to Rachel at the film's junket.

"He did bare some other things. Yeah, he goes for it," Rachel said with laugh.

GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE” rolls to the screen in 3D!

Warner Bros.' highly-awaited sequel “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” brings to the screen the hell-raising hero Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider in eye-popping 3D!

“The movie for us was always going to be in 3D, from the very beginning – we love making the movie a more immersive experience. It seemed like a really cool idea, especially with our style of shooting,” says co-director Brian Taylor. “We tried to push the envelope with the technology. The first thing they told us was all the things we couldn’t do – no handheld camera, no quick cuts, no lens flares, no soft foreground, no super-long lenses, no super-wide lenses… and we asked, well, why?”

Fun facts ABOUT THE MAKING OF “JOHN CARTER”

As the grand opening of the 3D epic, action-adventure “John Carter” gets nearer, Walt Disney Pictures released some interesting trivia about the making of this much anticipated film.

Set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars), “John Carter” tells the story of war‐weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

MADONNA: The Truth Is She Never Left You (Advocate Interview)

Nearly 30 years into her reign as the greatest gay icon, Madonna is back in a big way with her new film, W.E., and her first studio album in four years, reminding us why so many adore her. 

The temptation to apply layers of meaning to the story Madonna tells in her new film, the cryptically titled W.E., is irresistible.

The pop superstar’s second feature film as a director, W.E. is a tale of two women, two cultures, and two eras. Wallis Simpson was a real-life American socialite of the 1930s who was vilified for falling in love with England’s King Edward VIII; he abdicated the throne to marry the divorcée. Madonna’s movie attempts to reclaim Wallis’s image by turning a polarizing woman often perceived as a villain into a sympathetic figure.

And then there’s Wally Winthrop, the other woman — this one fictional — in New York City in the late 1990s, at a time when Simpson’s jewels and other possessions were being auctioned off for charity. Trapped in an abusive marriage that appeared to be fairy-tale perfect, Wally obsesses over Wallis, her bygone namesake, and turns to her for support.

SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL | Amy Adams is Lois Lane

Amy Adams has been cast as Lois Lane in Zack Snyder‘s Superman: Man of Steel. The role in the 2012 Superman reboot has been the subject of many auditions and much conjecture. As far back as February, reports named Kristen Stewart, Rachel McAdams, Jessica Biel, Dianna Agron, Malin Akerman, Olivia Wilde, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kristen Bell, Lake Bell, and Lindsay Lohan as possible actresses auditioning, pursuing, or wanting the coveted fictional journalist role. In the end it went to three time Oscar nominee Amy Adams.

The 36-year-old star got the news on Sunday from director Zack Snyder, who phoned her from Paris, where he was promoting his just-opened film, “Sucker Punch.” There had been a crush of Hollywood interest in the lead female role in the Warner Bros. project but Snyder said that after meeting with Adams, she was the clear choice to take on a character that dates back to 1938 and has long represented the strong, professional woman who can hold her own against any man – even if he can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Vanity Fair Magazine 2012 | Hollywood sparkling cover photo

The Hollywood Cover for Vanity Fair’s 2012 Hollywood issue features Rooney Mara, Mia Wasikowska, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Elizabeth Olsen, Adepero Oduye, Shailene Woodley, Paula Patton, Felicity Jones, Lily Collins, and Brit Marling. The 2012 Hollywood Cover photo for Vanity Fair was taken by “contributing photographer Mario Testino”.

Sneak Peek: First “JAMES BOND - SKYFALL” photo revealed!

Columbia Pictures has just released the first official photo from the highly anticipated James Bond film, “Skyfall” – the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time.

The photo features Daniel Craig, back as James Bond 007 for the third time, in Shanghai, carrying a tiny pistol in what looks to be a tense situation...

In the film, James Bond’s loyalty to M (Judi Dench) is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

AL PACINO pokes fun at himself in “JACK AND JILL ”

Legendary actor Al Pacino parodies his screen persona as he plays a bigger-than-life version of himself in Columbia Pictures' new, rambunctious comedy “Jack and Jill.”

In the film, advertising executive Jack (Adam Sandler) was living an almost perfect life, with the exception of one, annoying constant – his twin sister Jill (also played by Sandler). Every year he has to tolerate a Thanksgiving visit from his smothering sister, who doesn’t take long to turn his life upside down. When she won’t leave, Jack tries to help her find a guy – a guy who he hopes will get her out of his house.

“JOHN CARTER” – An epic, action-adventure set on Mars

Walt Disney Pictures presents the 3D epic, action‐adventure “John Carter,” based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic, “A Princess of Mars,” the first novel in Burroughs' Barsoom series.

Directed by Academy Award®–winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton, “John Carter” is set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). The film tells the story of war‐weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.