I recently had the immense pleasure of speaking with one of my all time favorite actors, Titus Welliver, about his prolific and impressive television work. But as accomplished as his TV resume is, the actor has just as distinguished of a film and stage career. Welliver first gained attention in the groundbreaking off-Broadway play “Riff Raff,” which was written, directed and co-starred actor Laurence Fishburne. He would eventually reprise the critically acclaimed role that he originated on stage as the sympathetic drug addict and part-time thief Billy “The Torch’ Murphy in the film adaptation of the play entitled Once in the Life, which also starred Fishburne and marked his feature film directorial debut. In fact, while the actor and I were chatting about the making of Once in the Life and his work in "Riff Raff," which also happens to be my all time favorite stage play, the actor happened to mention that he and Fishburne are discussing doing a revival of the show. “I have to say Laurence and I have been sort of toying with the idea of doing the play again even though it's been about twelve years since we made the film,” Welliver admitted.

While the actor is probably best known for his extensive television work that includes playing Silas Adams on HBO’s Western-based series Deadwood, the pivotal role of Kyle Hollis on the brilliant but short-lived NBC series Life, season three villain Jimmy O’Phelan on FX’s motorcycle gang series Sons of Anarchy, a recurring role on the current Fox series Touch with Kiefer Sutherland, and of course, as the Man in Black (A.K.A. the Smoke Monster) on ABC’s cultural phenomenon Lost. But he’s also appeared in many popular feature films including The Doors, Mobsters, Twisted, Assault on Precinct 13, and most recently Man on a Ledge, which opened on January 27^th and is in theaters now. But his most famous film roles have come from his collaborations with fellow actor and now critically acclaimed writer/director Ben Affleck. Welliver first appeared in Affleck’s Boston-based directorial debut Gone Baby Gone as Lionel McCready, and also appeared as FBI agent Dino Ciampa in The Town (also set in the Boston area) opposite Jon Hamm (TV’s Mad Men). Now, Welliver will achieve the hat trick by also appearing in Affleck’s upcoming third directorial effort Argo, which will be the first of his films, as a director, not set in Massachusetts.

Opening in theaters on January 27th is a new thriller from director Asger Leth (Ghosts of Cite Soleil) called Man on a Ledge. The film features an excellent cast of young and veteran actors including Sam Worthington (Texas Killing Fields), Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games), Jaime Bell (The Eagle), Anthony Mackie (Real Steel), Edward Burns (Newlyweds), Genesis Rodriguez (TV's Entourage), Titus Welliver (TV's Lost), Kyra Sedgwick (TV's The Closer), and Ed Harris (The Rock). 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had an opportunity to sit down and speak with actor Edward Burns about his role in Man on a Ledge. Burns discussed the new film, why he took the role, what he looks for in Hollywood scripts, playing a New York cop, collaborating with Elizabeth Banks, working opposite Titus Welliver, and what it feels like to actually walk out on the ledge of a building. 

Synopsis: From the ledge of the 25th floor of a NYC skyscraper, where one wrong step means death, a cornered Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) must orchestrate a dangerous plan to prove his innocence for a crime he didn't commit.

Steven Spielberg, almost inarguably the most famous director on the face of the planet, hasn't released a feature film since 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but this holiday season has brought with it an embarrassment of Spielbergian riches.  Right now in Stateside theaters, there are not one, but two movies directed by Spielberg.  There's the sweeping World War I drama War Horse and the swashbuckling, globe-trotting adventure The Adventures of Tintin, the director's first foray into motion-capture and 3D filmmaking.

The Adventures of Tintin is the first big-budget film centered on the intrepid boy-reporter Tintin, a comic character created by Belgian artist Herge.  The hero and his cohorts have been popular internationally since he first appeared in print more than half a century ago, in 1929.  In order to create imagery appropriate for Herge's creations, Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson employed Weta Digital, the visual effects masters behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Avatar, who deliver a textured, lifelike adventure with all the charm of the cartoonist's designs.

By now, Jamie Beard is a veteran at Weta, having first worked for the company as an animator on The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and followed that up with I, Robot.  He served as a visual effects artist on X-Men: The Last Stand and, more importantly, an animation lead on King Kong and The Lovely Bones, both directed by Jackson.  For The Adventures of Tintin, Beard is the pre-visualization supervisor.  While promoting one of the most technologically advanced movies ever made, Beard engaged in an exclusive interview with IAR Managing Editor Jami Philbrick, wherein he discussed his familiarity with Tintin, the role of pre-vis, working with blockbuster directors, and the hazards of putting a motion-capture suit on a dog.

Film producer Kathleen Kennedy may have co-founded Amblin Entertainment with her husband, Frank Marshall, and director Steven Spielberg, but she is also responsible for producing some of the most beloved films of the 20^th Century. Together, Kennedy and Spielberg are the most successful producing team of all time and collectively their films have grossed over $5 billion in domestic box office receipts. In addition to working with Spielberg, she has also collaborated with legendary directors such as Clint Eastwood (The Bridges of Madison County), Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future), David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and Martin Scorsese (Cape Fear).

Kennedy’s resume reads like a grocery like list of the greatest films of our generation including Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Gremlins, The Goonies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense, The Color Purple, Munich, and the Oscar-winning Schindler’s List. She is currently in the process of promoting two new films that she made with Spielberg, which open only days apart from each other. War Horse, based on the popular book and stage play of the same name, and The Adventures of Tintin, which is based on the fan-favorite series of comics by Belgian writer and artist Herge and opens in U.S. theaters everywhere on December 21^st.

Synopsis: The intrepid young reporter with a nose for a globe-trotting story, discovers a centuries-old clue to a missing ship loaded with treasure, leading he and sidekick Captain Haddock on a search for the Unicorn and its secrets.  It's a race against time, as the villainous Red Rackham is determined to beat our heroes to the treasure, and they've got to stop him.

The Adventures of Tintin is already playing on movie screens all over the world, in most cases for well over a month, but here in the States, it's still nearly two weeks out.  In order to fill the time between now and the film's release, a crop of nine new stills from the film have appeared online, along with two pictures of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson at work as the director and producer, respectively.  Most of the images from the film focus on the titular intrepid reporter, played by Jamie Bell via motion capture, along with Andy Serkis as sidekick Captain Haddock. Included for good measure are also a few images featuring the nearly identical Inspectors Thompson and Thomson, played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

So The Adventures of Tintin, the first motion capture film from director Steven Spielberg, played at AFI Fest last night to ecstatic reviews and is already popular in all the numerous international territories where it has been playing for weeks.  That makes it even more difficult to wait for the film's Christmas release Stateside, where moviegoers just aren't as familiar with the titular boy-reporter created by cartoonist Herge.  In order to convey exactly the tone of Tintin to American audiences, a new domestic TV spot goes out of its way to drop a critical quote that calls it, "The perfect combination of Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones," two properties that promise swashbuckling good times.

Another new trailer for The Adventures of Tintin has debuted online, and this time its a domestic preview for North American audiences, who must wait until December to see the film.  Which is a damn shame, since every new bit of footage suggests that the latest from director Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson is an exceedingly joyous ride that utilizes cutting edge performance capture and 3D tech to tell an old-fashioned globe-trotting yarn.  As the movie nears its late-October release in many international territories, review have been popping up, and many suggest that The Adventures of Tintin is the spiritual heir to Raider of the Lost Ark that everyone hoping Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would be.  This trailer certainly supports that assertion, so watch away.

So The Adventures of Tintin has been having European premieres in advance of its late October to early November debuts in most countries on the continent where Herge's boy reporter is basically an icon known and beloved across all demographics.  Here in America, though, we have to wait until late December to see Steven Spielberg's first 3D performance capture film.  Our consolation prize today is a new domestic poster for the inaugural 3D Tintin movie, featuring the titular adventurer, played by Jamie Bell, and his faithful canine sidekick, Snowy the dog.  The intrepid duo poses in front of a flaming ship, which just so happens to be the Unicorn referred to in the film's international title, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.