Kristen Stewart has been talking about her directorial debut for years now, and finally it’s here among the 2026 movie releases! The Twilight actress and Oscar nominee decided to helm an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir The Chronology of Water. It’s about how a woman develops her passions as a swimmer and a writer amidst dealing with the trauma of growing up with an abusive father. Stewart and Imogen Poots (who stars as Lidia) spoke to CinemaBlend about what it was like to shoot a movie with such difficult themes.

The Chronology of Water is a film that Stewart told us that she could see "seared into the insides" of her eyelids, but it was an emotional project for her and cast and crew. Here’s what she told us about what she observed from the actress behind Lydia:

Imogen Poots carries the weight of a particularly heavy role that explores how Lidia dealt with having a father who was verbally, physically and sexually abusive to her. In the movie, it can be disturbing to see Lidia act out some of these learned behaviors onto her own partner, and then slip into drug and alcohol abuse. Stewart said Poots was “very English” about the themes that had to be felt on set, and kept her emotions at bay. Here’s what Poots told us:

It sounds like it was a really tough role for Poots, but Kristen Stewart’s attention to the material is also palpable. The Chronology of Water is not only one of the rare LGBTQ+ movies to come out this year based on a memoir about a queer woman and helmed by a female director, it’s also being celebrated for having “ambition”, being “artful,” and compelling per Rotten Tomatoes along with earning an 89% critics score.

In our interview, Stewart also told us her thoughts on directing versus acting, sharing that it felt like she needed to put a “straightjacket” on to not control the process too much and trust that she had made all the preparations she had been working for. She’s been working on making The Chronology of Water for eight years, and previously talked about the difficulties she’s faced to get it financed.

Ultimately, she got Ridley Scott to be an executive producer on the independent production (among other names) which was shot in Latvia and Malta over just six weeks. It’s now playing in theaters.

Three-time Emmy nominee Brett Goldstein first showed off his romantic side in Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso as he and Juno Temple played out Roy Kent and Keeley Jones' adorable romance subplot. But, he’ll soon be leading man material in a new romance movie for the streamer called All of You. We got to see the chemistry Goldstein and Imogen Poots show in the trailer; so, now, the British actor is getting real about shooting those “very steamy” sex scenes. However, I didn’t expect rotten vegetables to come into the story!

The first look at the futuristic flick All of You was enough to convince me to put the new streaming movie on my watchlist. Starring, co-written, and co-produced by Brett Goldstein, he plays a man who develops a spark with his best friend, only for a test to match her up with her supposed soulmate.

So, ahead of the film's release on the 2025 movie schedule, the actor spoke to CBS Mornings about the romance of this story as well as what it was like shooting the “very steamy” sex scenes with Imogen Poots. Unsurprisingly, they were not romantic to film. However, surprisingly, they were also quite gross to shoot, thanks to the location they were working at, as the actor explained:

Ugh, that makes me cringe just thinking about it. While a sex scene is supposed to be “steamy” for the cameras and audiences watching, the smell of gross vegetables would certainly kill the romantic mood right there. It's proof that what looks seductive on screen can be anything but in real life.

It's important to remember that a movie's sex scenes are typically choreographed performances, blocked out like a dance, which can be at times almost scientific and at times awkward. Sydney Sweeney can tell you about the “awkward moment” of filming Anyone But You’s shower sex scene and having 40 crew members watching. That could make anyone feel like a goldfish with all eyes watching you.

The same was said with Margot Robbie’s Wolf of Wall Street uncomfortable sex scene that involved an all-male crew being present while she was “pretending to be touching myself.” However, through great direction, editing, and performances, the final product still appears effortless and passionate to audiences watching.

As “steamy” as sex scenes go, Brett Goldstein and Imogen Poots definitely deserve their props for portraying passion while in the company of rotting vegetables. If the two leads are still able to portray lust despite an uninvited odor coming into play, that’s some great acting. Now, I’m all the more curious about how this scene and others will play out when All of You becomes available for those with an Apple TV+ subscription on September 26th.

I know that when I think of Brett Goldstein, the first character that comes to mind is the gruff and grumbly Roy Kent. However, that beloved Ted Lasso character is so much more than that; he’s also secretly romantic, deeply caring and incredibly kind. In short, he’s a great love interest, and we see that through his relationship with Keeley. But we’ve never seen the actor be a true leading man in a romance before. That’s all about to change, though, because he’s starring in a new Apple TV+ movie called All of You, and its trailer proves he’s a great romantic lead.

In the first trailer for All of You, a romance that was co-written by Goldstein and William Bridges, we get a glimpse into a friends-to-lovers romance starring the writer as Simon and Outer Range’s Imogen Poots as Laura. They play longtime best friends who wind up drifting apart after Luara takes a test that tells her who her soulmate is.

We see Simon explain that he wouldn’t want to know his soulmate; he just wants to “find it.” He thinks that knowing takes the fun out of the discovery, and seemingly, after that, the two only see each other on occasion.

On that premise alone, this project on the 2025 movie schedule already has me yearning and almost getting misty-eyed. However, seeing these two cross paths over the years in the trailer, a la one of the greatest rom-coms, When Harry Met Sally, has me desperate to find out if they end up together or not.

This new footage also shows a totally different side of Goldstein as an actor. While we’ve seen his funny (and occasionally romantic) side in Ted Lasso and his dramatic skills in Shrinking, All of You gives him the chance to fully embrace his romantic side. We’ve never seen the comedian in a project like this before, and I think it’s safe to assume that he was born to be in a romance.

In the trailer, it’s made clear that his character and Poots’ Laura have undeniable chemistry, and the tension between them is palpable. However, they won’t act on those feelings, and we’ll see a years-long story unfold as they grapple with all of that.

Goldstein’s longing looks, candid conversations and gentle interactions with his co-star make my heart genuinely flutter. He’s giving Mr. Darcy levels of yearning in just these clips alone, and I fear that – to quote Pride and Prejudice – I will be “bewitched body and soul” by him when I’m finally able to stream this film with an Apple TV+ subscription.

Like I mentioned earlier, I knew the Emmy winner had this in him; we saw his romantic side on display through that beloved side-plot between Roy and Keeley in Ted Lasso. However, that show focused on a lot of other things too, meaning we didn’t get to see Goldstein’s romantic side at its full potential.

Now, it seems like we’re really going to, and this trailer tells me that we’re in for a real treat. So, buckle up, folks, because this new, incredibly romantic upcoming streaming project will hit Apple TV+ on September 26, and we'd better all be ready to fall head over heels in love with Imogen Poots’ Laura, Brett Goldstein’s Simon and their love story.

I believe it is only a matter of time before we see Harley Quinn in Matt Reeves’ Batman Universe, which has been officially dubbed “The Batman Epic Crime Saga.” Considering how many movies featuring the Clown Princess of Crime we have seen in only the last decade, despite the character only existing since 1992, this new canon of upcoming DC movies led by Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight would not be complete without her.

I cannot be certain that we will see the villain once known as Dr. Harleen Quinzel in the upcoming The Batman Part II but if and when she is inducted into this bleak vision of Gotham City – which was expanded on with the new DC TV show, The Penguin – I can only imagine who would be chosen to play her. In fact, I did use my imagination to put together a list of talented actors whom I believe would be ideal to play the Harley Quinn to Barry Keoghan’s Joker one day.

Sydney Sweeney

I think most audiences would agree that Sydney Sweeney did not have the most satisfying superhero movie debut, having starred in 2024’s Madame Web cast as Julia Cornwall in the critically reviled Sony Spider-Man Universe installment. While there are other Marvel characters I would like to see Sweeney play, I believe that an even better second chance at comic book movie glory would be offering the Euphoria cast member the role of Harley Quinn, which would also give the talented actor an opportunity to play a someone deeply unhinged.

Margaret Qualley

An actor who is almost too good at playing unhinged characters is Margaret Qualley, as she has demonstrated with her roles in the likes of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the underrated dark comedy Sanctuary, and Coralie Fargeat’s body horror masterpiece, The Substance. So, as far as I am concerned, all Andie MacDowell’s daughter would need to do is dye her hair blonde and she has the role of Harley Quinn in the bag.

Rosa Salazar

Another actor who has proven her ability to play unhinged characters, such as in the Hulu original miniseries Wedding Season and the 2021 Netflix horror TV show Brand New Cherry Flavor, is Rosa Salazar. The Peruvian and French-Canadian actor, who made her comic book debut in the title role of Alita: Battle Angel, is about to be added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Diamondback in the upcoming Marvel movie, Captain America: Brave New World but, hopefully, that does not interfere with her potential.

Florence Pugh

Already an MCU alumna is Florence Pugh who, in addition to playing a few badasses in her day – namely Yelena Belova, whom she is reprising in the upcoming Thunderbolts* movie – has played roles that meaningfully address mental health, particularly Dani Ardor in A24’s Midsommar. All the Academy Award nominee would really need to do is combine those abilities into one, let her natural talent guide her the rest of the way, and she would be a perfect Harley Quinn.

Amanda Seyfried

Despite having no experience acting in comic book adaptations, nor portraying “unhinged” characters (unless you count her role as Karen Smith in the Mean Girls cast or Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout), I still believe Amanda Seyfried (pronounced “sigh-fred,” by the way) has what it takes to make a great Harley Quinn. The key to her eligibility, for me, is not necessarily in the Brooklyn femme-fatale accent she perfected for her Academy Award-nominated performance as Marion Davies in Mank but just in her eyes, which have enough character in them to nail the portrayal alone.

Imogen Poots

English actor Imogen Poots is also gifted with striking blue eyes that would lend beautifully to her hypothetical Harley Quinn portrayal in a sequel to The Batman. However, unlike Amanda Seyfried, many of Poots’ best movies and TV shows (including Amazon Prime sci-fi neo-Western series Outer Range, the Twilight Zone-esque Vivarium, and the erratic dark comedy Filth) see her taking on roles that do require her to go a little off the deep end and I think that playing the DC Comics villain could be her magnum opus in that regard.

Naomi Scott

It was not until she gave an astonishing performance as a pop star driven insane by a parasitic demon in one of the best horror movies of 2024, Parker Finn’s Smile 2, that critics and audiences finally began to notice just how talented Naomi Scott is. If the English actor – also previously known for 2017’s Power Rangers and the live-action Aladdin remake – were to channel that same energy into a portrayal of Harley Quinn, it could be something really special.

Natasha Liu Bordizzo

Taking a look at the best Natasha Liu Bordizzo movies and TV shows – including Ahsoka, The Society, and The Voyeurs – it is clear that she has played quite a few scene-stealing roles of a relatively dark variety. I could see the Australian-born model-turned-actor of Chinese and Italian descent trying something different with the Harley Quinn role – perhaps making her more outwardly reserved with a chilling underlying mania, which might actually be a perfect fit for the tone of the Batman Epic Crime Saga.

Lady Gaga

I don’t think there is a single person who blames Lady Gaga’s performance for the poor critical reception of Joker: Folie à Deux, in which she plays a version of Harley Quinn who is already broken and committed to Arkham Asylum when she meets and falls for Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck. So, I say, give the Oscar-winning pop music diva a second chance at the role in another gritty DC Elseworlds story that would allow her to really explore the complexities of the character in her more definitive form.

You may have noticed that I did not mention Margot Robbie, whose version of Harley Quinn originated from the now-defunct DC Extended Universe. Well, honestly, I am not sure she is right for the world introduced in The Batman but I would still absolutely love to see more of Robbie’s iconic iteration of Harley in the DCU canon.

As I was watching the Neo-western fantasy series, Outer Range, one thought that crossed my mind (among the many thoughts that I had regarding this weird-ass series) was, Wow, I have never been more scared of Imogen Poots than I am right now. Her chilling performance on the Amazon Prime original as Autumn Rivers - a mysterious young traveler with questionable intentions - was especially surprising because I am more used to seeing her play the one struggling against strange and sinister forces.

As far as I am concerned, the British actor has firmly earned a spot among the finest modern day Scream Queens for her stunning performances in some of the best horror movies in recent memory. In fact, let’s commence our list of the best Imogen Poots movies (and where to find them on streaming or for digital rental) with some of her creepiest credits so far, starting with her first starring role. 

28 Weeks Later (HBO Max)

Six months after England was torn apart by a virus that fills the infected with a violent, insatiable rage, the U.S. Army steps in to help survivors of the disaster find a new home and a stable livelihood, until signs show that the outbreak is not gone.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: A then 18-year-old Imogen Poots plays a young woman struggling to survive and protect her younger brother (Mackintosh Muggleton) from the sudden return of the Rage Virus in 2007’s 28 Weeks Later - director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s follow-up to one of the most inventive and grounded zombie movies (even though it does not quite count as a traditional zombie movie), writer Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle’s 2002 masterpiece, 28 Days Later.

Stream 28 Weeks Later on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy 28 Weeks Later on Amazon.

Fright Night (Hulu)

After a suspicious gentleman (Colin Farrell) moves in to the house next door, an imaginative teen (the late Anton Yelchin) soon becomes convinced that he is an evil creature of the night and enlists the help of a Las Vegas illusionist and self-proclaimed paranormal expert (David Tennant) in order to protect his mother (Toni Collette), girlfriend (Imogen Poots), and the rest of his neighborhood.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: Four years after starring in 28 Weeks Later, Poots returned to the horror genre with another movie that expands on the legacy of a classic, Fright Night - director Craig Gillespie’s modern reimagining of the cult favorite ‘80s vampire flick from director Tom Holland (no, not that Tom Holland).

Stream Fright Night on Hulu.
Rent/Buy Fright Night on Amazon.

Green Room (Showtime)

After their performance at a road house frequented by white supremacists does not get the warmest reception, things get even worse for an up-and-coming punk band when they become witnesses to a murder backstage, culminating in a fight to escape the venue without losing their lives.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: Four years after starring in Fright Night, Imogen Poots reunited with Anton Yelchin as desperate victims of the deadly stand-off between good and evil at the center of Green Room - arguably writer and director Jeremy Saulnier’s most twisted and intense masterwork yet, with credit due to a brilliant performance as a sadistic Neo-Nazi leader by Sir Patrick Stewart.

Stream Green Room on Showtime.
Rent/Buy Green Room on Amazon.

Vivarium (Amazon Prime)

While searching for a new place to live, an English school teacher (Imogen Poots) and her American boyfriend (Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg) tour a neighborhood of unusual design, but soon discover they were brought there for a purpose and that leaving this new home of theirs is impossible. 

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: Easily one of the strangest movies of Poots’ career (or that you may ever see) is 2019’s Vivarium - co-writer and director Lorcan Finnegan’s visually unique and cleverly satirical sci-fi thriller that I believe would have made The Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling proud, and is one of the best movies on Amazon Prime at the moment.

Stream Vivarium on Amazon Prime.

The Art Of Self-Defense (Hulu)

After suffering a brutal attack by a motorcycle gang one night, a meek and anxious bookkeeper (Jesse Eisenberg) enrolls in a self-defense class that proves to be the confidence builder he needed, but he soon discovers that his sensei (Alessandro Nivola) is not quite the person that he assumed he was.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: In the same year that she starred alongside him in Vivarium, Imogen Poots shared the screen with Eisenberg as a pretty, young, and feisty fellow martial arts student in The Art of Self-Defense - a comedy as exhilaratingly funny as it is disturbingly dark, from Dual writer and director, Riley Stearns.

Stream The Art Of Self-Defense on Hulu.
Rent/Buy The Art Of Self-Defense on Amazon.

Solitary Man (Tubi)

A divorced, aging womanizer and successful car dealer (Academy Award winner Michael Douglas) receives his comeuppance after his poor decisions begin to have a destructive effect on his business, his love life, and his relationship with his family.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: A decade before she starred alongside him in Vivarium and The Art of Self-Defense, Imogen Poots first shared the screen with Jesse Eisenberg in Solitary Man - writer and co-director Brian Koppelman’s funny and thought-provoking dramedy in which Poots plays the 18-year-old daughter of Mary Louise-Parker’s character, who is dating Douglas’ character.

Stream Solitary Man on Tubi.
Rent/Buy Solitary Man on Amazon.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Amazon Rental)

The star member of a popular, now-defunct boy band (Andy Samberg) struggles to keep his solo rap career afloat after his latest album tanks, only to fail miserably at each attempt and almost due to his own egregiously poor decisions.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: One of the more comparatively lighter comedies of Imogen Poots’ career is 2016’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping - a brilliant and vastly underrated mockumentary-style music industry satire from the minds of The Lonely Island, in which Samberg’s conner4real plans an elaborate marriage proposal to her character, Ashley, that goes disastrously wrong.

Rent/Buy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping on Amazon.

That Awkward Moment (Amazon Rental)

After a doctor (Michael B. Jordan) is suddenly faced with an imminent divorce, his best friends - one recently dumped (Zac Efron) and the other perpetually available (Miles Teller) - make a pact to all stay proudly single together, but things do not go quite as planned.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: Another light, but more comparatively grounded, comedy from Imogen Poots’ career is 2014’s That Awkward Moment - an honest and refreshing rom-com from first-time writer and director Tom Gormican, in which she plays a young woman whom Efron’s Jason unexpectedly falls for named Ellie.

Rent/Buy That Awkward Moment on Amazon.

Centurion (Tubi)

After suffering a devastating ambush, a bold, endurable warrior (Michael Fassbender) struggles to lead a splinter group of Roman soldiers to victory and survival from behind enemy lines in Britain, circa 117 A.D.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: In 2010, Imogen Poots was cast in the role of a Briton woman exiled for witchcraft in Centurion - a brutal war film set in ancient times from The Descent writer and director, Neil Marshall.

Stream Centurion on Tubi.
Rent/Buy Centurion on Amazon.

Filth (Amazon Rental)

While investigating a brutal murder, a bigoted, drug-addicted, sex-addicted Scottish detective (James McAvoy) hopes that earning a coveted promotion will help him win back his wife and daughter, if not for his colleagues’ own career aspirations and his own fractured sanity getting in the way.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: In 2013, Imogen Poots played the sole female (and responsible) cop in a sea of corrupt male police officers, but one who also comes to aid McAvoy’s character in a time of need, in Filth - screenwriter and director Jon S. Baird’s boldly and manically bizarre adaptation of the novel by Trainspotting author, Irvine Welsh.

Rent/Buy Filth on Amazon.

The Father (Starz)

An elderly man (Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins) begins to lose grip on reality, his own identity, and his memory - which also has a profoundly heartbreaking effect on his daughter (Academy Award winner Olivia Coleman) and son-in-law (Emmy Award nominee Rufus Sewell) as he suddenly struggles to recognize them.

Why it is worth checking out if you like Imogen Poots: Two Oscars (including Best Actor for Hopkins, which was his second, and Best Adapted Screenplay) went to co-writer and director Florian Zeller’s cinematic adaptation of his own play, The Father - a mesmerizingly immersive and hauntingly realistic portrayal of what it is like to live with dementia - in which Imogen Poots also stars as Laura, one of the carers Coleman’s character hires to assist her father, much to his distaste.

Stream The Father on Starz.
Buy The Father on Amazon.

Imogen Poots has led one of the most eclectic and exciting careers in Hollywood and one that I am excited to see more of soon. Maybe on Outer Range Season 2, perhaps?

Between Ari Aster’s daytime nightmare Midsommar, Jordan Peele’s doppelgänger thriller Us, or remakes based on Stephen King’s genius – 2019 has been a fantastic year for the horror genre. If you’re itching for more terrors on the big screen in the season of warm hugs and endearment, there’s a Black Christmas remake for you. The 1974 iconic slasher has been reimagined for the modern day and it stars Imogen Poots and Princess Bride’s Westley, Cary Elwes.

The new Black Christmas has a group of sorority sisters who are stalked by a mysterious murderer during holiday break at their college. Aside from the horror elements, the movie also tackles topics pertaining to social issues today’s modern women often face. When CinemaBlend’s own Jeff McCobb sat down with Imogen Poots, she talked about some of the most difficult Black Christmas scenes to film. Check it out:

As she explains, the toughest moments to film for the actress were between her and Aleyse Shannon’s character Kris. The two sorority sisters have completely different ways they react to situations and they often butt heads due to this. While Imogen Poot’s Riley is often content with staying quiet and reserved in situations, Kris is always fighting for her ideals – including a petition she makes against Cary Elwes’ professor character, who only teaches the text of white male authors.

Imogen Poots describes these scenes were challenging in a good way because they are real arguments that are grounded in reality. Throughout Black Christmas, Poots’ Riley is trying to find her voice but she’s struggling with an incident in her past that still haunts her. Because Kris is more confident than Riley is, their relationship is often at odds.

This Black Christmas is the first of its kind to be PG-13. The original was one of the first slasher films ever and was pivotal in beginning the popular horror subgenre. It was previously remade in 2006, starring Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Lacey Chabert. However, it absolutely bombed with a $21.5 million global box office haul.

2019’s Black Christmas also stars newcomers Madeleine Adams, Lily Donoghue, and Brittany O'Grady as Hawthorne College sorority sisters. The horror flick is written by Sophia Takal and April Wolfe and Takal directed. However, the movie is not being welcomed with positive reviews, with a 42% Rotten Tomatoes score. Check out our review of the film.

Black Christmas opens alongside Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart returning to their video game avatars in Jumanji: The Next Level -- with new additions Danny Devito, Danny Glover, and Awkwafina joining the cast -- and Clint Eastwood’s controversial bio-drama Richard Jewell. Check out what else is in theaters this December and other holiday movies to check out on streaming.

After years of dashed hopes and false starts, the acclaimed graphic novel from Bryan K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, Y: The Last Man, might finally be heading to the screen at FX, under the official title, Y. The network announced today who will be starring in the pilot, and there's some great talent involved, meaning that we're way closer to actually seeing this post-apocalyptic story finally get adapted for the TV-viewing masses than we've ever been before. Let's start with the biggest name that's currently been cast.

Actress Diane Lane, pictured above in her recent role in the film Paris Can Wait, has taken an important part in Y. As Senator Jennifer Brown in the adaptation, Lane will take on the part of a junior senator in her first term who has already made quite the name for herself as someone who is more than willing to put aside political machinations to keep her personal ideals intact. Jennifer also just so happens to be the mother of the title character, Yorick Brown, and his sister Hero. Lane received an Oscar nomination for her leading role in Unfaithful in 2003, and has become known recently for her work as Martha Kent in Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and Justice League.

Next up, in the all important eponymous role of Yorick (also known as Y) will be actor Barry Keoghan. Y is described as being a young man who easily uses his sense of humor to try to divert attention away from his problems, which are actually quite plentiful, as he appears to be the only male mammal to have survived a worldwide plague that wiped out those with the Y chromosome. Keoghan has made a wonderful name for himself recently with his work in films like Dunkirk, American Animals and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

As Yorick's sister, Hero, actress Imogen Poots will take on the part of the hard-as-nails EMT with severe emotional trauma that frequently leads her to abandon what should be strict barriers of professional and personal conduct. Poots is best known to American audiences for her time on the Showtime series Roadies, and has also appeared in Green Room, Fright Night and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

Lashana Lynch, seen above in her role as Rosaline Capulet in the Shonda Rhimes series Still Star-Crossed, has signed on to play the badass Agent 355 in Y. Her secret service agent is known for doing her job extremely well and with the highest level of professionalism, even when circumstances are dire and very unexpected. Coming up for Lynch is a co-starring role in the highly anticipated Captain Marvel next year.

Marin Ireland, best recognized from her role on the Amazon series Sneaky Pete, will be taking on the role of Nora in the show. Nora is the right hand and senior assistant to the president, and someone who's very skilled at navigating Washington's power structure while maintaining a balanced family life. Ireland has also been seen in Elementary, Girls, Law & Order: SVU and the film Hell or High Water, among other projects.

Rounding out the current cast for Y is relative newcomer Juliana Canfield as Beth. Beth is a farm girl who moved to New York to get a taste of the big city, becoming a Brooklyn-based knife maker who forms a bond with Yorick. Canfield has most recently been seen in the HBO drama Succession.

Since FX has only ordered a pilot for Y, there's no word when (or if) the show will actually make it to air, but stay tuned to CinemaBlend and we'll keep you up to date on all the latest developments with regards to the proposed sci-fi series. For more on what you can catch on the small screen in the meantime, be sure to check out our summer premiere schedule.

Late last week, news came out of the Cannes Film Market announcing that Judd Apatow was teaming up with the men from The Lonely Island to make a feature film. What that news lacked, however, was a firm title for the project, or a description of what the movie will be about. Well, you need not wonder any longer, as plot details for the feature have just become public.

Deadline has the scoop on the name of the project, referring to it as Conner4real. In the movie, Andy Samberg will be playing the titular Conner, who sees his life start coming apart at the seems when his new album completely bombs. As a means of trying to bounce back after his immense failure, he tries to get the members of his old boy band back together for a reunion. Samberg's Lonely Island cohorts Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer will be playing the other two members of the boy band, but that will actually be one of two jobs they have on the production, given that they are attached to the project as co-directors.

The report says that Conner4real will take "a potshot at fluffy music documentaries including Justin Bieber: Never Say Never and Katy Perry: Part Of Me." What's unclear is whether or not this means that the film will be made as a documentary, or if it's going with a more traditional format.

Obviously The Lonely Island trio won't be the only actors featured in the film, and according to The Wrap the project has actually already picked up a few talented co-stars. Sarah Silverman will be playing Conner's "sarcastic publicist," while Tim Meadows is going to play the star's extremely overworked but relentlessly positive business manager. Imogen Poots is also attached to join the production, though exactly what her role would be in the movie is unclear at this point.

Conner4real could possibly be a big win for the Lonely Island trio - which notably hasn't had a ton of success at the box office. Though they have both developed cult followings, neither of Akiva Schaffer's previous directorial efforts - Hot Rod and The Watch - managed to do any significant business. Likewise, Jorma Taccone's first time helming a feature was Macgruber, which a notable flop when it came out in 2010. This new film could be a chance at redemption.

Production on Conner4real has already begun in Los Angeles, and while Universal is attached to the project, a release date has not yet been carved out. Given the scheduling of filming, however, it's likely that the movie will find its way to a theater near you sometime in the spring or summer of 2016. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.

With movies like When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, French Kiss, and many more, Meg Ryan became America’s sweetheart and the face of the romantic comedy in the 1990s. While she occasionally took a grittier, more serious role, like in Courage Under Fire, she consciously cultivated her public persona — for instance, she reportedly was offended by the offer to play Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs.

While Ryan is still very much working, and still endearing to boot, there hasn’t been an actress in recent years that has really dominated the rom-com genre like she once did. Drew Barrymore came close for a minute. It looked like Renee Zellwegger might step into that role for a bit, and the same for Reese Witherspoon. Katherine Heigl and Kate Hudson gave it a shot, and Rachel McAdams and Emma Stone both seem like they could still make a go of it, if they wanted to. Hollywood has never had a shortage of actresses looking to break into the business, so we’ve put together a list of some young talents with the potential to take over the Queen of Rom-Coms title once held by Meg Ryan.

Britt Robertson

Britt Robertson is already poised to have a big 2015. Not only does she star alongside George Clooney in the fantastic Disney adventure Tomorrowland, this weekend she graces movie screens in the romantic drama The Longest Ride. Based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, it seems likely this will make a ton of money and be derided by critics at the same time. One thing that Sparks adaptations do accomplish, however, is to make its intended audience weepy with a tale of mismatched lovers who come together against the odds. Robertson plays a college student who falls in love with a rodeo cowboy. There is a definite crossover between fans of The Notebook, The Lucky One, and other Sparks fare, and rom-com enthusiasts, so Robertson wanted, she could likely parlay this into any number of similar roles in the future.

Martha MacIsaac

There are pretty much only two real female roles in the high school comedy Superbad, and both are the objects of romantic affection for teen heroes, Michael Cera and Jonah Hill. Of the two, Emma Stone has obviously been the breakout star, but we have high hopes for the other, Martha MacIsaac, who also happens to be one half of one of the most painfully awkward almost-sex-scenes in recent memory in that film. With a few forays into horror, like The Last House on the Left and Dead By Dawn 3D, she’s primarily been a player in comedy properties, romantic and otherwise, like the short lived presidential sitcom 1600 Penn with Josh Gad, Bill Pullman and Jenna Elfman. MacIsaac has a perky, girl-next-door appeal and demeanor that translates well to cute romantic comedies, and if she wanted, she could absolutely kill it in roles like this for years to come.

Mae Whitman

Only in the movies is someone as completely adorable as Mae Whitman considered ugly. Granted, this is the Hollywood version of ugly, where you take off your glasses and unleash your ponytail (maybe swap out your paint-spattered overalls for a prom dress) and you’re instantly transformed. Most of us first encountered Whitman as George Michael Bluth’s bland girlfriend Ann on Arrested Development, but she’s spent the last five years on NBC’s dramatic comedy Parenthood. While that recently came to an end, 2015 already saw her charm the hell out of damn near everybody in the teen rom-com The DUFF. While not exactly breaking any new ground, it’s a solid young adult stab at the genre that showcases a bright future for the actress. She also played the President’s daughter in Independence Day and voices April O’Neil on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, just in case you needed another reason to love her.

Bridgit Mendler

The Disney Channel has already churned out more than its fair share of young star performers over the years, and it looks like Bridgit Mendler is following in the footsteps laid out by the likes of Selena Gomez and the cast of High School Musical. The double threat singer and actress has already appeared on the likes of Wizards of Waverly Place, Lemonade Mouth and Good Luck Charlie, among others, and lately she’s been giving her image something of an adult makeover, appearing on an extended run of NBC’s romantic life sitcom Undateable. Well-known for her humanitarian and philanthropic endeavors, her compassion and charisma shine through and make her an ideal candidate to carry the rom-com banner into cinematic battle.

Imogen Poots

Peter Bogdanovich hadn’t directed a movie in just about a decade, but when he mounted his attempt at a madcap screwball comedy in 2014, he chose Imogen Poots to lead the charge as a hooker-turned-Broadway-actress in the star-filled She’s Funny That Way. She plays a ditzy muse and charms her way through a series of zany misadventures and coincidences that only ever happen in this type of film. It's not the greatest movie, but Poots shows off a vivacious personality and magnetism that’s carried her through crime films (Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth), action flicks (video game adaptation Need For Speed), and more esoteric artistic endeavors (Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups), as well as rom-coms like That Awkward Moment. While that may have been an ill-advised choice, it showcases her considerable onscreen charisma. And then there’s that accent…

Sarah Wright

Sarah Wright may have just signed up to star opposite Tom Cruise in a drama about a real life drug smuggler who became a CIA asset, but her resume is full-to-bursting with comedic roles. She played Rob Lowe’s love interest on Parks and Recreation for a stretch, though, admittedly, wasn’t given much to do aside from look pretty and break his heart. Her ditzy, self-absorbed best friend on the NBC sitcom Marry Me is already a type lifted right out of any number of romantic comedies, as could her turn in the Elizabeth Banks vehicle Walk of Shame. Bubbly and engaging, you could easily see her taking the next step and leading a studio rom-com, or even getting her very own shot at a rom-com style sitcom. Lord knows she’s appeared in enough, having shown up in a random episode of things like How I Met Your Mother, Mixology, and more.

Emma Roberts

Nancy Drew is growing up before our very eyes. Emma Roberts is attempting the delicate transition from child actor to grown up star—though she didn’t start off too innocent, as her first screen role was in Blow. Along the way, she has dabbled in R-rated comedy with We’re the Millers, and taken a major foray into horror with the likes of Scream 4, American Horror Story, and the upcoming Scream Queens. But we’re willing to bet that the former Nickelodeon star could rule the rom-com scene if she put her mind to it. She has an easy, effortless charm that serves her well across a wide array of genres, and looking for more adult roles (and to connect with an older audience), she could easily follow in the footsteps of a famous relative, her aunt Julia Roberts.

Taylor Swift

Everyone loves Taylor Swift. I know grizzled dudes in grindcore bands with long ass beards and hand tattoos who know all the words to "Shake it Off," "22," and "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together." (That’s a hoot at karaoke, by the way.) She only has a handful of acting credits to her name, most notably Valentine's Day and a small role in 2014’s dystopian young adult adaptation of The Giver. But she’s shown that she likes to have fun, and she’s game to try whatever (you’ve probably seen her dancing her ass off in the front row of every awards show ever). She’s personable and charming, and if she ever got in the right mood, she could use her America’s Sweetheart standing to knock out a string of romantic comedies that would break the bank. Somewhere there’s a studio exec praying for that right now.

Julianne Hough

Best known as a dancer and now a judge on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, Julianne Hough only has a few acting credits to her name right now, but she’s on a path that could lead her directly to rom-com stardom if she wants. She’s played to her singing and dancing strengths a few times, with the likes of Burlesque, Footloose, and Rock of Ages—she’s also slated to play Sandy in Grease: Live. With a Nicholas Sparks adaptation, Safe Haven with Josh Duhamel, on her resume, she branched out a bit, and she’s diving into comedy with Dirty Grandpa next year, starring opposite Zac Effron and Robert De Niro. She’s well known and likable enough that she seems poised to convert her reality show status and burgeoning acting career into full on romantic lead, if she so desires.

Brie Larson

Brie Larson is probably best recognized for her dramatic work, and rightfully so. She’s been incredible in recent indie dramas like Short Term 12 and The Spectacular Now, but she’s also no stranger to comedy and has proven herself to be one of the most versatile young actors working right now. From the bittersweet variety, in The United States of Tara, to the likes of Community and 21 Jump Street, she’s already appeared in a few rom-coms, like Don Jon and Judd Apatow’s upcoming Trainwreck. Larson has an undeniable charm and an instant congeniality that serves her well in these roles. You just like her, which is one of the most marketable qualities Meg Ryan brought to her roles in romantic comedy. No matter who she played, no matter the story, you just like her, and that goes a long way to connecting with the audience, and Larson has that, or at least something very similar. 

Good day, horror fans. Has anyone had to go back to the store to pick up more Halloween candy after eating the first batch, or is that just me? There isn’t too much going on in theaters around the country this past week, though the VOD scene lit up with the releases of both the meta-remake The Town That Dreaded Sundown and the awesome-looking New Zealand comedy horror Housebound.

In smaller news, Relativity has moved The Woman in Black: Angel of Death from January 30, 2015 to January 2, 2015. Making their way to Blu-ray from Shock Factory are a Lord of Illusions Director’s Cut, as well as the TV remake of Carrie and the big screen sequel The Rage: Carrie II. Universal has acquired and given an April 10, 2015 release date for the thriller Cybernatural, which will take place entirely on a computer screen. And now, they’re coming to get you, Barbra.

George Romero’s Son Wants to Carry on the Zombie Legacy

Like father, like son. Living Dead franchise creator George Romero’s son Cameron wants to tell the origin story of the zombie as his dad envisioned it, and he’s created an Indiegogo project to handle part of the funding. (George will be partially producing it.) Cameron is looking for $150,000 to fund it, and has already reached over $24,800 in just five days. It seems likely that this will get funded by the time its November 15th deadline hits. While part of me wants to balk at this, it is the sub-genre's godfather backing it, both in vision and in genetics. Check out the promotional Indiegogo video below.

Origins will take place in 1962 and will tell the story of Dr. Ryan Cartwright, who "was on the scientific and altruistic path to find a way for humans to sustain life in the event of M.A.D. (Mutual Assured Destruction), a huge topic brought on by the Cuban Missile Crisis." Cartwright eventually creates whatever sets the zombie outbreak in motion as a government project, thus hitting upon the socio-political angle that George Romero put into his zombie flicks. Regardless of whether you think this is a dumb idea or not, all it takes is $10,000 to make yourself a featured zombie death in the film. Totally worth it. Does the ability to tell quality zombie stories run in the Romero family?

Leatherface Prequel May Have Found its Directors

As you all may or may not know, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise is gearing up for its latest installment, titled Leatherface, and it will focus on the disturbed murderer’s teenage years. Prom king in the making, am I right? The screenplay is being written by first-timer Seth M. Sherwood, and the hunt for a director is on. According to Bloody Disgusting, Millennium Films is interested in giving the gig to one of two pairs of directing partners.

First are French directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, the duo most famous for 2007’s gorehound-friendly Inside (À l'intérieur). They’ve also directed the supernatural 2001 fantasy Livid and this year’s Among the Living, along with a segment in ABCs of Death 2 - so they’re absolutely capable of pulling off something that can get messy but still maintain a certain aesthetic. The other filmmakers in question are Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, the guys behind one of the summer’s most popular festival horrors, Starry Eyes. Previous to this, they directed the ultra-cheap 2009 thriller Absence (that I only know exists because of IMDb) and the documentary Postcards from the Edge: The Chuck Palahniuk Documentary. I can’t speak for what these two are capable of, though Starry Eyes hits theaters on November 14th. What are everyone’s thoughts on either of these pairs getting behind the camera?

Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots Have Joined A Killer Skinheads Thriller

Back in 2011, actors Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots starred together in Craig Gillespie’s Fright Night remake, and now they’re reteaming for the indie thriller Green Room. This will be the third feature for director Jeremy Saulnier, who directed the enjoyably bloody Murder Party and the stellar slow burn thriller Blue Ruin. The latter’s star, Macon Blair, has also joined Green Room’s cast, along with Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development), Mark Webber (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Callum Turner (Queen and Country) and Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders).

This sounds like another would-be generic thriller with a Saulnier twist. According to THR, Yelchin will play the lead singer of a punk band whose middle-of-nowhere concert takes a dangerous turn after the band witnesses a murder. The band soon becomes trapped inside the venue’s green room as a gang of skinheads tries to kill them. Poots will star as the friend of the person who is killed and switches friend groups from the skinheads to the band as the film goes on. Blue Ruin, though it had its faults, is a perfectly paced revenge story, and here’s hoping Saulnier only gets better from there.

Hangar 10 Echoes Area 51 in Conspiratorial New Trailer

I’ve often spent time in this column half-apologizing for the constant free pass I give found-footage and faux docs, and it’s happening again with Daniel Simpson’s Hangar 10 - which now has a spook-filled trailer. The premise focuses on the "famed" claims of UFO sightings in Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England, and the three main characters are metal detector enthusiasts who are searching for gold when they see and capture footage of the UFOs in action. Of course, that’s when things quickly go south for the group, as an alien presence makes their days numbered. Quite literally.

Simpson is a relative newcomer, having directed 2010’s Spiderhole, but Hangar 10 has a handful of decent producers who were behind some of the more jarring indie U.K. thrillers of the past decade. I love thrillers like this from across the pond, as there is usually a good hook beneath the stereotypical plot points. The characters don’t get on my nerves in the trailer, and I dig all the UFO stuff. That hardly equals a great feature, but as long as the flick doesn’t cause eye-rolls for its entire runtime, I’m game for the duration. Hangar 10 will touch down in theaters and on VOD on November 7.

Dark Summer Gets Creepy Trailer, Poster and Release Date

I was a big fan of Paul Solet’s 2009 horror Grace, though it certainly has its naysayers. I have a feeling his next film, Dark Summer, will split audiences in much the same way. IFC Midnight has acquired the North American rights to the film, which is described as "a stylized contemporary ghost story about a home-alone teenager on house arrest who experiences a terrifying experience." They’ll be putting it out in theaters and on VOD starting January 9, 2015. Check out the poster below and watch the film’s first trailer here.

Peter Stormare stars as a cop named Stokes who is looking after a teenager, Daniel (Keir Gilchrist), placed on house arrest. The kid is obsessed with finding this girl, but then he gets told, "You will feel what I feel," and then everything starts to go crazy for him. He’s haunted, I guess, and it’s a situation that calls for rhyming phrases and technological mayhem. If it’s anything like Grace, it’s going to go to some pretty dark places as often as possible. And at least it doesn’t also use a Ouija board.

"Hey, if this acting shit doesn’t work out for you, you could be a stunt man."

That's not exactly advice an actor wants to hear from his director when first stepping on to the set for his new movie, but coming from Scott Waugh, it's probably a compliment. A third-generation-stuntman who became a director with last year's Act of Valor, Waugh knows his way around a stunt better than just about anyone, which makes him ballsy enough to hire an actor like two-time Emmy winner Aaron Paul, strap him into a stunt car, and let him drive 120 mph on camera. The "acting shit" is still important-- Waugh compared Paul to action icon Steve McQueen multiple times-- but Need for Speed, an adaptation of the famous video game, is full of really fast cars and really big stunts. And bringing Paul in on that, as Waugh puts it, was "like giving a kid candy."

As fans of the video game know, the Need for Speed franchise doesn't have any story, which gave Waugh and screenwriters John and George Gatins free range to invent a new story that incorporates cross-country travel, a revenge plot, and of course a lot of car chases. Paul is Tobey Marshall, a car mechanic and street racer recently released after a prison stint for a crime he didn't commit. Seeking revenge on the man who framed him, Tobey drives cross-country to Los Angeles to participate in a famed underground street race, joined by Julia (Imogen Poots), a girl who knows a hell of a lot about cars herself. The production had already traveled to Utah, Atlanta, New York City and San Francisco before we caught up with them in Detroit back in June, shooting a scene in which Paul's character is actually trying to get the cops on his tail.

Yes, this ex-con wants the cops after him, and he does so first by driving at ridiculous speed around a downtown Detroit square, then setting off a serious car chase on Detroit's massive highways. Paul wasn't doing the stunt driving that day-- he and Poots pulled the car up in front of an office building, taunted a cop, and then drove out of frame to allow the real stunt drivers to take over (you can see a snippet of the stunt 25 seconds into this trailer). But catching up with both actors during their downtime, they were happy to brag about what they'd learned when putting themselves in Hollywood-style danger. Here's Imogen Poots, talking from a craft services tent set up in a parking lot a few blocks away:

And Paul, who spends much of the film behind the wheel, even got in some car training that doesn't even appear onscreen. Not that he was complaining about the extra work: "I learned how to drift around corners, do reverse 180s and 360s. I don't why they had me learn that. I don't do it in the film. But it was badass."

Paul and Poots both admitted Need for Speed was a "testosterone-driven set," and that all comes back to Waugh, who had directed real-life Navy SEALs for Act of Valor but had said, even before Need for Speed came along, that he wanted to bring his stunt skills to a car movie next:

Waugh grew up in the world of stuntmen-- his father is the famous Fred Waugh, and Scott stunted on Steven Spielberg's Hook as a child-- so talking to him on set, it's hard to get a sense from him of just how impressive these acts can be. Talk to co-writer John Gatins, on the other hand, and he will brag endlessly about the Detroit stunt called "The Grasshopper," which involves "a huge jump and all this other crazy stuff." Gatins, who says he's never worked on a movie with stunts like this, described the camaraderie among the death-defying stuntmen working in front of the camera:

Visiting the Need For Speed edit bay at the Bandito Brothers office in Los Angeles a few months later, it became extremely clear why the members of the stunt team became so serious just before getting to work. The 20 minutes of unfinished footage showed off all kinds of death-defying maneuvers like the aforementioned "Grasshopper" (which involved making a car drive across and over a grass embankment, causing the car to fly about 50 feet through the air); huge explosions; and even driving a car of a cliff and having it get caught by a helicopter.

As insane and impossible as those kinds of stunts seem, Waugh was adamant about making the film 100% realistic in its physics so that the audience can get their heads around the difference between real, practical action scenes and those constructed almost entirely out of CGI. Waugh worked as a stunt man on all of the Fast & Furious movies and and says he lamented how "99% of the time" the car work with the actors would take place on a green screen set, and joked that you can always tell which car is the star’s in a movie because it sits on a process trailer one foot off the ground. Getting the chance to direct his own car film the director decided he would not copy those strategies.

About more than just physics, using real cars on the road also meant that Waugh and his crew had to be creative with camera placement and cinematography in order to cinematically translate the reality of what the production was doing. The inside of a car is an extremely confined space that limits the number of coverage options available, and the director added that at this point we have seen so much fake car driving that it’s hard to distinguish it from reality. "I really wanted to make sure there were angles that really told you, ‘Yes, we’re really doing it,’" Waugh said. "So we really made sure all the angles really made you know that these guys are in the car and they’re really driving."

A big part of accomplishing that realism was actually having the film’s stars driving during stunts – but of course there were also certain limitations to that. Speaking with Paul at the edit bay, the actor lamented that he wasn’t the one in the driver’s seat when his car went for a helicopter ride – a gig he said he volunteered for– but there were other action sequences that he was more than happy to let the professionals take care of.

Need For Speed will be in theaters on March 14, 2014, and stay tuned in the next couple months to learn more about both our experiences on set and in the film’s edit bay.

The wrestlers grapple in the ring. The crowd goes wild. Then one wrestler grabs a hold of the other guy, launches him out of the ring entirely…and into Cybill Shepherd's lap.

It's the second to last day of production on Squirrels to the Nuts, the first narrative feature in a decade from Peter Bogdanovich, a straight-up legend who made The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon and, most recently the documentary Tom Petty: Runnin' Down A Dream. On this afternoon inside a boxing gym in Inwood, the northernmost neighborhood in Manhattan, Bogdanovich is maybe the quietest man in the room, wearing his customary neckerchief and stepping occasionally to Shepherd and her co-star Richard Lewis to give basic instructions. Dressed in a bright green muumuu and black cowboy hat, respectively, and seated in the front of a crowd of about 20 wrestling fans, the actors scream and cheer for the wrestlers for several takes-- Shepherd tosses in some "wring his neck" and "break him over your knee" motions.

The woman seated to the right of Shepherd is the mother of co-screenwriter Louise Stratten, who was married to Bogdanovich when they wrote the script together in the late 90s (they have since divorced but are working closely together on this film). Shepherd's first film role was in Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, and the two carried on a long relationship in addition to working together four more times. The film is stacked with cameos, from Paper Moon's Tatum O'Neal to Vanity Fair publisher Graydon Carter, and even people who have never worked with Bogdanovich wound up in the film through connections-- Owen Wilson suggested Jennifer Aniston, who suggested Kathryn Hahn, and all three play major roles. Returning to directing at an age, 74, when he could have easily retired, Bogdanovich seems to be surrounding himself with his favorite people from top to bottom-- and in some cases handing them roles they never thought were possible.

"It's a sight gag," Lewis explains to me about the wrestling scene as I hop into the van that will take him, me, Shepherd and a handful of others 20 blocks down the streets to the afternoon's next location. Squirrels to the Nuts, as you might have guessed by now, is not actually a movie about wrestling; the scene I watched them shoot is intended as a "where are they now?" tag for the very end of the film, in which we find Lewis and Shepherd's characters in their element-- at a down-and-dirty wrestling match. They play the parents of the film's actual central character, Izzy (Imogen Poots), a prostitute-- though her parents don't know it-- and an aspiring actress who starts a relationship with Owen Wilson's character, a Broadway director. WIlson's character launches Izzy into the rarefied world of Broadway and fancy New Yorkers, but she's still living at home with parents who, according to Lewis, are "unsophisticated morons." And that's exactly the way he likes it. A famous stand-up comedian who may be best known these days for playing himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Lewis seems ecstatic to get away from his "there's Richard, the neurotic" reputation. "It's really a pleasure to have my head empty of problems, just being stupid."

Poots is waiting at the second location, a small apartment under the George Washington Bridge meant to be her home with her parents in Brooklyn. She joined the cast when Brie Larson backed out, and is the freshest face of the bunch. She refuses to answer when I ask which high-profile co-star had her attention the most. "You can’t choose," she tells me over the phone a few weeks after that day in Washington Heights. "You’re just spoiled." Poots describes the film as a "like a farce, a kind of old-school nature where everything interlinks in one way or another," and compares the tone to behind-the-scenes comedies like Waiting For Guffman and Noises Off.

Why so many damn characters? "If you do a comedy with a lot of characters you don't have to stay with one of them too long," Bogdanovich tells me as the production sets up on the sidewalk outside the apartment. When he and Louise wrote the script together she planned to play the Izzy role, and Owen Wilson's part was written for John Ritter and Shepherd in line for the character's wife (now played by Kathryn Hahn). They even did a reading of the script at Ritter's house, but his commitment to the TV show 8 Simple Rules delayed production until Ritter's unexpected death in 2003. "We were both very close to John, and after that we didn't think to do it for a while," Bogdanovich explains. It took meeting Wilson, through mutual friend Wes Anderson, for Bogdanovich and Stratten to consider picking up the script again. " It was because of Owen that we thought of making the movie," Stratten tells me. Bogdanovich chimes in, "It was definitely because of Owen. He combines innocence with an attractiveness that's not overly sexual."

With Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Kathryn Hahn, Imogen Poots and Will Forte starring, Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach producing and the likes of Lewis, Shepherd, Debi Mazar, Lucy Punch and Rhys Ifans in supporting roles, Squirrels to the Nuts is star-studded right on the surface. A day on its set is even more so, from Shepherd telling me in the van that her muumuu was inspired by Hollywood super-agent Sue Mengers to Bogdanovich's story about the reading at John Ritter's house. Bogdanovich himself is walking film history-- knowing he only has about 10 minutes to talk before going back to work is killer, realizing just how many stories he could tell-- and his film seems like a blast from it too, a screwball comedy cut from the 1930s and stacked with comedic actors up to the challenge. "His stories are really incredible," Poots tells me about their first meeting, at the historic Palm Court restaurant in New York. "He knows the quirks and he has these sort of very personal stories from when he first met them and how they all kind of grew up together. It was a really fantastic insight that he gives you."

Squirrels to the Nuts wrapped production in August. We'll have more from the set, and from our conversations with everyone involved, closer to its release.

While I would love to start this story by telling you guys that director Sam Taylor-Johnson has already cast and filmed her adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey completely in secret, that just isn’t the case. We’re still being led down the long ball-gagged hallway of casting news, and today Variety has thrown a few new names into the mix - though at this point I wonder if they’re just choosing names by randomly pointing and clicking on IMDb. I doubt nothing these days.

On the male lead side of things, we recently reported that Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam was being eyed for the role of Christian Grey, but Variety says those initial reports were not confirmed, and that Hunnam and his reps actually denied the story. Apparently Hunnam actually passed on the project last week, but guess what? Now they’ve learned he is interested, and will probably meet with the film’s execs today (Or are they called sexecs?)

Hunnam fits right into the age group the studio looking for, after they decided to skew older following meeting with Divergent’s Theo James and Magic City’s Christian Cooke - both of whom are in their 20s. This is perhaps the only time in Hollywood’s history that younger isn’t seen as better.

Of course, they’re unsurprisingly still shooting for a young actress to star as Anastasia Steele. A couple of days ago, Dakota Johnson’s was named as a frontrunner for the role, but now she’s joined by three other actresses on the list of potential stars. The Descendants’ Shailene Woodley is reportedly in the mix, and she is joined by Anna Karenina’s Alicia Vikander and Jane Eyre’s Imogen Poots. Though these actresses have been namechecked by Taylor-Johnson herself, the producers aren’t denying that more actresses could still be brought in to read for the role.

Though neither Universal nor Focus Features have commented on the news, studio sources say that we shouldn't expect to hear about any official offers until after Labor Day. Nobody seems to be really worried about how long the casting process is taking, seeing as 50 Shades of Grey is a sexual romance and not a big budget, CGI-filled blockbuster that will need months of post-production work. It’s also not likely they'll need a ton of time to promote the feature, as just about everyone and their mother (especially their mother) has heard about the book and the adaptation.

What the studios really need to nail down is chemistry between the two leads, and it’s fine if they want to take their time with it. However, they need to fill one of the roles before they can do that.

Director Peter Bogdanovich is shuffling a few chairs on the deck of his upcoming show-business comedy, which currently is in production but still is in search of a title. The Wrap breaks the story that Brie Larson, star of Short Term 12 and 21 Jump Street, has left the ensemble, and has been replaced by Imogen Poots.

Early reports say that Bogdanovich’s film was working under the title She’s Funny That Way, and also Squirrels to Nuts, though there’s no mention of either name in the Wrap story. Instead, what’s confirmed are Poots’ co-stars. She’ll join Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Cybil Shepherd, Eugene Levy and Kathryn Hahn. The plot sounds like something lifted out of Wood\y Allen’s playbook, though, with Wilson playing a married Broadway producer who falls for a prostitute and agrees to make her the newest star of the Great White Way. Now, whether it’s true or not, I’m thinking of this project as Midnight In Paris by way of The Cat’s Meow. And that’s exactly what I hope we get out of the upcoming project.

Want to know another reason why we’re interested? Because in addition to this commendable cast and Bogdanovich behind the lens, the comedy is being co-produced by Noah Baumbach and Wes Anderson. Oh, now you’re listening, right? Baumbach, of course, is the creative mind behind fractured New York character character studies The Squid and the Whale and this year’s Frances Ha, which Katey Rich gave a near-perfect 4.5/5 stars. And Anderson’s resume is a laundry list of ideal ensemble comedies. I wonder if his involvement helped get Wilson on board, as they have worked together on numerous films like Bottle Rocket, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and my all-time favorite, The Darjeeling Limited.

Poots, meanwhile, has switched up genres over the course of her career, co-starring in period romances like Jane Eyre as well as horror remakes like Fright Night. She’s currently filming Need for Speed for director Scott Waugh, and reportedly has a role in Terence Malick’s Knight of Cups, though that’s never 100-percent confirmed until the Malick movie makes it into theaters in its final-cut phase.

The Wrap says that Poots has nabbed the key role in Bogdanovich’s movie as the prostitute who wins Wilson’s heart, earning her a shot at overnight stardom. Shepherd and comedian Richard Lewis will play her parents. Aniston is on board as a therapist in the movie, and Holly Wiersma is listed as a co-producer. The movie’s shooting in New York.

Sad that Larson’s no longer in the movie? I feel your pain. Make up for it by checking out the trailer for her latest, Short Term 12, which is fantastic. It’s in theaters, in limited release, as of the end of August.

It's not an easy thing to play the girlfriend. Hollywood history is littered with actresses who have been cast a few times opposite high-profile male co-stars, and who even started making a name for themselves, but were destined to fade after just a few shots at big-screen girlfriend status.

Imogen Poots, the 23-year-old British actress you may recognize from 28 Weeks Later or Jane Eyre, is on the rise, and that means-- you guessed it-- a lot of girlfriend parts. But in all of them, which includes the new film Greetings from Tim Buckley, you can see how she's making the most of it and turning these women not just into props for the male leads, but real characters. That's an especially hard job in Tim Buckley, in which Penn Badgley stars as a young Jeff Buckley, performing at a tribute concert for the father he barely knew, years before he would start his own music career and record the landmark album Grace. Poots plays a fictional character named Allie, a young woman helping put together the concert who falls for Jeff and accompanies him through his troubled journey into his own past with his father-- and, maybe, his bright (but brief) future.

The film is set in 1991, just 2 years after Poots was born, and I talked to her about getting into the film's 90s fashions and crafting Allie into a real person. She also talked happily about her work on three hugely exciting upcoming projects-- Are We Officially Dating? opposite Zac Efron, the video game adaptation Need for Speed with Aaron Paul, and the Terrence Malick project Knight of Cups, which she said was less like filming a movie and more like hanging out on a film set with Malick and Christian Bale for a week. Not too bad, right?

Greetings From Tim Buckley is currently in limited theaters and available on VOD; you can find out more about it here, and you can click here for my conversation with Poots's co-star Penn Badgley.

The fashion in this movie seems like exactly what people are wearing again. There’s like this weird cyclical thing.

I remember walking into the costume fitting for the movie and I was just like, “Yeah!” like I loved everything and I was pretty much wearing what they wanted us to be wearing. I think there’s just something so beautiful and dainty about the ‘90s stuff and then it’s juxtaposed with fucked up shit...

Because you’re not really quite old enough to remember that time, was there like a sense of discovery in there too, things from the early 90s you never would have known about because you were so young?

Exactly. It’s the weirdest thing. I remember the other day I put on like fishnets again or something or a shirt and I was like, “This feels so comfortable and familiar and I don’t know why,” but that’s why and it’s the same thing with music from that time. It just gets to you and you can’t deny it.

You’ve worked a lot and you’ve done a couple of period films. Is there something different when you’re going back into the recent past? Is there a different adjustment for that?

I think there is an adjustment for sure. As you said, I grew up during the 90s, but I really don’t remember much of it. It’s a thing where you can’t help but think to yourself, “Wow, this was happening when I was two. I was in the world when the story was taking place," and there’s a real magic to that because even though my character is fictional, that concert happened on that date in that church and then 21 years later, you’re going to be part of a film about it.

The girlfriend role is tricky all the time, but especially when you are in a story that’s about a real person, but your character is fictional. I think people can write those characters really thinly or they can just kind of be a stand in for the audience to help you learn about this guy. With this in particular and then for anything else, when you’re handed the girlfriend part, the love interest part that could be so thin, what do you do to make it interesting?

You could see, and I totally agree with this, that she is essentially a device to learn more about Jeff and bring that heartbeat to it in a very human way for the audience. She’s enigmatic in terms of where she’s actually from, but in terms of how she falls in love with him and how she wants to bring him out of himself, I think that’s something that speaks to you. And you just live that person’s life and you live their feelings and it was a real joy in way to just be like a voyeur in a sense to Penn’s Jeff. She was always on the sidelines in a way, but she’s always observing what’s going on, and I think you need that. When you’re playing somebody like Jeff Buckley, an icon, and so many people have their own opinions about him and you have to really make your mark on it. And I think it’s about playing the human and the boyfriend and the son and the father. It’s a way of making it real and so, in a way, once you’ve made it real, no one can take that away from you.

You're also playing a love interest in Are We Officially Dating. Is that a similar process of making the character real?

The story itself is fictional--I mean, the director wrote about his own experiences about his growing up time in New York--but in terms of being a love interest, you really never think about it that way. I think other people might, but I think you can kind of cheat yourself into making something very slim being transient, when actually a story like that, you can’t read too much into that. It’s a romance and it takes place in New York with kids post-college and it was something I wanted to be part of, because those characters, I recognize them. I’d seen them around and it was exciting to play that girl.

You work a lot, but I’m sure you turn down even more stuff. When you’re looking at four scripts in front of you where you’re playing the love interest or the girlfriend, how do you learn to figure out which one’s right for you?

There are some things that are just a no-brainers, like I did this film called A Late Quartet that had a phenomenal cast and that’s like you’re lucky enough to work with these guys. You have to go with your intuition and mistakes are made often when you don’t listen to that, when you listen to someone else. It’s really easy to do that, but no one else is going to know what’s on your mind when you go to sleep at night, so you’ve got to constantly make your own decisions otherwise you’re the one messing up.

t’s a funny thing and it’s a learning curve for sure and it’s never certain the choice you’re going to make is the right one, but you sort of have to live your life for you. I’m doing a film right now that I never would have expected I’d do, called Need for Speed. It’s based on a video game, which is crazy to me. I’m sort of like, “Do they know what they’ve done?” But I’m having a blast and I’ve never done anything like it before. If I could make movies about Jeff Buckley for the rest of my life, I would, but you want to have diversity too and that’s how you learn more and challenge yourself.

When you talk about trusting the director, I have to ask about Terrence Malick, because in one way it’s a slam dunk. he’s an amazing director. At the same time, when you’re an actor and you sign up for his movies, you agree that you don’t know how much you’re going to wind up in the final film and you do this acting and the final product is so different. How was it adjusting to that, since I assume even now you don’t know how much of the final movie you’ll be in.

Oh, absolutely. I never really think about Knight of Cups, “Oh, I made a movie with Terrence Malick.” It’s more like I went and hung out on one of his film sets for a week with Christian Bale, who’s an incredible actor and a wonderful person. That’s the way you really look at it because it’s such an experience. Just talking to someone like him is so important and he really kind of encourages curiosity, and I think if you go into something like that with an open mind, you know, there’s nothing to lose really. Of course, it’s different than something like a studio film. If you get cut out of that one, it’s really a huge problem.

I think you sign contracts that keep that from happening on something like Need for Speed.

Exactly, but with Malick, it’s far more, it’s a art form essentially and you do what you can and you have a great time and you learn and you try to be as generous as you can and have a blast.

Do you have to learn how to interact with the camera differently when you're working on his movies?

I think it’s just something you experience. It’s really something else working with him, because you don’t necessarily question it. You just go along with him and I think that’s the idea. That’s why people are so excited to work with him because you have to put yourself out on a limb, but it’s the same for anything in life. If you don’t fully commit to it, you kind of half-believe in it or something, it’s not authentic and then it kind of cheapens everything. I think he’s really about, you know, you take it as far as you want to take it and in terms of the actual film set and how it’s run, I think it’s different from set to set.

Because the end of Captain America: The First Avenger turned Steve Rogers into a capsicle for 70 years, it was pretty obvious that Haley Atwell’s role as Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be reduced to a one-time thing (barring any cameos with her in old age makeup). That said, Cap is still a young guy in the post-Avengers world and is going to need a female lead to keep things interesting. Add the latest rumor about Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Deadline has apparently gotten its hands on the list of actresses testing for the romantic interest in the upcoming superhero sequel. According to the site, Marvel Studios is currently testing "Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke, Downton Abbey’s Jessica Findlay Brown, Warm Bodies’ Teresa Palmer, Knight Of Cups’ Imogen Poots and The Five Year Engagement‘s Alison Brie" for the part.

But whoever it may be, it’s possible she won’t be the only major female character in the movie. The source of the news is also hearing that Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow may play a role in the movie as well. As of now few details are known about the movie, but Joe and Anthony Russo are set to direct and in addition to Chris Evans the movie will also feature Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie.

Brie is an interesting name to see on this list, as the Russo’s are executive producers on and have directed many episodes of Community. I’d personally love to see her get the part, as she’s been great in everything she’s in, from The Five Year Engagement to Mad Men.

But what do you think? Of the actresses above who would you want to see play the female lead in Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Let us know in the comments section.

Though we're all excited to see the return of Captain America in his sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the movie will be missing a lot of what made the first one so fun. As we all know thanks to The Avengers, Captain America is now living in modern times, and though his 1940s values and sense of right and wrong intact, familiar figures like his love Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), his mentor Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and his best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) are all long gone… or are they?

As you might have heard, the title Winter Soldier suggest Bucky will be making a comeback as a bad guy, and now they're coming up with a way to keep Peggy Carter alive, at least in spirit. The New York Post reports that Anna Kendrick, Imogen Poots and Felicity Jones currently make up the shortlist for the lead in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Though they're not specifying the role, a quick look at the physical similarities between all three of them and Hayley Atwell-- plus the fact that Cap's love interest in the Winter Soldier arc of the comics is Sharon Carter, Peggy's niece-- makes things pretty clear.

In the comics, at least, Bucky/Winter Soldier kidnaps Sharon, which helps Cap identify the villain as his former friend. But who knows what directors Joe and Anthony Russo are planning for the story this time around, so don't count on anything just yet. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is set for release on April 4, 2014, which means the production is probably moving fast to get the cast in place. Poots and Jones ought to have an advantage from being British, as Carter is, but never rule out Kendrick, who snagged an Oscar nomination for her first major role in Up in the Air, and seems tenacious enough to tackle a natural British accent in no time. If the Post's shortlist turns out to be true, though, we should count on one of the three of them snagging the role very soon.

Think you know Eva Green from The Golden Compass or maybe Casino Royale? Think again. Actually, if you’re a fan of the show Camelot, you might already have a sense of what Green is capable of. As she put it herself in an interview with Collider, her character isn’t evil, “I see her more as damaged,” and that idea of misinterpreted malevolence is certainly present in Green’s latest film, Cracks.

Green plays Miss G, a teacher and diving coach at an all-girls boarding school. She is so close to the girls on her team, she practically becomes like a mother to them – or maybe a sister – or perhaps a friend. That’s exactly Miss G’s problem; she has a hard time figuring out how close is too close, and when she’s pushing the limits when it comes imparting her own philosophies on the girls. When she gets a new recruit, a young Spanish girl named Fiamma (Maria Valverde), Miss G’s boundaries crumble entirely and the results are devastating.

This role would certainly be a challenge for any actress, but director Jordan Scott was confident enough in her abilities to forgo the audition process and go straight for Green. Still, being able to bring Miss G to life was going to take a lot of time and energy from every front – rehearsals, hair and makeup, wardrobe and more. In honor of the film’s March 18th release, Green sat down to tell us all about inhabiting Miss G’s twisted mind. Check it all out in the video interview below.

Now that the casting of Sony’s new Spider-Man is out of the way (in case you haven’t heard it’s Andrew Garfield), the rumor mill can turn its attention to playing guess the girlfriend. Because when it comes to superhero movies, that seems to be all women are good for in Hollywood. Playing girlfriends. Here’s hoping Scarlett Johansson can turn her Black Widow character from Iron Man 2 into something worthwhile. Until then, let’s see if we can figure out who’s going to get to kiss Spidey while he hangs upside down in the rain.

THR claims to have a line on who Sony’s letting director Marc Webb consider for the movie’s female lead. That lead, by the way, is definitely not Mary Jane Watson. So at least that’s one aspect of this reboot that won’t be repetitive and boring. Unless of course it’s Gwen Stacey, which is possible. But it’s definitely not Mary Jane, tiger.

So who’s up for the part? Not Mary Elizabeth Winstead. They say she’s out of the running, though I’m not sure who thought she was in. Scott Pilgrim’s flop couldn’t have helped. Here’s who is in contention:

Imogen Poots: This 21-year-old Brit was in V for Vendetta and 28 Weeks Later in smaller roles. Now she’s shooting Fright Night. I’m rooting for her, but only because her name is sure to get a laugh during Spider-Man: The Do-Over’s opening credits.

Ophelia Lovibond: Nice try with the funny name, but Lovibond is no Poots. This 24-year-old Brit has been in more than 20 movies and television shows, almost none of which you’re likely to have seen.

Lily Collins: THR misspells her name in their story, which tells you just how well known she is. Lily’s a 21-year-old Brit who you might have seen in The Blind Side as “Collins”.

Teresa Palmer: She’s a 24-year-old Australian who’s been rumored for almost every superhero movie in existence, but never actually made it into any of them. Most recently she had a part in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Emma Roberts: She’s Emma Roberts and she’s 19. The only actress on this list who’s really much of a “name”. She’s Julia Roberts’ niece and she’s had starring roles in movies like Valentine’s Day, The Winning Season (where she’s great), and Hotel for Dogs. She’s also the only American on this list.

My pick is Emma, and not because she’s recognizable. Truthfully, most of the other actresses have mostly done movies where they were hired because they’re pretty. Emma Roberts has actually done real, leading actress work and been good at it. She’s great in The Winning Season and in addition to the kid stuff she’s done she’s done acting-heavy indie movies like Lymelife. She can act. She’ll be great. She’s also American and it’s bad enough that Andrew Garfield is half a Brit, it’d be a little weird if the entire cast of one of the most well known, all-American superheroes is British. Or at least it would be weird if anyone cared about this horrible idea for a movie. Which they don’t. Sorry, I had to throw that in. Carry on.