Celebrity Interviews

Editor's note: Moviefone is excited to feature the writing of several dedicated 'Twilight' fan bloggers to our readers. Amanda Bell, blogger for the Twilight Examiner, flew to L.A. for the 'New Moon' premiere and is now sharing the experience with us. Come back in the coming weeks for more of Amanda's insights into 'Twilight' and to find lots of cool original 'Twilight' content from her and her fellow Twihards.

Monday in Westwood, Calif., the stars of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' hit the ultimate red carpet to debut the film, one which marks the culmination of months and months of effort, anticipation, and unending intrigue.

You may know her as Thirteen on 'House,' but Olivia Wilde has been busy with a host of other projects that are taking her into new territory. She recently worked with Jeff Bridges on the sequel 'Tron Legacy.' which is due out late next year, and currently appears in 'Fix,' an independent film co-starring her husband Tao Ruspoli and Shawn Andrews (of 'Dazed and Confused' fame).

Inspired by an actual day that co-star/director Ruspoli experienced with his real-life brother, 'Fix' stars Andrews as a heroin addict who, assisted by his filmmaker brother (Ruspoli) and his wife (Wilde), has one day to raise $5,000 to get into rehab by that night or face a jail term of three years.

Despite playing opposite and being directed by her real-life spouse, Wilde found the experience to be fun. "When you know someone so well you have a really quick line of communication, and I found that made everything run really smoothly," the actress explains. "Hopefully when you love someone you really trust them, and the best thing is to be able to trust your director. That's the ideal for an actor. I thought it was really great."

It's been 16 years since Shawn Andrews cracked up audiences as the teenager who tries but fails to throw a keg party at his parent's Texas home in 'Dazed and Confused.' Several indie films later, he's starring in ''Fix,' playing an adult struggling with heroin addiction who has a day to raise $5,000 to be able to enter rehab by that evening or go to jail for three years. He is aided by his documentary filmmaker brother (Tao Ruspoli, who captures it first person on film) and his brother's wife ('House' cast member and Ruspoli's real-life spouse Olivia Wilde).

Faran Tahir may not be a household name yet, but the prolific actor can claim the title of Only Actor to Appear in a Top 5 Highest Grossing Film for both 2008 and 2009. As Raza, the leader of the Ten Rings, in 'Iron Man,' the Los Angeles-via-Pakistan actor was the thorn in Robert Downey Jr.'s side (and might be again if rumored plans to include Tahir in a sequel come to fruition.) Switching sides, Tahir played the heroic Captain Robau in J.J. Abram's reboot of 'Star Trek,' in a brief, yet memorable, performance.

Over the course of her career, Carla Gugino has refused to be pigeonholed, tackling a diverse cornucopia of roles that include butt-kicking mom in the family-friendly 'Spy Kids' franchise, Vincent Chase's sexy, strong-willed agent/lover on HBO's 'Entourage'; Marv's topless lesbian parole officer in 'Sin City' and a former superhero in 'Watchmen.'

And she won't have to worry about being type-cast with her latest movie 'Women in Trouble,' which is in select theaters now. The movie can be summed up in eight words: Hot women in their underwear helping each other. I know, it sounds like porn -- but it isn't (seriously). That said, Gugino does play a porn star -- one who's just learned she's pregnant and has no clue what to do about her predicament. Luckily for her -- and audiences -- she finds herself trapped in an elevator on the hottest day of the year with a businesswoman (Connie Britton) who's also at a crossroads in her life. The two strip to their bra and panties ... and then things get really revealing.

In an exclusive interview, Gugino tells Moviefone why she and her sexy co-stars -- including 'Entourage' starlet Emmanuelle Chriqui, 'Friday Night Lights' actress Adrianne Palicki and 'Sin City' co-star Marley Shelton, who play other women grappling with various interwoven crises -- were happy to peel of their clothes for director Sebastian Gutierrez (we're sure Gugino's decision had nothing to do with the fact that Gutierez is her longtime boyfriend); dishes on her new role in Zack Snyder's upcoming musical-action-noir 'Sucker Punch'; and reminsces about the good ole days making 'Son in Law' with Mr. Pauly Shore.<

Reinventing herself is nothing new for Lea Thompson.

In the '80s, she was the red-hot young star of hits like 'All the Right Moves,' 'Some Kind of Wonderful,' 'Red Dawn,' and, of course, the 'Back to the Future' trilogy. After giving birth to her first daughter in 1991, Thompson turned to family-friendly entertainment like 'Dennis the Menace' and 'Little Rascals.' She spent the second half of that decade on the tube, as the singleton cartoonist approaching middle age in 'Caroline in the City.'

All work and no play makes Ashley Greene ... as cheerful as ever, apparently. Despite moving straight from a hectic schedule of shooting 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' six days a week to a grueling publicity tour for 'New Moon,' when I catch her by phone, Greene couldn't be happier.

"At least it's the same franchise -- not something else I'm doing where you confuse the storylines," she laughs, determined to find the silver lining on every cloud.

Mo'Nique's come a long way since 'Phat Girlz.'

The amiable actor-comedian-talk show host (and yes, headliner of that infamous 2006 bomb) is the talk of Tinsletown these days thanks to her harrowing dramatic turn in the Oscar favorite 'Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.' The indie has steadily gained steam since winning big at Sundance in January, subsequently winning the endorsement of media heavies Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, who signed on as producers.

'Precious' features the year's most unlikely heroine -- Clareece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), an obese Harlem teen twice impregnated by her father. For her portrayal of Mary, the girl's callous, abusive mother, Mo'Nique is a virtual lock for an Academy Award nomination.

No, you're not in a hemp-induced hallucination; Woody Harrelson has been around a lot lately.

He slayed the undead last month in 'Zombieland' and this weekend will try to survive the end of the world in Roland Emmerich's latest disaster flick '2012.' But the Texan had a more serious subject on his mind when we met up with him this week in Manhattan; namely, his other film opening this weekend, 'The Messenger.'

A war film that focuses more on the home front than the battlefield -- in the vein of Hal Ashby's 'Coming Home' or 'The Last Detail' -- Harrelson and Ben Foster ('Pandorum') play two Army officers who have the agonizing responsibility of reporting the death of soldiers to their next of kin. In the process the two build an indelible friendship while battling their own personal demons.