“It’s nice to see how there are these ups and downs and it doesn’t mean that he’s finished just because he’s unhireable for a couple of years.  It’s nice to remind him of that when he’s on top and winning lots of awards,” younger brother Casey recently quipped to reporters while promoting his upcoming movie, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.   

All joking aside, this year is potentially shaping up to be a successful one for 37-year-old Casey, a Supporting Actor nominee for 2007′s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.  

In Saints, opening August 16th, Casey plays Ben Muldoon, an outlaw pining from behind bars over his girlfriend and mother of his child, played by fellow Oscar nominee Rooney Mara.  

In Out of the Furnace, it’s his on-screen brother who’s trying to find him.  In the thriller directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart), Casey plays Rodney, an Iraq war vet who gets caught up with the wrong crowd after returning from a tour of duty.  When he mysteriously disappears, his brother Russell, played by Christian Bale, takes matters into his own hands.  Originally slated for an October release, the movie, which also stars Woody Harrelson, Sam Shepard, Zoe Saldana and Willem Defoe, just got pushed to a prime awards season slot of November 27th before a December 6th expansion.  

But talking about Saints, which premiered this year at Sundance and is playing at the L.A. Film Festival, Affleck also spoke about his close relationship with his brother.  

The two, whose father was involved in theatre in Boston and whose mother, Casey says, regularly took them to the theatre, were constantly surrounded by arts and had an influential high school teacher, so he’s not surprised they both took a similar career path.  But he admits they weren’t quite prepared for the “crazy ups and downs” of the real world.  

“I did this movie when I was 17 called To Die For and [Ben] hadn’t been in anything,” Casey explains.  ”I was introducing him to Matt Dillon and he was in awe and star struck.  When you’re the younger brother, usually it’s not that common that you’re having these experiences that your older brother is in awe of.  And then, he sort of took off doing Armageddon and had a lot of success and fame – it was somewhere around there – and then, he sort of had a low around the same time that I was starting to get a lot more of the movies that I wanted to be doing like Jesse James and so forth.”  

Casey starred in Ben’s 2007 directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, which marked a career resurgence for elder Affleck.  His admiration for Ben, just three years older, is evident.  ”I feel really lucky to have been able to not only have him as a brother because I love him and he’s such a smart guy and an interesting, fun guy, but also have a friend to go through and chart and navigate the waters of Hollywood, which can be kind of alienating and lonely at times.”  

Casey says he has become best friends with his wife’s brother, Joaquin Phoenix, star of his directorial debut, 2010′s I’m Still Here.  The documentary chronicled the Walk the Line Oscar nominee’s self-destructive behavior when he announced his retirement from acting and pursuit of a hip hop career.  Reviews of the film were scathing, some of it the result of simple confusion – is this really happening?  Why would Affleck document and show to the world Phoenix with hookers and using drugs?  Well, it was all fake, as Affleck explained in a New York Times interview.  

Despite all of that, he says he hasn’t turned his back on directing.  

“I do want to do something again because I feel like that movie was an amazing experience for me.  I love directing that way and working with Joaquin.  I learned so much being in a different position and working with an actor,” Affleck explains.  ”But it also sort of left a bad taste in my mouth a little bit and I would like to cleanse my palette and do something different, something that’s as different as I can find.”  

While Affleck says he is “sort of” looking at something to direct, right now his focus is on acting.  ”I feel like I’ve been picky through the years and would do one movie a year or one movie every two years, and I want to work a lot more.  So if I can find something that just happens right away as a director, I’ll do it if I really love it, but otherwise I want to keep working as an actor and getting better.”  

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Netflix has given a second season order to it’s original series “Hemlock Grove,” from Executive Producer Eli Roth.  The series is the horror master’s first foray into television.

“The worldwide fan response to ‘Hemlock Grove’ was phenomenal” says Roth.  ”Netflix members loved the potent combination of sexy monsters, mystery, and the dark family soap opera that ended with a huge twist, leaving audiences worldwide totally shocked. Season One was just a warm up for what we have in store for season two.  Get ready to be scared in ways you never expected.”

“Hemlock Grove” is a gothic horror thriller which explores the strange happenings in a small  Pennsylvania town.  The show focuses on the unlikely friendship between the founding family’s young heir, Roman Godfrey, and the relative newcomer and outsider, Peter Rumancek.  Each holds a monstrous secret that has been unleashed.

The series, which is based on Brian McGreevy’s novel of the same name, will return with new Executive Producer and showrunner Charles H. (Chic) Eglee (“The Walking Dead,” “Dexter,” “The Shield”).

“In its first season, Eli, Brian, Lee and the team did an incredible job of introducing viewers to a unique world of memorable characters,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President of Original Content at Netflix. “Chic’s addition to the show, and his experience on such fan favorites as ‘The Shield,’ ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Dexter,” will heighten the intensity of the mystery that grips Hemlock Grove.”

The series also stars Famke Janssen (“X-Men”), Bill Skarsgård (“Simon & The Oaks”), Landon Liboiron (“Terra Nova”), Freya Tingley (“X”), and Dougray Scott (“Mission Impossible II”). The second season will consist of 10 episodes that will go into production later this year and premiere in 2014.

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It may not seem like 12 years has gone by, but it was November 2001 when movie audiences were introduced to Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal) and Sulley (voiced by John Goodman) in Monsters Inc. (above)  The animated Disney/Pixar pic delivered big, bringing in over $562 million worldwide and grabbing four Oscar® nominations, winning one for original song. 

It seems like the perfect recipe to get a sequel greenlit, but because animated films take many years to pull together, the story had to be just right.

“[John] Lasseter, at a party, came to me and said, ‘We have the idea,’” recalls Crystal.  ”It’s a sequel, but it’s a prequel.  They’re in college.  And he just walked away, but he left an idea, and I went, ‘Oh, this is gonna be great.’”  

For both Crystal and Goodman, reconnecting with these characters was not the only perk.  Their reunion had major appeal. 

“It was so fun to revisit them at this time in their lives,” Crystal says.  ”It was such a brilliant idea to put them in that time period where they’re about to become who they’re going to become.  That’s what was so interesting to me.  I love to play this guy, and playing it with John is phenomenal because we work together in the studio, and we can act together.  We’re not just reading lines; we’re performing them, and we’re playing them, and we feel them.  I think that’s why their relationship on screen is really great because it’s a real thing.”

“I think the reason they work so well together is that they complete each other, in a way,” adds Goodman”  ”I think Sulley really, really needs Mike Wazowski.  Especially in this film, when they’re not completely formed monsters yet, they learn from each other.  They learn how to adapt, how to let go of their pre-conceived notions of themselves and of the world.  They’re good for each other.”

Monsters University introduces us to a young, naïve Mike who has big dreams of becoming a scarer.  He enters the scaring program thinking he has the talent and work ethic to get him to the top.  But his ability to be truly scary comes into question when an overly confident Sulley also enters the program, coming from a family lineage of incredible scarers.  Sulley soon discovers his size and loud roar aren’t enough, and the duo must work together to bring the best out of each other.  

And, of course, the audience will be entertained by the supporting characters Mike and Sulley meet along the way, voiced by stars including Helen Mirren, Sean Hayes, Steve Buscemi, Dave Foley, and Charlie Day.

While talking to press at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles, the conversation naturally turned to the actors’ personal college experiences.

“I have to admit, I was a little bit of a misfit,” says Crystal.  ”I was a film-directing major at NYU when – I’m still not sure why I became a directing major when I was really an actor and a comedian, but there was something that drew me to doing that.  I had made a few films on my own, and I loved it.  So I felt like I was a misfit, in a way, and out of it because all those other people – it was Oliver Stone, Christopher Guest, Mike McKean – it was a class of film people.  Our professor was Marty Scorsese.  So he – Marty was a graduate student – Mr. Scorsese, which is what I had to call him – which I still do, when I see him, ‘cause he gave me a C.”

“I ain’t never been in no college with famous people like Billy here,” jokes Goodman.  ”I was a drifter for a while.  I just was desperate to fit in with a group.  Really, I was swimming; I was lost, treading water, trying to find my way.  I wanted to play football.  It didn’t work out.  I didn’t really know what I wanted until I found acting in a theater department, and then it just – everything fell into place, and I had a passion about something.  Then, I started living my life.”

“Yeah, that’s how it was for me, too,” adds Crystal.  ”Once I found a theater group, then you’re just – like a gym rat, but you’re a theater rat, and then that becomes your fraternity house.  That becomes your family – extended family.”

Monsters University opens Friday June 21 and is Rated G.

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STARRING: Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris, Simon Baker, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver, Jason Flemyng, Tim Key, Olivia Coleman

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Dan Mazer

RELEASE DATE: July 3, 2013 (iTunes, VOD), August 9 (theatres)

SYNOPSIS: Since they met at a party, ambitious high-flyer Nat (Rose Byrne) and struggling novelist Josh (Rafe Spall) have been deliriously happy despite their differences.  Josh is a thinker, Nat’s a doer, but the spark between them is undeniable. 

Their wedding is a dream come true, but no one — family, friends and even the minister who marries them — is convinced that they will last.  Josh’s ex-girlfriend, Chloe (Anna Faris), and Nat’s handsome American client, Guy (Simon Baker), could offer attractive alternatives.

I Give It A Year is written and directed by Dan Mazer (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Bruno), and is produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner  (Love Actually, Atonement), along with Kris Thykier (Stardust).

With their first anniversary approaching, neither wants to be the first to give up, but will they make it? 

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Though the teaser trailer may be a bit reminiscent of the acorn-chasing Scrat from Ice Age, the similarities end there for Disney’s upcoming animated feature Frozen.  

The preview features a snowman named Olaf who loses his nose from a powerful sneeze (induced by a flower randomly growing in the middle of snow), then scrambles to retrieve it from the frozen pond where it lands before a hungry reindeer gets to it first.  

While that’s basically the extent of the teaser, though worth watching to the end for its comedic value, the story of Frozen is much more extensive.  The movie follows the “fearless optimist,” as she’s described in the studio’s official synopsis, Anna (Kristen Bell), on “an epic journey—teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff (voice of Jonathan Groff) and his loyal reindeer Sven—to find her sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter.  Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom.”  

The studio annonced Tuesday the additions of Josh Gad, Alan Tudyk and Santino Fontana to the movie, slated for release November 27th.  Gad (The Internship, Broadway’s “Book of Mormon”) will voice Olaf the snowman, featured in the teaser trailer; Fontana (Broadway’s “Cinderella,” “Billy Elliot”) will portray Prince Hans, Anna’s suitor who governs Arendelle when she leaves to find her sister; and Tudyk (ABC’s “Purgatory,” “Firefly,” 42) is the Duke of Weselton who visits Arendelle for a coronation ceremony.  Tudyk won an Annie Award for his vocal performance as King Candy in Disney’s 2012 animated hit Wreck-It Ralph.  

Frozen, directed by Oscar nominee Chris Buck, features music by Robert Lopez, the Tony® Award winner for “Book of Mormon” and “Avenue Q.”  

Check out the teaser trailer and five new stills below.  

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During this year’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Oscar special, Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx stopped by well ahead of their upcoming film White House Down and talked about their “bond.”  That discussion lead to one of the funniest musical performances, with Foxx taking to the piano to perform a song called “(I Wanna) Channing All Over Your Tatum.”

Thankfully the trio got back together to fully produce an actual music video featuring appearances by Miley Cyrus, Olivia Munn, and Gabourey Sidibe.

Check out the music video from Jimmy Kimmel, Jamie Foxx, and Channing Tatum for the single ”(I Wanna) Channing All Over Your Tatum.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Leading up to the release of World War Z this week, Brad Pitt found the one way to promote a movie that no one has done yet…via yodeling.  In a “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” comedy bit, Pitt and Fallon communicate to each other from different New York City rooftops by yodeling.  They take it up a notch by attempting something no one else has before – a double yodel.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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STARRING: Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Kristen Wiig, James Marsden 

DIRECTOR: Adam McKay

RELEASE DATE: December 20, 2013

SYNOPSIS: With the 70′s behind him, San Diego’s top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), returns to the news desk in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.  Also back for more are Ron’s co-anchor and wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), weather man Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), man on the street Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and sports guy Champ Kind (David Koechner) – all of whom won’t make it easy to stay classy… while taking New York’s first 24-hour news channel by storm.

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First manufactured in 1949, minifigures joined the interlocking bricks in 1978, bringing the toy to life like never before.  In the decades since, Batman, Avatar, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars and many more movies and characters have received the LEGO treatment.  

And now it all comes full circle with The LEGO Movie, the first-ever, full-length LEGO treatment, slated to hit theaters February 7th, 2014, featuring some of those characters. Last year when they were promoting their hit comedy 21 Jump Street, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were in the early stages of developing the LEGO movie and explained to The Seven Sees their attraction to the movie and their approach.  

Now we have our first glimpse into the world with a teaser trailer where we meet Vitruvius, voiced by Morgan Freeman, who assembles characters based on popular historical figures and superheroes, from Michelangelo (painter/sculptor/poet), to Michaelangelo (ninja turtle), Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and more, to inform them Lord Business, voiced by Will Ferrell, plans to “end the world as we know.”  But there is hope in the form of Emmet, voiced by Chris Pratt, an “ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world,” according to the official synopsis from Warner Bros.  

What ensues is a funny and action-packed journey to stop the pending evil and destruction.  The movie also stars Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie and Liam Neeson.  

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This weekend’s crop of newcomers in theaters are spreading the wealth for movies fans with a Brad Pitt blockbuster, an indie filled with thieves, and a monster of a family option making their debut.

WORLD WAR Z

Based on the Max Brooks book ”World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War,” Paramount optioned the property in 2006 for Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B.  The first draft of the script was completed the following year, and so began a long, tedious journey of rewrites by four different writers, the loss of a producer and an Oscar®-winning visual effects artist, and an expensive climatic ending that needed reworked.  It’s a story screenwriter Damon Lindelof recounted in his Vanity Fair article after coming on board to fix the film that had already been shot.

Luckily for Paramount, Brad Pitt, and audiences, World War Z is finally arriving in theaters and so far has received decent reviews.  It’s “massive,” according to Pitt, and tailor made for the Summer movie season.

THE BLING RING

Already playing in Los Angeles and New York, Sofia Coppola’s latest writing and directing effort is now opening wide.

Based on actual events, The Bling Ring is inspired by a group of fame-obsessed teenagers in the L.A. area who tracked celebrity’s whereabouts in order to rob their homes when they weren’t in town.  The film stars Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga, Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, and Claire Julien as the teens who stole from celebs including Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox, Orlando Bloom, and Rachel Bilson.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

Twelve years after the Oscar® winning Monsters, Inc. earned over $562 million at the worldwide box office, the folks at Disney and Pixar are rolling out Monster University, showing audiences how Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal) and Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman) first met as college students.  Even though audiences will see them meeting for the first time, the two characters still compliment each other.

“I think the reason they work so well together is that they complete each other, in a way,” Goodman told reporters during the film’s press day in Los Angeles.  ”I think Sulley really, really needs Mike Wazowski.  It makes him complete, lets the air out of him a little bit.  Especially in this film, when they’re not completely formed monsters yet, they learn from each other.  They learn how to adapt, how to let go of their pre-conceived notions of themselves and of the world.  They’re good for each other.”

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