'30 Minutes' men

Bianca Kajlich and Dilshad Vadsaria Nick Swardson and Aziz Ansari at Columbia Pictures World Premiere of "30 Minutes Or Less" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.Helmer Ruben Fleischer and Sony's Jeff Blake bring "30 Minutes or Less" to the Chinese. Producer Ben Stiller and Jesse Eisenberg party at the Rolling Stone lounge.Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari shared differing views on the action genre at Monday's premiere of Columbia's "30 Minutes or Less." "Action is kind of boring. All the scenes that are really fun to watch are really boring to film. You sit in a car and scream and look both ways at a very rapid pace," said Eisenberg, who quickly added that the reason the action scenes work in "30 Minutes" is because "they come from the characters, with these real guys being in this crazy situation." Ansari joked that what he'd really like to do next is "reboot 'The Transporter' series. I want to take it over from Jason Statham!" Director Ruben Fleischer said he's looking forward to doing "more significant action" with his next film "The Gangster Squad," adding that he chose the R-rated "30 Minutes" as his follow-up to Sony's 2009 sleeper hit "Zombieland" because "when I read the script [by Michael Diliberti], it was just so funny and the characters were so well defined. It seemed like a great opportunity to cast the hell out of it and put all my favorite comedians in the film." Fleischer said he was especially proud of the pic's performances. "Every scene was shot as scripted but then I also basically expected everyone to elevate the material. They're all so talented and bring so much to the table that every scene was enhanced because of their performance." His cast seemed equally grateful for the opportunity to improvise. Ansari, who'd never met Eisenberg before production started, credited Fleischer for "encouraging us to try any ideas we had." "Aziz is so clever and endlessly creative," added Eisenberg. "He comes up with what seems like very random bits but they all kind of fit in with the scene and the tone of the movie. I've also idolized [co-star] Nick Swardson since I was 13 years old and used to memorize all of his standup comedy, so he just makes me laugh and is one of those people you always have a reaction to."At one point in the film, Eisenberg's pizza deliveryman refers to himself as "off the grid," a direct nod to "The Social Network." The thesp called it "improvisational, not because of my connection to Facebook or the movie, but because my character would think of himself as somebody who lives off the grid. He thinks of himself as an ascetic when really he's just a guy with no friends." Contact Jeff Sneider at jeff.sneider@variety.com

Gavin DeGraw Discharged From Hospital; Tweets About Attack: 'I Don't Remember Much'

Musician Gavin DeGraw has been released from the hospital, a day after he was brutally attacked in New York.our editor recommendsGavin DeGraw Cancels Concert After AssaultGavin DeGraw Hospitalized After Attack in New York "Gavin DeGraw has been discharged from the hospital," the singer's rep told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday afternoon. STORY: Gavin DeGraw: 5 Things to Know For his part, DeGraw on Tuesday sent a message to fans concerned about the singer. "Hi my friends," he tweeted. "Honestly, I don't remember much. I only know I can recover from here. Thank u all for your genuine concern. I love u guys." DeGraw was rushed to Bellevue Hospital early Monday after he was attacked by a group of people around 4:30 a.m. on 6th Street and 1st Avenue. STORY: Gavin DeGraw: Police Open Investigation Into Attack Shaken and disoriented, he continued walking and was hit by a taxi on 19th Street and 1st Avenue but was not seriously injured by the vehicle. After news broke of his assault, a slew of fellow musicians and fans took to Twitter to express their support. DeGraw has been serving as the opening act on the first half of the Maroon 5/Train summer tour. His rep told THR earlier Tuesday that he won't be performing at Friday's or Saturday's shows in Wantagh, N.Y., and Mansfield, Mass., respectively. VIDEO: Gavin DeGraw Cites Musical Influences for His Upcoming Album 'Sweeter' His next album, Sweeter, is set for release Sept. 20. Related Topics Gavin DeGraw

The Director of '30 Minutes or Less' Addresses His Funny Take on the Grisly True Story

Comedy fans are eagerly awaiting the release of this weekend's '30 Minutes or Less,' starring Jesse Eisenberg as a hapless pizza-delivery boy who gets sucked into an elaborate and dangerous plot when he is kidnapped by two inept criminals and forced to rob a bank for them while wearing a bomb strapped to his chest. With the help of his best friend, he must somehow pull off the bank job, avoid the cops and get out with his life intact -- as hilarious hijinks, inevitably, ensue. But what many of those fans may not know is the true story behind the plot of '30 Minutes or Less'; in 2003, 46-year-old pizza-delivery man Brian Wells died while being detained by the police, when the bomb wrapped around his neck detonated. Wells frantically pleaded that he had been forced to rob the bank against his will, but years later, prosecutors alleged that he had been involved with the plan all along. The controversy surrounding the case has remained an open wound for friends and family of Brian Wells, and for them, the new movie constitutes a heaping pile of salt. This past weekend, friends of Wells spoke to TMZ calling the movie "trash," which prompted Columbia Pictures to issue a statement reading: "Neither the filmmakers nor the stars of '30 Minutes or Less' were aware of this crime prior to their involvement in the film." Moviefone spoke with the film's director, Ruben Fleischer ('Zombieland'), who played down the link between '30 Minutes or Less' and the true story of Brian Wells. Moviefone: The family of Brian Wells has spoken out against the film, and some audience members think it's poor taste to do a comedic version of the story. What would you say to those people who think the movie is bad form? Ruben Fleischer: Well first of all, anyone who hasn't seen the movie can't judge. Because they haven't seen the movie, and it doesn't really relate to that story other than the fact that there's a bomb strapped to somebody's chest. They're not really related in any way, so I think a lot of people are prejudging it without information. What kind of interaction did you have with the people involved in the real Brian Wells case, when you were putting together this production? None. Was there ever a moment on set where you felt something was either to dark or too inappropriate? No, because it's a comedy and it's not that dark, there's not much darkness. If you want to talk about what the movie is I'd be more than happy to, but there's not really a connection to the movie and the case you're referring to. The movie is a broad commercial comedy that's really funny and that's the movie we made. It never veers on dark. What movies did you look to as a reference in trying to handle the tone and the humor of the movie? For me the best reference was 'Fargo.' It's another misguided crime plot where somebody comes up with a bad idea and then, as it goes down, it gets worse and worse and spirals out of control and has dire consequences. Ours is definitely a more positive, funny, uplifting version of that. Ours doesn't have negative consequences; it only has positive ones. As far as handling a premise that's dark, I think the Coen brothers are a great reference. When I look at some of my favorite filmmakers, the Coen brothers have done everything from a western to a gangster movie to a very contemporary movie to a personal 50's movie. I think there are a lot of filmmakers that can bring something different to each genre that they partake in; I'm thrilled at this opportunity to do something different and experiment with a different genre. Watch the trailer for '30 Minutes or Less' As a director how difficult was it to reign in the personalities of Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari and Nick Swardson on a scene, but also give them enough room to have fun and create laughs? I think the reason why you cast guys like that is so that they can go crazy and be funny. Most of their laughs are ones that they just improvised. At all times I was encouraging these comedians to take it further to build off of what's on the page and really find the funniest version of the joke. It's all based on the script; like any improvisation, it's really directly character related. Sometimes you see a movie and you can tell what's improvised, where you're like "oh well that was just clearly funny on the set and they left it in." Hopefully no one will be saying that about this movie. I think every joke is really tied to the character and the conversations that they have are all embellishments on the script, as opposed to complete original different directions. As far as percentage wise I couldn't say for sure, but a lot, pretty much most of Danny, Nick and Aziz's stuff and Michael Peña's biggest laughs are all stuff that they brought to the table. What's the latest word on 'Zombieland 2'? Hopefully that will happen sometime in the future but definitely not before 'Gangster Squad' [Fleishcer's next film] gets done; we're supposed to start shooting that in the fall. How overwhelming was the experience of having Bill Murray in your first feature, playing a secret role? As far as the secret of it all, I think anyone who saw the movie had such a joy when he came out, that I think they didn't want to spoil it for anyone else. I was really bummed because a bunch of the reviews did; I thought that was really unclassy by the journalists who chose to reveal it, because so many people who saw the movie knew that it was such a highlight, they respected it enough not to share it. It was only a couple of reviewers who I think just wanted the scoop that spoiled it for other people. We had only had three or four days to prepare for that scene so I didn't have enough time to really psych myself out or get too nervous. I was in the middle of shooting at the time, so everything was so chaotic. When he showed up I remember seeing him for the first time walking up to that mansion, and I was like "Oh my gosh this is real." He was only there for a day and a half. He got there at 11 o'clock in the morning, we shot that afternoon and then the next day we shot again with him and that was it. It was such a weird blip in the middle of an already overwhelming experience. I took it in stride but I was so excited, so nervous, so intimidated. He was just the coolest guy, couldn't have been more helpful, more gracious, more complimentary. He got the joke, and was like if "I'm going to do this then let's do it" and he just had fun with it. It was a dream come true.

Disney Readies a Third Snow White Film, and 5 Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today

Also in this Thursday edition of The Broadsheet: Warner Bros. sets some very important dates… Jerry Lewis is done with the MDA… Faye Dunaway is not getting evicted, says Faye Dunaway… and more ahead. · Because Snow White & the Huntsman and the untitled Snow White project from Relativity Media weren’t enough, here comes The Order of the Seven, the third Snow White project heading to theaters in the near future. This one, via Disney, has been in development since 2002 (director Frances Lawrence was once attached), but now it appears all systems are go with a new director and fresh logline. Visual effects maven Michael Gracey will direct this revisionist take on Snow White, which reimagines the seven dwarfs as a “19th century-set disparate band of international warriors belonging to a centuries-old order who have lost their way. Their meeting with an Englishwoman being chased by an ancient evil is the catalyst for their redemption.” [THR/Heat Vision] · It’s only Aug. 4, but Oscar season is shaping up. Warner Bros. has set the Clint Eastwood-directed, Leonardo DiCaprio-led J. Edgar for a limited release on Wednesday, Nov. 9, with a full rollout following on Nov. 11. The studio has also slotted Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close for Dec. 25; that film — which stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock — will rollout nationwide on Jan. 20, 2012. Speaking of 2012, the long awaited Alfonso Cuaron film Gravity will arrive from the studio on Nov. 12, 2012. Bullock and George Clooney star. [Deadline] · Jerry Lewis has retired as National Chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, meaning he won’t appear on the MDA telethon over Labor Day weekend. “Jerry Lewis is a world-class humanitarian and we’re forever grateful to him for his more than half century of generous service to MDA,” said the MDA in a statement. [PR Newswire] · Benjamin Walker is gonna be really famous to the Comic-Con crowd. Not only is he cast as Abraham Lincoln in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, he’s also in negotiations with Legendary Pictures to co-star in Paradise Lost as the Archangel Michael. That role would pit him against Bradley Cooper, who is set as Lucifer. Alex Proyas directs. [Deadline] · More news from the Faye Dunaway eviction case, this time from the actress herself. “I have not been evicted,” she said in a voicemail to the New York Times. “I have chosen to leave because of the state of the apartment, and also because I am spending less and less time in New York.” Dunaway said her landlord allowed the apartment to get in poor condition, which helped facilitate her exit. [NYT] · Happy birthday to Barack Obama! The President of the United States turns 50 today, and will celebrate with two parties. Eric Cantor probably isn’t invited to either. [Huffington Post]

Bradley Cooper Back In 'Silver Linings Playbook' Talks, Robert De Niro Too

EXCLUSIVE: Bradley Cooper is back in talks to star in The Silver Linings Playbook, as it looks like Mark Wahlberg will be leaving the film due to a scheduling conflict. And Cooper's Limitless costar Robert De Niro is also now in the conversation to join the cast. This is The Weinstein Company adaptation of the Matthew Quick novel that David O Russell will direct this fall. Cooper had reportedly been attached to the film last year, but more recently it looked like the star would be Russell's The Fighter cohort Wahlberg. I'm told that talks are getting underway for Cooper to star with Jennifer Lawrence, who'll play the female lead role. Wahlberg will exit the movie because the production start was pushed and it now bumps up against another obligation. I'm still digging, but I think the other Wahlberg movie is Broken City, the noir drama that Wahlberg is poised to star in for director Allen Hughes. In that film, Wahlberg is in talks to play a cop-turned private eye who gets caught up in a corruption scandal involving the city mayor. Russell Crowe has been offered the role of the mayor, so it sounds like that project is crystallizing with funding from Emmett/Furla Films. The scheduling complexity arose when Lawrence won the female lead over a crop of young actresses. Because she's shooting The Hunger Games, she needed the picture to start later than expected and that created the conflict for Wahlberg. The $60 million budget Broken City is a big payday for the actor, while The Silver Linings Playbook is a more modest budget pic. The Silver Linings Playbook revolves around a former high school teacher who was institutionalized for depression and then released into the care of his mother. He tries to win back his ex-wife but becomes involved with an eccentric neighbor with problems of her own. That is the part that Lawrence will play, a job she won amidst competition from a group of top young actresses who became interested after Anne Hathaway (who was originally attached with Cooper) fell out because of her schedule on the Christopher Nolan-directed Batpic The Dark Knight Rises. Cooper's coming off The Hangover Part II, and he's currently shooting The Place Beyond The Pines, the Derek Cianfrance-directed drama that also stars Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes. Cooper's repped by CAA, as is De Niro.

Ehrenreich stokes up career with 'Stoker'

Ehrenreich For an actor initially discovered by Steven Spielberg in a video shown at a bat mitzvah, Alden Ehrenreich is doing pretty well for himself. The "Tetro" star is in talks to join Mia Wasikowska in the Fox Searchlight thriller "Stoker."Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland") stars as a teenage loner who's thrown off by the arrival of her mysterious uncle, played by Matthew Goode ("Watchmen"), while she mourns the death of her father.Ehrenreich will play Whip Taylor, who's initially kind to Wasikowska's protag despite the fact that the jocks pick on her.Nicole Kidman, Lucas Till and Jacki Weaver co-star in the pic, which Chan-wook Park ("Oldboy") is directing from a script that "Prison Break" thesp Wentworth Miller penned under the pseudonym Ted Foulke.Ridley Scott, Tony Scott and Michael Costigan are producing for Scott Free Prods.Spielberg took a meeting with Ehrenreich after seeing him in a short comedy movie when the actor was 14, which led to TV roles.Ehrenreich next stars opposite Elle Fanning in Francis Ford Coppola's indie horror pic "Twixt," which marks the young thesp's second collaboration with "The Godfather" helmer.Ehrenreich is repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Contact Jeff Sneider at jeff.sneider@variety.com

A Larger Sing-Off This Fall: More Episodes! More Groups! More Musical Genres!

The Sing-Off A brand new judge is not the only real large change visiting The Sing-Off this fall. With NBC's decision to create the 3rd season from the Sing-Off a weekly competition, starting off Sept. 19 at 8/7c, it meant the show would a lot more than double the amount of episodes it created. Consequently, 16 groups will compete (up from 10 last season) over 11 episodes (up in the five that broadcast during the period of 1 week). Sara Bareilles may be the new judge on NBC's The Sing-Off Talking with reporters Monday throughout NBC's fall TV previews, series executive producer Joel Gallen stated groups may also be requested to sing in many new genres including rock, country, stylish-hop, additionally to "the typical guilty pleasures and large hits." The broadened season will even include a lot of contestant's personal tales. "You are really likely to know such groups and obtain committed to them," Gallen stated. New judge Sara Bareilles, who joins Ben Folds and Shawn Stockman this year, changing Nicole Scherzinger, states she's an "a capella nerd" and referred to her knowing style as "really honest and extremely fair." Bareilles is really a three-time Grammy-nominated singer and made an appearance on last year's Sing-Off finale. Behind NBC's Sing-Off decision "We play the role of kind too,Inch she stated from the idol judges. "We have all received critique through the years and also you make the most of somebody that takes into account that you are vulnerable." Requested why The Sing-Off has handled to do well among TV's glut of music competitions, Folds stated the show does not measure star potential a lot like a group's capability to sing together. Whenever a group a capella number works, it "does not mean they are all of the finest performers," Folds described. "It comes down to working effectively together... if this happens, it's transcendent." When it comes to knowing criteria, Stockman added: "You may be technically seem having a capella music... however with music, period, it needs to have soul." (Proof was provided before the show's panel begun when last season's champion, Committed, started things served by a b capella rendition of Maroon 5's "This Love.") NBC's The Sing-Off grows, but will not live One factor that will not change this year: The shows will stay pre-recorded. Production started two days ago, and panelists stated they only hope the outcomes remain under systems. "Individuals are about the recognition system," he stated, adding the show needs to shoot this early because most of the participants are university students who require to return to school in September. "Finish of summer time appears to become a good time for individuals to consider time off work using their everyday lives." The crowd also signs non-disclosure contracts. "It's certainly a bit dangerous, however the benefits over-shadow the danger,Inch Gallen stated. Stated Folds: "10000 people understood concerning the Manhattan Project plus they stored it quiet."