Above: Rainn Wilson lets his hair down for The Rocker.

Fans of Rainn Wilson's offbeat, hilarious and strangely endearing performance as Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office might expect him to transition into film work with straightforward comedy, and The Rocker confirms that suspicion. However, they might not realize the serious professional motives behind his choice. In the movie, directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Grown Monty), Wilson plays a grown-up dolt named Fish with a scary fixation on classic rock. Abandoned by the band Vesuvius in his teens -- before they became a commercial phenomenon -- Fish spends the next twenty years working deadbeat jobs and wishing things happened differently. Naturally, he gets a second chance: When the opportunity rolls around to drum for his nephew's high school, Fish goes for it. Ageism and slapstick humor ensue.

While not exactly a classic, The Rocker proves Wilson has the charisma to carry a movie. The script could use some polishing, but Wilson manages to play a completely dysfunctional human being without ever becoming an annoyance. It's a testament to his skill as an actor with calculated timing. The humor emerges from the naturalism of his performances, which make you believe in the outlandish characters he portrays. In a conversation with Cinematical recently, Wilson elaborated on his particular strategies as his career advances, reminisced about his days as a New York theater actor, and shed some light on a few upcoming projects.

Last month, we learned that Bobcat Goldthwait would direct Robin Williams in a flick called World's Greatest Dad. The best part: While the title sounds like super-sappy fare (besides the Goldthwaite participation), it's actually the story of a high school poetry teacher whose son dies from a "freak masturbation accident." To cover up the "sticky" reason behind the death, the teacher pens a suicide note that becomes super famous, which then leads the dude to visions of stardom and inspires him to pen a whole journal for his deceased kid.

Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he also gets some action. At some point during this whole ordeal, he has an affair with a fellow teacher named Claire, who will be played by Alexie Gilmore (New Amsterdam). Talk about a prime role for the ol' Mork. These days, most of his films are either heavily familial, or heavily crappy, so now he's not only getting something that could freshen things up, but he gets to do it while canoodling with a 32-year-old.

Please don't let it turn out like Death to Smoochy. I think the world needs some good Robin Williams to revel in.

Quick! Who played the title role in WALL-E? If you answered "Ben Burtt," chances are you're either a hard-core geek or someone who stayed for the credits and thought, "Who the heck is Ben Burtt?" Burtt, well known to Star Wars and Spielberg fans for his superb work as a sound designer -- he's won two Oscars and received two Special Achievement Awards from the Academy -- picked up his first credit as an actor for providing WALL-E with a voice. And he drives home the point that cartoons, or "animated films" if you prefer, don't need celebrity voices anymore.

Once upon a time, Robin Williams agreed to voice the part of Genie in Disney's Aladdin. Disney decided to capitalize on his stardom and advertised his supporting role heavily, probably the first time a celebrity voice was used to sell an animated film. Aladdin became the biggest hit of the year. This was the tipping point. Millions of adults, notably those without children who hadn't been convinced by the previous year's Beauty and the Beast, decided that cartoons were not just for kids anymore.

The rest is history. Celebrity voices became the norm, and if one celebrity helped bring in the box office bucks, three or five or seven must be even better, and voice casts soon became filled with celebs both major and minor. Celebs had another advantage: they could give interviews and go on talk shows to promote the movie. Inevitably they'd say, "I wanted to do something my kids could see."

If the sequel to Night at the Museum wanted to retain the level of accuracy seen with the original, it would have a Chinese actor playing Russian Czar Ivan IV (aka Ivan the Terrible). But while I'm sure there will still be historical errors abound in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, the honor of playing Ivan has gone instead to pale-enough actor/filmmaker Christopher Guest (Best in Show), according to the Hollywood Reporter. And since Guest is actually a far more serious man than you'd expect, despite all those silly mockumentaries he writes and directs, here's hoping he studies his Eisenstein for inspiration.

A bunch of other actors have also joined Ben Stiller in the fantasy film, including Jon Bernthal (World Trade Center) as Al Capone, Bill Hader (Superbad) as General Custer, Alain Chabat (The Science of Sleep) as Napoleon and the franchise's screenwriters, Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, as the Wright brothers. This makes for a very packed cast, considering most of the first movie's co-stars are apparently returning, including Robin Williams, Steve Coogan, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Dick Van Dyke, Jake Cherry and Patrick Gallagher, the guy who looked all wrong for the part of Atilla the Hun. Other newbies to the series include Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart and Hank Azaria as Egyptian pharaoh Kah Mun Rah.

The sequel is currently filming in Vancouver, which seems a bit far away from the actual Smithsonian Institute, but reportedly the production will have access to shoot a few scenes in the actual museum, which is located in Washington, D.C. Maybe it will actually look like it takes place there, too.

Okay: Bobcat Goldthwait + Robin Williams + a title like World's Greatest Dad = run for the hills. Right? I mean, I had to suppress a shriek upon reading that headline. But then I read further and ... this looks kind of awesome. I'm not joking.

Here's the pitch: Williams plays a high school poetry teacher and failed writer whose son dies in a freak masturbation accident. Stay with me here, folks. Not wanting to expose his family to the embarrassing publicity of a freak masturbation accident resulting in death, Williams' character decides to cover it up by writing a fake suicide note and claiming that his son took his own life.

If you've seen American Beauty, then you already know Kevin Spacey can do a mean pothead on screen -- especially one that is a little ticked at the way his life has turned out. Both skills will come in handy now that Variety has announced that Spacey has signed to star in the indie drama, Shrink. Jonas Pate is already on board to direct Thomas Moffett's script about a celebrity shrink in the midst of a personal crisis.

Spacey will play a psychiatrist to the stars who's thrown for a loop by a personal tragedy. When he is unable to deal with the loss, he becomes a chronic pothead and all-around burn out; eventually losing faith in his ability to help his patients. Starring as his various celebrity clients are Saffron Burrows, Jack Huston, Griffin Dunne, Robin Williams, Pell James, Robert Loggia, Keke Palmer, Laura Ramsey, Gore Vidal, Dallas Roberts and Mark Webber.

Almost two full years ago, Russell Crowe was looking to star in the big-screen adaptation of Michael Stanton's The Prince of Providence, which was being helmed by Michael Corrente. Since that time, Crowe is out, the project is still in the works, and as The Hollywood Reporter posts, it might be getting itself a serving of Robin Williams.

The script, which was written by David Mamet and polished by Howard Korder, focuses on Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, a corrupt politician "who dominated Providence's political machine for 21 years." There's no word on who Robin Williams will play if his scheduling works out, but Oliver Platt will take on the role of Cianci (quite the change from Crowe), and be joined by the likes of Dermot Mulroney, Adam Goldberg (Ronnie Gantz), Bradley Cooper (Haxton), and Ed Burns.

All of the actors sound great, but it will be even better if Williams officially signs on. After so many questionable films in the last handful of years, it would be so very nice to see Robin stretching his acting chops again. Production will begin later this summer in Rhode Island.

I first encountered author Harlan Ellison's writings in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine, when I was in high school. I enjoyed his "Watching" series of movie essays, and in fact I still do -- I have the collected book of them, and I sometimes reread them when I want to remind myself of certain things I like about film criticism. So naturally I was excited about Dreams with Sharp Teeth, Erik Nelson's documentary about Ellison that screened at SXSW this week. I wasn't disappointed, but obviously I was already a fan of the author.

The movie sets out to show you various facets of Ellison's life, without resorting to a linear biography. Various friends, colleagues and well-known acquaintances of Ellison talk about him -- Robin Williams perhaps most surprising among them, reviewing a list of the crazy stuff Ellison has allegedly done, and Ellison responding on whether the stories are true. Neil Gaiman and Battlestar Galactica producer Ron Moore also make appearances. The film also includes some vintage interviews with Ellison, such as Tom Snyder's interview from the 1970s. In between these stories about his life, Ellison reads excerpts from some of his best or best-known work.

I crashed pretty much right after the Oscars last night, but I convinced my wife to leave the TV on in bed in order to watch a little of whatever Jimmy Kimmel was going to do for his post-Oscars show. And, to my delight, he chose the time to seek his revenge on girlfriend Sarah Silverman and her "I'm f**king Matt Damon" music video. Oh yes, Kimmel took his video -- "I'm f**king Ben Affleck" -- to the next level. Not only did it open with a Brad Pitt cameo, but by the time it was over, a group of people were singing in a "We are the World" format; folks like Don Cheadle, Huey Lewis, Robin Williams, Joan Jett, McLovin', Lance Bass ... and Harrison Ford. Yes! Harrison friggin' Ford driving a car with a bumper stick that read, "Honk if you're f**king Ben Affleck." I don't know how in the world they convinced Mr. Serious to appear in this thing, but nevertheless the entire thing was a riot.

Check out the video above. And in case you missed the Silverman/Damon video that started this whole thing, you can view it after the jump. Enjoy.

We're not going to overload you with writers strike news because it's shaping up to be a marathon, not a race. Here are some delicious new updates (including a video up top which uses colorful little pie charts to help better explain the writer's point of view):

Day 4. The rebels have set up a new base on planet New York City, and when a young Jedi by the name of Robin Williams shows up with free bagels, folks begin to question his loyalty ...

Yes, the celebs were out in full force today showing Los Angeles that New York is perfectly capable of providing some top notch talent to walk the picket lines too. The writers have now set up camp in Columbus Circle, in front of the Time Warner building, and a number of NY-based stars showed up to lend their support. The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Robin Williams was there with free bagels! Free f**king bagels! Joining him were fellow Justice League SAG members Tim Robbins, Julianne Moore, Seth Myers (SNL) and Sopranos creator David Chase (who, unfortunately, turned down the chance to write an ending for the strike). Gone was the inflatable rat, which has been replaced by an equally-as-large (and meaner) "greedy" pink pig. Next up, an inflatable Jabba the Hutt. Watch for it!

No new talks between the WGA and AMPTP are scheduled, but Variety claims both sides were close to a deal before talks fell apart last Sunday. What would it take to get them both in the same room again? Personally, I'd start with some Tequila and a hug. But that's me. Blogger Nikki Finke continues to pound the pavement, digging up quotes, photos and information that she publishes, non-stop, daily. By the time the strike is over, she'll either a) wind up with a daytime show on Fox or b) explode. Either way, she'll need a lot of help when it comes time to kick that strike addiction.

[video via The Hot Blog]