Michael Fassbender talks to the LA Times about "X-Men: First Class" --  getting viewers excited for the upcoming movie and the more complicated stories to be unveiled. 

Fassbender plays Magneto to James McAvoy's Charles Xavier, a.k.a. Professor X. The roles were earlier played in their older forms by Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, respectively.

Here's more:

"How’s this for unexpected territory in a superhero film: 'X-Men: First Class' not only uses the Kennedy years, the Civil Rights movement and the Cuban Missile Crisis as a backdrop for its retro tale, the movie’s story of two massively powerful mutants who struggle against bitter prejudice was directly informed by the complicated lives of Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"'It came up early on in the rehearsal period and that was the path we took,' says Michael Fassbender, who stars as the emotionally scarred Erik Lehnsherr, who will become the militant mutant known as Magneto. 'These two brilliant minds coming together and their views aren’t that different on some key things. As you watch them you know that if their understanding, ability and intelligence could somehow come together it would be really special. But the split is what makes them even more interesting and tragic.'"

 

I don't have to find a reason to post an old picture of gorgeous Ann-Margret (I could do this for any reason -- notably because it makes me and other people happy) but thanks to the past activities of her parents, now I have one.

 

With both "Bridesmaids" and "What's Your Number" on the way, Kristen Wiig and Anna Faris are in demand these days. So much, in fact, that they're vying for the same part in a controversial new project -- Sacha Baron Cohen's Saddam Hussein adaptation --  "The Dictator."

Here's more from the Huffington Post:

"It stands to figure that, as two of the top names in a booming era for women comedians, Kristen Wiig and Anna Faris are often at the top of casting directors' lists. That's the case for a new major comedy film, for which both stars are in contention to play alongside a polarizing comedic genius.

"According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wiig and Faris, along with 'Community' star Gillian Jacobs, have read for and are in contention to play the leading lady role next to Sacha Baron Cohen in 'The Dictator.'

"It could be a controversial project; based on the book 'Zabibah and the King,' by none other than Saddam Hussein, it tells the story of a benevolent dictator who falls in love with the abused wife of a cruel man who rapes her.

"What seems like it could be a sweet love story is actually an allegory for Iraqi and the United States -- the king (based, obviously, on Saddam) is the peaceful Iraq, while the cruel, rapist husband is the Gulf War-waging United States."

"Baron Cohen, of course, is set to play the Saddam character, as well as a poor goat herder.

Wiig and Faris will go head-to-head in a way this summer, as both play lead in their own female-centric sex comedies. Wiig co-wrote and stars in 'Bridesmaids,' while Faris is the protagonist in 'What's Your Number?'."
 

There's not many details regarding this idea, its plot or characters, but those who love Justin Bieber (legions), will get overly-excited about it.

Here's all i know: Justin Bieber, Mark Wahlberg, street basketball.

Here's  more from The Wrap:

"Justin Bieber may return to Paramount.

"The singer, whose 'Justin Bieber: Never Say Never' grossed the studio $97 million, is in talks to make a basketball-themed movie with Mark Wahlberg, TheWrap has confirmed.

"Wahlberg pitched the idea, which Paramount executives liked. Wahlberg and Paramount are talking in greater deal with Bieber's camp.

"The idea revolves around street basketball.

"Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson and Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, will produce.

"Wahlberg produced and starred in last year's "The Fighter," which was nominated for the best picture Academy Award.

 

If it isn't ambitious enough to adapt a Thomas Pynchon novel to the big screen, Paul Thomas Anderson might shoot a movie in 65mm.

Read more:

"It remains to be seen what his next project will actually be, but that hasn't prevented this news from piquing our interest.

"‘Cigarettes and Red Vines’, a very well-connected Anderson blog, is reporting that the director is currently undertaking shooting tests with a 65mm camera, possibly inspired by Christopher Nolan’s limited use of the format in 'Inception.' 

"The question remains as to which project Anderson aims to do next, as he currently has two in pre-production.

"One is the self-penned 'The Master' with Philip Seymour Hoffman, which follows the beginnings of a Scientology-like religion, and the other is an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel 'Inherent Vice.' 

"Of course 65mm is a very expensive format whether he plans to shoot intermittently as Nolan did, or for the entire shoot."

 

-- Darren Aronofsky to head Venice Film Festival Jury.

-- So .. the cameo is an announcement. It's like a half-casting notice. Anyway ... Johnny Depp will be in "21 Jump Street." No surprise.

-- Justin Timberlake is not really into "Friends with Benefits" -- in real life. In the movies, he's on. Though ... unless Neil LaBute wrote this one and Mila Kunis is playing some kind of cruel joke on him, I'm sure that will be the final conclusion of the film.

-- Javier Bardem is committing the rest of his life to "The Dark Tower."

-- "Fast Five" screenwriter explains ... crash!

 

Is Arnold Schwarzenegger returning as the Terminator?

According to Deadline, it will likely be so. I read this report, however, and can only think of packages, auction blocks and hedge funds.

Read more:

"Exclusive: He's back. Arnold Schwarzenegger is attached to star in a rights package that CAA is shopping today that will revive 'The Terminator,' one of Hollywood's most iconic science fiction franchises. The agency is dropping the package on studios this afternoon.

"There is no screenwriter attached at this point, and Robert Cort is producing. This is the first real activity on The Terminator project since February 2010, when the property emerged from a bankruptcy auction and into the possession of Pacificor. The Santa Barbara-based hedge fund posted a bid of $29.5 million, with the promise that additional multi-million dollar payments for each film would go to Halcyon, the company that made the 2009 McG-directed 'Terminator 'Salvation.

 

Check out images of "Passion Play" (above and below), Mitch Glazer's directorial debut (he wrote "The Recruit"). The movie will open in select theaters May 6 and hit DVD on May 31.

The dreamy, noir-ish-looking film finds a down-on-his luck trumpet-player (Mickey Rourke) who stumbles into a carnival where he meets a Bird Woman named Lily (Megan Fox) and promptly falls in love with her. Lily falls for him also, but there might be a problem in that  ... she actually has real wings.

(I am assuming that he doesn't care about the wings.)

Problems arise when he takes her out of the carnival, and a gangster (played by Bill Murray) enters the picture. And then we imagine all hell (or heaven -- there's wings involved) breaks loose.

Take a look at more photos after the jump.