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CNN Live Event/Special
Summer Blockbuster Movies
Aired May 26, 2013 - 19:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Nischelle Turner from the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. The hottest movie season of the year is burning up the big screen.
This is the "CNN Summer Movie Special."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER (voice-over): Summer at the movies. Explosive action. Serious star power.
HUGH JACKMAN, ACTOR: I'm a summer movie guy and I love them.
WILL SMITH, ACTOR: It's brand spankin' new.
TURNER: Huge adventure and outrageous comedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Hilarious.
TURNER: So get ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's do this.
TURNER: All aboard. We've got your preview next on the CNN summer movie special.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER: Hello everybody, the summer's biggest movies will be playing here at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood and on screens everywhere. You know, this is the season when Hollywood goes big, really big and rolls out mega movie after mega movie packed with so much action and star power.
Check this out. In one three week period alone we've got "Man of Steel," the super reboot of Superman. Then comes "World War Z" whether Brad Pitt battles the zombie apocalypse. Next up, there's "White House Down" where the U.S. capital comes under terrorist attack and later this summer the "Wolverine" blasts on to screens in 3D. Hugh Jackman stars once again as the superhero wit the sharp claws and wicked temper. But let me tell you, in real life, Hugh is a total sweetheart and I found this out when I got an exclusive visit with him at work on his latest "X-Men" movie in Montreal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER: We're going to meet the wolverine.
JACKMAN: I don't want to be bothered.
TURNER (voice-over): Hugh Jackman on location. He's shooting "X-Men, Days of Future Past," (INAUDIBLE) pole for next summer. But this summer he's got the his own tent pole film built around his "X-Men" character, "The Wolverine."
We headed over to his workout trailer where Hugh spends quite a bit of time.
JACKMAN: Yes, I come in here for two hours in the morning before I work, and my makeup artist hates it because after lunch I got back and I'm sweating.
TURNER (on camera): That's how you got to keep this.
JACKMAN: Yes.
TURNER: Is it safe to say that Wolverine is a little bit of a sensitive super hero?
JACKMAN: He's certainly more vulnerable. I mean I may be bias but I think he's the type (INAUDIBLE) he's the one guy, he doesn't necessarily have the strongest powers on paper but in here and in here he's the one guy you don't want to be on the bad side of.
TURNER: This picks up after "X-Men 3," so we do know that Jean Gray, Sandy Jensen, meets her demise in "X-Men 3." But I've seen the trailers. She's there.
JACKMAN: She is there.
TURNER: She's back?
JACKMAN: I don't want to give it away too much. She is there in the way that loved ones are always there. So I don't want to again -
TURNER: Is it her spirit?
JACKMAN: Heading for the scoop, I like that.
TURNER: Bullet train, I saw it.
JACKMAN: Oh my god. The only bad thing about doing filming a scene on the bullet train is that the wind machines are so powerful they're like, man I got to get a facelift because there's just skin flying everywhere.
TURNER: He's such a great character. This has to raise your cool factor by 20 million with your kids.
JACKMAN: It does. I'm kind of a wing man for my son who is turning 13. This sounds very politically incorrect but I spotted him at the beach a couple of years back and he was talking to some girl who must have been 14 or 15, I was like, like father, like son. And he's sort of walking ahead of the girl and he's about 20 odds ahead of the girl and he's going "Dad, I told them you're Wolverine. Just give them an autograph, will you?"
TURNER: You sealed the deal for your son.
JACKMAN: For my then 11-year-old son.
TURNER: We're in your gym. How much time did you spend getting ready?
JACKMAN: Three hours a day.
TURNER: Wow.
JACKMAN: I had a mentor. My mentor is Dwayne Johnson, the rock. In fact one of my great moments, I'll never forget this. I was ringing him. I said I've got six months. He goes fine you need six months to do this. He told me to diet, 6000 calories. You have to train like no one else and literally as he's talking to me there's a knock on his door. He goes "hang on a second." And I hear him answer he goes, "I'm on the phone with Wolverine. You can tell them to wait on the set." And I'm like "Yes, baby."
TURNER (voice-over): Spend time with Hugh Jackman and you quickly understand why he's known as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood.
(on camera): You've got such a great family. You're a great dad, great wife, are you lucky or good?
JACKMAN: I'm lucky, I'm very, very blessed. I do have an amazing wife and a great family. I never thought this would happen to me. I'm playing Wolverine for the seventh time in 12 years and working with great people. I literally pinch myself every day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER: I'm still pinching myself about meeting Hugh Jackman. His "Wolverine" opens July 26 but on July 3rd the "Lone Ranger" rides into theaters with Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the man in the black mask. Now Armie and the film makers unmasked some exclusive video for me in an editing suite where they were putting the finishing touches on the film.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There comes a time when good man must wear mask.
TURNER: On the scale of entertainment (INAUDIBLE) how difficult was making the movie?
GORE VERBINSKI, DIRECTOR "LONE RANGER": 11.
TURNER (voice-over): Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer agree their mega budget of remake of the "Lone Ranger" was grueling.
JERRY BRUCKHEIMER, PRODUCER: We built a track, five miles of track in a loop (INAUDIBLE) we never had to stop shooting.
TURNER: During an exclusive look at the film's editing process, the "Lone Ranger" himself Armie Hammer stopped by for a peak at this heart stopping scene.
(on camera): Do you look at this from a film maker's eye or can you just watch that as a viewer.
ARMIE HAMMER, ACTOR: I watch this and I have a weird sense memory of everything that went wrong. You got to slide a train on the ground and it doesn't move fast enough, it doesn't push the dirt. Everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first one was moving a little too quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's true. We also squashed our actors.
TURNER: Nice.
HAMMER: When you see people behind the camera and the train is coming at you and they're jumping out of the way, you're going - this is not how it's supposed to go.
TURNER (voice-over): With the bosses away, Hollywood's newest leading man opened up about landing the dream role.
HAMMER: It's like you ride horses, you throw lassos, you shoot guns, you get bad guys. I mean, it was an amazing experience.
TURNER (on camera): I'm really playing cowboys and indians and I'M getting paid do this.
HAMMER: Totally. It got to the point where huge parts of the crew were all camping there, and we would have, we would film all day. And at night, there would be big bonfires and karaoke parties where we put the (INAUDIBLE) at night. I mean, it was just really incredible.
TURNER: What is this I hear about a cowboy boot camp?
HAMMER: Yes, they were like "All right, city boys, here's your saddle. You become best friends with it because you're about to put it on and take it off about a hundred times."
TURNER: Are you good at it?
HAMMER: I feel really comfortable with a horse. Now that, you know, ridden one on top of a bank and through a moving train. The ground is easy now.
TURNER: Was there a point where you put that mask on? That's it. For folks who loved the "Lone Ranger," that's it.
HAMMER: I don't remember the exact number but it was more than 50 kinds of masks that we were trying, did he show enough of the eyes, did he show too much. We've been trying for so long, we put one on that fit everybody was like that looks great. It was just like - we thought we found the perfect mask but then we didn't have to keep looking at other masks.
TURNER: If I'm being honest I would have like to have seen a skin tight powder blue.
HAMMER: Velcro. Yes.
If I'm being honest, I'm so glad I didn't have to wear that.
TURNER: I cannot wait to see the "Lone Ranger." You know that exclusive video they showed us was really cool, right? Well, if you want more cool, just stick around for Will Smith, Bradley Cooper and Seth Rogen when the "CNN Summer Movie Special" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACKMAN: The theme that completely changed my life was "Indiana Jones."
SETH ROGEN, ACTOR: "Independence day" was definitely huge for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to earth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TURNER: "Independence Day" became a monster hit turning Will Smith into the king of summer movies, then "Men In Black" and "Hancock" really sealed the deal on that. And this summer he's got yet another mega movie in, "After Earth" co-starring his kid, Jaden. Now this took some doing but I finally caught up with them in the New Mexico desert.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER (on camera): Yes it's true we will go to great lengths to sit down with Will Smith. Now, I'm about to get in this helicopter right here and when we land, Will and Jaden, it's on.
So we are literally crossing the New Mexico desert right now. OK. Feet on the ground. Thank goodness. I'm a little disheveled. But Will and Jaden, here I come.
You know, it took a little bit of work getting to you guys.
WILL SMITH, ACTOR: Yes.
JADEN SMITH, ACTOR: Really.
TURNER: Seriously, I had to take a car, then I took a helicopter.
WILL SMITH: Planes, trains and automobiles.
TURNER (voice-over): Space ships, that's the mode of transportation Will Smith and son, Jaden, take this summer in the futuristic "After Earth."
Out in Richard Branson's Space Port in southern New Mexico, we talked about the film, family and their favorite summer movie.
(on camera): There are a lot of bells and whistles in this movie but at the heart of it, it's a heartfelt story.
WILL SMITH: It's a story of a father and a son trying to survive. And for me as an artist, that's something I've always been really interested in trying to do. You create something that has all of the summer candy, you know, it's the blockbuster, all of the action sequences and excitement and special effects, but at the center of it is you know real acting and real performance.
You are going to retrieve that beacon or we are going to die.
TURNER: Jaden played young Kitai, desperately trying to live up to his legendary father.
(on camera): Kitai has a bit of a mission. He wants to prove that he can match his father's greatness, right?
WILL SMITH: Absolutely. Yes.
TURNER: This is a classic case of art imitating life.
WILL SMITH: There's some similarities.
TURNER: Do you ever think I need to step back for a minute and let him shine because your star shines so bright.
WILL SMITH: Yes, you know, we be trying not to over shine the young man.
JADEN SMITH: Most of the time he's worrying about how can he outshine me.
TURNER: Is this Jaden's film though because it feels like it?
WILL SMITH: I told him he has all of the action. He gets to do a lot of the cool stuff in the movie but I'm going to take most of the money.
TURNER: That's good.
JADEN SMITH: So funny.
TURNER: It's wild because you have the same face, you really do. You even have that squint.
WILL SMITH: The squint. You do the squint more than me, though.
JADEN SMITH: yes.
WILL SMITH: The squint is like your signature.
JADEN SMITH: You can almost say I invented the squint.
WILL SMITH: You invented the squint. It's like blue steel. You know.
JADEN SMITH: It's almost like people didn't squint before I was born.
WILL SMITH: Yes, right. But you hang your mouth open a little bit, though. Yes, it's like that.
TURNER: Can you guys tell me, do you have a favorite summer movie? Because it's time for those mega movies.
WILL SMITH: This is the summer of sequels. Everybody's doing sequels. So I'm excited about "After Earth" because it's new. It's not part two or part three or part 11. It's brand spankin' new. You like that.
JADEN SMITH: Yes.
WILL SMITH: Was that a good selling point?
JADEN SMITH: Yes.
TURNER: What's your favorite?
JADEN SMITH: This one for sure.
TURNER: Smart kid. I like it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER: "After Earth" is rated PG 13.
Now if you're looking for movies for kids of any age well, this summer definitely has got a lot of them. Like "Turbo" about a super charged snail who has dreams of winning the Indy 500. Steve Carrell's back as Gru for the sequel for "Despicable Me," and "Smurfs 2" promises to be even smurfier than the original.
And on June 21st, when school lets out for a lot of kids, they can head directly to "Monsters University." Billy Crystal and John Goodman back as Mike and Sully for the prequel to "Monsters Inc."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Scaring 101.
BILLY CRYSTAL, ACTOR: For those who love the first movie, they're six or seven years old but now they're in college and so are we.
TURNER (voice-over): During the exclusive first look at the film, the talented duo explained how it all began with a little voice-over 101.
(on camera): The scene you guys are going to take me through is when Mike and Sully first meet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What am I doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike (INAUDIBLE). Listen it was very delightful meeting you whatever that is but if you don't mind I have to study my scaring.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't study your scary, you just do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was awesome.
JOHN GOODMAN, ACTOR: It was funny because we started off separately recording separately and somebody got to bright idea to bring us in together and it just exploded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three.
CRYSTAL: It's crazy. Somehow they'll catch a thing like this.
TURNER: Can you do that?
CRYSTAL: I was the ultimate one-eyed cat.
I think there's a little more to it than that.
They're great to watch but to do we do a lot of this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa.
GOODMAN: But you have to - the hard part is you have to put your whole body into it like Charles (INAUDIBLE) dynamic tension.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to scare circles around you this year.
TURNER: What do you think is the biggest take away of this movie?
CRYSTAL: For me, it was always sometimes things aren't going to turn out for you the way you want but you have to make the best of it.
GOODMAN: And you learn from it and you get stronger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just reach deep down, let the scary out.
TURNER (voice-over): Coming up, the "The Hangover" to end all hang overs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With so much of the hang over, all three movies is fantasy. Because the behavior that we exhibit in those movies would get you in jail or dead.
TURNER: And we're laughing it up with Seth Rogen before his world comes crashing down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TURNER: This is the summer of the R-rated comedy. Like "The Heat," starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could you just close the door on the way out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll shut the door on you. Will you lay down here and put your head in the door and I'll slam it about 157,000 times.
TURNER: They're putting a feminine twist on the traditional buddy cop movie.
SANDRA BULLOCK, ACTRESS: I have a lot of masculine tendencies. So I say I'm bringing my testosterone as well.
MELISSA MCCARTHY, ACTRESS: There are a lot of doubts as to which side I'm on.
BULLOCK: People think I'm a man.
MCCARTHY: You have to go see the movie to see what's really going on.
TURNER: "The Heat" is on June 28th.
If you want heat in the summer, you come to Vegas. If you want a hangover, you hang out with Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, and Ed Helms. Yes, the wolfpack's back for one final outrageous adventure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I told myself I would never come back.
TURNER: But the wolfpack is back.
Can somebody please debunk this terrible rumor that I've heard that this is it?
BRADLEY COOPER, ACTOR: Confirmed.
TURNER: I'm going to be like a six-year-old, though. Why?
ED HELMS, ACTOR: It's the right time in the movie. But if you still really want to latch on to the hangover magic, in 10 years we will be signing head shots at shopping malls.
TURNER (voice-over): This "Hangover" is all about Alan and a trip to a treatment center that goes all wrong.
(on camera): I was thinking after seeing the movie could I ever really have a friend like Alan?
ZACH GALIFIANAKIS, ACTOR: You don't have a friend like Alan? Because I feel like all of us do.
Do you have an uncle? You know, everybody has a weird uncle -
TURNER: Yes. I think that's the closest I have to an Alan in my life.
COOPER: Yes, I definitely have an Alan in my life.
GALIFIANAKIS: I do, too.
HELMS: You're one of my Alans.
GALIFIANAKIS: Am I your Alan?
COOPER: Yes.
HELMS: You're one of my alans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alan Thicke.
HELMS: A real Alan would be real trouble.
TURNER (voice-over): So what about the real Ed, Bradley, and Zach?
(on camera): I want to play a little game with you guys if you'd let me.
HELMS: Yes.
COOPER: Please. Games are good.
TURNER: Which one of you is most likely to wake up with a hangover?
COOPER: Ed.
TURNER: Who spends the most time in the mirror?
GALIFIANAKIS: Me.
COOPER: That might be true.
GALIFIANAKIS: I have six stylists.
TURNER: Who's the most likely to back out of a guys' night out?
HELMS: Bradley.
GALIFIANAKIS: Backs out of everything.
HELMS: Yes.
TURNER: When you guys are filming these, which one of you broke character most? Or who made the others break character?
COOPER: I think Ed probably broke character most because he laughs a lot. Right? And Zach probably made us do that.
TURNER: Do you agree?
GALIFIANAKIS: Yes.
I don't remember much about these movies.
TURNER: No?
(voice-over): The shared humor that brought these guys together for the first "Hangover" movie four years ago clearly remains.
(on camera): And do we read too much into this when we say oh, gosh, it must be bittersweet to leave these characters behind?
COOPER: No, that's accurate, I think. Yes. I mean it's changed all of our lives. We all love each other. And it's over.
TURNER: Do you really like each other?
COOPER: Yes. We really do.
GALIFIANAKIS: Don't listen to him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER: Man, it's good to have the wolfpack back one last time. Now, there is another comedy wolfpack. Seth Rogen and his all-star friends try to laugh off the apocalypse in "This is the End."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER: Look at this. Hey, nice to meet you.
(voice-over): Seth Rogen's looking remarkably calm for a guy who just survived the apocalypse. That's right. The apocalypse. His summer blockbuster is a buddy comedy starring his real-life buddies, playing warped versions of themselves, stuck in James Franco's house as the world comes to an end.
(on camera): You were kind of all things to this movie. Co-director, co-writer. One of the lead actors. It is kind of all things, you.
ROGEN: It's a little nerve-wracking. I think it turned out good. I'm very proud of it. I think it's funny.
TURNER: It's very funny. It's also very violent.
ROGEN: It is very violent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god!
TURNER: But it's funny violence. If there is such a thing.
ROGEN: There is such a thing. I think - when I was young, I saw "Pulp Fiction," I remember. That to me was kind of like a benchmark in moviemaking where I was like oh, you can do like disgusting, violent stuff but if you treat it the right way it can be really funny.
TURNER: Were you always funny?
ROGEN: I always tried to be. Yes. I think so.
TURNER: So you had a sense?
ROGEN: Yes. You know, some people are naturally inclined toward some things. And I was definitely - I liked comedy.
TURNER: You didn't go to college.
ROGEN: No.
TURNER: Didn't graduate from high school.
ROGEN: No.
TURNER: You're almost the epitome of -
ROGEN: And I drink at 1:00 p.m..
TURNER: But it's almost the epitome of do as I say, not as I do. How did you get here?
ROGEN: I worked really hard. It isn't like I dropped out of high school and just did nothing. Like I dropped out of high school and then went and worked on a TV show and then we were writing a script all throughout high school.
TURNER (voice-over): As a teenager Seth landed a role on the television series "Freaks and Geeks." The show was a Hollywood launching pad for the cast, who have continued to work together over the years. Some reuniting again in "This is the End."
(on camera): It almost seemed like you were just vibing in a lot of the scenes.
ROGEN: It's hard to tell which ones are written and which ones are improvised. But there's like, I'd say the movie is like a 50-50 mix.
TURNER: And you guys bag on each other in the movie. Was there anything that was off limits like OK, you cannot go there?
ROGEN: Almost everyone in the movie hit the brakes at some point and came to me and they're like we can't do this, this is too much. Yes, everyone at one point except Franco. He'll say and do anything. And I have to lead by example.
TURNER (voice-over): Edgy humor for audiences rooted in a simple goal among friends.
ROGEN: More than anything, we're just trying to make each other laugh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER: "This is the End" opens June 12th. Well, that brings us the to end of our summer movie special. So you know what time it is, right? Time to grab that popcorn, get ready to see all those huge stars, action, adventure, comedy, animation. This summer's got something for everyone.
So dim those lights, and let the summer movies roll.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
