With his capability to flip-flop from role to role with incredible ease -- playing a Jewish skinhead and then a soulful Nicholas Sparks hero, a warm-hearted doll fetishist and then a broken-hearted hipster -- watching what Ryan Gosling will do next has become almost as much of a pleasure as watching Ryan Gosling. In "Crazy, Stupid, Love." Gosling is Jacob -- a swaggering pick-up artist whose relationship with Emma Stone's Hannah makes him realize all the ways he's picking girls up is in fact letting them, and him, down. We spoke with Gosling in New York.

This is a different kind of you that we've seen before: You're a type-A womanizer. It's interesting to see you in that role. That must have been the fun of taking it on, am I correct?

Gosling: Yeah, although I just did it to work with Steve Carell.

That was the number one appeal?

Gosling: I love him. He is my hero.

When they were shooting their new indie flick “Another Earth,” director Mike Cahill and co-writer/star Brit Marling clearly had no budget to speak of. They used Cahill’s mother’s home in Connecticut, they borrowed cars from family and friends, and they engaged in guerilla filmmaking techniques to get the shots they needed.

Marling described some of their tricks on a recent interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” When the film’s main character, Rhoda Williams (Marling) is seen leaving the prison where she’d been incarcerated for a drunk driving episode that killed a little boy and his pregnant mother, they did not have the financial means to secure a prison location for the scene. What to do? Go to an actual prison building…and shoot fast! With cameras trained on the front of the facility, Brit grabbed a yoga mat and waltzed through the main entrance, cheerfully announcing that she was there to give the prisoners a yoga lesson. After a few blank stares from puzzled prison officials, Marling simply dropped the yoga mat and walked out of the building as Cahill’s cameras turned. The required shot was in the can!

In some cases, the lack of an adequate budget might sink a fledgling film, but for “Another Earth,” a brooding, introspective look at how individuals with once-promising futures grapple with sadness, guilt, and redemption, the budget challenges may have helped create the tone that gave the film such a buzz at Sundance and sparked a bidding war for the rights (Fox Searchlight is distributing the film). 

As a nod to the rabid fans of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, Entertainment Weekly has released the cover of this week's issue, featuring a first look at Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson in character as Gale Hawthorne and Peeta Mellark, respectively.

Collins' wildly popular three-book series imagines a future where the world has been changed by a global war, and North America has become Panem, a collection of various "districts" that live under a strict rule by the Capitol. The government of Panem is so obsessed with keeping its citizens indebted to its leaders that all districts are stringently divided and only capable of producing one or two main exports. The people of Panem are at the mercy of the Capitol, a fact only hit home by the annual Hunger Games. During the yearly event, each district is forced to send one male and one female "tribute" to the Capitol to battle each other in a wickedly designed arena. And it's real battle - to the death. Only one tribute can live. It's all part of the Capitol's plan to keep everyone terrified and under its thumb.

The books' central character is Katniss Everdeen, the female tribute from District 12. In Gary Ross' film adaptation of the book, Katniss will be played by Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence. Peeta and Gale are, ostensibly, the men in her life - and the two characters with which she forms an uneasy love triangle. Peeta is the male tribute from District 12, a clever and sweet baker's son who professes his love for Katniss early on, but it may just be a rouse. Gale is Katniss' best friend, a tough older boy she hunts with who may see her as someone who's more than just a reliable archer.

This first look, though not much to go on, does show that the boys have adopted looks that match their characters' descriptions in the books. Gale is tough, strong, and manly. Peeta is younger and sweeter, but still ready to battle. Hemsworth and Hutcherson have both changed their hair colors for their roles, as Gale is a dark-haired and Peeta is blond. There was some fan outcry when both actors were cast, as fans of the books railed against both actors for their unsuitable looks (Lawrence also suffered some backlash). As a fan of the books, I think that Hemsworth and Hutcherson look much better than expected. And while something like hair color may be a minor detail in the grand scope of things (and the books in "The Hunger Games" trilogy certainly open up into their own grand scope), it does show that Ross and his team are dedicated to presenting a vision that will (hopefully) suit and please fans.

"The Hunger Games" will be released on March 23, 2012. If the film does well, expect it to turn into a four-film franchise. Fans of the books, what do you think of this first look?