Armchair Commentary

Talking Films With the "Green Lantern" Cast

A couple weeks ago I found myself at a Beverly Hills hotel for the Green Lantern press junket, where I'd get three minutes each to fire questions at Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, and Mark Strong. Aside from the usual research for important topics such as "What do you wear in front of The Sexiest Man Alive and Serena Van der Woodsen?" I looked to our Amazon Movies & TV Facebook fans to help out. I also got to chat a bit with the cast about movie picks from their own careers (you'll have to watch the interview to find out which of Reynolds' films means the most to him) as well as favorite DVDs (Lively cops to being a Criterion Collection fan). Watch the interview below;  Green Lantern is in theaters now. --Ellen

 

 

 

Best Movie Dads

With Father's Day approaching, it seems appropriate to celebrate some of the great dads in the movies. While there have been plenty of decent dad role models throughout the history of film, some movie dads just stand out as spectacular; for successfully filling the role of both mother and father, showing unexpected personal growth, or overcoming incredible odds or life-changing events.

Single or widowed dads who successfully took on the roles of both mother and father:

 

 

 Sam (Tom Hanks) in Sleepless in Seattle. Sam may be a grieving widower who's struggling to put his life back together following his wife's death, but he is above all a caring father whose first concern is always the well-being of his son Jonah. Sam has apparently taught his son well, because Jonah's first concern is always his dad!

 Robert (Patrick Dempsey) in Enchanted. Robert is a single father trying his best to help his daughter Morgan become a confident young woman by providing strong female role models and discounting fairy tales and feminine stereotypes. He definitely bumbles his way through love and parenting, but he's a great dad at heart.

 Robbie (Billy Ray Cyrus) in the Hannah Montana television series and movies. Robbie is another single dad who will do just about anything, including put his own career on hold and create an elaborate dual existence for himself and his family, in order to help his daughter Miley succeed and find a balance between normalcy and being a teenage pop-star. It's hard to imagine what this dad wouldn't do for his daughter.

 Charlie (Billy Burke) in Twilight: Charlie is a small-town sheriff who leads a quiet, almost reclusive life.  When his ex-wife and teenage daughter Bella aren't getting along, Bella moves in with Billie who, despite his awkwardness and inexperience with teenage girls, finds a way to support and love his daughter through a variety of challenges.

 

Dads who experience a life-changing event that dramatically alters their attitude toward their children and the level of involvement in their lives:

Steve (Greg Kinnear) in The Last Song. Steve is a divorcé who suddenly becomes re-involved in his children's lives after several years apart. While he may not have been there for his kids for the last few years, he definitely works hard to make up for his absence.

Definitely earning the craziest good dad title is Daniel (Robin Williams) in Mrs. Doubtfire. A man estranged from his wife and desperate to change his ways and become an integral part of his kids lives, Daniel will do absolutely anything, including impersonating a female nanny, in order to gain access to his children. While he certainly isn't your typical father role model, he gets big points for fighting to be involved in his children's lives in a positive way.

 

Men that turn out to be great dads against all odds:

 

Messer (Josh Duhamel) in Life As We Know It. Messer goes from being carefree bachelor to co-parent with a woman he despises in an instant when his best friend dies and leaves him and his wife's best friend as his little girl's guardians. The road is definitely bumpy, but in the end, Josh turns into a pretty decent father.

Joe (Dwayne Johnson) in The Game Plan. Joe is a self-absorbed athlete who is suddenly thrust into taking care of a daughter he never knew he had. Concerned only with himself and his football prowess, he's an abysmal father at first, but eventually becomes a good and caring dad in spite of the damage it does to his reputation.

Sam (Sean Penn) in I Am Sam.  The mentally disabled Sam may have the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, but he's done a good job of raising his daughter Lucy and he fights hard to regain custody of her after a series of misunderstandings.

Desmond (Pierce Brosnan) in Evelyn. Desmond is an unsuccessful tradesman with a penchant for the local pub, but when his wife leaves him and Irish law demands that his children be sent to an orphanage, he takes his case all the way to Ireland's supreme court in order to get his children back.

 

So it seems that in the movies, the most unexpected man sometimes turns out to be the best father. Who are your favorite movie dads?

--Tami Horiuchi

Happy Birthday, Johnny Depp

But what do you get the man who has everything on his 48th? After all, Depp does own his own island in the Bahamas. And his latest film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, has earned over $790 million worldwide so far. That GAP gift card is just not going to do. Instead, let’s focus on what he’s given us. 

It all started with 21 Jump Street. Yes, he’d done roles in films prior to that, including Platoon, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and John Waters’ great little film Cry-Baby, but it was his 1987-1990 role as Officer Tom Hanson that made him a star. He, along with Holly Robinson, Peter DeLuise, and Dustin Nguyen, play undercover cops who pose as high school students to bust drug dealers, gang bangers, and other nefarious students. This series is pretty funny when you rewatch, especially a moment where DeLuise teaches Depp how to pronounce the word, “vato.” 

Depp didn’t take the easy Teen Beat route to stardom. He almost typically chooses the oddball role, and it’s where he does some of his most memorable work in films such as Edward Scissorhands, Benny & Joon, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Blow. 

One of his best oddballs is Plan 9 From Outer Space director Ed Wood in Tim Burton’s film of the same name. Depp is absolutely fearless as a cross-dressing filmmaker who’s convinced he’s making a masterpiece. Co-star Martin Landau, who plays Bela Legosi, won an Oscar for his role, proving that Depp is a generous co-star.

Leonardo DiCaprio found that out, too, when he co-starred as Depp’s mentally challenged younger brother in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Depp’s work in the film is among his best. His role isn’t as flashy as DiCaprio’s, but he holds the ensemble together, and makes the film feel real.  And he proves that he doesn’t need an eye patch or a funny accent to make a character work.

The same is true for Donnie Brasco, in which Depp plays an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates the mob. The 1997 film, which co-stars Al Pacino, is one of Depp’s underrated gems.  

OK, he’s made a lot of good films, but some of us have had our fill of the Pirates franchise. But there is hope. Depp stars in the upcoming The Rum Diary about a down-and-out reporter in the Caribbean (he just can’t get enough of the place). He’s also set to star in Martin Scorsese’s film Hugo Cabret and as the vampire Barnabas Collins in the big-screen version of Dark Shadows.

And one last tidbit for the 21 Jump Street fans, he even has a cameo in the upcoming 21 Jump Street film, which stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. 

And that cameo is proof that, even with 50 on the horizon, Johnny Depp is an actor who never stops giving.

What is your favorite Johnny Depp film and what gift would you give him for his 48th birthday? -- Paige Newman

 

Nathan Fillion Talks "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights"

You may know Nathan Fillion best as the star of ABC's Castle, or Captain Mal from the canceled-too-soon series Firefly, or as Dr. Horrible. Maybe even from his days on Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place.

But over the Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend in 2010, Fillion played the role of Hal Jordan for Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, an all-new DC Universe Animated Original Movie arriving today on Blu-ray, DVD, and Instant Video. Green Lantern: Emerald Knights weaves six legendary stories of the Green Lantern Corps’ rich mythology around preparations for an attack by an ancient enemy. As the battle approaches, Hal Jordan mentors new recruit Arisia in the history of the Green Lantern Corps, telling tales of Avra, Kilowog, Abin Sur, Laira and Mogo. In the end, Arisia must rise to the occasion to help Hal, Sinestro and the entire Green Lantern Corps save the universe from the destructive forces of Krona.

The ever-genuine Fillion spent some time following his initial recording session to discuss comic book justice, the perils of space travel, his love of comic books and the origin story behind his famous Green Lantern t-shirt.

QUESTION: Among the superhero role play games of your childhood, did you ever pretend you were the Green Lantern?
NATHAN FILLION: As a child, when you're pretending you're different super heroes, Green Lantern was the easiest because all you needed to light the fire in the imagination was the ring. Superman, you need a cape; Spiderman, you need a full face mask. That wasn’t tough to come by in a winter town like where I’m from, but they’re just too hot to wear in the summer. So to be Green Lantern, all you needed to do is suck a lifesaver down to the right size, and to make sure it's a lime one – slip it on your finger, and you were good.

QUESTION: What is it about Green Lantern that most appeals to you?
NATHAN FILLION: As a kid, what I liked about Green Lantern was that he could do anything – anything you could think of. It's like “Wow, all I need is a giant mallet, or a catapult circa 1200s,” and suddenly he had it. I just thought that would be pretty cool to have anything you could kind of imagine. Imagination was always a big thing for me.

QUESTION: You fit comfortably into animated super hero roles. Why do you think you keep getting chosen to play these comic book legends?
NATHAN FILLION: I will say that I've been very fortunate. I can't tell you why people are willing to offer me the opportunity, but I can say how it pleases me because as a kid collecting comic books, I had a great time with the way it kind of lights the fire in the imagination. I always thought I had an overdeveloped sense of justice. Now looking back on my comic book days, my world kind of was formed around comic book justice. I think I have a very strong sense of comic book justice. Maybe that has something to do with how you take on a role. I mean, I'm steeped in the history of these characters. I know it and I love it.

QUESTION: Castle is a runaway hit. You’re a cover boy for national magazines with great regularity. There’s never been greater demand for Nathan Fillion. How do you stay humble through all this adoration?
NATHAN FILLION: I'll tell you there sure is nothing like being an actor and having something to do every day. Get up 5:00 a.m. – I’ve got someplace to go and I’ve got a place I need to be. I’ve got stuff I gotta do. I’ve got stories I need to tell. This career that I've chosen, I'm employed gainfully in it – so I’m living the dream every day. That's a good feeling. It does good things for how you feel about your choices. There was a period of time, I'll say it was 1998 approximately, where I didn't work for nearly a year. I was really questioning my judgment. What have I done? I've made a colossal error in judgment. I'm paying my rent on credit. What am I gonna do? It's a much, much nicer feeling to know that you're doing something -- that you're playing some music that people want to hear. So I'm gonna play these notes – you tell me if you like them and we'll keep playing if you keep liking them. That's a good feeling. It's nice to walk down the street and have someone stop and politely say “I love your show.” That’s always great. As opposed to doing plays, where there’s immediate feedback, you don’t get that so much in television. So it’s really nice to hear. It doesn’t get old.

QUESTION: You’re on the Castle set at least five days a week, upwards of 14 hours each day. Given all that work, what makes you take time – on a Sunday of a holiday weekend – to record the voice of an animated superhero?
NATHAN FILLION: I take the time to (voice characters in DCU films) exactly for the reason that it's fun. I get a call saying “Hey, how would you like to come on down to record Green Lantern?” And I’m asking back, “Can we squeeze it in on a Sunday because that's pretty much my only day off?” I want to make it work because I love doing it. More than that, I love being part of this lore. These are great characters – you’ve got Green Lantern, you have Superman, you have Batman, you have the Flash, all these wonderful pieces of American pop culture. And now I've got a little piece. I can say, “Oh yeah, I was Green Lantern for a DVD movie.” Not a lot of people can say that. “Oh, Steve Trevor? Funny you should mention him.” (he laughs) It may sound silly, but it means something to me.

QUESTION: You have been seen – on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, walking around Comic-Con on a Saturday, at your initial Green Lantern recording session – wearing a Green Lantern t-shirt. Did you own that shirt before being cast as Hal Jordan for Green Lantern: Emerald Knights?
NATHAN FILLION: Debbie Zoller is the head of my makeup department on Castle. She saw that fan-made Green Lantern trailer and thought the t-shirt would be an appropriate Christmas present. And I wholeheartedly agree with her. I’ve been known to wear a few superhero shirts … and where better than a Green Lantern recording session to wear it today? So thank you Debbie – I told you it would come in handy someday!

The World According to Terrence Malick

As if it needed any greater pedigree than simply being a Terrence Malick film, The Tree of Life arrives in theaters as winner of the 2011 Cannes Palme d'Or, the top honor from the world's most renowned film festival. Malick has directed only five films in 38 years, and The Tree of Life has had critics stumbling over themselves to describe its collision of the cosmos, spirituality, philosophy, and the deeply personal nature of familial love. Most everyone admits it's a tough nut that defies easy interpretation, demands repeated viewings, and may even be (gasp!) flawed in some fundamental ways. But the mantle of genius is sticking strong to Malick and The Tree of Life, along with its ruminative themes on the natural world and existential questions about who we are, why we're here, and where we're going after we've moved beyond our experience of the known.

All five of Malick's films have aspired to the realm of poetry. Because of the mystique that has grown up around him -- he stays resolutely out of the public eye and does not comment about his work -- the grand master label has become a given. He surrounds himself with a trusted creative team, and actors lucky enough to be chosen to share his vision have waxed rhapsodic about his process. In a recent interview with the New York Times' Dennis Lim, The Tree of Life's star Brad Pitt said that Malick fosters an atmosphere that allows for serendipity in capturing both elegiacal imagery and the aesthetics of personal interaction. "He finds perfection in imperfection, and he's always trying to create the imperfection," Pitt told Lim. Pitt said that working with Malick was "liberating but exhausting," and that he gave his actors free rein to answer "this actor’s quest of always trying to be in the moment, which is a bit precious but very true."

 

Others have observed that Malick uses his scripts as a starting point, but that they become less important than capturing moments that arise unexpetedly when shooting begins. Famous for laboring over his work both during shooting and in post production, Malick relies heavily on editing and sound design to shape his films. His intention has been expressed as a desire to capture emotion on film in a way that few directors have ever been able to do.

The Tree of Life certainly follows his obsession with nature and the beauty of living things, be they the branches of a tree or the churning vapors of a distant galaxy. In 2005 he brought the gaze of 17th century explorer John Smith (Colin Farrell) to the exotic shores of North America with The New World. His 1998 interpretation of The Thin Red Line, James Jones' novel about the World War II South Pacific battle on Guadalcanal strove for similar themes of the awesomeness, splendor, and sometimes horror found in the details of life so many of us pass by without a second glance.

Another device revered by Malick is the use of observational voice-over from his actors that intertwine with the spectacle of his images, sometimes in seemingly random ways. Malick is a Harvard educated Rhodes scholar who taught philosophy at MIT, so it's not surprising that he should be interested in bringing his idealistic view of the world to bear in his art. He uses the internal monologues that revolve in his characters heads to give voice to his own existential wonder. In The Thin Red Line, the virtual who's who of male Hollywood stars -- Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, et al -- mingled their voices to achieve a higher grace than that of a traditional war movie. The New World and The Tree of Life are also filled with voices of actors musing to themselves and to us, whether their thoughts relate to Malick's narrative or not.

The 20 year gap closed by The Thin Red Line was preceded by what is nearly universally hailed as Malick's golden achievement. Days of Heaven is a breathtaking and heartbreaking glimpse at life in the farmlands of the Texas panhandle in the early 20th century, starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, and Sam Shepard. Golden is also an apt descriptor of the visual style as filming took place almost entirely during "the golden hour" just before sunset, giving every scene its distinctive and entirely natural burnished glow. Malick was awarded the directing prize at Cannes for Days of Heaven in 1979.

Malick's first feature, Badlands was made on the cheap in 1973, but remains the prototype from which all his themes evolved -- the haunting voiceover, the wonderment or sense of dread provoked by environment, and a reliance on the just-so-ness of natural light. Performances by the very young Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as an indifferent serial killer and his teenage lover remain powerfully affecting, as does the striking imagery of the American West.

Perhaps in an effort to make up for lost time, Malick has already shot his as yet untitled sixth film which is set in present day Oklahoma and stars Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams. But it's unlikely we'll see the film in time for next year's Cannes Film Festival, and maybe not even the year after that. For Terrence Malick, neither films nor life are things to be rushed, and each appear to hold eqaul importance in his ethos as one of the great artists of our time.--Ted Fry

First Trailer: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"

Watch it now!

Iron Man 3 Director Shares "The Big Secret" of Screenwriting

Writer/director Shane Black, an action hero to screenwriters everywhere, served as a guest judge for the Amazon Studios April awards – and took some time to answer a few questions for us (and dodge a few about Iron Man 3).

             Shane Black’s voice, so deliberate and enunciated, takes on a conspiratorial tone. I hold my breath. “Here’s what people don’t know,” he says. “Here’s the big secret.” It’s not about Iron Man 3, the blockbuster sequel he’ll be directing for release in 2013 (he can’t say much about that). This secret is about screenwriting. “I don’t just say this for me, I’ve heard this from many people,” he said. “You write a script. It’s very difficult, but then you finish it. You think if you write, say, seven more, you’re cruising, everything’s great.”

            Yeah, that sounds about right. Especially when you’ve written scripts like Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight and The Last Boy Scout, as Black has. “But each one is more difficult. If you’ve written nine scripts, the tenth is going to be even harder,” he says. Wait, what? “Maybe it’s just that you know more about writing and you’re not satisfied with less. But it never gets easier, only more grueling with every script. I’ve never had an easy one.”

            Can’t help it; heavy sigh. Some secret! “That’s not to say it was all misery,” he continues quickly. “Difficulty doesn’t mean it was a miserable process. Difficult means you had to burn brightly and pace around 1,000 times and go through 10 reams of paper, but you get it. … I think it’s important to feel like you’ve really smashed at the envelope, flailed away at all the corners until you’ve exhausted the pool of ideas that exist for a project you’ve chosen, even if you don’t use most of them.”

            He seems to still be in envelope-smashing mode for Iron Man 3, which he will be writing (with Drew Pearce) as well as directing. The movie is a reunion of sorts with Robert Downey Jr., who starred in Black’s directorial debut, the snappy neo-noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.  

            Black can’t get all plot-specific, but he can talk about what excites him about Iron Man, which he describes as a “distinctly entrepreneurial story” about someone who’s a genius, who makes wonderful machines, “a guy who can kick your ass, but also has a reason for doing it that he thinks is justified.” The story is a “coming of age for a rich guy, a pampered guy, who has to get back to his grassroots.”

            As much as that though, or more than that, it’s a story about science, and how it can unite humanity. Lately, particularly post-Fukushima nuclear meltdown, science and its seeming gifts have been more divisive and painful. Black is excited by the space-age vibe of scientific discovery: “Iron Man is something for the 16-year-old boy with a copy of Popular Science under his arm and a dream. … Optimism combined with real-world kickass sentiment.”

            And then there’s the chance to work with Downey again, to “encounter someone who is a brilliant talent, decent guy, a friend, see where he’s at and get reacquainted creatively,” he said. “I have utmost respect for this guy. I have never worked with anyone who is just so effortlessly good.”

            It’s odd to think that in the mid-2000s, when Kiss Kiss Bang Bang came out, Downey was considered less than a sure thing as a leading man. But a superhero franchise and Sherlock Holmes reboot later, and perceptions have changed for Downey. And Kiss Kiss Bang Bang certainly changed perceptions of Black. “The most rewarding thing was that I don’t think people realized that I had weird taste,” he said. “Everyone just assumed that I was trying to make big-budget movies, but I really wanted to try some new things.”

Read more at the Amazon Studios blog. -- Steph, Amazon Studios

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Saying Goodbye to Kenickie

After a long-documented battle with drugs and alcohol, 60-year-old Jeff Conaway died after being taken off life support while in a medically induced coma. The actor had been found unconscious in his home. Conaway's manager Phil Brock told the Hollywood Reporter that the actor had overdosed on painkillers. However, Dr. Drew Pinsky, who worked with Conaway on Celebrity Rehab, tweeted that the actor that the actor was suffering from pneumonia and sepsis, a possibly deadly blood infection.

Conaway was best known for his role as Kenickie, in the 1978 film Grease. He had played John Travolta’s role of Danny Zuko on the Broadway stage, but on film Conaway made bad-boy Kenickie come alive with lines like, “A hickie from Kenickie is like a Hallmark card, when you only care enough to send the very best!” 

He went on to star as Bobby Wheeler in the television show Taxi for three seasons and was nominated for two Golden Globe awards for the role.  His role as a luckless actor on that show seemed to foreshadow the ups and downs of his career. Though he had success for three years on the TV show Babylon 5, his post-Taxi career primarily consisted of made-for-TV movies and short-lived series, such as Wizards and Warriors and Berrengers.

Conaway was born on Oct. 5, 1950 and had his first Broadway role at age 10 in All the Way Home, opposite Lillian Gish and Colleen Dewhurst. His first film was 1971’s Jennifer on My Mind, in which he co-starred with a young Robert De Niro. Conaway played a heroin addict in the film. He guest starred on TV shows such as Barnaby Jones, Happy Days, and Mary Tyler Moore, before finally landing the role of Kenickie.

In recent years, Conaway became famous for his stints on Celebrity Fit Club and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. On Dr. Drew’s show he revealed that he’d been an addict since his teen years and admitted to suicidal thoughts. 

In 2010, the actor fell in his home and suffered a broken hip, broken arm, brain hemorrhage, and fractured neck. 

Conaway’s co-stars never forgot him. Taxi co-stars Marilu Henner and Tony Danza reportedly visited him in his final days, and Travolta reportedly offered to pay for the actor to go back into rehab. 

“He’s a wonderful man,” Brock told Reuters prior to Conaway's death, “As a human being, he’s the person who’d literally give the shirt off his back for someone.” -- Paige Newman

 

Henry Rollins Talks "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights"

When he isn’t perusing the Sudan, performing in Prague or recording for public radio, Henry Rollins takes to another of his true passions: voiceovers for animated projects. Rollins’ latest animated incarnation is in the guise of Kilowog for the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. Rollins voices one of the most beloved characters in the entire universe of Green Lanterns – Kilowog, the hardcore drill sergeant-style trainer of Green Lantern recruits. Written by Peter J. Tomasi (based on “New Blood” by Tomasi & Chris Samnee) and directed by Lauren Montgomery, the “Kilowog” segment of the film depicts the gruff character’s initial days as a young recruit under the abusive tutelage of Deegan, an equally gruff character who shows Kilowog the true “tough love” principles of training. As the segment play out, Kilowog must assume an integral leadership role within the ranks.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is far from Rollins’ first venture down the animated path. For Warner Bros. alone, Rollins has recorded over the years for Batman Beyond, Teen Titans and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. And then there’s his more recent forays into voiceovers for series like Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time and the primetime series American Dad! Rollins is joined in the voicecast of the intergalactic animated film by Nathan Fillion, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Isaacs (the Harry Potter films), Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy), Kelly Hu (The Vampire Diaries), Wade Williams (Prison Break), and professional wrestling legend Rowdy Roddy Piper . No stranger to the spoken word, Rollins spent some significant time after his initial recording session chatting about his character, his love of great literature, Too Much Coffee Man, his need to travel the Earth, and much, much more. Read on …

QUESTION: How did you approach the character of Kilowog for this story?

HENRY ROLLINS: For me, Kilowog is a man who's pure of heart. He's a warrior. He's a soldier. And he loves his rookies. Deegan is the guy who broke him in – in boot camp – and kind of brought him into command position. So Kilowog came up through the ranks by being brave and by being a take-charge leader. In the Kilowog segment, you see that he had a grasp of the leadership idea from the get-go. He's with other recruits and he immediately takes the leadership position. So I think he's a good guy, but he always knew he was gonna be running things.

QUESTION: Were there any challenges to finding the character for you?

HENRY ROLLINS: I assumed what the character needed before we went in. I said, “Andrea (Romano), this guy has a flat top, thick neck, but he’s a good guy and if you get past all the yelling, you know he's got a good heart.” She said, “You got it. That's, that's the guy.” So I kind of had him dialed in and then we went forth. It was really just finding his subtleties working with the great direction of Andrea. The character, for me, wasn't all that hard to find. He's not a complex guy. He takes his orders. He gives orders. He knows right and wrong. He takes care of bad guys, and keeps people alive. On that level, his life is pretty simple.

QUESTION: You’re so often a one-man show, or at least the leader of the band. What’s it like to be directed by Andrea Romano?

HENRY ROLLINS: I've been working with Andrea for well over a decade, and it is one of the fun moments of my year when I get the call. Watching her work with a whole group of people is like watching a combination of air traffic controller, director and producer all at once. And she has as much fun or more fun than all of us combined. Her level of energy is quite remarkable. I've done every kind of voiceover with her – entire casts, one on one, Batman Beyond, Teen Titans – and she always brings a tremendous bolt of energy. It's infectious and it’s fun. It’s like she always says, “Thanks for coming in and playing.” Andrea really allows you to have fun with it and not take yourself too seriously, which allows you to work really hard.

QUESTION: You're such an intense, intelligent, driven individual who actively lobbies for so many worthy, worldwide causes. Do voiceovers for animation fulfill some sort of need for play, or does it offer another challenge?

HENRY ROLLINS: The reason why I come and do voiceover, for animation or documentary or whatever, is because I'm really not suited for it. And so I have to somehow pass myself off as someone who can actually pull this off. It makes me work really hard, and I love the challenge. I've been in a lot of films, and yet I’ve never taken an acting lesson. I've done a lot of voiceovers for all kinds of things, and I've never taken any lessons there. I've just shown up with a whole lot of enthusiasm, a great fear of failure, and a desire to please the people who have somehow trusted me to do the work. I come from the minimum wage working world of the late '70s, early '80s, so stuff like this, to me, is gravy. It is so not standing on my feet, carrying something to the back of a truck. I know how to do all of that. Many of us do. So, for me, it's just a really fun thing. There's pressure certainly to perform – not the same pressure that I take out on stage every night, when there's a lot of people who are there to hear me or see me. The voiceover thing, in order to be good at it, you have to have a laugh at yourself. I mean, you're doing funny voices. We're larger than life here. So you have to throw your seriousness away and be able to laugh at yourself. You have to throw out your ego. The more I do it, the more I realize that you have to approach it that way – and then you get super involved in the moment. I think that's what the job requires. You have to think “Oh, no, here comes the meteor storm. We’ve got to go.” When I'm doing something like that, believe me, I'm really in that moment. When you can throw away your self-importance and have fun with it, that’s when you really deliver.”

QUESTION: What’s your motivation to perform in this odd world of entertainment?

HENRY ROLLINS: Like many of us in the entertainment world, I think we are making up for the lack of attention that we did not get as kids through the need for attention and approval from an audience. I tell audiences now that I'm only here for your attention and your approval. I need you way more than you'll ever need me. And you'll be done with me way sooner than I'll ever be done with you. It's a pity. And welcome to the show. (he laughs) And it's so true. QUESTION: Are you more comfortable performing in front of large groups or alone in a studio with you and the microphone? HENRY ROLLINS: I love being in front of tons of people, and I really enjoy being one-on-one with the microphone. I love both micromanaging the part, and having the ability now to give the director exactly what he or she wants, and then really being able to nail it. In the booth it’s fun because they’re directing you, and you’re trying to hit those notes. It’s like Andrea will say “Can you lighten it up just a little? Remember, you're kind of sad, because on page 11 you had that thing happen.” And then you can dial in with such extreme subtlety that she can hear it and go, “That's what I needed. Thank you very much, we’re moving on.” To be able to deliver that is really enjoyable.

QUESTION: Did you read comics as a kid?

HENRY ROLLINS: I was not a comic book-guy growing up. My stepbrother had them. I would look at them with not a great of interest. My first job was throwing newspapers for the long-defunct Washington Star. I’d throw 80,000 tons of newspaper a year for about $4.60. So I’ve got maybe $12 to my name, but I was a kid, I didn't know what to do with it. And so I went to the drugstore and I bought a couple of comics. I dragged them home, and I looked at them. Quite honestly, it didn't do much for me, and I've never gone back except for when someone sends me the odd modern comic. A few years ago, I did come across this character called “Too Much Coffee Man.” And he used to worry about the world. He had a coffee cup strapped to his head. I eventually made friends with Shannon Wheeler, who draws the comic. He illustrated a book for me – putting some illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. And Shannon used to kindly send me these collections of “Too Much Coffee Man.” But that's the only comic I would really pay attention to, because I like the idea. “Too Much Coffee Man” has a lot to say. He's a great apocalyptic philosopher for our very troubled times.

QUESTION: Comics don’t have an impact on you, but do you believe they have a social relevance for society?

HENRY ROLLINS: I think that it's important for young people who are maybe sensitive. Maybe they're not gonna be the quarterback and they're not gonna get the pretty cheerleader to go to the senior prom. But it's great for them to have an escape. Because some people who are often aren't the one who can throw the football the furthest, they have interesting minds. And I think that comics help someone with an imagination have fun and play around … I think anything that inspires young people to have imagination – it’s what gives you things like, oh, the Internet and renewable energy. And progress. So I think anything that is a seed to imagination, that enhances imagination, I think is safe. Growing up, I loved great literature. I lived for your Steinbecks and your Hemmingways as a kid, and I read them all again as an adult and got the better version of the story. My comic books were reading things like the The Grapes Of Wrath, and stuff like that that my mom turned me on to. So I understand anything that makes the imagination go as being a good thing.

QUESTION: Is there a super hero or villain role you truly covet?

HENRY ROLLINS: No. I'm happy for anything that would come my way. And I'll be so happy if someone said, “Here is three years work on this series and you get to be that guy.” It’s all been so much fun. There's nothing I'm wanting to do but more.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights will be distributed by Warner Home Video on Blu-ray, DVD, and Instant Video June 7.

"Titanic" Coming to 3D: Will You Watch?

Paramount and 20th Century Fox announced today that James Cameron's Titanic will be re-released in 3D on April 6, 2012, to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the ship's sailing.

Like most of the world, I watched this back in 1997 in the theater (3rd row, it was pretty crowded even on a Monday night), and even in 2D I remember feeling like I was actually bobbing in the water with the passengers, out in the vast, pitch-black ocean. While Titanic has its many, many detractors, the conversion to 3D will be an intriguing one given that the only film that has made successful use of 3D since it hit the mainstream is Avatar, also directed by Cameron.

How will the epic scenes play out in 3D? The boarding of the ship, the submarine exploration, "I'm flying!" and of course, the entire last hour of the film. Would you watch it again in 3D? What other older films do you think might actually benefit from a 3D conversion? --Ellen