cameron diaz Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Richard Matheson's original short story, "Button, Button," was a nifty little morality tale about a couple faced with a peculiar opportunity -- if they push a button in a box, they'll get a sum of money but kill a stranger in doing so. That version of the story ended with the wife pushing the button and killing her husband, a man she didn't really know. As an episode of "The Twilight Zone" in 1986, the story ended with the couple paid off and assured that the device would then go to another couple to whom they qualify as strangers. Now, Richard Kelly's The Box takes that same basic premise and spins it into a mind-bender of the most baffling degree, starting out as another "Twilight Zone"-worthy variant but eventually reaching the outer limits of both patience and reason.

Tom Cruise has been in Boston (what, haven't you read the reports of Suri sightings in Beantown?) filming what was previously known as Witchita, a new film from Fox co-starring Cameron Diaz that is billed as a spy comedy romance thriller. Well, the film that has been blowing sh*t up in Massachusetts has the new title Knight & Day, as well as an impressive roster of new cast members.

In addition to Cruise, Diaz, Paul Dano, Maggie Grace, and Marc Blucas, Knight & Day has added Oscar nom Viola Davis, thespian Peter Sarsgaard, and sexpot Olivier Martinez to the cast.

As Jen Yamato pointed out, this sounds like it could be successfully aimed at the female audience, but can audiences accept the idea of Tom Cruise as a Clooney-type dreamboat? Can he still be funny? (Funny on purpose -- not funny like in Valkyrie.) Will female audiences be turned off by Diaz? James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line) is directing, but the five (!) screenwriters include Dana Fox, who wrote Couples Retreat and What Stays in Vegas, and partner Scott Frank wrote Marley & Me and The Interpreter.

Color me skeptical. Cutesy title and a mixed bag of actors and writers? What do you think?

It's been such a long, winding battlefield of a road for this millennium's take on The Green Hornet that it's surprising that the project has gone anywhere at all. Nevertheless, after all the pre-production fuss, getting our official Kato, a new Christmas-season release date, and a big Tron battle, we're finally getting photos from the set, courtesy of Just Jared.

Yes, that photo to the right of Cameron Diaz and a parasol isn't the most exciting of shots, but the rest might be quite spoilerific. So, of course, quit reading if you want to stay in the dark about Hornet goings-on. Anyhow, Diaz's Lenore Case and Seth Rogen's Britt Reid are holding an outdoor press conference when things take a turn for the bloody -- someone shoots Reid in the left shoulder. As things become chaotic, Case tries to get him in the nearby car, whilst Reid grimaces and the camera people go nuts to get the best shot. (There's a ton of shots over at JJ.)

Oh, how will this all turn out? It should help that the release date moved farther away from Iron Man, because good or bad, it's hard to release a second millionaire business man/tough crime fighter only a few months after everyone descends upon Iron Man. But will it be enough?

I understand why actors and actresses go on TV shows and promote their upcoming movies, but at some point prior to their appearance, you might think someone might say, "Hey, by the way, let's not reveal these details because they kinda spoil the entire film." Unfortunately, no one said that to Rachel McAdams yesterday when she appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as it only took, like, one or two questions before the girl just opened up and spewed plot points from The Time Traveler's Wife as if someone injected her with a dose of truth juice.

Don't get me wrong, McAdams seems like a sweet girl and all, but c'mon! Even Jon Stewart tried to stop her from ruining everything by doling out his usual shtick, but the girl kept going and going -- it was seriously a complete trainwreck. Recently at Comic-Con, Cameron Diaz did something similar while sitting on a panel for The Box, giving away a major twist in that film, which incited a debate between a bunch of folks on Twitter wondering why these people aren't prepped before these types of appearances. And if they are prepped, shouldn't they be smart enough to know what to say and what not to say?

Which brings us to an interesting topic: How much or how little should an actor, actress or filmmaker be able to talk about their film while promoting it on television? Usually at a press junket they'll open up about everything because everyone there has seen the movie, but what sort of adjustments should these folks make when they go on, say, The Daily Show? Was McAdams wrong for giving away all those plot points, or are we just making a big deal out of nothing?

Watch the video after the jump ...

It looks like the cast for The Green Hornet is complete once more, and the masked man has a new Kato. Columbia Pictures announced that Jay Chou has been cast as the Hornet's trusty mechanic / ass kicker, replacing Stephen Chow . This will be his first American film, though audiences might remember him from The Curse of the Golden Flower or Kung Fu Dunk.

Chou is a superstar in Taiwan, and has an exhaustive resume as a singer, producer, actor, director, and writer. There's not much he hasn't done ... except martial arts. Unless his biography is wrong, he has no martial art experience, putting him right in line with that open casting call that was so widely reported. Will this mean Kato will take a bit of a backseat to the Hornet, and not be a powerhouse like Bruce Lee?

His acting has received very poor reviews from Asian critics, but his performance in Curse was complimented by American critics, so Hornet will be quite a test for him. I honestly can't remember a single thing about Golden Flower other than its epic and blinding color scheme, so I can't judge whether or not he'll be a good Kato. Nothing about the pre-production of Seth Rogen's Hornet has met expectations good or bad (Nicolas Cage as the villain?), and the project continues to feel like one giant exercise in Wait and See.

If ever a project knew how to bounce between apprehension and possible joy, I'd say it's the upcoming The Green Hornet. We've had Stephen Chow as director and Kato, Seth Rogen as the Hornet, Michel Gondry as director, a hunt for a new Kato with word that the actor wouldn't need martial arts experience, and then rumors that Cameron Diaz is in talks for the female lead.

Now Variety confirms that Diaz is negotiating to play a reporter and love interest to Rogen, while Nicolas Cage is in talks to play the gangster villain. Johnny Dollar perhaps? Someone entirely new? With the exception of his brief stint as Fu Mancho in Grindhouse's Werewolf Women of the SS, I haven't been pulled to a Cage film since Adaptation, so let's hope it's something good, and I hope, reminiscent of his grittier early days.

Then again, maybe it would be a waste. I've wavered back and forth on this whole idea of this project, and as neat as it sounds to have a comic-turned-movie at the hands of Gondry, he's got a whole heck of a lot of apprehension to beat.

Does The Green Hornet have any chance for greatness (or even goodness)? Or, is it destined to flail like The Spirit?

I'm not ashamed to say that I cry at the movies. Not frequently, but occasionally a story and its characters will grab hold of me to the extent that I'm completely caught up in the emotions and feelings being expressed. Films as disparate as John Ford's The Searchers and Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express have caused me to weep with joy, relief, and sorrow.

Despite a relentless barrage of scenes evidently designed with the sole goal of jerking tears, Nick Cassavetes' My Sister's Keeper did not make me cry. It is, however, one of the most glorious-looking terminal cancer pictures I've ever seen. Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Black Stallion, The Natural) paints the oft-mundane proceedings in an otherworldly glow, as though the transition to the next life had already begun. That's the guiding principle of the movie as a whole; even though an inflammatory and emotionally wrenching issue serves as the linchpin for the plot, great pains are taken to soften the blows so as not to inflict lasting damage upon the viewer.

Frankly, that latter point, much more than whether I personally shed tears, is what prevents My Sister's Keeper from escaping middlebrow territory. Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric are splendidly noble as Brian and Sara Fitzgerald, whose daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) is diagnosed at a young age with leukemia. Brian and Sara conceive another child with genetic modifications so she can serve as a donor to her sister. Anna (Abigail Breslin) (*) seems fine with all the body part donations until Kate's condition worsens to the point that she needs a kidney transplant. Then 11-year-old Anna marches into the office of well-known lawyer Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin) and demands medical emancipation from her parents.

Our good friends (and partners) over at Moviefone have just debuted the first trailer for Richard Kelly's (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) much-anticipated freaky little sci-fi thriller The Box, starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella. Due in theaters on October 30th (just in time for Halloween), the film follows the story of a couple who receive a mysterious box that grants them one million dollars, but with one catch: once they open the box, a person who they do not know will die. Pretty catchy premise and based on the trailer alone, the movie definitely looks to bring the thriller-ish vibes. I've always loved the look of Kelly's films, and The Box is no exception (something about it -- the cold, stark wintry chill, perhaps -- reminded me of The Shining). Perhaps a more commercial tale will help heal Kelly's former box office woes. He's a darn good filmmaker, and so I hope that's the case here.

Check out the trailer after the jump (or in HD over on Moviefone) and let us know what you think.

Don't hold your breath, but Tommy Boy may have chosen his next project. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz "are in advanced negotiations" to star in an action comedy currently titled Wichita, according to Variety. Cruise is notoriously indecisive cautious, though, so it's not a go until the cameras start rolling.

If all goes well for 20th Century Fox, the idea is to throw the movie into the summer 2010 maelstrom. Fox already has The A-Team, Gulliver's Travels, and Predator set for the season. The bigger question is how Cruise would handle the role. The character he would play is described as "a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of a single woman." The movie is described as having "several action scenes," so it sounds like it would lean more on comedy and romance. The sole time Cruise has tried to be funny and romantic was his Academy Award-nominated performance 13 years ago in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire. Cruise looks very good when he's running, and can play stoic and stiff in his sleep, but comedy is basically an undiscovered country for him.

The secondary question is James Mangold, who is set to direct. He has mad skills with actors (Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line), but his only previous romantic comedy was Kate & Leopold with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman in 2001, which, alas, I haven't seen. Cameron Diaz is a definite asset as a comedic actress. Still, I'm wondering: is this a recipe for disaster?