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Saoirse RonanSaoirse Ronan felt "really disappointed" to turn down a role in The Hobbit.

The 19-year-old actress was rumored to be starring in the three part fantasy adventure, directed by Peter Jackson - whom she had previously worked with on The Lovely Bones - but decided it would be better to focus on other projects.

"There was talks about me playing the wood elf Itaril but I had to turn it down. I was really disappointed but there were other projects I had to consider and to spend a year doing The Hobbit wouldn't have left me time for anything else," she said.

The Irish star is currently filming Ryan Gosling's How to Catch a Monster, which she is finding "a bit twisted," and also has a string of other films in the pipeline. "I'm filming How to Catch a Monster, which is Ryan Gosling's writing and directing debut and it's cool, dark and a bit twisted, too. It's about an underwater town, and the struggles of the characters living in this dilapidated place. And I'm in Violet & Daisy, in which I play a hit girl. How I live Now and The Grand Budapest Hotel are all coming out in the next year. Then I'm due to play Mary Queen of Scots in a movie about her starting soon," she said.


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Isla FisherIsla Fisher received "no helping hand" when trying to become an actress. The Confessions of a Shopaholic actress admits she struggled to gain recognition when she first moved to Hollywood and was even snubbed by the agent who represented her husband, then-boyfriend, Sacha Baron Cohen after she was fired by her own representative.

"I really have had no help. In fact, the one time I did ask for help was after my agent in LA fired me. I was auditioning for all sorts of things but kept getting told 'no,' so she just fired me! So anyway, I said to Sacha, who was my boyfriend at the time, 'Can you ask your agent if they'll represent me?' And his agent said, 'No way.' It was the only favor I'd ever asked, and I was like, 'OK... great.' But it spurred me on. I've had no helping hand in Hollywood. But in general I've found that when it comes to getting jobs, what's meant for you can't pass you by."

Click to continue reading Isla Fisher: I Had No Helping Hand in Hollywood


Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn

"Before they started shooting, back in 2008, one of the producers did ask if I would be interested. I said, 'You do know, don't you, that Aragorn isn't in The Hobbit? That there is a 60-year gap between the books?'"

- Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen shares why he wasn't in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (in which LOTR castmates Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood appeared).

(Make sure to check out other notable quotes.)

Read More | Huffington Post

Emma WatsonEmma Watson constantly feels "inadequate" as an actress.

The 23-year-old actress lacks confidence when it comes to her abilities and always worries about being labelled a "fraud," despite finding success as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise and then acclaim for other roles, most recently The Bling Ring.

"It's called the impostor syndrome. It's almost like the better I do, the more my feeling of inadequacy actually increases, because I'm just going, 'Any moment, someone's going to find out I'm a total fraud, and that I don't deserve any of what I've achieved.' I can't possibly live up to what everyone thinks I am and what everyone's expectations of me are," she said.

Emma credits The Perks of Being a Wallflower director Stephen Chbosky for giving her confidence by casting her in the coming-of-age movie and helping her shake off the good girl stereotype she gained playing Hermione from the tender age of nine: "After Harry Potter I didn't feel very confident in myself as an actor. It's lucky that I've improved that now, but back then I needed someone to believe in me, and Stephen really did."

Click to continue reading Emma Watson Feels Inadequate About Acting Skills


Louis LeterrierMaking the press rounds for the release of his latest picture, magician heist thriller Now You See Me, director Louis Leterrier has opened up about his past Hollywood blockbusters The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans - including what he feels went wrong with them.

Though Leterrier was quick to dispel rumors that he didn't get along with The Incredible Hulk star Edward Norton (who is said to have offered substantial revisions to the screenplay), but he did reveal that the largest problem he faced was beginning to direct a film without a script! "[Marvel/producers] were like, 'Oh, welcome, welcome. Great news, Louis. We just got a release date. It's a year from now.' I'm like, 'Fantastic, we have to go. Where's the script?' They said, 'Actually, that's the problem, we don't have a script.' ...I've started movies without screenplays both on Clash and on Hulk and that is tremendously stressful, because you have a tendency to overcompensate with effects," Leterrier explained.

Leterrier also admitted that Joss Whedon was not alone in picturing Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk: "I actually wanted to cast Mark Ruffalo as Hulk and Marvel was like "No, you should get Edward Norton because he's more famous."

Click to continue reading Louis Leterrier Talks ‘Hulk,’ ‘Clash of the Titans’ Failures

Read More | Huffington Post

Leonardo DiCaprioLeonardo DiCaprio worries directing movies would make him even more "obsessive."

The Great Gatsby star already becomes consumed by acting roles and is cautious about following in the footsteps of fellow actors turned directors such as Ben Affleck and James Franco because he fears that stepping behind the camera will be too much for him.

"I've been talking about directing a lot. But I'm still not sure I'm going to do it. When you're a director you have so many different elements you need to be in control of. I get very obsessive when I do movies and it encompasses my life. And I don't know how I'd react to 200 different people asking me questions. I might spiral off into some other dimension of obsessiveness. For now, playing the character and being responsible for myself is what I'm doing."

Despite his reservations, the 38-year-old Hollywood star thinks directing will always be interesting to him and he can imagine trying it at some point in the future. In an interview with the new Australian edition of GQ magazine, he said, "You never know. I might give it a try because it does seem fun."


Johnny DeppJohnny Depp has been hiring homeless people to play extras in his latest movie.

The 49-year-old actor convinced the casting director of his forthcoming sci-fi thriller Transcendence - which sees him star opposite Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Rebecca Hall - to employ two people living on the streets after he spotted them while out and about in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"Johnny always likes to help out the community when on location. While scouting out the area around Albuquerque, he came across these two characters. He was straight on the phone to the casting director," a source said.

It is not the first time Johnny has helped out people living on the streets after he bought a hat from a homeless person in 2011 to add to his vast collection of headgear. However, Vanessa Paradis - the Pirates of the Caribbean star's partner at the time although they split last June after 14 years together - was said to be furious at the Hollywood actor for purchasing so many hats. "Vanessa was livid and told him the hats had to go or she would trash them. But he's way too fond of them, so he'll move the bulk of the collection to one of their other homes," a source said at the time.


Roman Polanski with his wife at CannesFor someone already accused of a serious sex crime here in the States, director Roman Polanski probably should have kept his recent comments at the Cannes Film Festival to himself.

The 79 year-old auteur has come under fire for his sexist remarks made at the film festival, where he is promoting his latest movie Venus in Fur. When asked how his view of women has changed over the years, Polanski uttered some eyebrow-raising words:

“Offering flowers to a lady has become indecent. I think to level the genders — it’s purely idiotic. I think it’s a result… of progress in medicine. I think that the Pill has changed greatly the woman of our times, ‘masculinizing’ her — how would you say it? [...] I think that it chases away the romance from our lives and that’s a great pity.”

As if he didn't already have enough people up in arms against him for the allegations made against him regarding the minor, Polanski surely now has many women signed up to boycott his work. Is anyone else wondering what his wife Emmanuelle Seigner thinks of all this?

Read More | Jezebel

Fast & Furious 6

More folks preferred thrill to laughs this Memorial Day weekend, pushing Fast & Furious 6 to number one at the box office over The Hangover: Part III.

The car-centric thriller garnered $98.5 million, while the finale to The Hangover series placed second with $42.4 million (both films debuted this weekend). Star Trek Into Darkness fell two spots from number one, having only earned $38 million. The animated family film Epic also hit theaters for the first time this weekend, placing fourth with $34.2 million. Finally, Iron Man 3 placed fifth with $19.4 million, having dropped two places from last week.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: ‘Fast & Furious 6’ Finishes at the Top

Read More | Box Office Mojo

Nicolas Winding Refn with Kristin Scott ThomasThough Ryan Gosling wasn't at Cannes to share the brunt of the boos following the premiere of Only God Forgives, director Nicolas Winding Refn kept his cool about the negative response to their film.

When asked about whether or not he was aware of his movie being booed, Refn's initial response was, "Oh, cool." When pressed further about how he could be happy about it, the Danish filmmaker expressed that he still didn't care all that much:

"I mean, how can I expect someone to not react like this when on one hand you are dropping what you do in everyone’s face and at the same time saying, 'Love me, please,' you know? You’re going to get that. You know, great art — horrible thing to say — but art is meant to divide, because if it doesn’t divide, it doesn’t penetrate, and if it doesn’t penetrate, you just consume it."

You can judge Only God Forgives for yourself when it hits theaters July 19.

Read More | Vulture

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