UPDATES: I have been receiving emails about Kevin Zegers. The young and talented Mr. Zegers recently took second position in "tMF Poll: Young actor tMF should do profile or interview soon" He was actually leading the pack, thanks to Veronique@ KZ man of the hour - it's clear Kevin has a big following!

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I recently watched The Jane Austen Book Club and Maria Bello rocks! It also stars Mr. Zegers in a rather mischievous and sexy role - he gets to romance the awesome Emily Blunt!

When we were into modelwatching, we got a pretty good idea of how castings are done. In movies, apparently, there are some similarities but the degree to which people take it seriously is magnified a hundred times. Big productions invest millions of dollars, and they want a good return on their investment! They want 'bankable stars', but sometimes the choice of actor backfires...

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Speaking of casting, there's news that tMF favorite Tom Sturridge has another new role, aside from Maestro. The young actor was incredible in Being Julia, in which he appeared with acclaimed actress Anette Benning, and was awesome in Like Minds (with Eddie Redmayne). I was really looking forward seeing him in Jumper, but as I mentioned, casting in movies can be a daunting task and he was replaced by Hayden Christensen. More on this new movie from Variety [ by Adam Dawtrey ]

Rock'n'roll comedy set aboard pirate radio ship

Richard Curtis has started shooting his latest movie, “The Boat That Rocked,” for Working Title Films and Universal Pictures, with a cast including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost and Kenneth Branagh.

Pic is billed as the first “non-rom-com” by Curtis, who wrote “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” and made his directorial debut with “Love, Actually.”

Set in 1966, it’s an ensemble rock'n'roll comedy that takes place aboard a pirate radio ship anchored off the English coast. Hoffman, Ifans and Frost play rival DJs, with Nighy as their boss and Branagh as the government minister trying to shut them down. Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are producing with Hilary Bevan Jones, who previously worked with Curtis on his telepic “The Girl in the Cafe.”

“The Boat That Rocked” also stars January Jones, Tom Sturridge, Jack Davenport, Ralph Brown and Chris O’Dowd. It shoots from March 3 to early June on location on a rusty trawler in the English Channel and at Shepperton Studios.

tMF favorite Jake Gyllenhaal is simply amazing! I'm sure many of his fans and regular moviegoers are looking forward to his next movie, Brothers, where he will go head to head with Tobey Maguire in the acting department. It's actually a double treat - Natalie Portman plays Tobey's wife and Jake plays the brother who might eventually get Portman in the end.

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Anyway, there's another movie coming up for Jake. This time he'll be acting with Jessica Biel, who was simply fabulous in the Edward Norton flick, The Illusionist. More from The State - South Carolina [ by Noelle Phillips ]

State House, incentives draw movie starring Gyllenhaal, Biel; ‘Nailed’ to start shooting in April

Producers wanted to film the upcoming Jake Gyllenhaal political satire, “Nailed,” at a site that looks like the nation’s Capitol.

The S.C. State House earned the part.

“Our State House was designed by an architect who designed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.,” S.C. Film Commission head Jeff Monks said Monday. The movie’s producers also were attracted to the state’s film financial incentives package and weather, said Andy Keeter, a production executive at Capitol Films, the financier of “Nailed.”

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Review by Jeremy Welsch

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Eight strangers with eight different points of view try to unlock the truth behind an assassination attempt on the United States of America.

The concept itself is intriguing. Any time there is a story newsworthy enough to be plastered all over every channel in the known world, we get the same details dredged out in front of us until a new perspective is offered. So to concentrate all those perspectives into a 90 minute movie is nothing if not efficient.

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Review by David DiMichele

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Here’s a zombie movie that not only kicks ass in the zombie genre (it's among the best I’ve seen), but also in the world that we’ve all come to be a part of - the mass media world. Legendary filmmaker George A. Romero created Diary of the Dead as if it were one of his old gritty independent films from back in 1968, but added a modern day touch to it by the way technology is used. This new touch he brings to his film penetrates deep into the human body and mind. Last time I checked, a zombie movie should only scare you. Here Romero scares and knocks us off our feet, leaving us pondering hard about what we just witnessed. You leave the theatre feeling stunned.

Taking almost 50% of the votes, this is the 3rd time in tMF poll history that such a show of massive support was bestowed on an actor. The first two actors who got such impressive support were Cillian Murphy and Daniel Brühl. The actor this time is no other than Robert Pattinson! We'll let the stats speak for themselves ...

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Kevin Zegers took a distant second, while Emile Hirsch, Michael Angarano and Michael Cera grabbed the remaining top 5 positions.

Thanks to all who made this one of our most popular polls! Here's the final results (apparently there were more votes after I did above screenshot!).

“This can be such a competitive business, and it is rare to have two such strong roles for women in one film. Natalie is kind and generous, personally and in her performance. She is inspiring to work with,” says Scarlett Johansson.

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When we first took note of the movie that teamed up Portman and Johansson for the first time, we wanted to point out the apparent drive by some media to portray the two actresses as having an escalating and ugly feud. They were wrong, of course and while the movie is about sibling rivalry, among other things, the competition between the two actresses was not personal, but arose from the demands of their roles. Now that it has been released, I have had the chance to enjoy the movie and see two of my favorite actresses perform together.

What’s the Movie About: Based on the best-selling novel by Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl is an engrossing and sensual tale of intrigue, romance, and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in history. Two sisters, Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary (Scarlett Johansson) Boleyn, are driven by their ambitious father and uncle to advance the family’s power and status by courting the affections of the king of England (Eric Bana). Leaving behind the simplicity of country life, the girls are thrust into the dangerous and thrilling world of court life - and what began as a bid to help their family develops into a ruthless rivalry between Anne and Mary for the love of the king.

How was it? Period drama is the British area of expertise (and the French, you might add!) Among the most recent and notable movies in this genre are Atonement, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Le Grand Meaulnes and Une Vieille Maîtresse.

I’m a big fan of French movies. Sometimes I get to see a number of top French actors making their way into big Hollywood productions, although many have failed to make an impact at the box office. The latest is Gaspard Ulliel.

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After a rigorous audition process, Ulliel grabbed the role of the young Hannibal Lecter, a character made famous by Anthony Hopkins. The producers then pushed the movie into high gear, promoting the flick left and right in all the media and websites that matter. There was a buzz and that supposedly is all that's needed for a movie to make money. Hannibal Rising was fine during its first 2-4 days in theaters, then suddenly there was a big big drop and almost everyone dismissed it. Critics hated it and moviegoers seemed to lose interest.

If you got introduced to Ulliel via this Hollywood crap, then you might have missed quite a number of good movies that he either starred in or played an outstanding supporting role to some of France’s biggest talents.

Gaspard has a distinctive and unique acting style - he consistently exhibits a subtlety in his performances and is never hysterical, unlike some of his Hollywood contemporaries. He is also quite fearless, never afraid to show skin. Well, if you've got such an awesome physique, why not flaunt it right?

Says Boyd @European-films.net:

The second part focuses on Jacquou as a 20-year-old (and now played by Ulliel) and has the film’s two most breathtaking sequences: one an elaborate set piece involving a danced stand-off with the Count and the other an intimate scene involving a naked Jacquou, an equally naked La Galiotte (Bojana Panic), the Count’s daughter, and a sheet of bed linen that separates them. Both are choreographed in such detail and are filmed and edited with such precision that it is clear that a master visual storyteller is at work here...

Nominated for three Cesar awards as most promising actor, Ulliel won in A Very Long Engagement. I think he should have won for Strayed too.