It's Oscar weekend, which means the culmination of months and months of fevered speculation and whatnot.  While The Artist is the subject of Awards Season discussions, four new releases hit nationwide theaters on Friday, and according to estimates, Relativity Media's military actioner Act of Valor won the weekend by a sizable margin.  One of the other new releases performed within expectations in second place, while the other two disappointed in eighth and ninth.

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This Friday sees the release of Wanderlust, a new comedy directed by David Wain, the man behind Wet Hot American Summer and Role Models.  In the film, co-written by Wain and Ken Marino, Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston play George and Linda, a married couple accustomed to the frantic New York lifestyle, lived from their newly-purchased "micro-loft," until their financial implosion forces them on the road, where they stumble upon an idyllic commune known as Elysium.

While Elysium is populated by a collection of strange characters such as Alan Alda's geriatric community founder and Joe Lo Truglio's nudist winemaking novelist, Justin Theroux and Malin Akerman play the two most pivotal Elysium characters.  As an actor, Theroux is recognizable from Your Highness, Mulholland Drive, and an eight-episode arc on Parks and Recreation, though he also served as a writer on Tropic Thunder and Iron Man 2.  Akerman, meanwhile, starred as Sally Jupiter in Watchmen and has also appeared in The Proposal, Happythankyoumoreplease, Couples Retreat, and on the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital.

In Wanderlust, Theroux plays Elysium's leader Seth, an aphorism-spouting alpha male preoccupied with technology like the Discman, pagers, and the Nintendo Power Glove.  Akerman plays Eva, a kind-hearted free spirit whose sexual openness and directness both thrill and frighten Rudd's character.  At the Los Angeles press day for Wanderlust, Justin Theroux and Malin Ackerman sat down with a group of outlets including IAR to discuss  on-set nudity, improvising, the appeal of communal living, cracking up on set, narcissim, working with David Wain, and Rock of Ages, this year's musical starring Akerman and co-written by Theroux.

Neither Paul Rudd nor Jennifer Aniston require inventories of their respective resumes, what with being movie stars and household names.  It's worth noting, though, that the two have acted alongside each other; first, fourteen years ago in the drama The Object of My Affection, then consistently from 2002 to 2004, when Rudd played a recurring character on Friends, the sitcom on which Aniston starred for ten seasons.

Now, they reunite in this Friday's Wanderlust, the new comedy from David Wain, who previously directed Role Models, Wet Hot American Summer, and The Ten.  In Wanderlust, Rudd and Aniston play George and Linda, a married couple accustomed to a harried New York lifestyle that includes a tiny, newly-purchased studio apartment.  When circumstance forces them to leave Manhattan, however, they end up at Elysium, a commune populated by eccentric characters.  With its laid-back inhabitants and simple, natural setting, Elysium begins to change both George and Linda in surprising ways.

At a Los Angeles press conference for the film, Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston spoke to a group of journalists about the experience of filming Wanderlust, working with David Wain, reuniting on a new movie, onscreen nudity, communal living, Wain's "Bizarro Cut" consisting entirely of footage that didn't make the final cut, improvisation, and, of course, The Spin Doctors.

Actor turned writer Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) was the screenwriter responsible for last summer's hugely successful Iron Man 2, which went on to gross over $600 million worldwide. Yet despite the film's financial success he will not be penning the upcoming Iron Man 3. Director Jon Favreau, who helmed both Iron Man and Iron Man 2, announced in December that he would not be returning to direct the third chapter of the series but would continue to executive produce The Avengers. Recently it was revealed that Lethal Weapon writer Shane Black would be taking over directing duties on the upcoming film and Drew Pearce, who also penned the proposed Marvel Studio's film Runaways, would be writing the script. So now that Theroux is no longer working with Marvel, what exactly is his relationship like with the comic book based movie studio?

David Wain, 1/3 of the comedy trio Stella, directed Wet Hot American Summer, and his last movie was the surprisingly nimble and fun Role Models, so color me down for his next feature Wanderlust.  The flick stars Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston as a married couple who, due to financial calamity, decide to move from New York to live with family in Georgia.  Along the way, it seems that hijinks ensue, mostly involving an accidental stay at a nudist colony.

Malin Akerman (Watchmen) has joined WanderLust, a comedy being produced by Judd Apatow also starring Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, and Lauren Ambrose. The film is being directed by David Wain, who last worked with Rudd on the hit film Role Models.