Prior to our interview with Anna Faris earlier today, Cinematical managed to spend some time with three of her co-stars in The House Bunny, namely Rumer Willis, Emma Stone and Katharine McPhee (who's recording an album now for a Spring '09 release, in case you happen to be a die hard McPhee nerd). And, yes, it's true what they say about sitting next to an American Idol finalist -- those butterflies in your stomach are real and they desperately want (and need) to hear a Whitney Houston cover for some odd reason.

In speaking with Rumer Willis about her upcoming projects, she mentioned that her mother, Demi Moore, had just finished work on her directorial debut -- a short film for Glamour Reel Moments called Streak. While Willis was tight-lipped on the film's plot, she did say it starred herself, Brittany Snow and Sarah Wright (who also has a role in The House Bunny). Other women who've directed shorts for GRM include Jennifer Aniston, Bryce Dallas Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow. You can find out more about the program over on its official website, and one imagines we'll catch Streak a little later this year.

Upon first hearing Josh Hartnett mention his starring role in the fantasy action flick Bunraku, I had a hard time believing the film was ever going to happen. It's not every day a movie has paper mache puppets, origami, comic books, video games AND German expressionism. Plus, Hartnett was comparing the look of the film to everything from Hitchcock to Michel Gondry. To be honest, the whole thing sounded like a mess. But, I guess it was all sorted out because The Hollywood Reporter announced that Demi Moore has just signed to star in the role of a captive courtesan to an evil warlord.

Guy Moshe (who also wrote the script) will direct the story of a lone drifter (Hartnett) who blows into town with revenge on his mind, but is soon faced with even bigger problems than he started with. Woody Harrelson also signed to play 'The Bartender' (in a bar where everyone knows your name?) and Japanese actor Shun Sugata (Kill Bill) has been cast in the role of 'Uncle'.

Nearly a year after its international premiere at Cannes, My Brother is an Only Child (ThinkFilm) opened at the top of the indie weekend box office returns, according to Box Office Mojo. Playing at just one theater in Manhattan, the film grossed $10,500. My Brother "follows two brothers through years of Italian history, with their personal and political travails echoing down the years," Cinematical's James Rocchi wrote last year. "Even with it's merits as a light-but-sentimental story of family in 1960's Italy, it also reminded me of the soaring, sweeping, astonishing La Meglio Gioventù (The Best of Youth) -- and wound up completely winning me over." The film will roll out to other cities over the next three weeks, per the distributor's web site.

Immigration family tale Under the Same Moon (Fox Searchlight / The Weinstein Co.) continues to perform well, earning $5,771 per screen as it expanded to 390 theaters in its second week. Leonard Klady at Movie City News commented that the film is "playing in a mix of Hispanic, art and mainstream locations but with rare exception is working best in the former venues." Also in its second week, Love Songs (IFC), Christophe Honoré's French-language modern musical, held onto most of its audience, averaging $6,800 at two Manhattan theaters.

If you've been reading Cinematical for a while, you might remember an old news piece talking about a reunion between Demi Moore and Michael Caine. The project, Flawless, has finally been completed, and now there's a trailer to feast your eyes on above. Set in 1960, the film follows two unhappy workers at the London Diamond Corporation. One (Caine) is a janitor about to retire, and the other (Moore) is a female American executive who keeps hitting a quite-low glass ceiling. The janitor then convinces the exec to steal diamonds from the company to somehow make things better. (Oh, the flawed rationale of the desperate!) It's interesting to see the two actors together again, and it looks like an interesting film, but I'd rather have young Demi, Rio style. There's just something about adult Demi that irks me. Anyway, the caper flick goes into limited release this March

[via Ace Showbiz]

It seems like just a few months ago we were enjoying the sights, the sounds, the smells and the cinema of South By Southwest 2007, but guess what? Now that it's January, the festival's only about nine weeks away! Awesome! So today we caught some slightly early news on what SXSW is cooking up for this March, and I must say I'm pretty impressed with what they snagged for their opening night film.

And that film is: Robert Luketic's 21, which is based on the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. (You may remember Mr. Luketic from flicks like Legally Blonde, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, and Monster-in-Law.) Adapted by Ben Mezrich's book by screenwriters Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb, 21 stars Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess. (Check out the trailer right here.)

And if that world premiere isn't cool enough, festival chief Matt Dentler has also divulged the following titles for SXSW '08:

At the Death House Door (Steve James & Peter Gilbert) "A sobering and powerful story of the wrongful execution of Carlos DeLuna and the Death House Chaplain, Pastor Carroll Pickett, who spent the last day of DeLuna's life with him."

Dreams with Sharp Teeth (Erik Nelson) "A documentary portrait of acclaimed author Harlan Ellison, as he looks back on his fabled and influential career as one of the world's top science fiction writers."

Flawless (Michael Radford) "In 1960s London, a talented but overlooked diamond executive (Demi Moore) is convinced to participate in a jewelry heist when a veteran janitor (Michael Caine) hatches a plan."

Run Fatboy Run (David Schwimmer) "An out-of-shape divorced father (Simon Pegg) makes one last attempt to win back the respect of his son, his ex-wife (Thandie Newton), and the community around him. All he has to do is finish his first marathon."

Wild Blue Yonder (Celia Maysles) "Celia Maysles had no idea her father and his brother Albert were pioneers of verite documentary filmmaking. Determined to uncover the secrets surrounding her background, Celia sets out on a quest to rediscover her father by using his own artistic process."

Expect a few more flashy surprises before the full SXSW slate is announced on February 5! Until then, feel free to browse through the SXSW website and decide if THIS is the year you're finally going to take my advice and attend the dang festival. (You do know it's a movie AND music fest, right? Interactive, too, and I do believe I've mentioned the indigenous BBQ more than once.)

The biggest story surrounding the midsummer release of the odd and messy but ultimately satisfying thriller Mr. Brooks centered around Kevin Costner's resurgence and willingness to play a killer (though personally I'm more impressed he's managed to resist playing another baseball player now for two years and counting). But Earl Brooks, the wealthy business owner and Portland "Man of the Year" honoree who dabbles in homicide on the side, isn't cut from the same cold-blooded vein as Patrick Bateman or Mickey or Mallory. He's constantly at odds with himself, and is largely let off the hook by the presence of his bloodthirsty alter-ego/invisible friend Marshall, who takes the shape of an aging William Hurt. The poor guy's got a devil on one shoulder but no angel on the other. To that effect, Mr. Brooks feels far less festive than American Psycho or Natural Born Killers, and is in some ways more surprising, even if Costner didn't do the film's suspense any favors when he spoke pre-release about making multiple Brooks movies (perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Brooks is next?). The film has plenty of other "lovable mess" qualities to it. It's overplotted: whereas Dane Cook's wannabe-slayer Mr. Smith is a necessity, a separate storyline involving an escaped convict is pure overkill. It's campy: Brooks has a secret lair, for one. And something about Demi Moore playing a multimillionaire who daylights as a cop screams bad Verhoeven. The film also inexplicably morphs into a John Woo movie for one bizarre action sequence. That all said, there's not a single dull moment to it.

Bonus Points: There's endless joy time for the serial killer enthusiast here: This disc comes with deleted scenes, commentary from director Bruce A. Evans his co-writer Raynold Gideon, and featurettes called The Birth of a Serial Killer: A Look at the Writing of Mr. Brooks, On the Set of Mr. Brooks, and Murder On Their Minds: Mr. Brooks, Marshall & Mr. Smith.

Other New DVD Releases This Week (Oct. 23)
Meet the Robinsons
Hostel: Part II
Fido
Home of the Brave
Into Great Silence
Nearing Grace
Saw III: Director's Cut
A Clockwork Orange: Special Edition
O Lucky Man: Special Edition
Hostel: Director's Cut
Wild Style: Anniversary Edition

OK, so it's a pretty slow news day, but I think one of the cool things we movie bloggers do is shine a light on titles that might have been underrated, overlooked and plain old dismissed. Bruce Evans' Mr. Brooks didn't blow many doors down at the multiplexes ($33 million worldwide gross) -- nor did it wow the critics all that much (56% positive at Rotten Tomatoes) -- but I dug it. Maybe it's just the novelty of seeing Kevin Costner, Dane Cook and William Hurt in the same movie ... or maybe it was the collective presence of Demi Moore, Reiko Aylesworth, Danielle Panabaker and (rowr!) Marg Helgenberger that kept me enraptured.

All I know is that (aside from one really nagging complaint) I really liked the movie. In it, Costner plays a seemingly normal upper-class family man -- but inside his brain lives a psychotic who looks a lot like William Hurt. And together they do very terrible things. You'll rent it, you'll like it. Thank me later. Demi Moore plays a millionaire police detective. You'll have a ball.

According to DVDActive.com, Mr. Brooks will hit DVD on October 23 courtesy of MGM Home Video, and the disc will come packing a few solid goodies: Evans and longtime collaborator Raynold Gideon will provide an audio commentary (together the duo penned the beautiful Starman, the lovable Stand By Me ... and ... Cutthroat Island), several deleted scenes (with optional commentary), three featurettes and the theatrical trailer. (And hopefully an alternate ending that doesn't ... never mind. Forget I said anything.) Lastly, what's up with that lame-ass DVD cover? I thought the theatrical poster was pretty damn cool.

Most people are on vacation right now. Not me. I exist solely to tell you about the following:

• Guess which movie has a new name ... again? Yup, when we last checked in on our favorite creature vs. creature sequel, it was being promoted under the name Alien vs. Predator 2: No Peace on Earth. Before that, it was known as Alien vs. Predator 2: AVP 2 and then Alien vs. Predator 2: Why? Now, however, we're being told that 20th Century Fox has changed the title to -- drum roll please -- Aliens vs. Predator. Get it? They shoved an extra 'S' in there. Now it just sounds the same, except there's more. I guess. Tune in next week when the title changes again to Aliens vs. Predator: Which Franchise Will Die First?
• Page Six is reporting that Demi Moore and Katie Holmes just recently auditioned to play the lead role in Rob Marshall's (Chicago) big-screen version of Nine, based on the popular Broadway musical. Also rumored to be vying for parts are Chicago co-stars Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Will Tom let Katie do it? Is Demi too old for the role? Antonio Banderas played the lead male role in the musical, but there's no word on whether he'll reprise the character for the movie. Inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2, Nine revolves around a film director who begins to suffer a nervous breakdown when he can't come up with a plot for his next film. Thus, he begins to explore his past flawed relationships as he struggles to act his mature age of 40 as opposed to nine. [via Moviehole]
• Towards the end of principal photography, director Jon Favreau decided to include himself in Iron Man. According to reports, he'll be playing Security Guard Man -- a little-known Marvel character who's a Las Vegas security guard by day and a crime-fighting male stripper at night. Actually, the real story is that one of the final scenes being shot needed a security guard, and in an attempt to get it all done, Favreau stepped in and played the part himself. I don't think he'll strip, but he might if you ask politely. Iron Man hits theaters on May 9, 2008. [via Dark Horizons]

Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is a pillar of the community in Portland, Oregon: An executive, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a family man. Still, he find time for his other interests: Hand-made pottery ... and murder. Mr. Brooks is also The Thumbprint Killer, known for creating crime scenes with the bodies of his victims in posed tableaus that have no evidence left behind. Mr. Brooks is careful -- and a bit regretful: He knows he shouldn't be killing, and discusses it at great length with Marshall (William Hurt), an imaginary friend who's not, in fact, very friendly -- and who simultaneously goads Mr. Brooks to action and cautions him against mistakes.

But Mr. Brooks does make a mistake one night, and is approached by the twitchy, conniving Mr. Smith (Dane Cook) soon after. Mr. Smith saw Mr. Brooks kill. He has proof. He knows. And all Smith wants from Brooks in exchange for his silence is to come along and kill with him ... even though one of Portland's top cops, Det. Atwood (Demi Moore) close in pursuit after his most recent efforts. And Mr. Brook's home life changes as his daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker) comes back to the nest having dropped out of school with some secrets of her own: It's tough having it all.

Directed by Bruce A. Evans, Mr. Brooks, in many ways, tries to reclaim the serial killer thriller from the omnipotent, stylish clutches of Hannibal Lecter; Mr. Brooks is clever, and careful, but he makes mistakes; he knows he's crazy, and tries to do something about it. Mr. Brooks repeats the "Serenity Prayer" and goes to AA meetings, where he stands and admits that yes, he's an addict -- even as Marshall hisses in his ear that Earl's not really being honest about what he's addicted to. Costner's never been a terrific actor, but he's always been a presence -- from Silverado to The Guardian -- and Earl Brooks gives him a chance to play two halves of a whole -- the seething homicidal impulses and chill swift actions of a killer comingled with the warm charm of a responsible family man and business leader.

Kevin Costner's latest, the rather intriguing serial killer thriller Mr. Brooks, doesn't hit screens until June 1, but that hasn't stopped the star from broaching the topic of sequels -- which is kind of strange when you consider that Costner's never done a sequel! It was in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that the actor talked sequels: "''This was written with the idea that we would do a couple others ...When the writers first presented the notion to me, I said, 'Oh, bulls---! I haven't done Tin Cup 2, or Bull Durham 2, or Open Range: The Early Years, so you don't have to try to hook me with that.'

But when they told me their idea, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. We're hoping this little movie develops a following so we can play this story out the way it should.'' Co-starring Demi Moore, Dane Cook and William Hurt (in a role that looks pretty darn juicy), Mr. Brooks hails from the long-standing writing duo of Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans, the guys who've penned movies very good (Starman, Stand By Me) and not-so-good (Cutthroat Island, Jungle 2 Jungle). Check out the trailer if you like.