John Singleton on Abduction, PG-13 Love Scenes and Turning Twilight's Taylor Lautner Into an Action Hero

It’s not just Twilight star Taylor Lautner who has a lot riding on this week’s PG-13 action thriller Abduction, in which the erstwhile Jacob Black plays a suave teenager who turns spy-on-the-run after discovering his life has been a lie. Director John Singleton has something to prove with his first directorial effort since Four Brothers, even if he exudes nothing but confidence while discussing the high-octane action pic. Abduction marks the latest in a curious twenty-year progression for Singleton, whose powerhouse debut, 1991’s Boyz n the Hood, earned him Oscar nominations for writing and directing at the age of 23. As he points out, the mainstream thriller is just the latest in a series of films about “young men trying to find their place and trying to make connections in the world, with their families.” But with its slick, often silly action sensibilities and teen heartthrob star (who simultaneously flexes his dramatic muscles and his six pack in shirtless scenes and racy-but-PG-13 clinches), Abduction is a long way removed from Singleton’s gritty beginnings. Still, the challenge of it all was part of the attraction, he says. Can Singleton turn 19-year-old Lautner into the next Tom Cruise? Having already promised a sequel following the Twi-hard fervor at Abduction’s Los Angeles premiere, he seems sure of it. Read on as Movieline speaks with Singleton about why he signed up for Abduction despite the rushed production schedule, the action hero lessons he gave Lautner, which steamy scenes Lautner and co-star Lily Collins heated up on their own accord, and why he hopes audiences will get onboard with Abduction’s tone instead of thinking, ‘Aw, shit.’ They say that you spent a few years after your last film, Four Brothers, to go sailing and raise your kids. Is that why you took time away from directing for a short while? Well, in late 2005 I got custody of four of my five kids at the time, and I thought I was going to — I don’t have hair, but — I thought I was going to pull my hair out. But I produced some movies in that time, too. I did Black Snake Moan and Ilegal Tender and stuff, and then I was attached to A-Team and some other movies that went down. So it wasn’t me just taking time off, I was still working. But, you know. Things were falling apart at the studios, they were changing and evolving. I was just devoting my time to trying to get my kids together, going from being a weekend dad to being a single dad. I’m gonna make a movie about that! [Laughs] That was the whole thing for me. Filmmaking does seem to be a juggling act, when it comes to things like that. Making movies is harder than raising kids! [Laughs] I guess that depends on how rambunctious your kids are. Oh yeah, mine are real rambunctious. So when Abduction came about for you, when you were offered the director’s chair, it all seemed to come together very quickly. Oh, it happened like that. [Snaps fingers] They sold the script to the studio in January, got Taylor [Lautner] in February, and I was on in March. And you only had a few months to prepare. Two and a half, three months. We were shooting in July, and now it’s out! Isn’t that a crazy schedule? Or do you enjoy the challenge of that kind of pressure? Oh, I love it. I love it. People don’t understand that a lot of the movies that I’ve done that have been really great and popular, they’ve had such quick turnarounds. That means that they’re really fresh and new, they’re not gestating for two, three, four, five years. When I did Four Brothers, it was eight months from shooting to release, which is less than a year. 2 Fast 2 Furious, seven months. I like working in that spontaneous kind of [spirit] where the studio says, ‘We need a movie now!’ That’s good. What are the biggest challenges in working that way? Time. It’s always time. You came to Abduction once Taylor was attached to star, but do you think you would have done it if he wasn’t? I don’t know. I don’t think I would have done it if Taylor wasn’t on it, because part of the allure was his energy. His energy to want to do something and be different than what he’s done before. I’ve followed the Twilight films, and it seems clear from your recent premiere that Taylor’s Twilight fanbase is going to be very supportive of the film - You’ve seen the movie, right? And you’re a big Twilight fan? So you understand how we didn’t have him do the [same stuff]… Oh yes, he’s totally more mature — I mean, he says his first onscreen swear word, pretty much, in Abduction. Exactly! [Laughs] It’s like, ‘Whoa!’ And the train scene in which he and Lily Collins are making out extensively is another newfound mark of maturity for him. [Grinning] He picks her up, they were doing that… that day. They couldn’t wait for that day. They were like, ‘We’re gonna show you!’ I was like, ‘OK now, this is PG-13,’ and they said, ‘Cut it out if you want to cut around it!’ I said, ‘Wait, wait, wait…’ Lily was like, ‘And then I’m gonna straddle him!’ [Laughs] Taylor’s 19 - And she’s legal. … and with those mature, racier elements being combined with this film as his coming-out moment as an action star, do you feel a heightened sense of responsibility as his director than you might with already established actors? So much is riding on this as his first non-Twilight film… Oh yeah. A lot is riding on it, exactly. Going into it, that’s why he was so hungry to do something really big and different with which he could prove himself as a guy who can command a movie on his own. I think we can all agree he can pull off the action element, but the dramatic acting is fairly new for him. And the funny, too. Did you feel like it was harder or easier to pull out the sexy or the vulnerable moments from him? It wasn’t hard — Taylor’s not a hard guy to direct, really. It’s really mainly because he was with me from the moment we both came on this movie, trying to do different things. We never had a hiccup where we had to figure each other out or anything. We just started watching movies together and talking about what classic action heroes did. We have these rules, the ‘hero rules.’ Like, a hero doesn’t slouch. A hero walks proudly with his head up. A hero walks with a purpose. A hero’s always a gentleman. Even when he’s running from the bad guy, he’s like, ‘Excuse me’ and the bad guy’s like, ‘Get the fuck outta my way!’ It’s little touches that really make the movie. What kinds of action hero references did you give Taylor? For me, more the ’90s and ’80s heroes. Movies I went to go see. I told him, ‘The first thing that’s going to happen in this movie is, you’re going to get smacked.’ He said, ‘What are you saying? You want to smack me??’ I said, ‘No man, but great heroes got smacked around - like Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Bruce Willis in Die Hard. And once they prevail, the audience is like, yeaaah!’ I said to him, ‘Once you get smacked in this movie, the girls will go, ooooh!’ And then they root for you to come back. Abduction seems to really embrace the genre ridiculousness that can come with action movies. How mindful were you of making it more fantastical than realistic? Whatever we can get away with that doesn’t seem just, like… you never want anyone to go, ‘Aw, shit.’ Certain lines of dialogue might play differently with audiences because of the tone they’re executed in. Mostly in the tender moments, I think. Yeah, that’s true. What kind of tone were you trying to strike? I just wanted the film to have an emotional weight to it, you know. Not just be a boom-boom-pow action movie. I think you need it to have some emotional resonance to the story instead of just the action. That makes the action better. I have to tell you, there’s a moment when Taylor is chatting online where I swear I caught a typo. I could be wrong, but I thought to myself: is this intentional? Are we supposed to think Taylor’s character is a bad speller? [Laughs] I didn’t even notice that! That was unintentional. I didn’t direct that part. I’ll have to watch it again to double check. How do you see Abduction fitting into how your film career has evolved, since Boyz N the Hood? It has a kind of thematic throughline that I’ve always had, of young men trying to find their place and trying to make connections in the world, with their families. I’ve been doing that. That’s kind of like my throughline in all of my films. It’s just the means in which you express that theme that’s changed? Yeah, exactly. The themes are all the same, really. Abduction is in theaters Friday.

Kaira Pitts Moneyball Daughter: Hes A Great Father

Concord, Calif. -- Kaira Pitt will get the truly amazing father stamp of approval from his 13-year-old Moneyball co-star, Kerris Dorsey. Let me tell hes a great father as they am great with me at night, Kerris told Access Hollywood within the baseball movies premiere in Concord, Calif., on Monday evening. And therefore enjoyable, she ongoing He handled to obtain really fun get to work. Even though Jolie-Pitt brood wasnt on set when Kerris was filming, she mentioned the proud papa had his six children on his mind. He spoken regarding the subject a good deal. I kind of know a little regarding the subject, she told Access. He loves them. Hes a great father. Kerris has labored getting a slew of Hollywoods finest names with credits including Walk the street and five seasons of Brothers and sisters & Brothers and sisters, but she recognized to feeling just a little nervous at first if the found acting along with her silver screen father. Certainly slightly intimidated! she told Access of coping with Kaira. But he handled to obtain fairly simple, so after day one I went home which i had been like, Mother, that was so amazing, I labored with Kaira Pitt which i cant accept it! Adding, He kind of increased being like my dad a little, it absolutely was fun. Moneyball 35mm 35mm slides into theaters on September 23. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All rights reserved.These elements is probably not launched, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

See Charlize Theron Hungover in the Poster For Young Adult

Last week during Movieline’s Fall Preview, we repeatedly named Young Adult as one of our most anticipated autumn films. The Jason Reitman/Diablo Cody collaboration stars Charlize Theron as a teen-lit author who returns to her hometown to reclaim her happily married high school crush (Patrick Wilson). And judging by the movie’s first poster, that hometown mission does not go so well. Young Adult hits theaters Dec. 9. For Diablo Cody’s most anticipated movies of the fall, click here. [THR]

Ed Zwick to direct The Great Wall

Ed Zwick clearly loves his Asian history. Having boned up on the Meiji Restoration for The Last Samurai, he'll now turn his attention to the history of the Great Wall Of China for the aptly named The Great Wall.Zwick has agreed to direct the inaugural film for fledgling studio Legendary East, which explores the history behind one of civilisation's most enduring structures. Or as the official press release puts it: "The Great Wall reveals the legend behind a great mystery of our age: why this magnificent structure came to be."Zwick will pen the screenplay with long-standing writing partner Marshall Herskovitz. Their script will be based upon an original story concocted by Thomas Tull (Chairman and CEO of Legendary Entertainment) and World War Z author Max Brooks.Legendary East is a Hong Kong-based standalone created, "to produce content that is as commercially viable within China as it is throughout the rest of the world." Going by its subject matter, The Great Wall would certainly appear to fit that brief.Zwick himself sounds duly excited by the project, stating that, "Legendary East has given us the chance to do what we most love - to create an adventure on a grand scale."The film has yet to receive an official release date. Zwick is also attached to direct spy thriller American Assassin, and it remains to be seen which project will receive his attentions first.

They eat to battle hunger

Tom Colicchio and Julianne Moore speak at "What's up for grabs.Inch Christy Turlington Saturday's fundraising event in the Sagaponack home of Susan Bruden not just elevated gold coin for U . s . Way but gave partygoers a sneak look in the new docu "Hungry in the usa,Inch created by Participant Media and Ryan Harrington.Julianne Moore co-located the evening garden party, named "What's up for grabs,Inch with "Top Chef's" Tom Colicchio and the wife, Lori Silverbush, who co-directed the docu with Kristi Jacobson."Tom's a Twitter master and he will allow us to tell others,Inch stated Moore. "He's 250,000 fans, that is 200,000 a lot more than I've!Inch Outside, chefs were positioned at cubicles representing five of Colicchio's restaurants, and seen making the models were Christy Turlington and Edward Menicheschi of Vanity Fair, which backed the big event. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Chilean Miners 17 Days Buried Alive

The ordeal of the Chilean miners, trapped 2,300ft underground by a rockfall on August 5, 2010. Director Angus Macqueen focuses on the first 17 days, when they were cut off from the outside world, during which time no one knew if they were dead or alive. When contact was finally established, thanks to a note attached to a search probe, it was another 52 days before they were rescued. The film tells their story, with personal testimony from six of the miners

Exclusive: The Salt Of Existence Clip

Look! Young puppies!He might be just a little over the age of your average up-and-comer but Gianni Di Gregorio is continuously carving a distinct segment for themself among the finest voices in Italian cinema. His second directorial gig, The Salt Of Existence, continues to be welcomed with similarly rapturous acclaim as 2008's Mid-August Lunch, and, because this new clip demonstrates, it's exactly the same fanciful tone and gentle humour. If gentle humour is not your bag - and that we have that - the dude's versatile too, as his gutsy focus on the Gomorrah script testifies. Don't expect a lot of motorbike-borne gunmen in that one. Di Gregorio plays Gianni, a guy entering the fall of his years, who requires a lawyer friend's (Alfonso Santagata) advice and decides to locate themself a mistress. But teasing using the signorinas is not as straightforward as Gianni imagined, despite a fluffy canine waiting with puppy eyes in the ready. There is a poster to feast your vision on too and Empire's review is waiting for the search needs. Existence poster. The Salt Of Existence has gone out on August 12. .