september 2011 | VOLUME 12 | NUMBER 9 Inside taylor lautner matt damon naomi Watts Seth Rogen laughS in the face of death PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 41619533 GettinG excited about the toronto international Film Festival,pa Ge 22 ConTenTs SEptEMBER 2011 | VOl 12 | Nº9 COVER sTORY 42 FilM TreaTMenT When seth rogen’s friend was diagnosed with cancer, Rogen encouraged him to write a screenplay about the experience as a way to heal. Good move. Now that screenplay is a movie, with Rogen playing a version of himself BY MARNI Weisz REGULARS 6 EdItOR’S NOtE 8 SNApS R u O 10 IN BRIEf t con 14 SpOtlIGht / O t 16 All Dressed up T O oronT ph 18 IN thEAtRES o 46 REtuRN Engagement FilM Fes ANGE T l G 47 CastING CAll by 48 At hOME O FUN t 50 FinallY... O Page 22 ph over FeaTures C 28 Movies & 9/11 30 Feeling Fluish 34 Teen hero 38 Thrill-seeker On the 10th anniversary of the Why Matt Damon couldn’t With a starring role in Dream House star September 11th attacks we wait to immerse himself in Abduction, 19-year-old naomi Watts explains why chart how the movies have the disease-ridden thriller Taylor lautner adds the fear of the unknown dealt with that fateful day Contagion “action hero” to his résumé drives so many of her choices BY MARNI WEISZ BY BOB StRAuss BY AMBER NasrullA BY AShlEY JudE COllIE 4 | CINEPLEX MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2011 EDITOR’S NOTE PUBLISHER SALAH BACHIR EDITOR MARNI WEISZ DEPUTY EDITOR INGRID RANDOJA ART DIRECTOR TREVOR STEWART DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION SHEILA GREGORY CONTRIBUTORS ASHLEY JUDE COLLIE, AMBER NASRULLA, BOB STRAUSS ADVERTISING SALES FOR CINEPLEX MAGAZINE AND LE MAGAZINE CINEPLEX IS HANDLED BY CINEPLEX MEDIA. HEAD OFFICE 416.539.8800 VICE PRESIDENT ROBERT BROWN (EXT. 232) VICE PRESIDENT, SALES NAME THAT JOHN TSIRLIS (EXT. 237) DIRECTOR OF SALES, CINEPLEX MAGAZINE LORELEI VON HEYMANN (EXT. 249) ACCOUNT MANAGERS CORY ATKINS (EXT. 257) MICHAEL VAN ZON (EXT. 241) ED VILLA (EXT. 239) SHEREE MCKAVANAGH (EXT. 245) STEVE YOUNG (EXT. 265) FILM CHRIS CORVETTI (EXT. 233) aking a comedy about cancer is tricky. A lot of people will tell you that there’s DIRECTOR, MEDIA OPERATIONS nothing funny about cancer, and it’s hard to argue with them, especially since most CATHY PROWSE (EXT. 223) of those people have either had cancer or watched a loved one suffer. Others will tell QUEBEC 514.868.0005 you that you have to find the humour in dark situations to get you through; laughter DIRECTOR, SALES is the best medicine and all that. SOPHIE JODOIN (EXT. 222) And, truth is, Seth Rogen’s new movie, 50/50, isn’t a laugh-out-loud cancer comedy. It’s a slice-of-life ACCOUNT MANAGER martin DEZIEL (EXT. 224) movie about a guy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who has cancer, and it just happens to have a lot of laugh-out- SALES COORDINATOR loud moments. The script was, after all, written by Rogen’s friend and fellow writer on Da Ali G Show, Mélissa dallaire (EXT. 223) Will Reiser, based on Reiser’s own experiences with cancer. It was Rogen who urged Reiser to write the BRITISH COLUMBIA 778.997.3923 script, and he subsequently plays a version of himself — the boorish but ultimately supportive best friend. ACCOUNT MANAGER Now that we’ve established that it’s hard to make a comedy about cancer, imagine having to name MATT WATSON that film. The title has to strike just the right tone — not too light, not too heavy. It wasn’t easy. In fact, the SPECIAL THANKS movie went through a handful of names before settling on 50/50, including I’m With Cancer, Live With It, MATHIEU CHANTELOIS, ALIYA DANIELS, Bright Side and Get Well Soon. At a test screening this past March, viewers were asked for their opinions JOAN GRANT, ELLIS JACOB, PAT MARSHALL, DAN MCGRATH, on various titles. According to an audience member who wrote a review for IMDB.com, few people liked ROBERT PHUONG, SUSAN REGINELLI, any of the choices. MATHILDE ROY When I interviewed Rogen for this month’s cover story, “Laughing Matters,” page 42, he admitted this Cineplex Magazine™ is published 12 times a year was a hard film to name, saying, “It seems that you either go into it with a title everyone loves or you’re by Cineplex Entertainment. Subscriptions are $34.50 ($30 + HST) a year in Canada, $45 a year in doomed to never have a title anyone likes.” Then he added, “I think the tricky thing about this title is that it the U.S. and $55 a year overseas. Single copies are $3. puts a lot on our shoulders marketing-wise to explain what the f-ck 50/50 means.” So we’ll help him out; Back issues are $6. All subscription inquiries, back issue requests and letters to the editor should the title refers to the protagonist’s chance of survival. be directed to Cineplex Magazine at 102 Atlantic Ave., Suite 100, Toronto, ON, M6K 1X9; or 416.539.8800; I’m not sure what programmers at the Toronto International Film Festival think of the title, but they liked or [email protected] the movie enough to give it a spot in this year’s Special Presentations program. 50/50 will screen at the Publications Mail Agreement No. 41619533. prestigious fest just a few weeks before opening nationwide at the end of the month. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Cineplex Magazine, 102 Atlantic Ave., Suite 100, Elsewhere in this issue, Matt Damon tells us about his own disease-centric movie, Contagion (page 30), Toronto, ON., M6K 1X9 we have a Q&A with Abduction’s Taylor Lautner (page 34) and Naomi Watts talks about being drawn to 700,000 copies of Cineplex Magazine are distributed through characters in peril, like the one she plays in Dream House (page 38). Cineplex Entertainment, The Globe and Mail newspaper, HMV and other outlets. Cineplex Magazine is not responsible for the Also, this month marks the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, so we’ve created a timeline return of unsolicited manuscripts, artwork or other materials. (page 28) charting how the fateful day has played out on film over the decade. No material in this magazine may be reprinted without the express written consent of the publisher. And on page 22 we whet your appetite for the aforementioned Toronto International Film Festival © Cineplex Entertainment 2011. with a look at some of the best films ever to screen at the event, and a collection of juicy snapshots from festivals past. n MARNI WEISZ, EDITOR 6 | CINEPLEX MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2011 SNAPS GArfield’S rIDe New Spider-Man Andrew Garfield looks more like the villain Vector from Despicable Me as he rides his Vespa in West Hollywood. Photo by SPlaSh newS KAte +KAte Kate Beckinsale with her body double on the Toronto set of Total Recall. We think she’s the one on the right. Photo by SPlaSh newS Very Perry Katy Perry, voice of Smurfette in The Smurfs, meets the real deal on the blue carpet at the film’s New York premiere. Photo by DaVe allocca/SPe, Inc. 8 | CINEPLEX MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2011 the GoSliNG Strut ryan Gosling plays around with fans and a photographer after having lunch with his dog at a New York café. Photo by SPlaSh newS Woody’S breather Seventy-five-year-old Woody Allen takes a break while Penélope Cruz (left) consults with crew on the Rome set of Bop Decameron. Photo by KeyStone Press SEPTEMBER 2011 | CINEPLEX MAGAZINE | 9 IN BRIEF On Home Turf: elysium Cameron Crowe (left) and Eddie Vedder now and (inset) then If you haven’t already caught sight of Jodie Foster and Pearl Jam Matt Damon (with a shaved head) shooting Elysium in Vancouver, there’s still time. ToasT The Neill Blomkamp t’s no surprise that Vedder played a version of Crowe. “It was obvious from (District 9) sci-fi is sched- Cameron Crowe himself, and a member of the beginning that this was a uled to film in B.C. through directed Pearl Jam Matt Dillon’s band, Citizen Dick. band that mattered.” the end of this month. Twenty, an intimate Pearl Jam also contributed Crowe sifted through more Little is known about documentary which a couple of songs to the than 1,200 hours of footage the hush-hush project, but covers the seminal grunge soundtrack, including the great and conducted more than while in Toronto promoting band’s 20-year history. “State of Love and Trust.” 24 hours of new interviews The Beaver a few months It was, after all, Crowe who But Crowe first met Vedder with the band’s members, ago, Foster confirmed that introduced Pearl Jam frontman and the band even earlier, before whittling it down to she’ll play the leader of an Eddie Vedder to the movie when he was a Seattle-based this two-hour doc. alien planet. world 19 years ago with the writer for Rolling Stone. Pearl Jam Twenty screens Other actors in town release of Singles, an era- “I’ve been lucky enough at Cineplex theatres for one for the film include defining comedy set amid to see the beginning of night only, September 20th. Alice Braga, William the early days of the Seattle Pearl Jam, and follow them as Go to www.cineplex.com for Fichtner and District 9 star grunge scene. A babyfaced a fan from Moment One,” says more information. —MW Sharlto Copley. —MW The Art Of Film After quitting a job he didn’t really like, Savanna, Georgia, illustrator and graphic designer Adam Sidwell needed a project.