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The New Moon Trailer

Here it is! Enjoy!

Tribeca Talks: The Girlfriend Experience

Screenwriters Spill on Budget Concerns

Should your expected budget affect the way you write a script? According to screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the duo behind Rounders, Oceans 13, Runaway Jury and now, Stephen Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience, the answer is a resounding no.

Last week, as part of the Tribeca Talks series, Koppelman and Levien chatted with former Premiere critic Glenn Kenny about the constraints -- or lack thereof -- placed on their work by budget quandries. "We don't spend a lot of time in the early stages thinking about the budget and writing to that level," said Levien. "That comes later -- if at all."

Still, when the pair penned their first script Rounders, they wrote it with the idea that they may have to produce it themselves for under $500 K. Luckily, Miramax and director John Dahl signed on, earning the project a healthy $12 million budget. "If we had shot the movie ourselves, we'd never get to some of those locations," said Koppelson, noting that they ended up with access to the Tropicana and other classic Las Vegas casinos. "And it was just amazing to see things you'd just put in on a whim -- like a scene set at a Chinese restaurant. They build that restaurant from the ground up, just because we wrote it in."

These days, besides working on film's like Soderbergh's Tribeca opener, the relatively low budget Girlfriend Experience, the New York-based writers are called in to do revisions on others writers' scripts.

Koppelson recalled an uncredited clean-up the duo did on Michael Bay's Bad Boyz II. "You're called in to write certain set pieces," said Koppelson. "But Will Smith came in and pointed Michael and said, 'He'll take care of the action. Then he pointed to Martin Lawrence and himself and said, 'We'll take care of the funny.' Then he pointed to us and said, ' You take care of the character and dialogue.' And they were almost done shooting the movie! But you give them what they want."

Even if that means going over budget. "Michael wanted this one particular boat house effect, and getting that single shot would cost one million dollars," said Koppelson. "But when the studio pointed that out, Michael was just like 'Yeah.' And he got his shot."

Clocking in at a modest $1.7 million, Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience -- a drama about a call girl, starring porn star Sasha Grey -- was a return to their more down-to-Earth roots, budget-wise. "We had to trade on Stephen's name to get some of those things negotiated," said Levien.

But Koppelson said a little strategic back-scratching helped them score some major set pieces. "We negotiated one by offering to include the name of the place on-screen for five seconds. They were happy, we got what we needed. It worked out well for everyone."

Tentpole Time!

Fox's Wolverine Bows Big

Despite contending with an online leak that could have cost the film more than $20 million, according to Variety, Fox's blockbuster  prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine made a respectable big screen debut this weekend, taking more than $87 million on more than 4,000 screens nationwide. The film, originally set to bow May 14th, had an expedited release because it was leaked on YouTube more than two weeks ago.

The film's success marks the beginning of a summer tentpole season that could go either way, considering the economy. Still, despite the recession, it seems Americans will continue to buy big screen tickets, as I reported for ABCNews.com in November.

New Moon In Sight

Twilight fans, known for dissecting every little detail of the film on the web, are no doubt salivating over the first look at New Moon's howlingly hot wolf pack in this morning's USA Today.

Missing in the pic is the leader of the pack, Taylor Lautner, who originated the role of Jacob in the first book and was previously rumored to be replaced in the follow-up film because he was too small. But if this peek at his pack is any proof, he's no doubt beefed up nicely for the role, which is much more central in the follow-up books.

Getting a coveted spot on Jacob's Quileute crew was no easy task. The boys all had to show true Native American descent. "They had to have papers that proved their heritage," director Chris Weitz told USA Today. who was the one who insisted on hiring within the community. "And they had to be in good physical shape. They went through wolf camp together, and they are in constant training. It paid off as a bonding thing for them and helped them to get to know one another. They drove each other to get more buff."

Oscar Themes

This week I'm digging into Oscar themes past and present on ABCNews.com.

I chatted with Oscar experts Dave Karger, who runs Entertainment Weekly's Academy Awards blog, and Tom O'Niel, who runs the L.A. Times The Envelope blog.

Amongst the themes we discovered? This year, with every best picture nominee also taking a best director nod, is definitely the year of the helmer. In fact, Danny Boyle is a shoo in for Slumdog Millionaire, which is also the frontrunner for the best picture trophy.

In years past, we've seen the Oscars focus heavily on villains, classy old broads, and last year, a strange convergence of female screenwriting nominees. Which isn't to say that the trends signal a shift in the Hollywood paradigm. Female scribes still make up less than thirty percent of working WGA writers in Hollywood. As Twilight writer Melissa Rosenberg noted when I interviewed her for Premiere.com, "You know, honestly, it's not getting better," she told me. "If you look at the numbers, the WGA diversity reports, the numbers for both minorities and women are essentially the same as they were years ago. They just haven't moved. It's discouraging. And it's exhausting. You think you've made some headway, and you really haven't."

Still, Rosenberg isn't giving up hope. (And neither am I!) "If you don't keep fighting, then the other side wins," she says. Jai Ho to that!

She's Just Not That Into You?

I've been working on a story for ABCNews.com on celebrity love pegged to the release of the self-help tome-turned ensemble comedy He's Just Not That Into You. And it turns out, when it comes to relationships, stars are just as messed up as the rest of us.

So I interviewed a bunch of relationship experts, including Oprah fave Dr. Michelle and the always uber-candid Matt Titus, on certain celebs and their very-human dating downfalls.

From Jennifer Aniston to Drew Barrymore to ScarJo, they've all had their fair share of dating disasters -- but their bad dates make the tabloids every time. So have they learned from their mistakes?

Drew's ex -- you may remember him as your local, neighborhood Mac guy -- Justin Long has. But that doesn't mean he wouldn't do it all again in a heartbeat. "We all rationalize and analyze to a certain extent," Long told me when I interviewed him for American Way pegged to the film. "But when you're with somebody, you've got to make the choice to just go all in. Sometimes you do and you get your ass kicked. But you can't regret it. That's the nature of love." 

Wise guy, that Justin Long. I'm sure he and Drew will find their way back to each other soon enough.