Five years after her breakout role on Lisa Kudrow’s HBO series “The Comeback,” Toronto-raised actress Malin Akerman still marvels over the big names she gets to work with in Hollywood.

“Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn are two people that I grew up watching, so to have worked with them now, I still need to pinch myself,” Akerman, 31, said in a recent interview to promote Friday’s DVD release of “Couples Retreat,” co-starring her and Vaughn.

Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Elijah Wood, Katherine Heigl and Sandra Bullock are but a few other A-listers she’s shared the screen with in recent years.

And then there was that encounter she had with Tom Cruise on the set of “The Romantics,” which co-stars Akerman and Katie Holmes (who is married to Cruise) and recently debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.

“He’s amazing. I mean, wow, that was pretty surreal,” said the tall, leggy blond, decked out in a zebra-print dress.

“I think I blushed from my toes up to my head. I was really nervous meeting him, and then after a few minutes we started chatting. He’s so nice, so personable and really is larger than life. It’s Tom Cruise, you know!”

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Akerman moved to Toronto with her family at age two and started modelling three years later. At 17 she won the Ford Supermodel of Canada search, then studied psychology at York University.

Soon after, Akerman moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and got her first big break in 2005, playing a model/actress on “The Comeback,” about a washed-up sitcom star (Kudrow).

Her resume has ballooned since then, with turns in such comedies as “The Heartbreak Kid” with Stiller, in “27 Dresses” with Heigl, and in “The Proposal” with Bullock and fellow Canuck Ryan Reynolds. She was also in the 2009 superhero flick “Watchmen.”

In “Couples Retreat,” also released last year, Akerman and Vaughn play spouses worn down by their kids and home renovations.

When their pals, played by Kristen Bell and Jason Bateman, propose a getaway with them and several other couples as a means of reconnecting, they can’t refuse.

Vaughn co-wrote the film with Jon Favreau, who is also in the movie playing the husband of Kristin Davis’s character. Peter Billingsley (Ralphie of “A Christmas Story”) directs. The DVD and Blu-ray HD releases include a never-before-seen alternative ending.

Akerman said they shot in Bora Bora for nearly a month and got to sleep in bamboo huts, sip their morning coffee by the water and take a dip before the shooting day began.

“It was like filming in paradise,” gushed Akerman, who speaks fluent Swedish and is learning Italian from her husband, drummer Roberto Zincone.

“I don’t know if you could call it work. You didn’t have to twist my arm to get me there.”

Vaughn was dating Canadian real estate agent Kyla Weber during filming (the two have since married) and Akerman’s national pride came out.

“She was on set and I was so excited when I met her that she was a Canadian,” said Akerman.

“I was like, ‘Yes! Go Vince! Good job!’ ”

From the Canadian Press

“Watchmen” writer Alan Moore may have given up on Hollywood years ago, but if a recent rumor is to be believed, the author may have yet another reason to have his name stricken from film credits.

While there’s been no official announcement, BleedingCool.com reports that a change in DC Entertainment’s corporate structure has freed up the possibility of a sequel (or prequel) to 2009’s “Watchmen” – in comic book or movie form.

It’s said that longtime President and Publisher Paul Levitz was the rudder that steered DC away from publishing peripheral “Watchmen” materials such as sequels, prequels or spinoffs, but now that he’s stepped down and DC Comics has restructured as part of a broader DC Entertainment, the site reports some anonymous buzz from within the company indicating that the old rules no longer apply.

If such a scenario actually came to pass, DC would very likely have to move forward without “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder, who made it clear a year ago that he wouldn’t have anything to do with a sequel.

The same attitude extends to stars, including Silk Spectre Malin Akerman, who questioned not only whether a sequel would be possible, but whether it would fly at all with fans.

As of this morning there’s been no word from either DC Comics or DC Entertainment regarding more “Watchmen” material, although Time Warner Inc. Chairman & CEO Jeff Bewkes did mention Superman, Batman and Green Lantern as tentpole properties in Tuesday’s quarterly earnings call, according to Superhero Hype.

DC is expected to make major announcements regarding the use of its characters in other media over the coming weeks, meaning fans may want to keep their eyes peeled for potential “Watchmen” news.

From MTV

Toronto-native Malin Akerman has really come into her own in Hollywood in recent years.

The young actress starred alongside Ben Stiller in The Heartbreak Kid, played a flawed superhero in Watchmen, and most recently shared the screen with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau in Couples Retreat (arriving on DVD Friday). For Akerman, the experience has been well beyond anything she ever expected.

“It’s been a pretty strange experience,” Akerman told Metro. “I’ve worked with phenomenal comedians who I’ve idolized for my entire life. To all of a sudden see my face on the same poster as Vince Vaughn was pretty surreal.”

Couples Retreat offered Akerman a rare opportunity to be involved with a movie throughout the creative process. With Vaughn and Favreau also working as screenwriters, the entire cast was encouraged to expand their roles.

“It was nice because they were in the middle of cleaning up the script and rewriting certain things when I came on board,” revealed Akerman. “So before we even started shooting, Vince and I had a good five hours when we went through all the scenes and improvised. Sometimes when you’re working with people who have written the material they can be really keen on their words, but this was a huge collaborative effort.”

Though known primarily as a comic actress, Akerman now wants to expand her career with dramatic roles.

“Often when you’re cast in a certain genre people only see you in that light, which in my case is comedy,” said Akerman.

“So, I’ve tried to veer away from that recently. This year I worked on three different independent films that are not comedies, just to show what I can do in the hopes of opening up other doors.”

In the coming months, audiences will be treated to a more serious side of the actress in the ensemble dramas HappyThankYouMorePlease and The Romantics (both of which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival) as well as the Canadian-funded apartheid feature The Bang Bang Club.

Through these projects, Akerman found that she thrived in the fast paced world of independent filmmaking.

“I loved it. The turn around is faster and you become very close to everyone you work with.

“There’s a nice feeling on the set that you’re all in it for the right reasons and really want to be there,” says the actress.

However, Akerman admits that she has no desire to ditch Hollywood entirely any time soon.

At the moment, she’s happy to try it all.

From Metro News

I have added two new photo sessions from the Sundance Film Festival of Malin and also added 37 HQ photos from the last two events that Malin attended. I will be updating the gallery again soon with more event photos – so stayed tuned for that!

Collider has posted 3 movie clips from “happythankyoumoreplease”, which you can watch below!

As if actors didn’t have enough to worry about — hitting their marks, appearing intimate with a co-star in front of a crew, getting older, dredging up memories of a dead pet to get themselves to cry — now they face the prospect of being replaced by computer programs.

That’s the talk when actors see the stratospheric box-office numbers for James Cameron’s “Avatar,” in which flesh-and-blood actors performed in motion-capture suits to add authentic movements to their computer-generated characters. (There’s even a long-shot campaign to get a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Zoe Saldana, who played Neytiri, one of the tall blue Na’vi.)

But in the offbeat and unique films of the independent world, like those playing at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, actors have found a safe haven. They tear into meaty roles, showing facets of their talents that aren’t seen — or sought after — in mainstream movies.

This year, more so than in past Sundance festivals, the acting has been top-notch — sometimes in spite of the writing and the directing. Here are a few of the performances from Sundance 2010 that raised the bar:

Malin Akerman, “happythankyoumoreplease” — While writer-director-star Josh Radnor is getting the applause for this interlocking set of romantic scenarios, it’s Akerman who steals the show. Akerman — who is usually relegated to pretty supporting roles (“Couples Retreat,” “Watchmen”) — is the movie’s heart, as the sunny best friend who has lost her hair to alopecia. She even shaved her eyebrows for the part.

From the California Chronicle

To no one’s surprise, filming Couples Retreat in Bora Bora doesn’t compare to the harsh winters of Toronto.

“It’s not really comparable, no,” admits Malin Akerman from her downtown Toronto hotel room. “Bora Bora was a lot warmer and instead of snow on the ground, we had blue water and it was paradise. It was incredible.”

But the idyllic setting of Couples Retreat wasn’t the only draw for the Torontonian actress, who jumped at the chance to work with hilarious stars like Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell. The film, which comes out on DVD Friday, follows four couples who travel to the tropics for couples counseling, only to be caught off guard by the resort’s unorthodox methods – a set up that provides plenty of opportunity for improvisation.

“You look at the cast and you go, ‘Please. I would do that anywhere in the world,’” Malin adds. “The thing that I love about that, working with people who are a few steps ahead, it just ups your game. I always love having a challenge, and you are playing with the big guys.”

And the film wasn’t without other challenges, either: the 31-year-old actress admits she lost it a little bit when she had to swim with lemon sharks.

“When we went out to do that, our hearts were beating triple time,” Akerman remembers. “But once you get in there, it’s calm and beautiful, and sharks are beautiful, beautiful animals. And they’re more scared of you than you are of them – which, of course, you only learn once you’re in the water. But beforehand, I was freaking out, for sure.”

Read the rest of this entry »