There's no way around it: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson owes at least some of his fame to the way his dominating figure fits the blockbuster action stereotype with near-mechanical sleekness. However, he also offers an alternative to that reductive perspective. Looking sharp in a business suit and speaking with the relaxed professional discipline of a CEO, Johnson showed up at a screening of Get Smart on Sunday at the CineVegas Film Festival displaying sheer confidence. The screening took place at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, where Johnson had recently acted in Race to Witch Mountain ("We just added to the chaos," he said), but on this visit, Johnson got a chance to remind people that he's not just a one-note performer, but someone who plays an active role in the international film community (not to mention the health community, since The Rock Foundation pushes obesity prevention).

Outside of his supremely meta performance in Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, Johnson has made his interests in adventurous cinema increasingly clear, and boldly champions independent artists. You can get a small glimpse of this aspect of his personality in Operation Filmmaker, documentarian Nina Davenport's account of an Iraqi filmmaker named Muthana Mohmed whose aspirations tragically fall short of the expectations surrounding him. Landing the opportunity to work for Liev Schreiber on the set of Everything is Illuminated, the 25-year-old Mohmed grows increasingly frustrated with the boring tasks given to him, and continually blows opportunities as a result of his unbalanced work ethic.

Maybe it's just me, but is it really a good idea to start promoting a Holocaust drama smack dab in the middle of the summer movie season? I guess you can't blame the makers of Defiance for wanting to start their promotions a little early, though. The new poster for Daniel Craig's WWII flick has been released (click image to enlarge), and it is about as dark and sombre as you might expect.

Defiance was written and directed by Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond), and tells the true life story of the Bielski partisans. The Bielskis were three brothers who escaped into the Belarus forests while on the run from the Nazis and banded together to form a resistance group to save other Jews during WWII. Jamie Bell, Liev Schreiber, and Craig (who is the only face that made it to the poster) portray the three brothers, and The Mist's Alexa Davalos also stars as a fellow escapee and love interest for Craig.

Defiance wrapped production back in 2007 (as we all know, Craig has been a tad busy working on a certain spy film ever since) and there hasn't been much hoopla surrounding the film -- with the exception of a small trailer release back in January. So even though the next three months are all about blockbusting fun, we can't forget that Oscar season is merely months away; I'm sure Zwick hasn't.

Defiance will arrive in theaters on December 19th, 2008.

With five nominations, it looks like Superbad will be the star of the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, and its three jubilant male leads -- Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse -- deserve the kudos. But one major talent behind the whole affair has stayed relatively anonymous while these young up-and-comers bathe in the spotlight: Director Greg Mottola. The erstwhile independent filmmaker, responsible for some of the best installments of Arrested Developed and Undeclared, launched his career a solid decade before the rise of Judd Apatow with a charming little low budget comedy called The Daytrippers. Starring Stanley Tucci, Hope Davis, Liev Schreiber, Parker Posey and a host of other fantastic character actors, the film follows a wildly dysfunctional family over the course of a single day, as Davis, playing a worrisome housewife, tries to track down her unfaithful husband (Tucci).

Mixing warm humanity with pitch-perfect screwball timing, Daytrippers marked the sort of debut that told you a filmmaker had a big career ahead of him. After a modest premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival, it landed at Cannes, barely got a theatrical release and promptly vanished thereafter. Mottola turned to TV work, and slipped out of the film scene for a good ten years. These days, it's no easy task to track down Daytrippers on DVD -- you can nab second-hand copies on Amazon for decent rates, but not a single retail outlet carries it. Aside from the occasionally airings on cable, the movie has vanished.

Holy crap, there's an image fiesta over at Just Jared today! Above, you can see part of one of the first images of Liev Schreiber's Sabretooth, one of the main dudes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine -- and the bitter adversary of Hugh Jackman's Logan, of course. They might only be behind-the-scenes stills of craft service, conversation, and wardrobe, but they're a great collection of shots.

Matched up with Wolverine, can you see the pair in an all-out fight like this? I don't know about you, but my head is full of X-Men battles, mixed with an assortment of roles of Liev's past. Cotton Weary and Deputy Stu -- look out! Sabretooth is coming to steal your thunder. Do you agree? Sound off about the look of Sabretooth below.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for news on a set video later today.

Cinematical has just received the exclusive trailer for Sputnik Mania, a new documentary which opens at New York's IFC Center on March 14. This one looks all kinds of interesting; we have crazy Americans squaring off against crazy Russians during a crucial time in history which almost brought about World War III. From the synopsis: "Fifty years ago, at the height of the Cold War, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the earth, bringing America to its knees in awe - then fear. Initially thrilling as a marvel of science, Sputnik was soon viewed by America a weapon of mass destruction. Narrated by Liev Schreiber with expert use of archival footage, SPUTNIK MANIA explores the fast-moving series of events that brought the world's super-powers to the brink of nuclear war, and the story of two ex-generals whose private agreement prevented WW III." Looks pretty good. Check out the trailer up top, and definitely make sure you head to the IFC Center on March 14 to see the entire film.

Have we finally reached an age where practically the entire cast for a huge, highly-anticipated movie is announced not through the trades, but on various movie news websites? I think we have, and I think the name of that movie is X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Last night, we told you how Ryan Reynolds was suiting up to play Deadpool in the spin-off flick, and now Superhero Hype tells us Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) has signed a three-picture deal to star as Gambit (aka Remy Lebeau) in the Gavin Hood-directed film, due out May 1, 2009.

Gambit, a fellow mutant and member of the X-Men, "possesses the ability to manipulate kinetic energy as well as limited hypnosis. He is also skilled in card throwing, hand-to-hand combat, and the use of a Bo, " so says Wiki. When you compare a picture of the character to Kitsch, they look almost exactly the same -- so it's a good match in that department. Fans have been itching to see Gambit show up on the big screen for some time now; the character had his name show up in X2 when Mystique hacked a system holding mutant names, and he was rumored to be involved in X-Men: The Last Stand, with a bunch of actors auditioning for the role, but never showed up. Originally, he was supposed to appear in the prison convoy scene.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine will star Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth), Danny Huston (William Stryker), Lynn Collins (Silver Fox) and (we think) Ryan Reynolds (as Deadpool). Talk about an eclectic cast! What do you think?

Well, we've been waiting for months to hear who finally landed the gig as a younger version of William Stryker in the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and it appears JoBlo finally coughed up the answer: Danny Huston. Brian Cox first portrayed the character of Stryker in X2, and served as that film's main villain. A few different actors were reportedly circling the role of a young Stryker; more recently, Michael C. Hall (Dexter) and Christian Clark were two names that cropped up. Originally, Liev Schreiber was thought to be playing the role, however it later came out that, instead, Schreiber would be playing Sabretooth.

JoBlo claims to have heard of Huston's casting through a "source close to the production" and say that the actor is already on location in New Zealand prepping for the role. As some of you may recall, Huston recently played the head vampire in 30 Days of Night, and he's also shown up in films like The Kingdom and The Number 23. We're not exactly sure how big the Stryker role will be, but nevertheless this casting sounds pretty good to me. Gavin Hood is directing X-Men Origins: Wolverine off a script by David Benioff, and the recently-released pic of Hugh Jackman in his Wolverine get-up can be viewed here. Those claws will attack theaters on May 1, 2009.

UPDATE: IESB also claims that Lynn Collins has nabbed the part of Silver Fox in the film, after both Maggie Q. and Michelle Monaghan were considered.

What appears to be the first image of Hugh Jackman in full Wolverine gear has arrived online (click on the photo for a larger version), courtesy of reelcollectibles (as pointed out to us by the Unofficial Wolverine Chronicles). The photo shows Jackman dressed in that familiar black outfit with those long ass side-burns. He's standing next to two people who I do not know, though I believe they're fans. At first glance, I thought this was a stunt double because he doesn't look much like Jackman, but after doing a bit more digging and comparing other photos to this one, I'm pretty positive it's him.

And is it me, or does he look a bit younger here? X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is currently shooting in New Zealand (I believe) apparently tells the origins of the Wolverine character. They're keeping casting for this one under lock and key at the moment, but we do know that Liev Schreiber is involved, most likely playing Victor Creed, aka Sabertooth, and that Aussie actor Christian Clark joined the cast in an unspecified role not long ago. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is due out in theaters on May 1, 2009.

During an interview for the Aussie paper The Advertiser, actor Christian Clark inadvertently announced that he had landed a part in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, though because of a gag order in his contract he couldn't elaborate further. Clark, who stars in the upcoming George Miller-directed horror flick Prey, as well as the thriller Crush, is relatively unknown to us in the states, though he definitely has that 'break-out Aussie star' look to him. Rumors suggest Clark may have landed the role of a young William Stryker, the villain from X2 (as played by Bryan Cox), though Michael C. Hall's name is also being tossed around with regards to that part.

Directed by Gavin Hood, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which is shooting now) takes place several years before the recent X-Men films and follows Wolvy (Hugh Jackman) while he searches for keys to his past. Liev Schreiber was originally thought to be playing a young Stryker, though it recently came out that he'd be playing the villainous Victor Creed (Sabertooth) instead. Wolverine's girlfriend Kayla Silverfox will also play a role in the film, though an official casting announcement (Maggie Q was rumored) has never been made. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is due out on May 1, 2009.

[via X-Men Films, JoBlo]