Robert Downey, Jr. is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly in order to promote his new Guy Ritchie-directed film Sherlock Holmes (due out in theaters on Xmas day). In his coverstory interview, RDJ talks about working on Sherlock and also talks a lot about his future plans … which don’t necessarily include acting anymore:

This week’s Entertainment Weekly takes a look at the martial-arts-filled new action movie Sherlock Holmes, a literary giant that Robert Downey Jr. and director Guy Ritchie are trying to make young again. As the star of the film, Downey has had time to hone his own deductive powers. When he stepped into the role of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Baker Street detective, Downey, along with British director Guy Ritchie was determined to give the iconic crime-fighter a unique stamp. Downey knows the stakes are high – he was cast hot off Iron Man and Tropic Thunder. At the time, he cheekily said of Holmes, “Clearly I’m going to do it better than it’s ever been done.” Today he’s a little more circumspect. “Holmes is a huge iconic character, and this is a really big movie.” He shrugs. “I’m just a guy.” Despite all the bells and whistles of a nearly $100 million budget, the makers of Sherlock Holmes insist their film is faithful to the detective’s roots as a supersleuth. “People think the movie is going to be, like, this modern punk-rock version where we’re all wearing high-tops,” says Jude Law, who stars as Holmes’ sidekick Dr. Watson. “It’s actually more true to the books than they’re guessing.” Ritchie, who listened to recordings of Holmes stories at his English boarding school as a boy, instantly saw the appeal of the project. “I loved the idea of an intellectual action hero,” says the director. At first, he wanted to relaunch Holmes with an origin story, but once Downey expressed interst, Ritchie fell in love with the idea of setting the actor loose in the criminal underwold of Victorian London. “It seems impossible now that anybody other than Rob could have played him,” Ritchie says. “He thinks like Sherlock Holmes, he’s complicated like Sherlock Holmes, and he can really brawl.” In the end Downey says portraying Holmes was as much an act of make-believe as playing a guy in a metal suit. “I’m very intuitive,” he says. “But playing Holmes, sometimes I’m just standing there trying to hopefully appear smarter than I am.” He laughs. “Some of it is really basic: You pick a point and just look at it and say what you’re saying – because what you’re saying is smarter shit than most people say.” Shooting on the London set was rather collision-free, but the biggest drama took place off the set, as Ritchie’s divorce from Madonna made headlines. Downey says Ritchie did his best to tune out the distractions. “Guy is a country gentleman,” he says. “He doesn’t want to occupy his mind with things that may be unpleasant or may get him riled up. He was just doing what he would have been doing regardless of the situation.” Ritchie describes his own way of dealing with the tabloid noise in four simple words: “Head down, arms swinging.” Ten years ago, Downey was bouncing in and out of jail and rehab, but now he reflects on the improbable spot he’s currently in – with Iron Man 2 set for release next May, a new comedy by the director of The Hangover, and a possible second major franchise with Holmes. “I have no set plans for my future,” Downey says. “I’ve never had it this good – this is my day in the sun – and I certainly don’t want to look a gift horse in the molars. But Susan [Downey, his wife] and I want to begin to be in our lives as much as we are in our jobs. I’d love just to sit here and say, ‘What movie’s playing tonight?’ I’d love to finish the new book about D-Day I’m reading. I love painting, I love music.” Sometimes, he says, he asks himself whether he even wants to keep acting. “I’m fucking really good at what I do – and have been for a long time, so I don’t waver on that,” he says. “But here’s the thing: I can only be a guy on a call sheet probably, I don’t know, maybe a couple more times. It’s something I’m so grateful to have in my palm, and yet I already see its inevitable decay.”

I cannot WAIT for this movie to come out. Ever since it was announced that RDJ would be playing Sherlock Holmes I’ve been counting down the days ’til the film’s release. I totally agree, I don’t think anyone else acting today could be called upon to play Sherlock as well as RDJ. He has a certain je ne sais quoi that lends itself to these types of movies … he has a comic timing that is pitch perfect and he really does have the acting chops to bring iconic characters to life as seemingly “regular” people. As for the fact that he may quit acting soon? Well, I’m not too worried about that. RDJ only takes on films that he knows he will do well … I contend that if more of those movie offers come his way, he’ll do them. He’s too good an actor to retire for good … I’m sure of it. As I mentioned above, Sherlock Holmes opens on December 25 … who’s excited with me?

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Yesterday we got our first look at the cover of this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly which features the Twilight Trinity — Kirsten Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner — and today we get to see a whole bunch of great EW photos as well as another portion of their “3-way interview”:

In the Twilight sequel New Moon, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are at each other’s throats over Kristen Stewart. Off screen, all three are loyal friends. In a candid interview with this week’s Entertainment Weekly, they share thoughts on rumors, fans, moviemaking – and hair.

EW: You don’t think just saying, for example, “Listen, we dated for a few months, it was weird, we’re better off as friends” would end the speculation?
Pattinson: No way.
Stewart: People are deeply judgmental and I’m not strong enough. I would love to be like, “I don’t care what anybody thinks.” But I’m a very private person. And think about every hypothetical answer: “Okay, we are. We aren’t. I’m a lesbian.” I’ve thought about this a lot. There’s no answer that’s not going to tip you one way or the other. I’m just trying to keep something. If people started asking me if I was dating Taylor, I’d be like, “Fuck off.” I would answer the exact same way.”

Yeah, it’s a good thing these three get along … they’d prolly murder one another if they didn’t and still had to be on top of one another, figuratively speaking, all the time. After the jump, check out a few more pics of these three in the pages of this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly …

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We are just about one week away from the worldwide release of the much-anticipated sequel film The Twilight Saga: New Moon which means that the media hype for the film is ready to kick into frantic high gear. New Moon’s trinity of stars, Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, are all featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine. Here is their EW coverphoto and some excerpts from what EW calls a “wild, uncensored 3-way interview”:

“I swear to you I’ve never experienced anything like this. It’s every single day,” says New Moon star Robert Pattinson of the constant on-set fuss surrounding his character Edward’s signature mane. During a break from shooting Eclipse, the next film to be adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels, Pattinson — sitting alongside costars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner — recounts the continuing saga. “In Twilight, they wanted me to have extensions down to my hips.” (“He’s a liar,” Stewart interjects playfully. “He doesn’t remember. He’s remembering how they made him feel, but they were just, like, down to here [pointing to her shoulders].”) Pattinson continues. “So I told them ‘Look, that’s just not going to happen.’ I said, ‘It looks like this already, I’ll come to set like this.’” “I sound so stupid, but in a lot of ways the hair is 75 percent of my performance,” the 23-year-old actor admits, his locks now comfortably hidden under a Yankee’s cap. “So in the second one I said, ‘Listen, I need to tone down the hair. Let’s make it a little more real, a little bit more…Method,’” he says with a laugh. “And then in the third one, I’m doing fight scenes and there’s a strand going down my forehead and they’re like, ‘We need to do it again because no one will recognize you! No one will know who it is!’ I have to look like the poster at all times. Just in case they want to use any clip for the trailer. Any clip at all! There were about five people in different departments who, because of my forelock, ended up in tears.”

Geeze … how is it that a “wild, uncensored 3-way interview” turns into a treatise on Robert Pattinson’s hair? I mean … really? Has the fever pitch of Twilight hysteria led to … this? Well, yes it has. I suppose it’s silly to expect that the topic of conversation, as it pertains to The Twilight Saga, will ever reach an elevated and intelligent level … I mean, just look at the source material. But intense fandom and teenage hysteria is a huge money-maker … I suppose we can’t fault them for milking the madness for as much money as they can. The Twilight Saga: New Moon will surely make more money at the box office on opening weekend than Twilight did … you can bet on that. In fact, I don’t see how the crazy hoopla will ever slow down … not until each book has been made into a splashy movie and ever last tween on Earth grows into maturity … OR until something more silly comes along to steal everyone’s attention.

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Paranormal Activity, the little horror movie that could, continues to rack up millions at the box office and is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine. Much like the late 90’s low budget film The Blair Witch Project took the box office by storm, so too is Paranormal raking in the big bucks. Here are the stars, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, on the cover of the new issue of EW mag and a portion of the coverstory article:

Paranormal Activity began its otherworldly existence as a little horror flick, made for $11,000 and shot entirely in the director’s house over the course of seven days. Now, thanks to a little help from Steven Spielberg and a savvy world-of-mouth marketing campaign by Paramount, its box office total has reached $62 million and counting. Hollywood is spellbound — and there are even plans for a sequel. But the film has proved positively life-changing for stars Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, who were originally paid $500 each for their work (and who, like writer-director Oren Peli, will reap some of the film’s profits). “I don’t have to have a job other than acting,” says Featherston, who was until recently waiting tables. “So I bought a handbag,” she adds with a laugh. Now it’s a matter of keeping their careers in motion. “I just have to get out there and audition and use this opportunity to the best of my advantage,” she says. “I’ve been at this a long time, and I’m not gonna stop now.” Though neither she nor Sloat have lined up their next job, they’ve both signed with agents. And they seem almost embarrassed by the VIP treatment the industry is starting to give them. “The quality of meetings we’re able to get right now are much higher. So are the scripts,” says Featherston. Sloat adds: “Just going in the room with casting directors is a lot different. It’s like, ‘Okay, I’ve seen your work, I know what you can do. Let’s just see you in this role.’” The actor has at least one idea for spending his newfound capital. “I would love to have a massive party and meet all the sweaty, geeky, awesome fans who posted on the Internet and believed in the film,” he says. “I just want to thank them.”

I’ve already pledged my love for the film but I’ve been hearing increasing backlash that the film “isn’t scary” and that it “sucks” which is totally normal when the hype level gets this high. In all honesty, I’m quite sure the film is not at all scary to a lot of people so their complaints are totally valid. I remember that Blair Witch enjoyed about 2 weeks of love from EVERYONE before the hype took over and people started complaining how un-scary it was. With films like these, you have to just ignore the hype, let the movie take you into its world and you either like it or you don’t. I have to say that in this new age of the Internet over-saturation, I’m pleased to know that a tiny film like this can still achieve massive amounts of success. I just hope they don’t kill this great, fun thing with an endless stream of terrible sequels.

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Glee, arguably the most buzzed about new hit series of this Fall TV season, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine. Altho the series features a eclectic and diverse cast of characters, this week’s EW coverphoto only features 3 principal stars of show. HMMM. Nonetheless, with a show as successful as Glee, it’s no wonder that it’s finally being splashed on magazine covers … like this one for Entertainment Weekly:

This season’s most unexpected success story, Glee is snarky, theatrical, totally addictive — and a cult phenomenon on its way to becoming a national obsession. The comedy is currently averaging a steady 8 million viewers a week, and the people watching are enviably young: Five million of its viewers are in the desirable 18–49 demo. (It’s little wonder that in September, Fox made Glee the first new fall series to be given a full 22-episode pickup.) Meanwhile, fans are staying engaged even after the episodes are over by downloading the cast’s newest cover tunes. More than 1.7 million Glee songs have been sold since May, and that’s after only seven episodes. “I thought it would be a huge project, but I didn’t know it would be this big,” says Rob Stringer, chairman of Columbia/Epic, Glee’s label. “The public appetite for this music is incredibly intense.” Adds the comedy’s co-creator Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck), “It seems to have transcended just being a television show to moving into other cultural areas.” The number of die-hard Glee fans — or “Gleeks,” as they call themselves — is bound to grow early next year, when episodes will follow American Idol. The young cast of newcomers is already beginning to see the effects of Glee mania. “I was at Disneyland yesterday — big mistake,” says Chris Colfer, who plays gay fashionista Kurt. “I might as well have walked around with a target on my shirt, because those are our fans. I stopped and took pictures probably 40 times in between rides. This one lady got a picture of me on the Tower of Terror and had me sign it.” Says co-creator Brad Falchuk, “I keep getting e-mails and phone calls and running into people at parties just telling me the show makes them feel happy.”

I admit it … I’m a Gleek. While I find the storyline marginally entertaining, I just cannot resist the fun musical numbers. To be honest, I tend to watch the show in the background while I work and then pause/perk up when I hear a musical number kick in. It’s fun having 3 numbers to look forward to each ep. In really exciting Glee news, the show has secured the rights to Madonna’s catalog of songs and is planning an “all-Madonna” ep to air next year:

EW has learned that Madonna has given Glee the rights to her catalog and that an all-Madonna-music episode is in the works for early next year. The hit series has been building an audience and filling the iTunes charts with its cover songs, and Madonna’s involvement is a testament to how big the show is getting. Also, an amazing Glee cover of a classic Madonna track has the potential to be even bigger than the show’s blockbuster take on “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Quinn totally has to do “Papa Don’t Preach.” And I can completely see Rachel tackling “Material Girl.”

Fun!! There is so much for Gleeks and Gleebs to look forward to, I’m thinkin’ that Glee is going to be a big hit for some time to come. Are any of y’all fans of the show? If so, what’s been your fave song performed on the show thus far?

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The new documentary/concert film Michael Jackson’s This Is It is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine, which got an early look at the film and offers an exclusive preview (with photos) in this week’s issue of EW. Here is the coverphoto and some of what we can expect in the coverstory article:

When tickets for Michael Jackson’s This Is It went on sale on Sept. 27, hundreds of shows around the globe sold out in less than 24 hours, without anyone knowing quite what it even was — a concert movie? A documentary? “It’s somewhere in between,” says Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal of the film, which consists of behind-the-scenes footage of Jackson rehearsing for his planned comeback concerts at London’s O2 arena. “It’s a movie about rehearsing for a concert that never happened. It’s heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. It gives you chills.” Now, with the October 28th worldwide release of the movie fast approaching, the late pop star’s collaborators open up about working with Jackson during his precarious last days. At age 50 Jackson hadn’t toured in more than a decade, but while his team worried at times about his health, his imagination was as active as ever. In fact, as the production got under way, it quickly became clear that Jackson’s creative ambitions for the concerts were beyond anything he’d ever attempted. With the budget already past $24 million, Jackson told his team he wanted to recreate one of the world’s largest waterfalls — Victoria Falls in southern Africa — on the stage. “I was ready to jump off the balcony of my office,” says Randy Phillips, president of the concert promotion firm AEG Live. “We went and met with Michael, and [director] Kenny [Ortega] said, ‘Michael, you’ve got to stop. We’ve got an incredible show, we don’t need any more vignettes.’ Michael said, ‘But Kenny, God channels this through me at night. I can’t sleep because I’m so supercharged.’ Kenny said, ‘But Michael, we have to finish. Can’t God take a vacation?’ Without missing a beat, Michael said, ‘You don’t understand — if I’m not there to receive these ideas, God might give them to Prince.’”

Aww … I love the Prince bit … I hope that this new film will also feature some of this side of Michael Jackson that we, the public, didn’t get to see. Even as a lukewarm MJ fan, I am growing increasingly more anxious to see this film as each day passes. But, I have come to realize that no matter how amazing the This Is It show looks on screen, it cannot match how amazing it would’ve looked live in person. But … something is better than nothing … I can’t wait to see this film.

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Earlier today we got our first look at The Twilight Saga: New Moon co-stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner on the cover of this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine. Now we get to check out a behind the scenes video of the pair having fun (yes, including the normally glum-looking K. Stew) on set of the EW photoshoot along with our first look at the photos themselves. Here are a few screencaps from the behind the scenes video:

We’ve heard that Taylor Lautner would like to do an action movie. Now, we might cast him in one. Check out the move he busts at the 0:24 mark in the video below, shot while Lautner and his Twilight Saga: New Moon costar Kristen Stewart were posing for the cover of EW’s Fall Movie Preview on stands Friday. Two words: Gymkata remake! While his biceps remain curiously clothed throughout the video, the clip does hold other charms: Slo-mo shots of Lautner pouncing like a cuddly ninja kitty through a field, his reaction when Stewart tells him “You need to grow into your cojones,” and Stewart noting that someone offscreen is going to die.

Yes, this video is really cute. Not only is Taylor jumping all over the place, doing flips for the camera like a cute trained monkey but Kristen seems to actually be enjoying herself! No lie! Actual laughter … YOU CAN SEE TEETH!!! After the jump, check out a few of the photos that are published in this issue of Entertainment Weekly and check out the behind the scenes video for yourselves …

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