OK, so you might not be familiar with Carano just yet. But once you realize that she stomps into “Haywire” and absolutely steals it away from the likes of Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender and Channing Tatum, you’re going to sit forward and start to pay attention. Ms. Carano commands that level of respect and, in time, we believe she’ll earn what’s coming to her. Even if she has to physically take down every single person in Hollywood. One. Man. At. A. Time.

Carano couldn’t have been nicer during a recent conversation, though, about unique “Haywire” training, the fighting styles of her male co-stars, and her desire to be the next James Bond. Here’s Gina Carano:

HollywoodNews.com: I just saw the film this morning.

Gina Carano: Oh, just this morning?

HollywoodNews.com: I did.

It’s so funny, because they keep screening it for different people at different times, no one’s going to be left to go buy a ticket. [Laughs]

HollywoodNews.com: Believe me, I’m going to tell a lot of people to go buy a ticket. The thing that struck me about “Haywire” is just how possible, how grounded, and how realistic all of the action is. I call it the anti-“Salt.” How much did you discuss with your director not going too far and keeping people rooted in reality?

Well, that is all Steven Soderbergh’s plan. He is authentic and real. He told me that he wanted this story to come across as something that could happen, and that people could believe in. It’s really nice to have a man with a great vision. And there really has been a great response from people who say they find it very realistic.

HollywoodNews.com: I think it was during the rooftop chase in Dublin, which does take a long time, that I finally stopped and thought, “Well, yeah, it would actually take this person this long to get away from that many people.”

And do you know what’s so funny is that he actually cut that scene down a lot. He just enjoyed watching me run, I guess. [Laughs] But the studio told him, “It’s a little long.” So that was actually cut back tremendously.

HollywoodNews.com: On the DVD, I want to see the entire sequence.

We’re actually going to have a lot of cool stuff on the DVD because there were a lot of fun things that went into the making of this movie.

HollywoodNews.com: I came out of the latest “Mission: Impossible” movie the other day …

How is that? I really want to see it.

HollywoodNews.com: Oh, it’s terrific. But driving home, it made me feel different. For a few minutes, before I allowed myself to disconnect, I felt like a character in that movie. How, then, do you disconnect after actually playing a character in a realistic, gritty action movie? Does it change how you do things? How you view the world?

Well, absolutely. Actually, Soderbergh paired me with a man named Aaron Cohen [credited as a “technical advisor”], and he’s ex-Mossad. This man went so far as to putting a GPS tracker on my car and we were playing little war games in Los Angeles.

I remember I was coming out of the hair salon and he showed up. We had these little blue guns that we were supposed to carry on us – and I mean me, Ewan, Channing and Fassbender – and if he ever snuck up on us anywhere in L.A., we were supposed to pull our guns and beat him to it. He did this outside of a hair salon, where I’m feeling really good. I’d just had my hair done! [Laughs] And I completely fumbled it and lost that game.

HollywoodNews.com: How long did that go on?

Almost seven weeks! And he had me trailing poor, innocent soccer moms. I mean, these poor people. I had to trail them around Los Angeles without letting them catch on to the fact that I was following them. And then, halfway through the day, he’d say to me, “Oh yeah, and you’re being followed as well.” So I’d have to figure how who was stalking me, pretty much. I think that was Soderbergh’s way of brainwashing me into the role that is Mallory Kane.

HollywoodNews.com: I love that, though. That’s so awesome.

I know. I realized that it was just like playing war with a bunch of 12-year-old boys. It was a brilliant way for Soderbergh to get me into this role.

HollywoodNews.com: OK, so, which of you male co-stars hits the hardest?

They all have their different physicality about them. Channing is extremely strong and athletic. Fassbender is extremely tricky and kind of one of those … what’s the word I’m thinking of?

HollywoodNews.com: Dirty. You want to say dirty.

[Laughs] Yes, Fassbender would be a dirty fighter. That’s what it is. And then Ewan McGregor was just so intelligent. He picked up the techniques very quickly. So they all had their strengths about them that would make them a dangerous fighter.

HollywoodNews.com: I thought that they wanted Ewan for James Bond at one point?

I actually think they’d like Fassbender now.

HollywoodNews.com: Forget that. Let’s put you in Bond.

I know! Haven’t we reached that point where the female can take the Bond character and just have a litter of very attractive men that are the Bond men?

HollywoodNews.com: Listen, after seeing “Haywire,” I’m convinced that can happen.

Steven Soderbergh’s “Haywire” stars Gina Carano, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender. It opens everywhere on Jan. 20.

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Now say this out loud. Christopher Plummer has only one Oscar nomination, and he received it in 2009 for “The Last Station.”

That’s a crime. But it likely could be rectified on Jan. 24, when the legendary actor (hopefully) will be recognized for his work on Mike Mills’ “Beginners.” Plummer plays Hal Fields, a closeted homosexual who finally comes out after his wife passes away … creating problems for his son (Ewan McGregor).

Plummer has been active on the awards trail, picking up nominations – and wins – from the BFCA, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Independent Spirit Awards, the L.A. Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review and the Screen Actors Guild or his tender, honest portrayal. But his awards journey started at the Hollywood Film Awards, which we handed out in October.

At our ceremony, Plummer was recognized with this year’s Hollywood Supporting Actor Award. He gave one of the evening’s most charming speeches (matched only by McGregor’s introduction for his delightful co-star). Plummer is enjoying a very successful awards campaign for “Beginners.” We anticipate it continuing, and we wish him the best of luck.

Awards Alley brings you the best Oscar coverage. Click below to read our exclusive interviews with:
- Harvey Weinstein
- The cast of “The Artist.”
- Kenneth Branagh for “My Week With Marilyn.”
- Bennett Miller talks “Moneyball.”
- Sir Ben Kingsley and Chloe Grace Moretz for “Hugo.”
- Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin.”
- David Fincher, Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara on “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”
- Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer for “The Help.”
- Tate Taylor for “The Help.”
- Gavin O’Connor for “Warrior.”
- Gary Oldman and Colin Firth for “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.”
- Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody for “Young Adult.”
- Steve McQueen for “Shame.”
- Glenn Close for “Albert Nobbs.”
- Seth Rogen and Will Reiser for “50/50.”

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By Greg Hernandez

HollywoodNews.com: It’s great to see the terrific film Beginners getting some awards attention. It’s the story of a father (Christopher Plummer) and son (Ewan McGregor) and what happens when the father comes out late in life.

McGregor talked to Frontiers IN LA about the movie, his popularity with gay audiences and more. Here is an excerpt:

In Beginners, your character goes through a process that’s almost like a rediscovery of his father when Christopher Plummer’s character comes out at the age of 75. Did you personally discover anything about the gay community through the making of the film that you hadn’t known beforehand?

I learned a lot about American gay history, because I think Mike [Mills, the film’s director] really beautifully explores it in the montages where he’s looking back at his father’s life as a young gay man in the early ‘50s, with an aim to try to understand what that might be like and why his father made the choices that he made. He makes it very real, that history, and it doesn’t feel like a history lesson. It’s an exploration of his dad’s younger years. And then how not very long ago gay men were being thrown into the back of police trucks and arrested for going to gay coffee shops. That sort of stuff I found very interesting—how recently it happened, when it seems so long ago.

You’re a very popular actor among the gay community for many reasons, but primarily because you appear in films and roles that really speak to gay men. How do you choose which roles you take on?
Well, it’s just a very gut process really. I’m not very complicated about it—if I find a script I don’t want to put down and I like that it’s firing my imagination and I start to see myself in that role, and it’s about something I’m interested to talk about, then I’ll do it. It’s kinda as simple as that really. I try not to make it anymore complicated than that.

http://www.halamovie.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/201105/87e1e_i-love-you-phillip-morris—official-still.jpgOccasionally it does [get more complicated]—I suppose the more you do it, the more you start thinking about directors. You know, I’ve made a lot of films, and you start thinking, “Well OK, now I want to make really good films.” You try to narrow down the possibilities of them not being good, so I suppose nowadays I take more note about the directors. But then again, if I love a script and it’s a first-time director, I’ll probably still do it because that first-time director is probably firing at 110 percent.

In regards to the gay community and myself, I’m delighted, but I’m just interested in people and life. I’m interested in sexuality and sex, relationships and love and what makes us tick, and it doesn’t matter whether that’s heterosexual or gay romance. I don’t really mind it, I just find it interesting. I’ve never really gone out to try to play a gay person, because I don’t really believe you could do that, and if you did, it wouldn’t be a very good portrayal of anybody. So I go out to play a person, and their sexuality is a part of what makes them up—of course, it’s a very important part of what makes us up, but it’s not everything—it’s not.

To read more go to greginhollywood.com

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Plummer, an Academy Award nominee for his recent performance in “The Last Station,” has been enjoying even more awards chatter as of late for his turn as Hal, a closeted gay man who didn’t choose to come out until his wife passed away … much to the surprise of his son (Ewan McGregor).

Plummer, who can be seen in “Barrymore” and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” later this year, will be on hand to accept the award.

His bio is below:

Christopher Plummer has long been one of the most respected actors in theater and film. In 2008, Alfred A. Knopf published Plummer’s memoir, “In Spite of Myself,” which became one of the most acclaimed autobiographies of recent years. He has also written for the stage, television, and the concert hall.

Mr. Plummer’s first film was Sidney Lumet’s “Stage Struck,” with Henry Fonda and Susan Strasberg. His notable movies since then have included John Huston’s “The Man Who Would Be King,” in which he portrayed author Rudyard Kipling, Anthony Mann’s “The Fall of The Roman Empire,” Guy Hamilton’s “Battle of Britain,” Sergei Bondarchuk’s “Waterloo,” Nicholas Ray’s “Wind Across the Everglades,” Robert Mulligan’s “Inside Daisy Clover,” Robert Wise’s Academy Award-winning “The Sound of Music,” opposite Julie Andrews, Blake Edwards’ “The Return of the Pink Panther,” with Peter Sellers, Daryl Duke’s “The Silent Partner,” Bob Clark’s “Murder by Decree,” in which he played Sherlock Holmes and for which he won the Genie Award (Canada’s Oscar equivalent) for Best Actor, Jeannot Szwarc’s “Somewhere in Time,” with Christopher Reeve; Nicholas Meyer’s “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” and “Inside Man,” Taylor Hackford’s “Dolores Claiborne,” Terry Gilliam’s “Twelve Monkeys” and “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Ron Howard’s Academy Award-winning “A Beautiful Mind,” Atom Egoyan’s “Ararat,” Douglas McGrath’s “Nicholas Nickleby,” Jon Turteltaub’s “National Treasure,” Gary David Goldberg’s “Must Love Dogs,” Stephen Gaghan’s “Syriana,” Terrence Malick’s “The New World,” Michael Schroeder’s “Man in the Chair,” for which Mr. Plummer was named Best Actor at the Palm Beach International Film Festival; and Michael Mann’s “The Insider,” as Mike Wallace.

For his portrayal of novelist Leo Tolstoy, opposite Helen Mirren, in “The Last Station,” written and directed by Michael Hoffman, Mr. Plummer received Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Spirit Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Most recently, he was seen starring alongside Ewan McGregor in writer/director Mike Mills acclaimed comedy/drama “Beginners.”

He again stars as the legendary John Barrymore in the feature “Barrymore,” directed and adapted by Erik Canuel from the William Luce play for which Mr. Plummer won a Tony Award. The film recently premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Next he will star with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” due out in December 2011.

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Rodrigo Santoro is the latest actor joining a comedic ensemble that will adapt the popular parent handbook “What To Expect When You’re Expecting” into a major motion picture. He’ll co-star alongside Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock, Anna Kendrick and Brooklyn Decker in the Lionsgate feature.

Santoro is best known for his part in “300” and the black comedy “I Love You, Phillip Morris” with Ewan McGregor and Jim Carrey. THR report that he’ll play Lopez’s husband in the comedy, a man who “isn’t quite ready to have a child but goes along with his wife’s plan to adopt.”

The film will be out sometime next year.

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Today, MTV News hosts the premiere of “Moulin Rouge At 10: A Spectacular Spectacular MTV News Event” that reunites Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Luhrmann and other key players behind the Oscar-winning movie on occasion of its 10-year anniversary.

The special first will air on Monday, May 2, at 3 p.m. ET on MTV.com. It will be hosted by MTV News’ Josh Horowitz, and will include “special appearances, live interviews, and take a look back at how the film came to be and how its legacy continues to grow,” according to a release.

Fans are being asked to submit questions for Luhrmann and his cast via the @MTVNews Twitter handle utilizing the hashtag #AskMoulin.

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Chris Colfer and Mike O’Malley of “Glee” accepted the award with “Modern Family’s” Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Julie Bowen and Ariel Winter at the 22nd Annual Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Awards, held at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles, according to THR.

Other winners on the eveing included Lifetime’s “Project Runway” as outstanding reality program; “I Love You Phillip Morris,” starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, as outstanding film — limited release; and MSNBC’s “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” as outstanding TV journalism segment for its “Fort Worth Speech.”

THR also reports that NBC Entertainment president Robert Greenblatt “was presented with the Stephen F. Folzak Award, which is presented to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a difference in promoting equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.”

“I’m in a position to get things through a process and get them on the air. So, that’s what I’m going to try to do,” Greenblatt said. “I wish that the success of ‘Queer as Folk’ and ‘L Word’ had spawned dozens and dozens of shows all across the TV landscape that had all kinds of gay characters. There are gay characters in various shows here and there. But I think it’s a process. Some years it sort of pushes forward and some years it doesn’t.”

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By Greg Hernandez

HollywoodNews.com: If you missed the drama ‘I Love You Phillip Morris’ starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor – which was easy to do since it never got past limited release – now is your chance to catch it on DVD.

The film focuses on a love affair between a con man (Carrey) and his cellmate (McGregor). Carrey’s character commits all kinds of crazy misdeeds, like breaking out of Texas prisons four times, to be with his lover.

Carrey played Steven Russell, a man who leads a seemingly average life – an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie (Leslie Mann), and a member of the local police force.

Steven has a severe car accident that leads him to the ultimate epiphany: he’s gay and he’s going to live life to the fullest – even if he has to break the law to do it. Taking on an extravagant lifestyle, Steven turns to cons and fraud to make ends meet and is eventually sent to the State Penitentiary where he meets the love of his life, a sensitive, soft-spoken man named Phillip Morris (McGregor). His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts him to attempt (and often succeed at) one impossible con after another.

‘Morris’ premiered to raves at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 but was stuck in a prolonged distribution nightmare. It finally hit theaters Dec. 3, never made it into wide release, and grossed just under $2 million domestically.

In an interview with ‘Parade’ magazine, it seemed clear that both actors went into the project with commitment and open minds.

Carrey said starring with McGregor was “a dream come true. I mean, look at the guy. I have to say, he is a great kisser. As Ewan said, ‘When you’re kissing another guy it can get a little prickly.’ Actually, you had to put out of your mind your own sexual preference and just try to understand that you were loving another person who just happens to be a guy. It wasn’t about male or female, love is love.”

McGregor told the ‘Los Angeles Times’ that not only did he not mind kissing Carrey, he “quite liked it.”

“It’s a love story, an escape movie and a comedy, all about this man who goes to incredible lengths to be with the man he loves,” he said. “I like it because it’s a gay film, which is to say it’s a film about two men in love, and I think that’s an important element of it. But it’s not a film about them being gay. They just happen to be gay. I also got to French kiss Jim Carrey a lot, and I quite like that too.”

I saw the film at Grauman’s Chinese 6 in Hollywood in December with a friend who really hated it.

To read more about this article go to Greg In Hollywood.

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hollywoodnews.com: Monday night at 8pm, everyone’s favorite Pet Detective finally sits down with James Lipton for Inside the Actors Studio. With recent praise for I Love You Phillip Morris and his upcoming hosting gig on SNL, you can bet this is something worth watching (based on these previews, this may just live on my DVR to watch again and again)!

* Jim Carrey, I love you Phillip Morris: Jim Carrey shares his thoughts on making this film as well as how he and Ewan McGregor prepared for it.

* Jim Carrey, Ace Ventura: What does Ace Ventura and Hannibal Lector have in common? Find out! http://ww

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By Greg Hernandez

HollywoodNews.com: The Writers Guild of America threw a major kudo at the largely-overlooked big screen comedy ‘I Love You Phillip Morris’ which stars Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as lovers who meet in prison.

John Requa & Glenn Ficarra are among the five nominees in the adapted screenplay category for their script which was based on the book by Steven McVicker.

Their competition is ’127 Hours’ by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; ‘The Social Network’ by Aaron Sorkin; ‘The Town’ by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard and ‘True Grit’ by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen.

The film focuses on a love affair between a con man (Carrey) and his cellmate (McGregor). Carrey’s character commits all kinds of crazy misdeeds, like breaking out of Texas prisons four times, to be with his lover.

To read more from this article go to Greg In Hollywood.

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