'Breaking Dawn' Didn't 'Make Sense' For James Franco, Director Says

Picture in your mind James Franco sparkling in the sunlight with red vampire eyes, because director Bill Condon told MTV that the actor almost (sort of) was cast in "Breaking Dawn." The "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" star has long been lamenting the fact that he could not be a part of the "Twilight" film series, of which he has admitted to being a big fan. During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in December, Franco even admitted that he petitioned for a role in the "Breaking Dawn" movies but was turned down. So when MTV News had a chance to catch up with Condon at San Diego Comic-Con while he was promoting "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1," we couldn't resist asking the director if there was any truth to the rumor Franco has been spreading. The short answer: There is. "He told a friend of mine who then sent a message along to me," Condon explained. "For a moment it was like, what could James Franco play that doesn't feel like 'Where's Waldo?' I really thought about it for a second, and nothing made sense." The only roles open to Franco would have been as one of the new vampires in the covens who come to support the Cullens against the Volturi, and Condon felt that between Franco's star power and his busy schedule, it would not have been a good fit. "I think he thinks this somehow involves some big rejection of the idea. It wasn't that," Condon explained. "If it had made sense, and frankly if I had called and said 'do you want to play that vampire from that country,' it would have involved hanging around for two months in a scene with 80 people, and I don't know if he really would have wanted to do it." Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1." For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com. Josh Horowitz and Bill Condon Photo: MTV News

'Breaking Dawn' Star Taylor Lautner Praises 'Dream' Directors

Taylor Lautner has had quite an impressive career for a 19-year-old. Since "Twilight" came out in 2008, he's worked with some of Hollywood's biggest stars and hottest directors and is primed to become the film industry's next big action star when "Abduction" hits theaters in September. MTV News caught up with the "Breaking Dawn" actor at San Diego Comic-Con, and he talked about getting the opportunity to work with and becoming more comfortable around so much A-list talent. "All the directors in the 'Twilight' franchise have been amazing, [and] ending with Bill Condon, who's just a dream," Lautner said, "and then John Singleton [on 'Abduction']. And then all the actors and actresses I've been surrounded by, really, I couldn't have done it without them, but they have definitely helped me throughout the past few years." With "Abduction" and "Breaking Dawn - Part 1" both wrapped and set for release this fall, Lautner will be busy with press for those films but he also has some free time on his hands. And while the actor doesn't have any projects lined up right now, he told us he's looking at some possibilities. "We're reading a lot [of scripts] right now and we will probably make that decision while I'm promoting," he explained. "I'm gearing up because in two weeks, I'm off to the races. I start off in Australia and then I'm around the entire world for 'Abduction,' and then once again for 'Breaking Dawn.' " Lautner added that he would love to do a comedy after the good feedback he got for his Funny or Die sketch "Field of Dreams 2." He also teased that something could come of his recent meeting with director Gus Van Sant and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. But Lautner is really looking forward to spending time with fans, many of whom would visit his "Abduction" set in Pittsburgh. The actor said he was always thankful rather than distracted by their presence. "There's moments where it could impede the job, but I'm able to stay focused and be in character when I need to and snap right out of it and go over and talk to the fans and be with them for a while and go right back into it, which is great, because I have a lot of fun with them and I love them coming out and hanging with us," he said. Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" and "Abduction." For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com. Taylor Lautner Photo: MTV News

'Breaking Dawn' Soundtrack Could Feature A Castmember

As with any great tale coming to an end, "The Twilight Saga" will bring things full circle in its two-part finale, director Bill Condon says. MTV News caught up with Condon at 2011 San Diego Comic-Con to talk about the final two installments of the franchise, and he told us that both movies, but particularly "Part 1," will hearken back to Catherine Hardwicke's 2008 "Twilight" flick, which started the onscreen phenomenon. "I always thought of 'Breaking Dawn - Part 1' as a real companion piece to Catherine Hardwicke's movie," Condon explained. "Like, everything that got set up there gets resolved here. I think you'll find that there are stylistic and other nods to that film." Fans will also be excited to learn that some of the same principles will apply to the highly anticipated "Breaking Dawn - Part 1" soundtrack. Condon confirmed that Carter Burwell, who scored the first movie, will be back for "Part 1," which means familiar themes like "Bella's Lullaby" will be in play again for the first time since "Twilight" first hit theaters. With negotiations for the soundtrack still under way, though, Condon wouldn't talk too specifically about which songs will be included on the album. But he confirmed that there's a good chance that one of the "Twilight" cast's musically-inclined stars will appear on the soundtrack. We'll leave it up to fans to guess whether that means Robert Pattinson, Jackson Rathbone, Booboo Stewart or one of the other musical castmembers. "We're just figuring out [the soundtrack] now," Condon said during MTV News' "Breaking Dawn" Comic-Con takeover, adding that they haven't made deals with all of the featured artists yet. "We have a lot of [songs]. We have like 15, I think. " Tell us who you'd like to hear on the "Breaking Dawn - Part 1" soundtrack in the comments section! Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1." For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson Photo: Summit Entertainment

'Cowboys & Aliens': The Reviews Are In!

With a concept as inspired as "Cowboys & Aliens" and an A-list cast that brings together James Bond and Indiana Jones themselves, it's hard to imagine what could possibly have gone wrong between bringing the movie from the production room to the big screen. MTV's Splash Page blog found a lot to love about the movie despite its flaws, but other critics have not been so kind. Maybe it was the fact that director Jon Favreau took the summer blockbuster too seriously. Fans hoping for a tongue-in-cheek mash-up of a Western and an alien movie are in for a straight-laced action flick without a lot of room for humor, like in Favreau's "Iron Man" films. Even the movie's charismatic leads couldn't rescue "Cowboys & Aliens" from its identity crisis, critics are saying. Still, there was plenty to love about the movie as well. "Cowboys & Aliens" is certainly a fun ride to take this summer, so before you head to the multiplex this weekend, take a gander at the "Cowboys & Aliens" reviews we lassoed up for you. The Story "The whole aliens-on-the-frontier incongruity never comes to much, really. There are nifty scenes, like the horseback riders battling silvery skeletal airplanes, but what 'Cowboys & Aliens' lacks is a good story. Basically, the characters — [Daniel] Craig's enigmatic outlaw, [Harrison] Ford's scowling boss, a tribe of Apache — must put aside their differences to form a posse and defeat the invaders. Who do we care about onscreen? For all of Craig's edgy charisma, no one. 'Cowboys & Aliens' has fun moments, but it's a plodding entertainment because it mostly tastes like leftovers." — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly The Leading Men "In Daniel Craig, the movie has what feels awfully like the second coming of Steve McQueen. Maybe it's the laser blue eyes under the broad forehead, or the laconic refusal to speak except when absolutely necessary, but Craig has a presence here that feels downright mythic. ... The chance to be as mean as he wants to be energizes [Ford], whose storied crankiness finally finds a home. It's a character part, and you can sense Ford's relief at letting another man shoulder the load. Consciously or not, there's a generational passing of the baton just under this movie's surface, and it helps immensely that Craig's up to the task." — Ty Burr, The Boston Globe The Cowboys and the Aliens "In Hollywood's ancient prime, maybe a third of all movies were Westerns. But those days are as dead as the horse-mounted cavalry; in the past 30 years, the genre has been resuscitated only when some powerful director wanted to make a movie like the ones he grew up loving. So 'Cowboys & Aliens' has got to get to the aliens pretty damn quick. Even here, Favreau and his crew sprinkle a few memorable moments: the aliens' low-flying scout planes, looking like 10-winged titanium dragonflies and lassoing the townspeople for abduction; a desert vision of an upside-down steamship, which momentarily summons the ghost of Werner Herzog's 'Fitzcarraldo'; and the recurring image of Craig retrieving his cowboy hat, whether he's fighting off human varmints or escaping from the aliens' stronghold. A man ain't a man without his Stetson." — Richard Corliss, Time The Concept "Cowboys versus aliens is a concept that may make you smile in anticipation, but wipe that smile off your face before buying your ticket, because the film takes its subject seriously — deadly seriously in the case of Harrison Ford, who plays a nasty rancher with the snarls and scowls that have become his trademarks, as if in penance for being so charming in the past. One interesting twist has a posse of cowboys teaming up with the Apaches they fear in order to vanquish the aliens, but the storytelling, punctuated by incoherent flashbacks, is often inscrutable." — Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal The Final Word "A leaden mash-up of western and science-fiction elements that ends up noisy, grotesque and unappealing, this Jon Favreau-directed film features five producers (including Brian Grazer and Ron Howard), six executive producers (Steven Spielberg and Ryan Kavanaugh among them) and six credited writers, led by 'Star Trek' rebooters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and 'Lost's' Damon Lindelof. No wonder the film plays like a business deal more than a motion picture. Listed as a producer, not a writer, is Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, whose concept for the original graphic novel inspired the film. That's right, 'Cowboys' doesn't even retell the story the graphic novel does; it sets out on its own. This is not a satisfying journey." — Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times Check out everything we've got on "Cowboys & Aliens." For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com. Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in "Cowboys and Aliens" Photo: Universal

'Attack The Block' Aliens 'Unlike Anything You've Seen'

Although there are some big Hollywood names among this weekend's new releases "Cowboys & Aliens" and "Crazy, Stupid, Love.," there is an equally intriguing, if slightly lesser-known film hitting select theaters called "Attack the Block." What sets "Block" apart from all of the others is that it was shot on a small budget and features a cast of mostly unknown actors. MTV News recently caught up with first-time feature director Joe Cornish to find out how he accomplished so much with so little, and why he thinks his alien-invasion action movie is the best of the summer. "You're right to observe that this movie cost probably the amount that one of Bruce Willis' shoes cost," Cornish joked when asked about the challenges of working on a limited film budget. "Like I say, that was something that excited me; I wanted to do ambitious stuff in an inventive way." Cornish explained that he and his crew took a unique approach to their aliens, drawing inspiration from a couple of unexpected cult favorites like "Starship Troopers" and "Gremlins." "We have an alien design we're proud of. It's unusual. It's very different. It's unlike anything you've seen before," he promised. "I like when movies withhold the monster, but I also like — 'Starship Troopers' is one of my favorite films, and there comes a point in that movie or in 'Gremlins,' where they just show the monster and it becomes about quantity," he said. "We designed our monster in such a way that we could do that. So we don't hide it for the whole movie, we expose it and you see them in numbers and in force." Newcomer actor John Boyega said the film is a thrill ride full of unexpected surprises ... and warm hugs? "We were put at ease by [co-star] Nick Frost's constant hugs and his words of advice and Joe Cornish's enthusiasm on set," Boyega said. "It was great to work on that project, it was a great experience," he added. "It just felt like a fun ride." Check out everything we've got on "Attack the Block." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. "Attack The Block" Photo: Studio Canal

'Battleship' Trailer: The Five Key Scenes

"Battleship" may be based on a board game, but the action flick's first trailer shows an influence far more cinematic than anything having to do with little plastic pegs and the faux-sinking of tiny seafaring vessels. The new footage, which Yahoo! premiered on Wednesday (July 27), begins like an ode to a "Blue Crush"-ish beach make-out movie, veers into "Armageddon"-esque father-vs.-daughter's-boyfriend antagonism, then explodes in an orgy of a couple dozen alien-invasion movie references. Totally original, this one ain't. But it's also pretty damn entertaining, and we really are looking forward to checking out the madness when it hits theaters on May 18, 2012. Until then, here are our picks for the five key "Battleship" trailer moments. Brooklyn, Obviously One of these days, Brooklyn Decker is going to get a movie role that doesn't require her to parade around a beach in a bikini. Or not. One thing is certain after checking out this footage and taking in her performance, such as it was, in Adam Sandler's "Just Go With It": Decker, the Sports Illustrated model, has been typecast. In "Battleship," she finds herself in the middle of one of cinema's oldest relationship pickles: in love with a bad boy whom her dad can't freaking stand. Clearly the relationship between the boy (a naval officer played by Taylor Kitsch) and the daddy (Liam Neeson's no-nonsense admiral) will factor into the battle with these aliens. Let's just hope it doesn't become the emotional focus. Don't Tread on Me Everything in the Navy's military exercises in the big blue ocean seems to be going well until they encounter a hulking contraption submerged in the water. One unlucky dude (Kitsch) is sent out to touch base, literally, with the alien ship, unleashing a whole lot of extraterrestrial terror. The aliens, we'll soon learn, are here to utilize our oceans as a power source. This one shot raises a bunch of questions. Why are the ship's defenses activated by simple touch, rather than the proximity of the Navy? What kind of tech do the aliens possess that they can send a sort of shockwave that hurtles a man so far, so quickly? And what's inside the ship that we don't yet see? What a Big Bubble You Have! Speaking of alien weaponry, the ship is capable of unleashing some kind of bubble force field that encompasses an enemy and, so it seems, destroys everything within it. We'll just ignore, for now, how the bubble reminds us of that containment unit in "The Simpsons Movie." Instead, let's concentrate on the alien tech. We're hoping for originality and cool visuals to join forces and deliver us a satisfying early summer movie experience. The bubble, perhaps, is the harbinger of fun, absurd, eye-popping stuff to come. She Needs an Umbrella "Battleship" marks Rihanna's big-screen debut. In the trailer, blink and you miss her. But she's there, standing up in a raft and looking wet as the alien craft flies overhead. She certainly looks freaked out. But we can't yet get a sense of her acting chops from this footage; and hey, we might not be able to even after this popcorn flick's credits roll. All we can say for now is she had a blast on the production. "Working with [director] Peter Berg is unbelievable," she told us last fall. "I love doing movies now. It's something I want to do more of. I just want to pick films that are wise for me and roles that I can pull off, nothing that is too big for me." Taking Flight We have to say we're surprised how much of the alien ship we get to see in this first trailer. We see how it's a craft that can both plunge into the water and also take flight. We see how it can transform and shift and hover; quite a lot of control, those aliens have on this sucker. We see its cylinder-shaped weaponry. We see the front of the ship almost seems to have a face. So the question is: How much did filmmakers hold back? We haven't, for instance, seen the aliens themselves. With so many alien flicks hitting theaters each year, it's getting harder and harder to surprise audiences with those creatures. Can "Battleship" do it? Stay tuned. Check out everything we've got on "Battleship." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Photo: Universal Pictures

'Avengers' Star Clark Gregg Backs Marvel TV Show

Though you might not know him by name, if you've seen many of Marvel's recent superhero flicks, chances are you'll recognize Clark Gregg. The actor plays Agent Coulson in three Marvel movies — "Iron Man," "Iron Man 2" and "Thor" — and will reprise the role in next summer's "The Avengers." Coulson is one of the few prominent roles in Marvel's expanding cinematic universe that isn't based on a pre-existing comic book character. Appearing first in "Iron Man," Coulson is an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, better known by the acronym S.H.I.E.L.D., and has been seen trying to wrangle both Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark as well as Chris Hemsworth's Thor, with a bureaucratic demeanor frequently played for laughs. In an interview with MTV News, Gregg discussed the future of his silver-screen character in regard to some future television appearances. "It's been revealed today that I'm already doing 'Ultimate [Spider-Man],' " the actor explained, "which is about Spider-Man and a couple other soon-to-be-released Marvel superheroes who are hiding out undercover in a high school in New York, and Agent Coulson is hiding out as their principal, keeping an eye on them and taking things way too seriously." Even more exciting, however, was the mention of a potential future television show focused on S.H.I.E.L.D., the premiere global peacekeeping force in the Marvel Universe — like an international "X-Files" for superheroes. While a S.H.I.E.L.D. series hasn't been formally announced, the idea clearly appeals to Gregg. "In a lot of ways, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Coulson really lend themselves to a TV show because it's normal people," Coulson said. "It's real people dealing with extraordinary things." Would you watch a S.H.I.E.L.D. television series? Tell us below! Check out everything we've got on "The Avengers." For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com. Clark Gregg Photo: Jim Spellman/ WireImage