SamHuntington Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Okay, whatever, so the Fanboys premiere is, like, soooo last week, but a friend just pointed me toward this pretty cool video from the evening and I thought you folks might want to check it out. Very rarely do I wish to be in Los Angeles (as someone who grew up in NYC, I'm afraid I'd literally melt if I spent too much time over there), but this premiere -- with its stormtroopers, Jedi knights and good vibes -- looked like a whole lotta fun. And as someone who's followed the uncomfortable three-or-so-year journey this film has taken on its way to the big screen, watching video of the actual premiere was pretty neat.

Our peeps over at Gen Art hosted the premiere, post-screening Q&A and after party, and you'll be able to check out brief snippets of it all below. On hand were Fanboys director Kyle Newman, his lovely wife Jaime King, Sam Huntington, Dan Fogler, Kristen Bell and Chris Marquette. And since you're probably wondering when Fanboys will be arriving in a city near you (it's currently screening in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Austin), then I'm happy to say that on February 20 the film will be expanding to Boston, Washington DC, Detroit, Atlanta, Denver, New Haven, Orlando, Phoenix, Columbus, OH and Raleigh , NC. So keep and eye out, fanboys (and girls).


Fanboys premiere hosted by Gen Art & The Weinstein Company from Gen Art Film on Vimeo.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Fanboys (which I can safely say is a film we've all been waiting a long time to see), along with a handful of brand spanking new images. Luckily Mr. Weinberg and myself managed to catch a screening of the flick back in July during Comic Con and I'm happy to say Fanboys is a funny, heartwarming geeky trip full of countless movie references (most of them Star Wars related) and plenty of memorable quotes. Oh, and did I mention Kristen Bell in a Slave Leia costume? Yes sir. (And you can see two pics of her as Slave Leia in the gallery below.)

For those of you who've been living on the Death Star for the past couple years, Fanboys tells of a group of friends who, prior to the release of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, decide to drive across country and break into Skywalker Ranch in an attempt to show their friend the film before he dies of cancer. Fanboys stars Dan Fogler (in his funniest role by far), Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell, Chris Marquette, Sam Huntington and more cameos than you know what to do with (let's just say Seth Rogen plays two roles). As of right this very second, it looks like we'll finally be able to catch Fanboys in theaters on February 6, 2009.

Click below for a larger image of the poster and below that to enter our gallery of exclusive new photos.

It's no snake-in-the-pants role, but Hillary Duff's big sis, Haylie Duff (7th Heaven), might sign on to a new indie film to play a psycho ex girlfriend. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Duff and Sam Huntington (the new Jimmy Olson) are negotiating for starring roles in Tug. This is a new indie from writer/director Abram Makowka, which is making use of Michigan's new 40% tax incentive program.

Set, appropriately, in small-town Michigan, the film focuses "on a guy (Sam Huntington) whose life begins to unravel when he is torn between staying with his current girlfriend or going back to his psycho ex (Duff)." This is a comedy/romance, so I imagine his relationship with his ex isn't abusive, which means we're getting more funny "psycho ladies." I'm hoping that there's a lot more to the story, and that the initial vagueness is just making it sound typical, but we'll have to wait and see whether Makowka offers something fresh, or gives us another imbalanced-woman romcom. On the plus side, the cast also includes Maulik Pancholy (Sanjay on Weeds).

Production is set to begin in June.

Welcome back to The Write Stuff! I'm thrilled that there is such a strong interest in screenwriting out there. Thank you all so much for your comments last week, both here and on my site. All of your questions and comments will be addressed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and keep them coming!

The first interview for the column is with red-hot screenwriter Adam F. Goldberg. Adam is living the dream. He writes for both television and film, and his upcoming movie projects include Fanboys, the live-action Jetsons movie, and They Came from Upstairs. Cinematical spoke with the incredibly busy Goldberg about his scripts, his process, and Goonies: The Musical.

Cinematical: You said you were being "enslaved by a director," what are you working on? And should I call the authorities?

Adam F. Goldberg: Perhaps call them for my hacky writing! It's called They Came From Upstairs for Fox. It's a family movie, kinda like Gremlins -- but with aliens. The spec was written by Mark Burton and was sold for like $1.7 mil. I believe I am making about .0001212 of that. It's been a really cool project. The movie was in pre-production and the studio realized the script wasn't ready and shut it down pretty late in the game. I came aboard to get the train back on the tracks which is always high pressure and very difficult to do. I handed in 40 pages and they re-greenlit the movie and we're casting and location scouting now. I'm on draft two currently, working next to the director and bringing his vision into it.

Cinematical: Is that an awkward process at all -- being brought in to re-write a fellow writer? Do you ever run into hurt feelings or bruised egos? I guess the $1.7 million makes the pill easier to swallow.

AFG: Well, I come from the TV world, writing on sitcoms and that's very collaborative. You have to sit in the room and watch 10 other writers tear apart your script right in front of you. That bruises your ego. As for movies, more often than not a writer can only go so far and it's your job to bat clean up. It's never a great feeling to have your screenplay rewritten, but hopefully you've moved onto your next project, so it doesn't sting so much. And believe me, that $1.7 payday is like winning the lottery. I hope I can sell a spec one day. I've had little luck in that department.

American Eagle Outfitters is dipping its leather sandal-clad toes into the film business. Variety reports that the clothing manufacturer has launched an entertainment production arm called 77E. 77E will produce "original web series and content around events it sponsors, but also will use the entity to segue into TV, movies and music." The first self-produced AE project is a "webisodic comedy" about mall employees called It's a Mall World. The project was directed by Heroes star and Rocky's son, Milo Ventimiglia, who once asked out a friend of mine. The series stars Sam Huntington (Not Another Teen Movie, Superman Returns), and was written by Adam Green (Hatchet).

Where can you see these videos? Content will be available on AE.com, on video screens in American Eagle stores (can't a man shop in peace?), and through outside partners like MTV, which is showing Mall World. Clips will also be available on myspace, facebook, and youtube, which I am told are popular internet webbysites. Kathy Savitt, executive Vice President of American Eagle Outfitters, says of the kids today: "Content is so important to who they are and how they're living their life. They're so smart and discriminating. We need to make deposits into the cool jar." I would think step one on the path to being cool would be eliminating phrases like "cool jar" from one's vocabulary, but what do I know? AE's first film tie-in is expected to debut shortly. Can a deal between Abercrombie & Fitch and Larry Clark be far behind?