During last night’s Superbowl we were treated to a teaser trailer for the upcoming Avengers movie, featuring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and Samuel L. Jackson. This is the second trailer for the much-anticipated superhero film, which is out on May 4th. The first trailer made the move look more like a clusterf*ck than a coordinated Justice League. (I’m aware that they’re different comics/superheroes.)

They seem to have nailed down the plot in order to come with this more cohesive trailer featuring more scenes of crap getting blown up. This trailer makes the film look more interesting than it did before, but it also has a unreal video game feel that seems all too familiar and overdone. How many movies have we seen with cars exploding and rolling down the street in a wave?

Some thoughts:
They’re very cleverly focusing on all the key parts of the film: the special effects, the individual superheroes played by well known actors, their work as a team, and the pithy one-liners. My favorite part is at :50 when Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is told by baddie Loki (Tom Hiddleston) that “We have an army” and he quips “We have a Hulk.” We then get to see Mark Ruffalo flying through the air as the most badass Hulk I’ve ever seen. Scarlet Johannson is sexy as Black Widow in that tight catsuit, but I like how they’re balancing out the talent in the film and not trying to push her as the star.

The Avengers could be a huge moneymaker for Disney and Marvel or it could be a spectacular flop. Rumor has it that it cost over $250 million to make. Look at what happened with Green Lantern. Warner Brothers really took a bath on that one. Superhero films are no longer the safest bet.

There’s news that Andrew Garfield as Spiderman is going to make a cameo as cross promotion for the new Spidey film, out this July. Can they make the movie work with this many stars? We’ll see.

Photos via Allmoviephoto

There are twenty-million new photos of Gwyneth Paltrow and Mark Ruffalo (mostly Gwyneth) on the NYC film set of Thanks For Sharing. They were filming in Central Park yesterday, in a scene that seems to have involved Dame Goop deigning to “jog” and “ride a velocipede” (her words). So what’s the big deal? A few things – one, Gwyneth looks cute in these photos. I’ve begun to think she’s almost always prettier when she’s not all Goop’d up for a red carpet. When her hair is out of the ponytail, she looks especially good. Whoever is doing the makeup for the film is doing a bang-up job.

As for the film, did you know that Gwyneth plays a sex addict? How gauche! Thanks for Sharing stars Goop, Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Joely Richardson and Pink, amongst others. The plot:

Dramatic comedy follows a group of unlikely friends brought together through their shared determination to recover from sex addiction as they try to forge meaningful relationships for the first time in their lives…. Paltrow will play Phoebe, a successful businesswoman who falls for Ruffalo’s character, while Richardson will play Katie, the wife of Robbins’ character.

[Via Variety]

The director is Stuart Blumberg, who also wrote the screenplay – he was nominated for an Oscar for his The Kids Are All Right screenplay. Did we ever talk about Kids? I thought it was a really overrated film – yes, Annette and Julianne Moore were great, but the script had big issues.

Anyway, here are some more photos of Gwyneth and Mark flirting away, on and off-camera. I bet Mark likes Gwyneth in general, because she always seems to charm other actors, but I’ve got to wonder about their potential for long-term friendship. Mark is an urban hippie who lives a quiet life with his wife and kids. Dame Gwyneth is a self-styled princess who bathes herself in luxury. Now THAT has potential for a romantic comedy.

Oh, and I have no comment on this:

[Via Goop’s Twitter]

Photos courtesy of WENN & Fame.

The cast of The Avengers covers this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly in a wholly bizarre manner. Robert Downey Jr. (as always) fares well in his Tony Stark persona; Scarlett Johansson wields two guns as Black Widow but appears to be missing her shoulders; Chris Hemsworth looks more like Fabio on the cover of a Harlequin romance novel than Thor; Chris Evans (who, sadly, isn’t flashing his waxed nipples) seems ready to burst into tears; and I’m not exactly sure whether Mark Ruffalo knows that his Bruce Banner character is supposed to be, you know, an angry man. What really trips me out though is the amount of Photoshopping that’s been applied to Jeremy Renner’s face — he looks more like a Hawkeye action figure than the real life counterpart. Such a waste. EW has also released a few tidbits from its cover story:

The whole enterprise is falling apart. Egos, tempers, uneasy alliances and bad attitudes are threatening the group, and failure would be catastrophic. Luckily, we’re talking about the actual team of superheroes in the Marvel Studios movie The Avengers, not the cast and crew. In this week’s issue, EW takes a deep dive into the May 4, 2012 movie that will finally unite Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, and Chris Evans’ Captain America – along with Mark Ruffalo’s The Incredible Hulk, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow — on the big screen. We use the word “unite” loosely. “Just because they’re super heroes doesn’t mean they’re super friends,” says Renner.

It was a different story with the cast and crew: If anything, they got along too well. Far from home on the Albuquerque set, they had little to do except hang out together, maybe hit a Motley Cruë concert, or go dancing with writer-director Joss Whedon, who says he knew “every dance club in Albuquerque.” Whedon was actually counting on a little bit of friction, since there’s so much in the actual story. “I was like, well, if they hate each other, I guess we can use that,” he shrugs. “But they don’t.”

When he wasn’t out dancing, Whedon was obsessively rewriting dialogue. On the Iron Man movies, Downey was notorious for pushing for heat-of-the-moment script punch-ups (or as he puts it: “I dominated like a rabid, horny gorilla”). And even as part of an ensemble in Avengers, he still nudged Whedon to go a little farther in some scenes. The day EW was on set, Whedon (the creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the acclaimed Astonishing X-Men comic book series) was scribbling out new pages of dialogue right before our eyes. Says the director, “There is a weird element of: they handed me one of the biggest movies of all time, and I’m making it up as I go.”

[From Popwatch]

The box office for this movie is going to be phenomenal, and the careers of everyone (except maybe Renner and RDJ, who are already doing quite well in their other acting endeavors) involved will receive a much-needed boost. Mostly though, the actor who will benefit most from The Avengers is Scarlett. Until she signed on (for a relatively measly $400,000 paycheck) as Black Widow in Iron Man 2, her career had turned into a series of failed period dramas, romcoms, and whatever Woody Allen happened to be filming at the time. Now, she’s part of a superhero franchise. Who would have ever thought it was possible?

Now let’s return to gazing upon (Kaiser already brought you an initial batch) some set photos from The Avengers scenes that shot in New York City early this month.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Do you have any idea how much I love Mark Ruffalo? So, so much. I’ve loved him since the first film I ever saw him in – You Can Count on Me. That was more than a decade ago, and his films are at times hit or miss, but I never hold it against him. He just brings me joy, because he’s a really talented actor, he’s cute as a button, and he seems like a genuinely sweet man. Anyway, Mark has two major interviews out this week, the biggest being this cover of Details! Can you believe it? After years of toiling in the industry, doing consistently good work, and winning the respect of his peers, Mark is finally a cover boy for a major magazine? Isn’t that awesome? Anyway, if you’d like to see his Details photo shoot, go here, and if you’d like to read the whole Details piece, go here. Here are some highlights:

Mark Ruffalo appears on the May cover of DETAILS magazine in a photo shoot with Matthias Vriens-McGrath that took place in New York City. Disgusted with Hollywood and mourning the loss of his brother, Ruffalo quit acting (again) for his hideaway in upstate New York. But a funny thing happened on the way to irrelevance—the movie he thought would be his last earned him an Oscar nomination and made him a bona fide leading man. Now the 43-year-old in-demand actor is making his long-awaited directorial debut with this month’s Sympathy for Delicious and suiting up to be the next Hulk. Strange how busy retirement can be. “You don’t interview Mark Ruffalo—you converse with him,” said writer Jonathan Miles. “The standard Hollywood ego is nowhere to be found. By the end of the interview we were just talking fishing and politics like every other guy in the bar.”

On quitting acting in 2009: “I’d had it with L.A., and I really had it with the business side of acting, the machinery of it all. You’re an artist, but then all of a sudden you’re a product at the same time, and there’s this company that’s sprung up around you. I got depressed. I was losing my love for it. So I said, ‘I’m done.’ I fired everybody and moved my family out here (Callicoon, NY). I had to make a radical move.” He goes on to say, “The Kids Are Alright was my swan song. I didn’t know what I was doing next.”

On struggling to make it as an actor: “It was brutal. The years are stripping away, but when you talking to anyone from home, you’re saying something like ‘Well, I’m just working on my craft right now,’ when the truth is that I can’t get a f’ing job because no one will hire me. It was humiliating.”

On deciding to continue acting: What brought Ruffalo back this latest time was sitting in the audience at Sundance, where The Kids Are Alright made its debut in 2010, and, after the first peal of laughter, “watching everyone’s jaded, supercool Hollywood identities melt into the communal experience of filmmaking and storytelling. It reminded me: I’m an actor, and my whole life has been geared towards being an actor.”

On acting in The Avengers, a computer-generated style movie: Ruffalo makes the counterintuitive connection between motion-capture acting and the theater. “It’s the absolute perfect marriage because it relies on your imagination, your ability to project outside of yourself, to be the watcher and the watched. A stage actor has to be able to do that, because you’re telling the story with your body as much as your face and voice.”

On not training to be The Incredible Hulk: “No, no, no. Look, I’m eating guacamole and potato chips….You think Tom Cruise does this?”

[From Details]

He sounds really good, and I would definitely recommend reading the whole Details article. The problem is that he’s just so nice and sweet and professional, there aren’t any juicy, eye-rolling quotes.

Mark also did a big interview with The Advocate, which came out earlier this week. It’s mostly about his career and his involvement with LGBT issues and why he feels so strongly about human rights issues. The full interview is here, and here are a few highlights:

Why have you taken such a personal interest in gay rights?
We have a lot of friends who are gay couples with kids. When my son would go to his friend’s house down the street, where his friend’s parents are a married gay couple, not once did he come home and say, “Why does he have two papas?” That didn’t occur to him, because their house is no different from ours. I’ve seen the human face of the issue, I’ve seen the pain gay couples are going through, so it was important for me to add my voice to the fight. Fortunately, my voice reaches much further than a lot of people’s. I was trained as an actor that we have a responsibility in our community to stand up for what we believe in and to use our voice and our art to teach people and push those beliefs.

Why don’t more celebrities show your level of support?
Throughout history, it’s always been the artists who express progressive views, and there has always been an attack on artists who speak out against culture wars and military actions. I’ve seen the right-wing media campaign to discredit people who speak out against their agendas, and it’s been chillingly effective. I’ve seen it happen with the war in Iraq and I’m seeing it happen with marriage equality.

Up through 2005, you’d periodically appear in light rom-coms like Just Like Heaven, Rumor Has It…, and 13 Going on 30. Now that you’ve gotten an Oscar nomination, are those days officially over?
I don’t know. I’ve found that rom-coms are rarely romantic, rarely comedic, and rarely a combination of both in a satisfying way. But I liked those movies I did because they were funny, but they had nice messages and real heart at the same time. Lately, I just haven’t had many rom-com scripts come across my desk that I thought were really good.

[From The Advocate]

He also talked about being hired to play AIDS activist Ned Weeks in the upcoming Ryan Murphy film The Normal Heart. Mark said something rather beautiful about playing the real-life gay man, and it actually made me stop in my tracks and say “Damn, he has a point.” Mark was saying that he didn’t want to play this gay character at first because he thought that a gay actor should take the role. When asked why a gay actor should take it, Mark said: “It just should be. It’s time. At what point did they finally let an African American play an African American? There comes a time in our culture when Marlon Brando shouldn’t be playing a Japanese guy.” That’s an interesting way of thinking isn’t it? I love him.

Photos courtesy of Details’ slideshow.

A few weeks ago, the president of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige publicly smacked down Edward Norton. Norton had been in talks to reprise his role as The Incredible Hulk in The Avengers, the film that will be like the greatest hits of several of Marvel’s comic-book action stars. Negotiations between Norton and Marvel broke down, and Kevin Feige released a bitchy public statement about Norton, claiming that they were looking for “an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble… We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.”

CB was Team Norton, because she thought Feige’s press release was super-bitchy and unprofessional. But I tend to think Feige probably had enough with Norton’s diva antics, which are legendary (as is the size of his ego). While Norton is unique in that he can back up his diva temperament and egotistic attitude with actual talent, Norton has spent decades being a pill to important people in the industry, and it’s surprising he only got called out on it now.

So, anyway – Marvel just announced their new Hulk. And it’s super-nice guy Mark Ruffalo! … the hell? I would never have pegged Ruffalo for an action guy, or for a comic book guy, but here it is:

Mark Ruffalo is the new Hulk, Marvel Studios announced when unveiling the cast of the 2012 sequel ‘The Avengers’ at Comic Con on Saturday.

The decision follows a dramatic dismissal of the previous Hulk, Edward Norton. Two weeks ago Marvel released a harsh statement announcing that Norton, who played Bruce Banner and his green alter-ego in the 2008 movie, would not be returning. The statement insisted the decision was not about money and suggested Norton was not a team player.

Norton’s rep called the statement “purposefully misleading” and described the decision as a financial one.

Eric Bana first played the Hulk in 2003.

Ruffalo joins an ensemble cast that includes Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sam Jackson, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth.

“It’s like Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet, a new actor gets a crack at it every year,” Ruffalo told the LA Times. “But really it’s all heady stuff. It’s exciting to be here. It’s great to be a part of all this.”

[From Huffington Post]

I think it’s an interesting, intriguing choice, for both Marvel and Ruffalo. Ruffalo has credibility as Mr. Indie Film, and has a CV full of delicate, moving, intense, beautiful performances – much like Tobey McGuire before Spiderman. This could be very interesting, or it could fail miserably. One thing makes me think it won’t fail though – Mark is a dedicated actor and a professional, and if he’s told he should train hard and be big and buff, he’ll follow through.

Mark on February 13 & June 17, 2010, and at Comic-Con with the rest of the cast on July 24, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Heartthrob Orlando Bloom, 32, was photographed yesterday on the LA set of his new film, Sympathy for Delicious, looking larger and much shaggier. The film is directed by Mark Ruffalo, who also stars, and features Laura Linney. IMDB has the plot synopsis as “A newly paralyzed DJ gets more than he bargained for when he seeks out the world of faith healing,” and it’s listed as a Comedy/Drama.

It’s nice to see Mark Ruffalo working again after the shooting death of his brother in early December. Ruffalo dropped out of another recent project after the tragedy. Orlando’s role was originally slated for James Franco, who had to give up the part when filming needed to be delayed.

Bloom will have some competition for the most fug on set – Juliette Lewis is also in the film, although her look is likely to improve once she goes through wardrobe.

Thanks to Fame Pictures for these photos. Laura Linney is shown on set in photos from Splash News

Actor Mark Ruffalo’s family has issued a statement about the death of his brother Scott, 39, who died in the hospital a week after he was shot in the head at his condominium in Beverly Hills. They thank the public for their support and say that the funeral will be private. There is also a memorial fund set up in his memory.

The former main suspect, a 26 year-old female friend of the victim who turned herself into police on Monday, claims through her lawyer that Scott Ruffalo shot himself while under the influence of drugs and playing Russian Roulette. Shaha Adham was seen seen on surveillance tape entering the victim’s condominium before his death but says she was just stopping by to pick up her car keys when he shoot himself. Her attorney admits that she left the scene shortly afterwards.

“My client was a good friend of the victim and is very sad for the loss of his family. However, she played no role whatsoever in his accidental death,” Richards said.

Shaha Adham, 26, surrendered Monday after Beverly Hills police issued an arrest warrant for attempted murder…

Lt. Tony Lee with the Beverly Hills Police Department said he could not comment on Adham’s story, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.

Police knew to question Adham because she was on surveillance video at Ruffalo’s condominium along with Brian Scofield, 29, a “person of interest” in the case, Richards said.

Scott Ruffalo, a married hairdresser, died late Monday after he was taken off life support, one week after he was found with a gunshot wound to the head in his Beverly Hills condo. He is the kid brother of “You Can Count on Me” star Mark Ruffalo.

“I can confirm that my client was present when Mr. Ruffalo shot himself,” Richards said Tuesday. “She was picking up some keys.”

He said the gun belonged to Ruffalo and that Ruffalo was a known cocaine user who had used drugs and played with guns in the past in front of numerous witnesses.

[From The NY Daily News]

It sounds like a suspicious excuse. There may have been some evidence supporting Adham’s claim that it was a Russian Roulette death as she has been released and cleared by police of all wrongdoing. The other “person of interest,” Adham’s boyfriend Brian Scofield, has also been released. TMZ claims that Scofield was not at the scene and was just the first person Adham called. Another unknown person is said to have been there at the time of the shooting.

Scott Ruffalo was married and worked as a hairdresser. It’s a tragic story no matter how he died and hopefully the family will be able to find some peace. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Mark Ruffalo is shown at the premiere of Reservation Road on 10/18/07. Credit: Fame

Horrific news: actor Mark Ruffalo’s brother has died from injuries sustained by a gunshot wound to the head. Scott Ruffalo, 39, died late last night, just hours after the prime suspects in his shooting turned themselves in to police for questioning. He was mysteriously shot in the back of the head on Dec. 1 in front of his home, and has been in serious condition since.

Scott Ruffalo, the brother of actor Mark Ruffalo, died last night after suffering a gunshot wound last week.

Brian Scofield and Shaha Mishaal Adham turned themselves in to the Bev Hills PD yesterday. Adham was named a “suspect” and Scofield was named a”person of interest” in the shooting.

[From TMZ]

Police have been very tight-lipped in this case, particularly regarding any kind of motive for the shooting. All the police have said is that there was “suspicious activity” going on outside the home. That could mean just about anything. I’m sure that the stakes are even higher now that the victim has died. In any case, I’m sure the Ruffalo family is devastated. According to reports, Mark and his family have been spending every minute since the shooting by Scott’s bedside and were in total shock over the incident. This kind of violent ending to a loved one’s life certainly isn’t something you expect or plan for. Scott Ruffalo was a hairdresser and leaves behind his wife and a stepdaughter. Condolences to the family.

Photos of Mark Ruffalo and his wife, Sunrise Coigney, at the AFI Film Festival on Nov. 3. Photos of Mark alone coming out of a medical building in June 2008. Photo credit: WENN.

The National Federation for The Blind takes offense at the portrayal of blind people in the upcoming thriller Blindness, starring Julianne Moore and Marc Ruffalo. Blindness portrays a breakdown in society after a virus starts wiping out everyone’s vision, turning them into savages who compete for meager resources. Blind people think it’s outrageous that they’re portrayed so negatively and plan a protest of the film, which is out in limited release in the US this Friday, October 3.

Blind people quarantined in a mental asylum, attacking each other, soiling themselves, trading sex for food. For Marc Maurer, who’s blind, such a scenario _ as shown in the movie “Blindness” _ is not a clever allegory for a breakdown in society.

Instead, it’s an offensive and chilling depiction that Maurer fears could undermine efforts to integrate blind people into the mainstream.

“The movie portrays blind people as monsters, and I believe it to be a lie,” said Maurer, president of the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind. “Blindness doesn’t turn decent people into monsters.”

The organization plans to protest the movie, released by Miramax Films, at 75 theaters around the country when it’s released Friday. Blind people and their allies will hand out fliers and carry signs. Among the slogans: “I’m not an actor. But I play a blind person in real life.”

The movie reinforces inaccurate stereotypes, including that the blind cannot care for themselves and are perpetually disoriented, according to the NFB.

“We face a 70 percent unemployment rate and other social problems because people don’t think we can do anything, and this movie is not going to help _ at all,” said Christopher Danielsen, a spokesman for the organization.

[AP via Huffington Post]

Seven staff members of the National Federation for The Blind, including three people who are not blind, attended a screening of the film last week. They’re not simply responding to the trailers and have a legitimate beef with the film.

The film was not received well at Cannes, with the jury giving it a 1.3 average out of 4. Blindness has a 41% aggregate critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it seems like people either love it or hate it. It’s criticized as being too self-important and negative in tone. The film also features Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Here are two trailers.

Thanks to AllMoviePhoto for these pictures.