Did you know this year marks twenty years since Twilight was first published? Stephenie Meyer’s vampire series has been a phenomenon for two decades now, and it’s perfect that the movies are returning to theaters later this month. Amid the buzz, director Bill Condon has had a chance to reminisce on making the Breaking Dawn movies, and he recently shared the sweet story of a dance that was performed by the cast on set.

Condon has a new film on the 2025 movie schedule, and it's the musical film Kiss of the Spider Woman, starring Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna. Of course, the Twilight films are far from musicals. However, while at the movie’s New York City premiere, Condon recalled this memory while working on the “big battle” at the end of the franchise's final installment:

Of course, Bill Condon is talking about the very memorably big twist at the end of Breaking Dawn – Part 2 that left fans stunned. And, as Taylor Lautner once told us, it led to a “hysterical” reaction at the movie’s premiere. Bill Condon said he as well as the cast and crew were working to perfect that scene for “like a month,” so it was pretty fun when one day he showed up to set to the whole cast getting down to the Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” and a West Side Story-type rumble.

Bill Condon is not only a big fan of musicals, he wrote the movie version of Chicago and The Greatest Showman and wrote and directed 2006’s Dreamgirls. On top of that, Condon helmed the live-action version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. His latest movie is a musical as well that serves as an adaptation of the 1992 stage musical of the same name. Considering Condon's love for the musical genre, his Twilight collaborators couldn't have honored him in a better way.

I had to dig up and see if anyone had shared the bonus features from Breaking Dawn – Part 2, including that dance scene performed on set. Luckily, I found the following Instagram post, which shows how the fun unfolded:

Apparently, Toni Trucks, who also portrays Mary in the movie, was the mastermind who really put the dance together along with MyAnna Buring, who plays Tanya, and even Lee Pace (Garrett). While it was all the work of the vampire side of the cast, per the bonus features, it led to a full-on dance off with the Volturi as well after they’d been secretly practicing for a week.

It’s been almost 13 years now since the last Breaking Dawn movie premiered, and we’re still talking about it. You can relive the Twilight movies from October 29 and November 2 and, if you can't make it to a theater, then stream them all with a Hulu subscription. Also, check out Condon's Kiss of the Spider Woman in theaters now.

Over the years a number of movie musicals won Best Picture at the Oscars, and this season has a few contenders to continue that tradition, Wicked: For Good and Kiss of the Spider Woman. The latter is a book to screen adaptation of the novel of the same name, which was then made into an Award-winning stage musical. The movie tells a moving queer love story, and director Bill Condon and star Tonatiuh spoke to CinemaBlend about protagonist Molina's identity in this particular version.

Kiss of the Spider Woman addresses people who hate musicals, while also telling a moving story about acceptance and queer love within an Argentine prison in the 1980s. The movie version heavily implied that Molina was in fact trans, and as you can see in the video above I asked the movie's star and director about that characterization. Condon shared his take on the character's identity, saying:

Indeed, the word "transgender" is never uttered during Kiss of the Spider Woman. Instead, Molina talks and sings about the wonders being a woman... especially in the song "She's a Woman." It's heavily hinted that he might have identified as a trans woman... if that vocabulary was readily available in the setting of the film.

So while Kiss of the Spider Woman director Bill Condon was reticent to use the word trans to describe Molina, the way that the character self-identifies in the original book, and how that translates to modern sensibilities, is a big reason why he decided to make this film adaptation. As the Dreamgirls filmmaker continued:

As he mentions, the way Molina's gender and sexual identity is addressed varies among the different adaptations of Kiss of the Spider Woman. And while audiences like me might see the character as transgender when seeing the movie with contemporary sensibilities, Bill Condon took dialogue directly from the original novel.

Of course, the actor portraying Molina obviously had his own opinions about this subject. I asked Tonatiuh about the idea that the movie's protagonist is a trans woman, and he engaged in a thoughtful dialogue, telling me:

On top of filming dance numbers with Jennifer Lopez, Tonatiuh clearly worked closely with Condon regarding Molina's story in the new Kiss of the Spider Woman. Given the background behind this collaboration, it's clear that the pair were expecting this type of discourse to accompany the movie's release.

Later in our same conversation, the Vida actor explained his perspective on Molina's identity in the movie musical. In his words:

Fair point. While the power of LGBTQ+ representation makes us see Molina through a 2025 lens, Tonatiuh couldn't lean on that when filming Kiss of the Spider Woman. Instead he had to play a person who was fighting for love and dignity while imprisoned by an authoritarian government. Still, queer audiences will likely see a trans or genderqueer story

Kiss of the Spider Woman is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list. There are some gorgeous performances, especially from JLo herself. Hopefully the movie musical gets its flowers come Awards Season.

Musicals are a tried and true genre in the film world, with a number of movie musicals winning the Best Picture Oscar over the years. Chief among them is Bill Condon's Chicago (streaming with a Paramount+ subscription), and the filmmaker is back behind the camera for the film adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman. And both the acclaimed director and them movie's star Tonatiuh spoke to CinemaBlend about the hate that the genre often gets.

JLo has been getting a ton of love for Kiss of the Spider Woman, which put the global superstar's singing and dancing skills on display. As you can see from the video above, I had the chance to speak with Condon and the cast ahead of its release this weekend. I asked the Oscar-winning filmmaker his reaction to folks who just can't get into musicals, to which he responded:

He's not wrong. I've always been a musical theater nerd, and was brought up watching classics like The Sound of Music with my family. But for folks who don't have that background, sometimes the idea of breaking out into song in the middle of a scene can be hard to wrap one's head around. And if the musical is bad, songs can really slow down the action of the narrative... especially for critics of the genre.

Bill Condon has been praising Jennifer Lopez's performance on Kiss of the Spider Woman, which has the potential to get her Awards Season attention following the Oscars snubbing her for Hustlers. Later in our conversation, the Beauty and the Beast director went on to speak about the power of musical numbers, saying:

Points were made. Rather than stopping the action of Kiss of the Spider Woman, Kander and Ebb's songs actually move the story forward. They offer insight about who the characters are, and show the way that Tonatiuh's Molina and Diego Luna's Valentin are getting closer within their bleak prison cell.

Tonatiuh himself also spoke to me about the hate that musicals often get online and from folks who simply don't like the genre. The Vida actor mused on the bad wrap that these types of projects get, saying:

For some folks out there, the idea of characters breaking into song is something they can't get over. But while naysayers might not like to see musical numbers, Tonatiuh makes a solid argument about the way songs can get to the heart of the story in projects like Kiss of the Spider Woman.

For this particular project, the musical numbers are a technicolor fantasy that help Molina and Valentin distract themselves from their grueling life in prison. The actor spoke more about why that was important to the movie's story, telling me:

Touche. Kiss of the Spider Woman's story can be pretty grueling at times, especially when Valentin and Molina are being tortured in prison. The musical numbers bring magic and joy to the movie, standing in stark juxtaposition to high stakes situation that its main characters are in. That's what makes Kiss of the Spider Woman such a unique and moving stage musical, and Bill Condon flexed those Chicago muscles to bring it to the big screen.

Kiss of the Spider Woman will hit theaters on October 10th as part of the 2025 movie release list. As such moviegoers can see if they agree with what Condon and Tonatiuh said about the movie's musical numbers.

Many fans, like myself, find it hard not love The Twilight Saga. Known for including some of the best vampire movies around, the franchise sees the human Bella and immortal Edward battle obstacles while attempting to be together. Of course, the memorable film franchise is not without its campy elements, and it's also received backlash in some respects. Now, over a decade later, one of the franchise's directors, Bill Condon, is weighing in on the hate his Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2 received, and he makes a solid point.

It’s hard to pinpoint where to start on the unintentionally laughable moments of Twilight’s concluding movies. Edward breaking furniture while losing his virginity to Bella, the creepy baby scene or quotes that ended up being really funny, like Bella discovering Jacob nicknamed her daughter “after the Loch Ness monster.” When it comes to the Breaking Dawn movies, Bill Condon, told THR he’s aware of people feeling “superior” to them. Condon also explained, however, why the films remain worthy of defending:

Yes, I can still hear that creepy laugh from Michael Sheen’s Aro Volturi as he meets Renesmee. However, if a moment like that can make audiences laugh, is there really any harm done? After all, like Bill Condon said, the franchise was “in on the joke,” so the campy elements didn’t go unnoticed during filming.

Those who are fans of the Stephenie Meyer-penned books may have thought they knew what was coming in the franchise's final films. Yet one major difference between the books and the movies was the epic battle scene in Breaking Dawn: Part 2, which came after Aro killed Carlisle. Condon got real about the fun of adding that shocking and massive ending twist to the movie:

My jaw was on the floor when I saw Arlo holding Carlisle’s head. I also couldn’t ignore the gasps and screams from other audiences in the theater when that moment happened. I mean, we're talking about Carlisle, one of the most genuine, kind-hearted characters in the series, who both accepted Bella into the family from the get-go and looked out for his kind. With all that said, it's easy to imaging fans cheering when Carlisle’s death was just revealed to be Alice’s vision.

All in all, even though Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2 received backlash from fans, it doesn’t appear that Bill Condon cares. It sounds like the veteran filmmaker set out to make the films he was intending to make -- camp and over-the-top twists and all. As a fan of the series (and reasonable lover of cinema), I respect him for his opinion. You can relive the conclusion of the beloved vampire movies, as they're available to stream with a Hulu subscription.

Jennifer Lopez is an icon. She is known for being a multitalented actress and musician, starring in numerous films over the years as well as maintaining a thriving music career. Now, she’s taking on potentially her biggest challenge yet, playing Ingrid Luna in the remake of The Kiss of the Spider Woman. Lopez has already received a rave reception for her performance, and now the film’s director is explaining why the pop “diva” was perfect for the role.

While diva has been a pejorative term in the past, with it often being synonymous with a “difficult woman,” it has been reframed in recent years. According to Beyoncé, “a diva is the female version of a hustler,” which is exactly the context that writer-director Bill Condon spoke in when he talked about JLo. The filmmaker explained that in a world where the “contemporary diva” is becoming less popular, JLo is thriving, which made her perfect for the role in the 2025 movie release, The Kiss of a Spider Woman. He told EW:

Lopez makes perfect sense for the role.. The movie follows two men sharing a prison cell, while one of them recounts the plot of a Hollywood musical starring a beloved actress, played by Lopez. Her character is a daring, multi-hyphenate, which JLo is as well, considering her various musical achievements and acclaimed acting performances. She is uncompromising and the representation of an ideal, something that Lopez has a reputation of.

Condon also added that Lopez was more than just right for the part based on her persona. He went out of his way to compliment the megastar on her work ethic and drive, contradicting some of the negative reporting around Lopez in recent years. He said:

However people may respond to Lopez and her work style, her drive and determination have never been in question. Her behind-the-scenes documentary focused on her SuperBowl halftime performance, Halftime, shows the amount of dedication that went into her show and how hard she worked to be in the best physical shape possible to give the best performance possible. The documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told shows a similar ethic, as she works to represent herself creatively in a new way.

For Lopez, there has seemingly never been a creative ceiling. She has always strived to reinvent herself in a new way or use her skills to take on a new challenge. The Kiss of the Spider Woman is an example of that, as Lopez transforms herself physically and uses all of her tools to apparently give yet another showstopping performance in a remake of a film that’s already beloved. It’s big shoes to fill, but for a “diva” like JLo, she will go above and beyond filling them.

You can see Jennifer Lopez in The Kiss of a Spider Woman, when it hits theaters on October 10th, 2025. Fans can also see the actress in her latest film, Unstoppable, which is now streaming with an Amazon Prime subscription.

The upcoming 2025 movie Kiss of the Spider Woman will have director Bill Condon giving us the musical magic we first saw from his hits like Chicago and Dreamgirls. Watching the trailer for Jennifer Lopez’s new movie, the musical's 1920s style speaks to me, especially such a powerhouse lead. Condon explained the sweet way the long-awaited project marks a full-circle moment for him and his star, and it's like fate played a beautifully melodious hand in it all.

The closest that Jennifer Lopez has been cast in a musical of any sort was singing in movies like one of the best music biopics, Selena, and playing a pop singer in Marry Me. But with Kiss of the Spider Woman being the actress/singer’s first full-on musical for the big screen, director Bill Condon said to THR that her casting in the new movie came from a conversation they had at the 64th Golden Globes:

It’s incredibly thoughtful that Bill Condon remembered Jennifer Lopez’s wishes from close to two decades ago to be in a musical. After Kiss of the Spider Woman nabbed a standing ovation at Sundance, Lopez said she knew acting was her calling after watching 1961’s West Side Story on TV. What a full-circle moment it must have been for the “Get Right” singer to finally step into a long-held dream she carried with her for years.

If anything, the Beauty and the Beast director has previously said this chance should have come for her a long time ago. Condon believed the Enough actress was “born in the wrong time” and that the Old Hollywood system would have let her singing talents shine in a movie musical much earlier. While it may have taken Lopez a long time to get her starring role in a movie musical, it feels like fate is finally catching up to her career.

As a longtime fan of the 1985 movie and the Kiss of the Spider Woman stage musical, Bill Condon had imagined making a screen adaptation since his days as a screenwriter for 2002’s Chicago. But it was a long battle securing the rights. After finally getting his movie up and going in 2023, the Gods and Monsters director told THR there was only one actress he had in mind to play Ingrid Luna, and we all know who he's referring to:

There’s no argument that Jennifer Lopez is a total icon. She doesn’t just captivate audiences with the acting chops she brings to the screen. The Hollywood Walk of Fame recipient’s dance skills and powerful vocals give her undeniable attention you can see and hear from her on any concert stage. With her triple-threat talents, I’m confident Lopez will give a memorable, Oscar-worthy performance in Bill Condon’s musical movie.

Talk about a full-circle moment for Bill Condon and JLo to work together in Kiss of the Spider Woman.. In theaters this October, audiences will get the chance to see Jennifer Lopez's singing, acting, and dancing come to life in the role she was born to play.

Let’s set the scene here. Ahead of Kiss of the Spider Woman’s premiere at Sundance, its director, Bill Condon spoke at length about working with Jennifer Lopez on this musical remake. The 1985 film and 1992 Broadway musical are big and sultry, and the director of the adaptation on the 2025 movie schedule has teased that his project will harken back to MGM-style musicals. There’s a lot of lavish Old Hollywood and vintage movie energy going on here that JLo will likely thrive in. So, yeah, it makes sense that Condon said this actress was “born in the wrong time.”

Bill Condon is bringing Kiss of the Spider Woman back 40 years after the film starring William Hurt came out. The new movie will be both a “vibrant movie musical” and “prison drama” according to Deadline, and Lopez will play Aurora, the woman Luis Molina dreams of when he’s stuck in prison. During an interview with the aforementioned outlet, journalist Mike Fleming Jr. noted that this film is “the perfect vehicle for [JLo]by turning her loose in a full-blown MGM throwback musical."

To that point, Condon said both he and the Hustlers star were probably born in the wrong time, because she would have “flourished in the old studio system.” He then gave more of an explanation as to why, saying:

Jennifer Lopez is an icon and a triple threat. JLo’s best movies, like Out of Sight and Hustles, prove her power as a dramatic actor. Meanwhile, her decades-long music career shows off how incredible she is at signing and dancing. Sadly, film opportunities that allow her to showcase all those skills simultaneously don’t come around often these days.

While I love a JLo rom-com, I’ve been dying to see her really put all her skills to the test in a big, lavish musical, and if she had been born way before she was, she might have been an Old Hollywood star. So, I can totally see where her director is coming from, and I too, would like to see Jennifer Lopez in 18 big movie musicals.

However, I’m also happy she was born exactly when she was because it means we get to witness her act, sing and dance in this upcoming adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman, and that’s thrilling.

So, you better bet your bottom dollar that I will be keeping an eye on this movie, and I’ll be sat and ready to watch JLo sing, dance and act her heart out in this fascinating story.

At the moment, we don’t know exactly when Kiss of the Spider Woman will come out, however, it is premiering at Sundance this week. So, hopefully, it’ll be released in 2025. In the meantime, you can stream Lopez’s latest movie, the sports drama Unstoppable, with an Amazon Prime subscription.

SPOILERS are ahead for Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. 

There are some moviegoing experiences one never forgets, and the end of Breaking Dawn Part 2 certainly makes the list of one of my core memories gazing up at a big screen after being a fan of the Twilight books and movies as a teen. I was on a vacation during the Thanksgiving holiday week in the desert, but obviously I had to catch the last Twilight movie with fellow fans on opening night. So, we found a super late screening (because that’s all they had in those days) and watched the final film of the vampire saga. I swear, my tired self thought I was hallucinating when I watched Carlisle getting beheaded and the a surprise battle scene played out. “That wasn’t in the book” raced through my mind and my jaw proceeded to be dropped for the rest of the movie’s runtime. 

It’s not easy to pull off a mind-blowing plot twist in a movie, but Breaking Dawn Part 2 was able to give Twilight fans like myself something surprising to be stunned by, thanks to the clever ending. And yes, Stephenie Meyer was involved. If you were ever curious about the story behind the movie's ending, sit back and read on...  

What Happens At The End Of Breaking Dawn

Before I get into how the ending came about, it’s time to refresh your memory about what happened in Breaking Dawn Part 2. After Kristen Stewart’s Bella becomes a vampire, the storyline didn’t go right to a happy ending. 

The Book’s Ending

At the end of the Breaking Dawn book, the Volturi decide to leave the Cullens alone after they are getting ready for a fight. In the very last chapter of Breaking Dawn “The Happily Ever After,” Edward Cullen shares that the Volturi leader, Aro, was “terrified of Bella” and her vampire mind shield powers, along with the fact that they were outnumbered by the additional vampires and werewolves assembled by the Cullens. Alice “gave Aro the excuse he needed to get out of the fight” per the book’s words. 

The book suggests the Volturi may be back someday, but the Cullens are confident they can outsmart them again whenever that happens. And in terms of Edward and Bella, they live happily ever after “forever and forever and forever” as Edward mutters on the last page.  

The Movie’s Ending

In the 2012 franchise closer, things go down a little differently. The Cullens have assembled a ton of vampires and werewolves to fight the Volturi, but at first a fight does appear to break out, and there’s a ton of casualties including Carlisle’s head being severed by Aro, Dakota Fanning’s Jane getting decimated by a werewolf and Aro being killed off by Edward and Bella. The scene is framed as reality (hence my shock) before it’s revealed that the scene was simply a vision of Alice Cullen (who can see the future), that she was sharing with Aro on the battlefield. Then, the Volturi stand down, and Edward and Bella get their big screen send off. 

Stephenie Meyer Apparently Had Doubts About How The Breaking Dawn Ending Could Work For The Movie

While I was absolutely shocked when the Breaking Dawn Part 2 twist ending initially played out, among comparing and contrasting how the finale plays out, I’ve always found the movie version to be a clever solution to a bit of an anticlimactic ending to a four book series (from a visual standpoint anyway). If the Breaking Dawn ending had been adapted beat by beat, it would be a 20-minute sequence of vampires initially talking in a field (it was a 68-page showdown in the novel). 

Apparently Stephenie Meyer knew this about her ending, too, and even debated whether to give the rights to Summit to make a movie for this reason. Per screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to Buzzfeed: 

Can you imagine if the Twilight saga had just ended with Eclipse? The fans needed an ending, and luckily Rosenberg met with Meyer about a new ending. 

Then, Meyer And Twilight’s Screenwriter Thought Of A New Ending To The Saga Together 

In the same interview, Melissa Rosenberg shared that she and Stephenie Meyer “both came up” with the twist ending together. Here’s how it came about:  

Isn’t it neat that Stephenie Meyer was so involved? I really love when changes made in movie versions of books get the go ahead by authors, because sometimes even they have ways they want to update the source material. Especially for the film medium. Director Bill Condon said this to Vulture about the alterations: 

It’s a great point, because Stephenie Meyer wasn’t really the “writing battles” type, but from a movie standpoint, it was awesome to see vampires and werewolves in action. 

The Filmmakers Had A Blast Crafting The Battle… And Deciding Who To Kill First 

Once Meyer, Rosenberg and Condon were all on board for the twist, it was time to craft the scene. Check out what the director also told Vulture about how it all started for him: 

Going back to Melissa Rosenberg’s Buzzfeed interview at the time, she was the one who decided it would be Carlisle who would get the first “death”. In her words: 

What a fun job for Rosenberg. Condon also offered more insight on who was on the chopping block when they were creating the shocking sequence: 

Even though Meyer originally signed on to the idea, she did have some thoughts about who would die in the vision. Bringing us to this next point. 

At First, Meyer Wasn’t Totally Behind All The Decisions For The Battle Scene

Writing and executing the scene wasn’t without some pushback from Meyer. In a Los Angeles Times written article at the time of release, Bill Condon spoke to some of the conversations he had with the Twilight author.  

Of course, ultimately, they came to a compromise and we got the excellent scene in Breaking Dawn Part 2 that had me (and tons of other fans) on the floor opening weekend. Stephenie Meyer said this to same publication about the scene staying in the spirit of what she wrote in her bestselling Twilight conclusion: 

Technically, it is true to the book, but with the added factor of Alice's vision to really illustrate what would happen if they fought. 

Twilight Fans Went Wild For The Breaking Dawn Twist Ending 

That brings us back to the fans. The scene was very satisfying for fans because of how unexpected it was (and well executed). When the movie turned ten a couple of years ago, Taylor Lautner said this to CinemaBlend about fan reactions: 

Fans still love talking about it, too. Here’s one Twitter reaction: 

Another person said their “favorite audience reaction” in a theater was actually this scene. Check it: 

And, here’s one more: 

Well, there you have it! There’s the story behind that wild twist ending for Breaking Dawn Part 2. I’m not sure if any upcoming book to screen adaptations will match the surprise of this, but hey, it’s another reason why the Twilight saga is so iconic. 

The public has seen a number of major developments in the entertainment industry over the past year. But one that’s arguably filled many fans with the most joy is Brendan Fraser’s comeback. The beloved actor has come back to the spotlight in full force, and people have since referred to this resurgence as the “Brennaisance.” Fraser is a star that truly peaked in Hollywood and, before all of the recent buzz, it’d been a while since fans had seen him appear in film and TV productions on a regular basis. Some may be wondering why it took so long for his big comeback to happen, and one of the actor’s former collaborators has weighed in on that topic.

In his prime, Brendan Fraser was a strong box-office draw, having solidified his cinematic dominance with the beloved Mummy franchise, George of the Jungle and more. Most would agree that he found an immense amount of success during the ‘90s and early 2000s. And Bill Condon, who directed Fraser in Gods and Monsters, believes that the star’s various achievements during that time are part of the reason why he stepped away from the business for so long:

One can understand the logic that Bill Condon conveyed while speaking with Variety. When you’re a major actor known for delivering specific types of work, that can get a bit tiring and prompt some performers to step away and take some time to reinvent themselves as a result. The Encino Man star has certainly done that here. However, there are many who would argue that there was another factor at play when it came to his absence.

In 2018, Brendan Fraser accused former Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Philip Berk of groping him during a luncheon in 2003. Berk did admit to pinching Fraser’s butt cheek once and claimed that he meant it as a joke. After the actor went public with the allegation, some came to believe that he’d been blacklisted for discussing it. However, in a 2019 interview with Sway in the Morning, Fraser himself denied that notion.

Regardless of the true reasons for his absence, I think most of us can agree that it’s just great to see Brendan Fraser thriving once more. He’s recently been promoting his new film, The Whale, for which he’s already won a major award amidst the Brenaissance. So far, the film has been praised, and its lead actor has received critical acclaim for his role as Charlie, a 600-pound shut-in who’s looking to reconnect with his daughter. Some are even saying that Fraser is the clear frontrunner for Best Actor at the Oscars.

After his turn in Darren Aronofsky’s latest production, the leading man will appear in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and the upcoming comedy Brothers. He also has ongoing TV gigs in Doom Patrol and new CW show Professionals. The man is certainly staying booked and busy, and he’s definitely earned this wonderful comeback. 

You can watch Brendan Fraser in The Whale when it premieres in theaters on December 9 as part of the schedule of upcoming movies.

In the past few years, we’ve been more closely examining the lack of inclusion in major Hollywood films, and since Walt Disney Studios is among the largest film houses, audiences have been waiting for more LGBTQ+ community inclusion. In 2017, the live-action Beauty and the Beast attempted to do this with Josh Gad’s LeFou, but the actor recently reflected on the film has determined that the move was not “enough.” 

At the time of the movie’s release, Josh Gad’s LeFou was touted as the character at the center of Disney’s first “exclusively gay moment.” However, it ended up being a pretty limp attempt at queer representation given that it amounted to LeFou dancing with a man for a few seconds at the end of the film. Gad shared his thoughts five years after the film’s release with the Independent, saying,

Josh Gad reportedly pitched the idea to make LeFou have a happy ending with a man in the film. But the move itself didn’t warrant any particular praise from the studio for including the LGBTQ+ community into the mix.  The actor continued,

And years later, not only is the Beauty and the Beast spinoff starring himself and Luke Evans cancelled for now, Disney has yet to give any character an explicitly queer story arc on the big screen. Disney has many  fans who are hoping Elsa gets a female love interest following “Let It Go” becoming a gay anthem, and, more recently, there were LGBTQ+ themes with Raya and the Last Dragon’s titular princess as well. The studio has been accused of queerbaiting. 

The studio did make a legitimate stride in representation when it comes to Marvel’s release of Eternals, where Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos had a male love interest and shared a kiss with his partner during the film. (Plus, Phastos wasn’t solely defined by his sexual identity within the film.) On television, Disney Channel had its first leading LGBTQ+ couple on The Owl House, but sadly the series has already being cancelled.

It’s safe to say that Disney (and other Hollywood studios) have more growing to do when it comes to representing the LGBTQ+ community in major films and through significant characters. Josh Gad is able to reflect on this years later and realize that the LeFou moment was not much of a “moment” for the queer community.

Hopefully, we can look to a brighter future when it comes to representation in Disney movies. It’d be unrealistic for everyone to be straight, wouldn’t it? In the meantime, you can revisit Beauty and the Beast with a Disney+ subscription.

Over the last few years, musicals have been making a comeback. Between Disney reimagining their beloved animated features into live-action extravaganzas like the upcoming The Little Mermaid and this year’s slate of song-and-dance movies including In The Heights, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, Dear Evan Hansen and Tick, Tick… Boom!, there’s a lot for theatre fans to get excited for. And on top of that, a director has just been chosen for the developing remake of Guys and Dolls.

Guys and Dolls is a classic Broadway musical set in New York City during the Depression and centers on a pair of gamblers and the women who love them, and Sony nabbed the big screen rights two years ago. Now a production is finally moving forward with Bill Condon signing on as director. Condon is an experienced filmmaker of popular musicals, previously adapting Dreamgirls to the screen in 2006 along with helming the live-action Beauty and the Beast in 2017.

News of Guys and Dolls hiring its talented director comes via The Hollywood Reporter. The movie will follow a previous adaptation of the Broadway hit from 1955 starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons and Vivian Blaine. The original stage production began in 1950, winning five Tonys including Best Musical. Back in 1992, it was revived in a version of Guys and Dolls starring Nathan Lane and Faith Prince, winning three additional Tonys.

The musical is a favorite among Broadway fans, especially the song “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat.” Bill Condon has proved to be a great contributor to the world of modern Hollywood musicals, also serving as a writer on 2002’s Chicago and 2017 original movie musical The Greatest Showman. He also helmed the last two Twilight movies Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Breaking Dawn Part 2.

While it’s unclear what the vision will be for Bill Condon’s Guys and Dolls, the filmmaker has a number of blockbusters under his belt. His most popular would certainly be 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, which made Disney over $1.2 billion worldwide back in 2017. In 2013, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to the musical, attempting to develop a version starring Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but in 2019 TriStar Pictures (a Sony subsidiary) picked them up, and is now making greater strides with the property than the previous company.

It’s exciting to see more studios embrace big-screen musicals. Other Broadway musicals that are expected to be adapted into movies are Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, with Tom Hanks attached; The Color Purple, reportedly coming in 2023; and Little Shop of Horrors starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Taron Egerton.

Bill Condon’s latest film was 2019’s The Good Liar starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen. Adding to his musical credentials, he’s also attached to a Christmas Carol spinoff titled Marley. While we wait for more details on Guys and Dolls, you can check out CinemaBlend’s interview with Bill Condon on the ReelBlend podcast.

Despite all the different kind of roles he’s taken over the years since The Twilight Saga ended, Robert Pattinson is still best known for his time as Edward Cullen. However, that’s likely going to change in two years time once the public has seen him starring in Matt Reeves’ The Batman as the eponymous protagonist. Director Bill Condon, who helmed the last two Twilight movies, thinks Pattinson is a great pick to play the Caped Crusader.

Bill Condon recently stopped by the ReelBlend podcast to plug his latest movie, The Good Liar, and when asked what he thinks about Robert Pattinson’s post-Twilight career and him taking on the Batman role, the filmmaker responded:

It’s no secret that for a time, Robert Pattinson didn’t look back fondly on his time in the Twilight franchise, which included him saying that he lost his sense of self while making the five movies. But earlier this year, it seemed like Pattinson was finally viewing the Twilight tales in a more positive light, and per Bill Condon’s above comment, he believes that the actor is more at peace with the kind of fame and status they brought.

Playing Edward Cullen for all those years certainly allowed Robert Pattinson to be more selective with his performing work, as the majority of things he’s acted in since The Twilight Saga ended have been independent and less flashier movies. That includes his 2019 filmography, and here’s what Bill Condon had to say about those resume entries:

From The King and The Lighthouse to earlier fare like Cosmopolis and Good Time, Robert Pattinson has certainly acted in a lot of unique movies this decade, and he’ll keep that going next year with Tenet and The Devil All the Time. But The Batman in 2021 will put him back in the biggest public spotlight, and Bill Condon is eager to see Pattinson put his own stamp on the iconic character.

You can listen to Bill Condon’s full ReelBlend interview below.

Robert Pattinson was first reported to be in consideration for The Batman in mid-May, and by the end of the month, his casting was confirmed. He’s already begun training and delving into the source material so he’s ready for when principal photography begins early next year. Pattinson will headline a cast that so far consists of Jeffrey Wright, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Andy Serkis and Jayme Lawson, with Colin Farrell also rumored to join.

We’ll see how Robert Pattinson does bring Gotham City’s shadowy protector to life when The Batman swoops into theaters on June 25, 2021. Keep track of what other DC Comics movies are coming down the pipeline with our handy guide, and keep a lookout for Bill Condon’s The Good Liar, which opens in theaters next Friday, November 22.

"Welcome, to a world of Gods and Monsters." Keep that phrase in mind, as Universal's Dark Universe not only marketed The Mummy on the back of both Gods and Monsters, but the studio also hold the keys to its future. Sure, the film landed on its face on the domestic front, but if you look at the international grosses, there's still life in this venture yet.

Everyone wants their own cinematic universe, and Universal is no exception. So with the presumed progress on the Dark Universe's inception, we would like to suggest a simple, six step process to keep the Universal Monsters on the right track, rather than doubling down on mistakes that can easily be corrected.

Step 1: Build The Mythos Of Prodigium

If you read between the lines of The Mummy, you can see what should have been the central story of the Dark Universe's origins: the origins and purpose of the secret organization Prodigium. With easter eggs and nods to other films in Universal's canon littered in the stretch of the film focused on their gothic, yet high tech, hideout, it's the usual tease-laden sequence that you'd expect from a universe building film. Unfortunately, The Mummy really should have been "Prodigium," which could have told the story of Dr. Henry Hyde and his own personal fight with evil. Should Universal want to be serious about involving the audience in its Dark Universe, it'd be wise if the folks in charge set Hyde's story as the true north to the rest of the series, rather than merely include a Russell Crowe cameo to somehow fold Bride of Frankenstein into the mythos retroactively.

Step 2: Lock Down A Timeline

With all of the monsters that we're looking to have present in the Dark Universe, there's the problem of what order and which eras these films will occur in. As we saw with the DC Extended Universe, you can correct a universe by telling a prequel story, i.e. Wonder Woman, but overall, the DCEU's story would have been better suited if that film was the first one out of the gate after Man of Steel, if not first overall. With a definitive timeline, the wider picture of the story in the Dark Universe can be told more proficiently, as each Monster's story would occur in its own time, with a pre-defined chunk of the Prodigium mythos to fill in. That way, when it's time for the eventual team-up, the story will be set up properly, thus upping the stakes of everyone's presence together.

Step 3: Define A Central Evil

We ran an article earlier today going over how The Mummy should have ended with Tom Cruise's God of Death becoming the big bad of the Dark Universe, but it still bears repeating. While your typical superhero franchise will start with originating a world of heroes, this is the world of gods and monsters. The Mummy introduced the gods, but it really could have provided a hell of a monster to be the lynchpin of the Dark Universe ahead. There's still time to change this, naturally, as the ending of Alex Kurtzman's film is pretty open, so future films could fill in this important plot point. Install Cruise's baddie at the center of the action, and just wait for the all of the other pieces to fall into horrific place.

Step 4: Correct The Tone

Let's get one important thing straight: The Dark Universe isn't another "Marvel" of modern cinema, nor should it become one. We're not supposed to be amped for the heroes, or the cookie-cutter happy ending. Universal Monster stories are more nuanced than that, with everything from the stark, seductive terror of Dracula to the lamentations of The Wolf Man all populating the darkly beautiful and tragic universe of their horror legacy. The Dark Universe needs to embrace this point, as its what makes it unique from the rest of the world of movies. Universal should be crafting this series of films like the Hammer Horror / Tales From The Crypt films for the new age. These are supposed to be creature features that show the darker side of humanity, with creatures horrifying enough to scare us, and backstories written well enough to make us think.

Step 5: Name A New Universe Boss

While it's Alex Kurtzman who brought The Mummy, and the Dark Universe, to the dance, it's clear that a new steward is needed for the Universal Monsters' modern incarnation. Off the top of our heads, there are two directors who would make fantastic shot callers for all things dark and gothic: Bill Condon and Guillermo del Toro. In the case of Condon, his work on the James Whale biopic Gods and Monsters, as well as his commitment to The Bride of Frankenstein reboot have shown his love of Whale's oeuvre, and his dedication to bringing it to a more modern audience. Meanwhile, del Toro's been connected to other Universal Monster projects in the past, and provided the studio with what could have served as a pre-defined replacement for Prodigium, the B.P.R.D. from Hellboy. Either of these directors would be fantastic, but so long as a filmmaker has a passion for the monsters of the past, and the filmmaking of the future, they shouldn't have a problem fitting into the Dark Universe's creative throne.

Step 6: Dial Down The Budget

This last point is a pretty big one, as The Mummy looked like it was going to be a flop from day one, all thanks to the alleged $125 million price tag attached to the film, which doesn't include the undoubtedly extensive marketing budget the film has spent to get people in the door. Truthfully, as fun as the film is, it didn't need to be that expensive. Come to think of it, none of the Dark Universe films should need to cash in on a lavish budget. You can throw money at a screen, and try to wow people all you want with bigger, louder thrills, but not with the Universal Monsters.

Rather, the money people at Universal should be finding ways to moderately budget these films, forcing those involved to rely on storytelling and inventive budget stretching to get their message through. With time tested strategies, enhanced with some modern tricks of the trade, future Dark Universe films can become the new face of fear in the modern film scene. Universal Monsters have had their day in cinema history, and if those running the show are smart, they can rule again in a new age of gods, monsters, and fearful understanding of both.

We've known for a while that Universal Pictures has decided to put together a brand new franchise of monster movies meant to be a part of a shared universe. This morning, the company announced Dark Universe. While at first glance that might seem like another name for Justice League Dark, it's anything but. It's the shared name for all of its classic monsters series of films.

According to an announcement from Universal this morning, the new branding has already happened, but it will officially debut when Tom Cruise's big movie The Mummy hits theaters on June 9. If you've been trying to keep tabs on this whole shared universe, it's been a little hard, but the big announcement today also notes that Bill Condon's Bride of Frankenstein will be the next movie released in the franchise. We were supposed to be getting a movie in the monster universe in 2018, but as part of this announcement, we've also learned that Universal will be holding off until 2019 for its next movie. Bride of Frankenstein will be released on Thursday, February 19, 2019. (February used to be a death month for films, but that has changed in recent years, and Bill Condon is a decently safe bet, having just directed the popular Beauty and the Beast.)

This shared monster movie universe has been a thing for quite a while. When Universal first announced a slew of monster movies, there was plenty of speculation related to which movie would come first. Universal has a slew of monsters currently at its disposal, like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, Creature Of The Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Bride Of Frankenstein, and The Mummy. So far, Javier Bardem will play Frankenstein's monster. Johnny Depp will play the Invisible Man, and we've already seen Tom Cruise as Nick Morton and Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll. If you'd like to check out the a-listers already signed on to the universe, you need go no further than the image, below.

Beyond casting choices, we also know that the bent of these flicks will be different than the big budget superheroes we will be used to as, a Universal chair explained that occasionally, "you need evil to fight evil" in the Dark Universe. Each movie is set to be connected by Prodigium, an organization run by Dr. Henry Jekyll that will track and study the monsters in our world. It should provide an easy way to connect the movies, but since The Mummy hasn't even been released yet, we have no idea how well these flicks will do once they are unleashed into the world.

If you'd like to know everything that we know about Dark Universe, you can take a look at our full guide. In addition, here's what else will be joining The Mummy in theaters this summer.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains light spoilers for Beauty and the Beast - and nothing that will ruin your experience if you've seen the animated version of the film from 1991.

There is no questioning that the inhabitants of the royal castle in Beauty and the Beast suffer a great deal as a result of the witch's curse. After all, they're not only all transformed to be shocking to any stranger who comes upon them, but there's also pretty much nothing they can individually do to try and change their station (they're actually incredibly lucky that Maurice happened to be in the woods at night being chased by wolves). As bad as it all was for the prince, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and the rest, however, there is one person in the new live-action film who arguably has it worse than anybody stuck inside the castle walls: Jean the Potter, a.k.a. Mr. Potts.

Audiences first meet Mr. Potts, played by Gerard Horan, shortly after the introduction of Emma Watson's Belle -- featured as one of the friendly townspeople she runs into as she walks to return her book. While he's friendly to Belle, he notes that he personally isn't in a great place due to the fact that he's having trouble with his memory. It's an innocent line that you don't really think much about... until you get to the end and realize exactly what he's been forgetting. For the last nine to 10 years his wife and adolescent son have been stuck as a tea set, and the spell of the Enchantress (Hattie Morahan) has individually cursed him so that every fleeting thought he has about them winds up fogging his mind (an extension of the curse used to have everyone in town forget about the people in the castle).

Can you imagine this horrific nightmare? The movie never shows the audience what Mr. Potts' home life is like, but one can just see him pacing the halls of his home, wondering why he never goes in the back bedroom anymore; or why his bed feels half-filled as he's going to bed every night. He goes to the market to pick up food and supplies, but gets confused whenever he gets the notion that he may need to get anything for anyone else. The fact that he is as put together as he is when we first meet him is miraculous to the point where it should basically be counted as a continuity error. Because after a decade of this lifestyle, Mr. Potts should be full-blown insane.

Now you're thinking, "It's okay because they got a happy ending," right? You might be correct... but that's also an incredibly optimistic point of view. It's true that Mr. Potts reunites with Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson) and Chip (Nathan Mack) at the end of the film when the curse is lifted, but there is an important detail to address here: none of the people who were transformed by the Enchantress, be it the Beast nor the housewares/furniture, aged while they were in their altered state. You know who did spend the last decade aging, though? Mr. Potts. So even if the removal of the spell totally fixes his dementia, he's still going to die much sooner than his wife and son, and no matter what he lost out on 10 years of being with them. Not so happy.

I brought up the terrible tale of Mr. Potts to Bill Condon when I sat down with him at the Beauty and the Beast press day earlier this month, and in addition to giving him a good laugh, it gave him an opportunity to tell a funny story. Josh Gad, who plays LeFou in the movie, used one take during the filming of the end of the movie to joke with the Enchantress about the sincere hell that she has put so many people through:

You can watch Bill Condon talk about this funny alternate scene in the video below (and hopefully we'll one day get to see it on Blu-ray and DVD copies of Beauty and the Beast):

Beauty and the Beast is in theaters everywhere this weekend, and hopefully all of you who catch a screening spare at least a moment to think about the plight of Mr. Potts.

As great as Walt Disney Animation's Beauty and the Beast is, there is one significant flaw in its storytelling. Lumiere establishes in "Be Our Guest" that the curse has lasted for 10 years -- but since the curse is meant to end on the Prince's 21st birthday, that means that he was only 11 when the spell was initially cast (and that he was totally justified in not letting a stranger into his house while alone during a storm). This is an issue that the new live-action adaptation avoids by both removing both the 21st birthday plot point and the "10 years we've been rusting" lyric... but this still leaves the question of how long the curse has lasted in the new film. Fortunately, it was a query that I was recently able to pose to both star Dan Stevens and director Bill Condon.

I sat down with both men earlier this month at Beauty and the Beast's Los Angeles press day, and used the opportunity to dig for details about the fantasy film's timeline of events. First sitting down with Dan Stevens -- who was paired with co-star Emma Watson -- I asked if the production had established a definitive history of the curse to study in his character work. While he did remember that they had set a number during filming, he was fuzzy on the details -- but with a bit of support and suggestion from Watson he settled on an odd number. Said Stevens,

Later that same day I asked Bill Condon about his thoughts on the matter -- and not only did he admit to not firmly answering that question within Beauty and the Beast, but also supported the inquiry and pointed out a funny benefit that the Prince gets from the witch's curse:

Funny enough, this idea of the curse essentially pausing time for the Prince and everyone else in the castle occurred to me while talking with Dan Stevens as well, and you can watch his funny reaction and realization in the video below:

In the coming days I have plenty more fun pieces coming from my time interviewing the cast and filmmakers behind Beauty and the Beast -- and it won't be long until you have a chance to see the film for yourself. Look for the blockbuster in theaters this Friday, March 17th.

We live in a world where movies often reference or at least nod at other popular films and franchises. Which is why it wasn't a huge surprise to hear rumors that Beauty and The Beast, a film starring former Harry Potter franchise actress Emma Watson, might be nodding at the world of witches and wizards that made Emma Watson a household name. Unfortunately, the hopes that Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast might align for one magical moment have now been dashed, thanks to Beast Director Bill Condon. Here's what happened.

A short while ago, we learned there was a line in Beauty and the Beast that came from Monsieur Jean, who talks about having a problem, but one he "can't remember what!" When fans of Harry Potter heard the line in the "Belle" clip, they instantly equated it to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which features a scene where Neville Longbottom talks about a remembrall, noting the only issue with the device is that he "can't remember what [he's] forgotten." Unfortunately, Bill Condon says the coincidence in the dialogue is just that--coincidence.

The whole connection between the Disney movie and the Warner Bros. franchise was always a little bit thin, but I think there's a feeling that fans would love to see Beauty and the Beast connect with Harry Potter, so it's no wonder Bill Condon is getting asked about the similar quotes. He told Metro that we should look out for easter eggs when watching the movie, although in this case they will be more related to musicals like Cabaret than other film franchises.

The moral of the story--do keep your eyes peeled for fun pop culture references when Beauty and the Beast hits theaters, but don't expect them to relate to Emma Watson's days on the set of Harry Potter. Beauty and the Beast hits theaters on March 17. To take a look at what else is hitting theaters soon, keep an eye on our movies release schedule.

Whether it's a comic book, a classic novel or a fairy tale, adapting an iconic property almost always requires a certain amount of changes to be made along the way. Beauty and the Beast will be no different. The update on the beloved story will feature plenty of familiar ideas and tropes that fans have come to expect, but now it seems that the film may also include an unprecedented glimpse into the life of The Prince (Dan Stevens) before his transformation into the Beast -- long before he meets Emma Watson's Belle. Here's what one of these insightful scenes will be, according to Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon:

Bill Condon's recent comments to EW promise fans of the Beauty and the Beast universe a much more fleshed out look at the life of The Prince before he transforms into the Beast. The scene will involve an extravagant ball which he finds himself visited by a number of potential brides, but his seemingly charmed existence will inevitably be cut short by the tried and true narrative that we have all come to know and love over the years. Spoiler alert: he won't stay handsome and charming forever.

Based on these comments, it also seems reasonable to assume that we may see the human versions of the Beast's servants early on in the movie as well. Part of the Beast's curse involves the transformation of his servants into household items, such as the talking candelabra Lumiere, who will be played by Ewan McGregor in the film. There IS a dance scene at the end of the original story in which everyone has reverted back to their human forms, but now it appears that we will actually see a similar sequence occur much earlier in the story.

Because we are going to see The Prince before his transformation into the titular Beast in this version of the movie, it seems entirely likely that this ball sequence will serve to hammer home the underlying themes of the Beauty and the Beast narrative. One of the most iconic core lessons of the story is not to judge people based on their outward appearances and to recognize the inner beauty in those around you. On that note, it seems very possible that this segment of the film will show The Prince during a time in his life in which he has not learned those lessons, and he may not be the kindest person to those around him. Of course, that will change once he undergoes his transformation and Belle eventually enters his life.

As always, CinemaBlend will endeavor to bring you any and all relevant updates related to the upcoming live-action Beauty and the Beast film as more information related to the project becomes available to us. The film will charm audiences everywhere when it hits theaters on March 17.

Are you looking for an even better glimpse at Bill Condon's upcoming live-action version of Beauty and the Beast? Check out a trailer for the highly anticipated movie on the next page to see what the Disney adaptation has in store for fans of the fairy tale!

It's been 26 years since Disney's Beauty and the Beast was released in theaters, and it's still widely considered one of the studio's best movies of all time. As the third entry of the Disney Renaissance, it received critical acclaim and was nominated for numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, the first animated movie to earn such an honor. Next month, its live action remake will come out, but no doubt many of you have wondered since the project was announced why Disney would want to re-do Beauty and the Beast given its level of success last time. As it turns out, a lot of it had to do with putting a new twist on Belle.

Acknowledging that the original Beauty and the Beast is essentially "perfect," Bill Condon, director of the re-telling, noted in a featurette that both the live action elements and the opportunity to reimagine Belle for a new generation were the main reasons Disney was keen on giving the fairy tale another go. In Condon's words:

Belle was definitely a more progressive "princess" protagonist compared to the ladies Disney had provided before Beauty and the Beast. Not only was she less passive, but she was primarily interested to learning and adventuring, and she definitely wasn't concerned with finding a man. Granted, she did eventually fall in love with the enchanted prince who kept her captive, but that's beside the point. Still, a lot has changed since the animated Beauty and the Beast was released, and the live action version allows more opportunities to both update and expand upon the character.

In terms of how Emma Watson's Belle will be different in the new Beauty and the Beast, Bill Condon said to EW that audiences will see more exploration of her personality, the history of her family and her "resistance to what she knows is wrong." Condon explained:

While Beauty and the Beast will presumably be rated PG so it's accessible to viewers of all ages (not to mention follow in the footsteps of the live action versions of Cinderella and The Jungle Book), it will be nice to have a little more maturity and depth to the remake. The animated version will always be a classic, but this version has to make certain changes to both stand on its own and be more compelling in certain areas. For instance, Belle is now the inventor rather than her father, Maurice. Hopefully we'll also get an answer about what happened to Belle's mom.

The new Beauty and the Beast will work its magic in theaters on March 17.

With an amazing cast of actors like Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as the titular couple, and Luke Evans, Emma Thompson, and even Kevin Kline filling crucial roles in the story, it didn't look like Bill Condon's Beauty And The Beast could get any better. Sir Ian McKellen is about to prove all of that wrong, as he’s just been cast as Cogsworth in the 2017 would-be blockbuster.

Variety broke the cheerful news, probably with the help of a singing armoire and a footrest that acts like a dog, that McKellen has signed on as the tightly wound timepiece who acts as one of The Beast’s confidants. He is also afflicted by the curse that will only be broken once The Beast finds true love. What makes this piece of casting even more exciting is the fact that Condon and McKellen are reuniting for their third film together, after previously working on Gods And Monsters as well as the upcoming Mr. Holmes. Considering how well regarded their work together on the former film was, it won’t be a surprise to see either follow up effort shine just as brightly.

Bringing Sir Ian McKellen on board as Cogsworth is a huge addition to an already expertly picked cast. It looks like Bill Condon might be following in the footsteps of Kenneth Branagh before him, as Beauty And The Beast seems poised to follow in the footsteps of this year’s smash hit Cinderella. Casting McKellen does bring up an issue that needs to be sorted, and quickly. After all, if he’s going to be the uptight and very British Cogsworth, there needs to be some really good casting for the laid back and charming Frenchman that is Lumiere. If your first response was to cast Academy Award winner, and all around charmer, Jean Dujardin as the womanizing candelabra, then congratulations, you should be working for Disney casting. No, seriously, this needs to happen, and the world could use your help.

It’s hard not to get excited about Bill Condon’s Beauty And The Beast, as the director’s experience with theatricality is matched only by the cast that he’s got in his cannon this time out. With Cinderella turning out to be a better than expected investment for Disney’s cinematic portfolio, you can bet they’re going to want to go even bigger on this film, as the sky looks like the limit to what can be done. We’ll see just how magical it all is when Beauty And The Beast invites us all to be its guest on March 17, 2017.

Though he is certainly getting up there in years, Sir Ian McKellen has spent the last 15 years playing some of the most legendary characters in pop culture. We've seen him morph metal as Magneto, wave a magical staff as Gandalf, and now he's playing the most iconic detective of all time. Check him out in the first trailer for Mr. Holmes below.

This isn't the first time that we've gotten a peek at Bill Condon's upcoming Mr. Holmes, with images and clips having previously been released, but it's still tremendously easy to be charmed by this trailer. The movie is telling a part of the Sherlock Holmes tale that we haven't seen on the big screen before - with the master detective nearing the end of his life - but it has a wonderful spark that comes from McKellen's presence and a stylish, period flair.

Because the movie seems to be set in at least two different time periods, it's interesting to note that Ian McKellen has put on some makeup and prosthetics to play the aging Holmes. While the differences in the looks are subtle, you can definitely tell that McKellen looks younger in particular scenes of the Mr. Holmes trailer than others. Funnily enough, though, even in the "younger" scenes he is still appears to be a couple decades older than the other actors who have been playing the titular character recently.

The Sherlock Holmes character truly has experienced a rather magnificent renaissance on the fiction scene in the past few years. After all we're only a short while removed from Robert Downey Jr.'s big screen turn as the character in Guy Ritchie's pair of adventure films, Sherlock Homes and Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows.

Really, though, it's been on television that Arthur Conan Doyle's greatest protagonist has really thrived. Benedict Cumberbatch continues to get rave reviews for his turn in Sherlock, which will be kicking off its fourth series at the end of the year.

But America has its own on-going version as well. Jonny Lee Miller has been playing the great detective since 2010 on Elementary, and the show is set to come back after a week off with a brand new episode airing tomorrow night.

Even given the Sherlock overload we've been experiencing, however, we expect that Mr. Holmes will be delivering a very different kind of flavor that will hopefully make it stick out from the pack. We'll have to wait until the movie hits theaters to find out.

Maleficent wasn’t a game-changer. It was, instead, the latest in what is now becoming the status quo: Live-action takes on one-time animated classics that will attempt to appeal to a familiar audience base by telling them a timeless story using a different medium. And now we know which animated classic is going to get reworked.

Bill Condon, the Oscar-winning director of Gods and Monsters, Kinsey, Dreamgirls and – yes – two Twilight movies, will take a swing at a live-action Beauty and the Beast for Disney. Variety reports that screenwriter Evan Spiliotopoulos has been tapped to write the script, after tackling scripts for such in-house animated sequels like Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure, The Jungle Book 2, Pooh’s Heffalump Movie and The Lion King 1 1/2. And HitFix added that Condon will be drawing not only from the Oscar-winning 1991 animated film, but also from the smash Broadway musical that ran for 13 years, winning a Tony Award in 1994 for Best Costume Design.

Bill Condon’s the right hire for a live-action musical adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. In addition to his own Dreamgirls, the director wrote the screenplay for Rob Marshall’s high-octane Chicago back in 2002. And though he lost his way a bit in the dreadful Wikileaks drama The Fifth Estate, Condon remains in Disney’s good graces and should have the wherewithal to bring Beauty and the Beast to life on screen.

This is all part of the studio’s growing plan to farm out live-action takes on their classic stories. Beyond this new Beauty and the Beast project, Disney already has Jon Favreau hard at work on a live-action version of The Jungle Book. And we recently saw the first tease for Kenneth Branagh’s live-action Cinderella, which will star Lily James, Helena Bonham Carter (who also starred in a live-action Alice in Wonderland) and Cate Blanchett. Here’s the tease, which basically zooms in on a beautiful slipper:

The bottom line is, live-action versions of animated classics are all the rage now, and studios will look to lock up the right talents to bring these adaptations to the screen. Bill Condon fits the bill for a big-screen Beauty and the Beast. Are you intrigued by this possibility?

Beauty And The Beast has enchanted audiences worldwide, and it feels like every year there's a new, thinly-veiled stab at it. It's a flexible story, of course: guy is a monster, girl is lovely, she sees through his grossness, he accepts her fabulousness. Disney is here to brush away the CW's Beauty And The Beast and stuff like Beastly, however, to reclaim the throne. The Beast is comin' back, y'all.

Film Divider's Twitter account recently revealed that Disney, attempting to relaunch their animated works into live action, has found a director:

Condon is best-known as the architect for the final two fairly insane Twilight movies. Condon's a Hollywood lifer at this point, having helmed musicals like Dreamgirls, biopics like Gods And Monsters and unassailable classics like Candyman: Farewell To The Flesh. Who could have guessed Condon would start as a writer on Sister, Sister and eventually move towards William Sadler jerking off and finishing within ten seconds in Kinsey? The movies are truly magic.

This is believed to be the version Disney was developing last year, when they hired Joe Aherne (Trance) to adapt the material. It's odd that Disney would so aggressively move away from traditional animation while also adapting previous works into live action: this follows Maleficent, Cinderella and The Jungle Book as new visions of animated classics. Are they trying to capture the demographic who grew up on these films but have aged and can no longer justify buying tickets for animated movies?

Note that this has nothing to do with Guillermo Del Toro's planned version of the story that had Emma Watson attached. The story is so well-known that even the French have tried it: Lea Seydoux and Vincent Cassell were the latest B&B duo to try it out. It's a tale as old as time, a song as old a- you get the picture. No word on who would star in this, but Disney's nothing if not aggressive in regards to these projects, so expect some movement soon. Below, you can catch the trailer to the Disney version as well as the recent French version, which looks absolutely gorgeous. The trailer's in French with no subtitles, because we like to keep it classy.

With such a strong dramatic turn in Denis Villeneuve’s kidnapping thriller Prisoners, on top of his generally strong work as the claw wielding Wolverine, it feels like much longer than 10 months since we saw Hugh Jackman showing off his vocal pipes in Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables. Luckily his next musical endeavor, the circus superstar P.T. Barnum’s biopic The Greatest Showman on Earth, is moving forward again with The Fifth Estate director Bill Condon hired on to rewrite the 20th Century Fox project. I’m sure Wikileaks founder Julian Assange would much rather see Condon dramatize someone else’s life for a while.

Condon will be putting his Academy Award-winning screenwriting talents – he took home the trophy for 1998’s Gods and Monsters – to the script originally written by Jenny Bicks (The Big C), according to THR. He’s no stranger to the musical genre, having written both 2002’s Chicago and 2006’s Dreamgirls, which he also directed. He was also responsible for directing both parts of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. So I’m probably not alone in thinking we’re all far better off having him write this movie rather than direct it, not that he was ever the problem with anything he’s helmed.

The Greatest Showman on Earth will be directed by visual effects artist and commercial director Michael Gracey, who created the T-Mobile flash mob ad. Gracey is also on board to direct the Elton John biopic Rocketman, which recently added Tom Hardy to star as the legendary musician. Production on that film is set to begin next fall, which puts the Barnum project in quite a weird position. Will it somehow be a quick production, assuming Condon bangs out a quick revision, or will it be pushed back until after Rocketman is completed? There’s always the chance Gracey could drop out, but that should happen sooner than later so Fox could find a worthy replacement.

The biopic will follow Jackman as he becomes the iconic entertainer who went from cheap funhouses to giant three-ring circuses, which he perfected with James Baily. Part of the film will focus on "Swedish Nightingale" Jenny Lind, the talented opera singer with whom Barnum became infatuated, paying her mountains of cash for her performances. No actresses have been attached to the role just yet.

Once he’s finished with the Greatest Showman script, Condon is set to direct the retired Sherlock Holmes feature A Slight Trick of the Mind with Ian McKellen. But until then, you can hit the theaters and be the 23rd person to catch The Fifth Estate before it zips right to Blu-ray and DVD.

“I now much better understand that,” a gentleman exclaimed as we exited the Elgin Theatre following a premiere screening of Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate. Despite his poor grammatical choices, this Toronto International Film Festival patron was proud to announce that he had a firm handle on the multi-faceted WikiLeaks scandal, and the role Web site founder Julian Assange played in what is described as the largest confidential information leak in world history.

That makes one of us.

Condon, himself, leaks hefty amounts of information on his audience as he tries to create All the Presidents Men for the Wikipedia generation. He recreates the early days of WikiLeaks, when Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and like-minded prop hacker Daniel Berg (Daniel Bruhl) created a cyber safe haven for corporate and political whistleblowers. The movie builds to the moral conflicts waged over the release of “the war documents” – thousands of classified papers co-published by The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel that gave crucial insight into U.S. military actions in the Middle East. It’s a compelling narrative, and in the final 30 minutes of his ripped-from-the-headlines exercise, the urgency of tech-driven Web journalism and the weight of its potential global impact finally work hand in hand to help the director generate palpable tension.

But The Fifth Estate encounters a few obstacles on the way to its riveting conclusion, most generated by Josh Singer’s melodramatic screenplay. Assange is a mystery, a techno-savior who spouts hollow platitudes about changing the world through transparency. Viewed through Berg’s eyes, we’re never sure we can fully trust Assange, which frees Cumberbatch up to play him several different ways. As much as I admire Cumberbatch as a performer, I found him miscast as Assange. The polished actor doesn't embody the anarchistic cyber-punk spirit that Assange is supposed to represent. In fact, Condon often tries to spice up Estate with distracting visual tricks meant to simulate the rock-and-roll anti-establishment war cry of the WikiLeaks rebels. But pretending to be rebellious so that your mission looks dangerous is a deadly line to walk, particularly when you misfire.

Convoluted and a bit too slick for its subject matter, The Fifth Estate raises too many interesting questions about online journalism and the accomplishments of Assange to fully dismiss it. The collaboration of Old Media outlets on WikiLeaks’ largest story truly was unprecedented, and while attempts at discrediting Assange have stumbled, his influence on the field of modern journalism can not be overlooked. Someday, WikiLeaks will get its own equivalent of The Social Network only with so much information to disseminate, I suspect it’s going to have to come in documentary form-- and with Alex Gibney's We Steal Secrets already out there, it may already have.

For more coverage from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, click here!

At some point we're going to have to cry uncle and admit that there are too many Sherlock Holmeses running around in pop culture right now… but I think we can make room for Ian McKellen in the meantime. At the Toronto Film Festival director Bill Condon announced, via Deadline, that he will direct McKellen in A Slight Trick Of The Mind, in which McKellen will play a retired Sherlock Holmes still haunted by a case from 50 years in the past. The film will be based on a novel by Mitch Cullin, which describes itself this way at Amazon:

Condon directed McKellen to an Oscar nomination in 1998's Gods and Monsters, and this will be their first reunion since then. The two have obviously been staying busy in the meantime-- McKellen is about to reprise his role as Magneto for next year's X-Men: Days of Future Past, while Condon is at Toronto premiering his new film The Fifth Estate. Funnily enough that one stars Benedict Cumberbatch, who's played probably the most memorable modern version of Sherlock Holmes on BBC's Sherlock. Think there's going to be a rivalry between Condon's two leading men about how well they wear the deerstalker hat?

McKellen has a sterling reputation thanks to films like Gods & Monsters or Richard III, but he's spent the last decade largely in giant blockbusters, whether playing Magneto or Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings films (and now the Hobbit trilogy) or popping up in something like The Da Vinci Code. His presence elevates all of these giant films, of course, but it will be interesting to see him turn again to a meatier lead role, especially when embodying one of history's most famous fictional characters (yes, even more famous than Gandalf). McKellen will next be seen as the grey wizard in this winter's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and opposite Cumberbatch as the titular dragon, no less. For a look at Condon's next film, check out the trailer for The Fifth Estate below, and catch it in theaters on October 18.

While it may seem arbitrary to some, the thought process behind setting a date for a film’s release is a complex web of variables and hypotheses. Oscar worthy? Early winter release. Genre garbage? Early spring release. It’s something of a science. But when a film with an established release date shifts the date months later, it usually means one of two things: the film won’t be ready, or it has some strong box office competition. With this new batch of release date changes, courtesy of Box Office Mojo, let’s find out which is which.

Ken Scott’s comedy Delivery Man, formerly known as Starbuck, stars Vince Vaughn as an ordinary guy who finds out his sperm bank donations have led to him being the biological father of over 500 children. The film was originally going to be released on October 4th, but has changed to November 22nd. Why? I’m not sure, but October 4th happens to be the release date for Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace, which is quite a bit of competition. Sadly, it’s now up against The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, but one competing movie is better than three, I guess.

Bill Condon’s Wikileaks movie The Fifth Estate, not without an touch of controversy, was supposed to come out on November 15th, but it’s now been moved up to October 11th. Could have had something to do with both Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott releasing their new films on that day?

Lastly we have Spike Jonze’s next sci-fi-ish quirk-fest Her, which is just now being placed on the release schedule. Box Office Mojo says the film will be released on Wednesday, November 20th. Its off-kilter plot involves Joaquin Phoenix falling in love with his computer’s operating system. November seems like as good a time as any for this one, but now it’s opening two days before Delivery Man. Isn’t it worried?

You're probably seeing more of Laura Linney right now than you have in a while. No, it's not because of her movie Hyde Park on Hudson, which seems to be limping into theaters with barely a mention. It's because of your annual viewings of Love Actually, of course! Don't even try to deny that movie is now a holiday classic, and that Linney's scenes in which she has to turn down the advances of the deliriously sexy Karl aren't the most heartbreaking thing about Christmas-- at least, until Emma Thompson realizes the gold necklace isn't for her.

But I digress. Laura Linney is, by any estimation, a treasure, and even though Hyde Park on Hudson doesn't seem to have worked out, she continues to add more and more fascinating projects that will put her in the spotlight all over again. This time she's in talks to join two of the most fascinating up-and-coming actors, in a biopic about one of the world's most polarizing figures: Julian Assange. According to The Wrap, Linney is in talks for a role in DreamWorks's untitled project about Wikileaks, in which Benedict Cumberbatch will star as the company's mercurial founder Julian Assange, and James McAvoy as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who became close to Assange and witnessed Wikileaks's rise before having a serious falling out.

It sounds like the film will largely focus on the partnership between the two men, so it's unclear how Linney will fit in, or how large her role will be. But Linney joining pretty much any cast is a good thing, and with Bill Condon directing (stepping back into prestige fare after making three Twilight movies), he seems to be gathering up a stellar cast to support his fascinating story.

Twihards are widely considered to be among the more obsessive fanbases. From production stills to casting stories to unsubstantiated rumors, they tend to consume and respond to an incredible amount of Twilight related news. This fanaticism all but guarantees Breaking Dawn: Part II will make money, but during production of the film itself, the fan devotion wasn’t always the most positive thing.

Speaking recently at a press conference for Twilight in Los Angeles, director Bill Condon was asked about how shooting this movie compared to some of his earlier, more low-key works. He said he tried to keep the frills and superfluous bloat off Breaking Dawn’s set, but after production, he could still see the difference in the bottom line.

There are only two types of people who really need to be kept off a film’s set. First, there’s photographers looking to take and sell pictures of various actors in costume in order to make some money, and second, there’s crazy, obsessive fans who want to get close to the action and figure out what’s going on. No doubt the Breaking Dawn set faced possible incursion by both of those forces, which is why that goofy, million dollar plus bill was run up.

Luckily, the money was actually put to good use. The action was pretty well contained on the set. Everyone involved was able to work in peace, and later this week, producers should make a truly wonderful return on their investment.

When it comes to casting biopics you can either go for similarities in appearance or you can go for acting talent so good that it would negate any aesthetic difference. If the following story is true than Bill Condon's upcoming movie about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has magically found an actor who has both.

Deadline is reporting word that Benedict Cumberbatch has been hired to play the notorious Australian journalist and that Joel Kinnaman will play his right hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. It's worth noting that while the story's source is generally confident in their scoops, this particular one has a question mark in the headline, meaning that it could be incorrect. DreamWorks, which is producing the movie, wouldn't confirm either casting.

The project began back in March of 2011 when the studio first bought the rights to the books WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War On Secrecy, by David Leigh and Luke Harding, and Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange At The World’s Most Dangerous Website, written by Domscheit-Berg. Josh Singer, who has previously written for shows like The West Wing, Lie To Me and Fringe, is handling the script duties, and while Condon (who has his second Twilight movie coming out this November) isn't 100% confirmed to direct, it's very likely.

The film will see Assange create the WikiLeaks site, which he then used to leak classified government documents that would often contain embarrassing secrets. He is currently not only wanted in the US for the information that he leaked, but also in Sweden on charges of sexual assault.

Both Cumberbatch and Kinnaman have signed on for major franchises that have been making their way through production. First the Sherlock star will be seen in Star Trek Into Darkness, and then the Swedish star will be playing the lead role in the remake of RoboCop.

When The Hunger Games rolls into theaters young adult novel fans will be getting a double dose. It was announced previously that the first trailer for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, the final movie in the Twilight franchise, will be attached to the Gary Ross-directed dystopian blockbuster. What's more, though, is that with that announcement came news that a preview of that trailer would be online on March 20th. Because we know that fans have been chomping at the bit waiting for something new from their favorite franchise, we are happy to share something exciting that has just come down the pipe.

E!Online has discovered the first featurette about the Twilight finale and you can watch it below. Given the way that it was filmed it probably won't be around for very long so I recommend watching it as soon as possible.

Picking up from where the first half of the finale left off, Breaking Dawn Part 2 features Bella and the Cullen clan working together to protect the newborn Renesmee from the Volturi. The movie brings back together Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Dakota Fanning, Michael Sheen, Maggie Grace,Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Peter Facinelli and Elizabeth Reaser. The sequel arrives in theaters on November 16th and you can read more about it in our Blend Film Database.

Making a film is not an easy process. There are thousands of moving pieces, scheduling complications, budgetary restrictions, off-days, weather, and the need to maintain constant continuity. But all of those problems become even more intense when you’re shooting two films at the same time, which is exactly what director Bill Condon did while helming The Twilight Saga – Breaking Dawn: Part 1.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the filmmaker one on one not only to talk about the two simultaneous productions, but also many other details surrounding the franchise. Check out my interview with Bill Condon below in which he talks about the double edge sword of extremely loyal fans, the involvement of author Stephanie Meyer during production, and the decision of where to cut the book in half.

This is something that I want to ask about just to start, which is that the fans are incredibly passionate about these films, the books, the characters everything about it. And obviously with that fever pitch excitement, where it has to be, like, well it has to feel really great.

Right.

But is there a double edged sword to it as well?

I think y'know, well you want to be true to the books but you also want to be true to how you visualize them, how you see them. So in a way, yes. Y'know, I started a relationship with them early on. It was always interesting and occasionally helpful. But it was, at a certain point you're making your movie, and you just hope that it intersects with what they dreamed about when they read it.

Sure. And I guess, because the fans are so passionate about the source material, how much pressure is on you to kind of keep the on-screen portrayal as close to the book as possible?

Well, I think, um... I don't know. I just feel like obviously you make it visual, and that involves a different kind of storytelling sometimes. But I think in general, everyone involved in the movie, starting with Kristen Stewart, is, like, really intent on trying to capture the things that are happening inside of these characters' heads.

Sure. And what do you think it is about this franchise that really has captured so many peoples' love and attention?

I think like anything it's the yearning. I mean, yearning is almost better than getting, y'know? [Laughs] Um, and that's the answer. Because the yearning changes in this movie. But it has been a lot of foreplay and now here we go in this one. And it'll be interesting to see. So much happens here. So much stuff happens to these characters. That's what turned me on. But I do think that initially it was about that sense of, like, there's a certain kind of image that we all have of someone we'd fall in love with. And I think this really speaks to that.

And just to talk a bit more about the technical side, um, Miss Rosenberg has written all of these movies thus far. And you yourself have directed. So I'm curious, how did you collaborate with her in that sense?

It was great. It was so great, right from the beginning. I didn't want to do it. She's done an incredible job with this, she knows it better than anybody, and because I think we speak the same language, it was just such a fun part, a fun way to get started on this process. We spent months and months and months when she was just outlining it and writing, and we would just go back and forth. It was really a great experience.

And I guess on that same level, Stephanie Meyer, in addition to writing the source material, also serves as a producer on this. For starters, how often was she on set?

Every day.

Every day?

Every minute, yes.

And how much input did she provide? Did you go to her?

Absolutely. It was this invaluable resource, y'know, the person from whose brain all of this came. And you could always just be there and ask about a bit of behavior or a quote or part of a back story that never made it into print. And that was incredibly helpful.

Yeah.

And she was also extremely respectful.

What would you say is the biggest piece of input she put in?

Um...

If you can narrow it down. [Laughs]

Yeah, because it was throughout, y'know? She's part of every bit of the process. Um... y'know, I think I'm going to save that. Because there's a thing in the second movie that... we'll do it next year. [Laughs] I'll take a trip.

Right, right. So I guess just to talk about the conquest of two movies. I mean, few movies are actually filmed in sequence.

Yes.

But here you are dealing with two movies that are being filmed simultaneously. How on Earth can you keep the story together just in your head?

It sometimes got confusing, but I got to say, because it's one book, and because movie two starts a second after movie one ends, I very early on put the two scripts together. It's like, this is the script. This is the movie we're making. It covers a lot of territory. So that mostly worked, but then sometimes when you sort of turn around and Bella's a vampire, and you turn around and she's dying in childbirth it's kind of, “Oh I'm disoriented, does this happen before or after that?” But mostly, no.

And how do you get the actors in the proper mindset in that sense?

Right, well, that's a big part of their challenge I think.

Sure.

You know, especially Kristen's. Because she is the one who changes the most. Many of these characters are kind of magical creatures who are as they were when they died. But Bella, with this huge transformation, Kristen really had a lot of work to do to keep herself clear. But I think she liked it.

Another question I have, you mentioned that it picks up in a second and you mentioned that it was this whole thing- is there a concept out there where you could basically take out the credits from the first movie and kind of put them together?

I would love to see it like that, yeah.

Do you think that would ever possibly fly?

Oh, it's um, maybe down the line, I think that would be fun, don't you think? Or make one ten hour movie.

And I guess there have been- well you take the Matrix movies, the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean, Back to the Future- I'm curious, how do you find that place where you split the story?

I thought it was pretty clear. Actually, when I got involved they put it somewhere else, and I didn't think it was right. But it just seemed to me that- um, the other books are told from Bella's point of view. This one has this unique thing of being told from Bella's point of view first, and then Jacob's, and then back to Bella's.

Sure.

The first half seemed to be right at that moment when you shift back to Bella's point of view. And it's opening her eyes and having her become again.

Right. And I guess, where was the first break?

When I first got involved, I think they wanted to send her out on her first hunt.

Ok.

Um, I think that was it. It was the hunt and that didn't seem right to me.

Why?

Because it felt as though... First of all, just good story telling, it's just a great cliffhanger. What is going to happen now? That to me is a huge part of the appeal of the second movie. The first act is, now you've gone throughout the looking glass, it's like we've been watching this from Bella's point of view, but now you're a vampire and you're experiencing that. So it's a big stylistic change, something that to me, it would be jarring to give a taste of that and then stop.

And one thing I'm also curious about is that there is a certain level of humor to this.

Yes.

And I'm curious, where did you feel that was appropriate to put in? I mean, obviously there are serious dramatic themes, but once you feel it's appropriate...

Well, if you have a wedding, you've got to do awkward wedding speeches. [Laughs] There's something awful and funny about that. And the same is like, the first time you have sex- you can't do that without being a little funny.

Right.

Because there's such incredible anxiety surrounding it.

Each movie has had its own director. In fact, you're the first person to take on two of them. So it really does inhabit its own world. And what was your research process into kind of gearing into that universe?

Well, you're right, it is a whole universe that you're getting into. But you have the text, y'know, and that's sort of where it starts. And then you have the author. It's about, Tolkien, y'know, trying to figure out what he's getting at.

Sure. And was the source material something that you constantly referred to?

Oh yeah, absolutely. Yes.

How many times would you say you read them?

Oh, so many times. And also, just as you're, y'know, it happens so much in this book and in the whole process of working with Melissa, but then the night before I would shoot a scene I would look at it again. Just to see if there was some other detail or some other approach, some other thing that I want to make sure I got.

And did the movies provide a reference point as well?

To a degree. Yeah.

I mean, is there any kind of pressure to match or add on stylistically?

No. That's the thing that made it- I don't think I would have done it if those movies had all been of a similar style. I think the whole point of it is that there's no stylistic template that you're following. I mean Katherine's is such an indie movie, it's got that great indie spirit as well as capturing the soul of a teenage girl. Chris's is very, very classical, and David's again is incredibly intense and dark. And this one is something else again.

Can you define it?

I would say that to me it's in a kind of old tradition. A Hollywood tradition of romantic melodrama. And then it turns, kind of merged with a flat out horror movie.

And one thing that I guess has been brought up throughout the entire franchise are the horror movie elements. I mean, the fact that you are dealing with vampires and werewolves and shape-shifters. Is there ever an inclination to kind of bring in horrors? I mean, you have the flashback sequence with Edward in the '30's. So I was wondering if you could just talk about implementing those horror elements.

Right. Um, yeah, that one- when people see it, they'll see that- I just thought this was a neat joke that everyone is screaming at The Bride of Frankenstein and there's a monster right in their midst. But also, y'know, the fact that Bella is in a way the bride of Frankenstein. But, you know, it's one of my favorite movies and I remember hearing stories about- well, it was actually not that movie, it was on Frankenstein- that when it first previewed in Santa Barbara that people were fainting and that someone tracked down the director, James Well, and said, “Were you sleeping?” “Well, yes.” “Well, I'm glad you're awake now because I can't sleep.” [Laughs] People were so upset by it. That visceral reaction you have to horror, y'know, I think that's a hugely exciting part of taking this on.

Do you see a connection back to Gods and Monsters?

Oh yeah, definitely, yeah. Also I do think there's a, tonally... horror is usually so ripe, y'know, in a way that it can't help but being done with a little bit of a wink. Here too- it's not like anything is not being taken seriously, but I do think there's something fun about it all.

Breaking news! Bill Condon’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 is pre-selling tickets at a dizzying rate. In other news, water is wet, ice is freezing cold, and Brett Ratner’s a misogynistic pig.

But wait. We actually have stats to back up the furious fan response to the latest chapter of Hollywood strangest love triangle. According to a press release, Condon’s first stab at a Twilight adaptation is accounting for 72% of Fandango’s weekly ticket sales. Impressive, given the fact that Twilight doesn’t even open this week. What percentage will it hit next week, when it’s actually scheduled to reach theaters?

Fandango goes on to report that more than 1,000 showtimes already have sold out in advance of the sequel’s opening. Certain theater owners reportedly are racing the clock to add additional showtimes to meet the fan demand. To paraphrase Field of Dreams, if you screen it, they will come.

The ticket-vending site also offers up a few stats based on reader polls. Roughly 82% of the users who’ve purchased tickets to Breaking Dawn say they believe the action in the trailers looks better in Part 1 than it did in previous Twilight movies. (Strange, as Condon’s not really known as an action director.) Meanwhile, 48% plan to see the movie on opening night. And if they’re anything like my teenage nieces, they’ll see it multiple times in one day. Seriously.

Again, this is hardly news. Summit Entertainment has done a fine job generating hype for the next-to-last Twilight film, so the question isn’t “Will it do well?” but rather “How well will it do?” New Moon earned $296 million in 2009, and Eclipse topped $300 million last year. Breaking Dawn, Part 1 opens everywhere on Friday, Nov. 18.

Images from the upcoming final movie in the Twilight saga have started leaking online. Specifically, images involving the movie’s first ever sex scene between Bella and Edward. I spotted a few of them, but can’t show them to you, since Summit’s lawyers are on the prowl cease & desisting them as fast as possible. I haven’t seen any with actual nudity, but some of them are pretty graphic, including at least one shot of Bella and Edward in the missionary position. That makes sense. Only werewolves do it doggy.

The studio and the people working on the film are, unsurprisingly, not particularly happy about the leak. These days when it comes to marketing a movie, it’s all about control, and control means showing people only what you want them to see, and what you think will best serve the cause of buying tickets. I’m not sure if that’s really the right attitude or not, but the Twilight team thinks it is, so they’ve sent out a personal appeal to fans.

The following press release showed up in my inbox labeled as “A statement on behalf of Stephenie Meyer, Bill Condon, Wyck Godfrey and Summit Entertainment regarding leaked images from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn”:

This reminds me of those anti-piracy commercials the MPAA used to run before feature films, and still sometimes run on television. You know the ones, where they ask you to rat out your friends to the police in order to protect their profits, and beg the audience to give a shit about piracy by citing bogus figures about the damage it’s doing. I suspect this will work just about as well, which is to say not at all.

Still I’d be willing to give them credit for this approach, if they were making this appeal instead of sending out cease & desist letters and threatening fans with lawsuits for being excited about their movie. But that’s not what’s going on here. They’re doing both. Neither solution solves anything, especially since there’s not really anything here that needs to be solved.

The fans sharing those images aren’t not buying a ticket for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn just because they saw Bella experimenting with reverse cowgirl on the internet. It’s not hurting anyone. Who cares? Actually it’s probably good for the film, fans swapping stills are thinking and talking about the movie. That’s never a bad thing.

The battle of the Breaking Dawn directorial candidates could be coming to a close. According to Deadline, Bill Condon is number one on Summit Entertainment’s list to get behind the lens for the final two installment of The Twilight Saga. Condon has yet to sign on the dotted line, but is supposedly in the midst of negotiations.

‘Several strong meetings’ put Condon at the top of the list assembled by the studio and author Stephenie Meyer, beating out Gus Van Sant, Sofia Coppola and Fernando Meirelles. I was hoping Van Sant would get the job, but Condon seems like a fine choice as well. He’s the man behind Dreamgirls, Kinsey and Gods and Monsters. Save for Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh he’s had a pretty solid run in the director’s chair.

Condon currently has Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said on his hands, but odds are those will take a back seat if he’s offered a double dose of Twilight. Whether that happens or not, it’s a fantastic sign that the studio is taking the selection process so seriously and into such prestigious territory. Chris Weitz dragged the franchise into the ground for any moviegoer lacking an affinity for Robert Pattinson with fangs. Of course, non-Twihard enthusiasm for Breaking Dawn will depend heavily on the quality of Eclipse, but I’ve got faith in David Slade, especially after checking out the sneak peak included on the New Moon DVD.

Shooting is supposedly set to commence in the fall with both films being made back-to-back.