By Lauren Zima

The Variety Screening Series’ presentation of “Tamara Drewe” drew big laughs from the crowd when it came to Q-and-A time with director Stephen Frears and the cast.

The film, about love and lust in the English countryside, stars Gemma Arterton, Dominic Cooper and Luke Evans, and clearly director Frears made an impact on the cast: When asked about working with him, Arterton said, to Frears’ mock dismay, “There’s no fuss. He’s very simplistic.” After raucous laughter, she quickly replied, “I don’t mean to say you’re simple, Steven.” Cooper retorted, “I often found him whispering incomprehensible garbage into my ears.”

As for Tamara Drewe's character, star Gemma Arterton said "I still haven’t worked her out. When I first read the script I didn’t like her at all, but that was interesting. I wanted to work out why people do those things. That’s why people follow her; they feel sorry for her.”

Drewe is hardly alone in her "Tamara" trysts, as multiple characters engage in affairs and flings. When Variety’s Dana Harris commented that she was surprised to see such immorality in the English country, Frears replied, “Have you ever met anyone from England?”

The 8th annual Variety Screening Series kicked off Tuesday night with Overture Films' new drama, "Stone," starring Robert De Niro and Edward Norton.

Norton, on hand for a post-screening Q&A at the ArcLight Hollywood, said director John Curran ("The Painted Veil") had been exploring the prison drama for a few years.

"This was John's baby," he said. "When the economy tanked and the financial crisis happened, he said 'We gotta do this now'." 

Sitting alongside Variety moderator Peter Debruge, Norton recalled how he and Curran interviewed a number of real-life inmates for the film, which is set in Detriot.

"Fifty percent of the dialogue in this movie came from two guys, in particular," Norton said. "John was like 'If you can do have as well as those two, I'll be thrilled.'"

As for De Niro, whom Norton had previously worked with on "The Score," Norton shook his head and sighed, "Honestly, the last 10 Best Actors couldn't even touch him."

"Everyone has this romanticization of De Niro," he added. "But he's not the intuitive, vocal presence on set at all. He's one of the most right-brained and clinical actors I've ever met. He's like a librarian."

 

Speaking of scores, Norton also revealed how Radiohead chipped in to create the foundation for the pic's atmospheric music, composed by John O'Brien.

"I'm friends with the guys in Radiohead, And Johnny Greenwood, who did the incredible score for Paul Anderson's 'There Will Be Blood,' met me in London a while back when John (Curran) and I were developing the script," Norton recalls.

"So given the spiritual ties in this film, I started talking to him about this idea: 'What would you use to record this divine-like tuning sound?' And he and Thom (Yorke) had been playing a lot of weird ambient stuff at the time and so, amazingly, they just unloaded tons and tons of files to us of these sound experiments that they had been doing. We just listened to them in awe until John (Curran) eventually got John O'Brien to come in and see what he could make of it."

As the evening wore on, Norton was careful not to forget his character's finely braided corn-rows.

"The moment the hairstylist took them out, I swear to God I looked like Gene Wilder in 'Young Frankenstein.'"

"You could say I'm thankful we didn't get that on film."

"Stone," also starring Milla Jovovich and Frances Conroy, hits theaters Oct. 8.

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DreamWorks Studios has released the first teaser-trailer for the Steven Spielberg and Michael produced sci-fi actioner, "I Am Number Four."

Directed by D.J. Caruso and starring Alex Pettyfer, "Number Four" is based on the book by James Frey and Jobie Hughes and tells the story of a group of Earthbound aliens who must disguise themselves as teenagers in order to thwart off a rival species.

David Valdes, Chris Bender and J.C. Spink are exec producing.

Pettyfer recently wrapped CBS Films' modern Beauty and the Beast tale, "Beastly," opposite Vanessa Hudgens.

"I Am Number Four" arrives in theaters on February 18, 2011.

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Variety's Rachel Abrams and Lauren Zima provide updates from the Power of Women luncheon.

Buckle up, Iron Man fans - defense contractor Raytheon Co. is developing the real thing.

The video below shows thesp Clark Gregg, who plays Agent Phil Coulson, showing off the capabilities of its second generation Exoskeleton Suit. It's a merger of Hollywood and science, and it's pretty awe-inspiring.

Variety Editorial Director Peter Bart saw 'The Social Network.' So did Variety Executive Editor Steven Gaydos. Both came away with different take on the film, which is generating buzz as the industry heads into the fall. (See also Justin Chang's review of the film, posted on Tuesday, Sept. 21.) Here's their discussion:

PETER BART: One reason I admire “The Social Network” is that it breaks several fundamental rules of movie story-telling. There is no “good guy” protagonist. There is no “heavy.” There is no jeopardy. There is no satisfying resolution. And there is far too much dialogue – I’m told the shooting script came in at over 160 pages. Yet the whole thing works. I agree with the comment of Justin Chang that the movie “moves like a speedboat across two hours of near nonstop talk.” My hat's off to David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin for breaking the rules and still serving up a compelling and fascinating film.

STEVEN GAYDOS: I would be more in awe of the rule breaking if I weren't so aware of the film's rule-following, ie standard TV episodic and cable movie biopic tropes and conventions.

It's a glamorous world of privilege and power, dissected over a civil suit deposition table where talking heads chatter endlessly about What It All Means. From "West Wing" to "Law and Order" ad infinitum, this is the universe of the film and I'm not sure where it challenges or redefines the contours of that universe.  And as in most TV films, naturalism and spontaneity are out the window, replaced by reams of exposition and ponderously Important Moments. It's fast-moving, yes, but at the expense of hectoring and lecturing and in place of allowing the audience the pleasures of discovery and the luxury of unraveling life-like moments capable of surprise.

BART: Sure there are problems, but on the other hand “The Social Network” introduces us to a whole new universe of bizarre characters. Our movies and TV shows aren’t inhabited by cerebral, kid-visionaries like Mark Zuckerberg or Sean Parker whose ideas change society, who impulsively turn away billion dollar deals or who start and flee companies like Napster and Facebook. Not only did Aaron Sorkin manage to capture these kids in all their egocentric eccentricities but Fincher managed to cast them superbly – I would never have conceived Justin Timberlake as playing a fast-talking sociopath like Parker, but he brings it off big time.

GAYDOS: For me, "The Social Network" is essentially "Temple Grandin" with better clothes and more money. Both films' lead characters overcome tremendous obstacles and find ways to battle isolation and channel their ample intellectual gifts into amazingly productive and succesful contributions to society. Key difference: at the fade-out, Grandin's soul seems intact, which is her triumph after all she went through and Zuckerberg's soul was lost somewhere on the Harvard quad. That is assuming he had a soul and Harvard has a quad. PS: You should watch "Alpha Dog." Timberlake is terrific (and fairly off the wall) in that one too.

BART: What you say has some validity, but to me there was a fascinating poignancy to “The Social Network.” Here’s a story about how a gawky friendless nerd who inadvertently creates a vast network of “friends” for other needy nerds who’ve been both linked and isolated in the vastness of the web. When we first come upon Mark Zuckerberg, he is messing up his relationship with his only girlfriend and when we leave him he is both mind-bendingly wealthy but even more isolated by money and power. No, this isn’t a “moving” movie in the conventional sense, but its subtle messages are profound and important to its time.

GAYDOS: He has a girlfriend in the movie? Wow, I missed that. I saw him chatting up "The Next Girl With the Updated Dragon Tattoo" in the opening, but after that I think they had less screen time together than Arnold, Bruce and Sly in "The Expendables." We're not talking Rhett and Scarlett here. As for the messages for our time, to learn that a Harvard-educated computer geek is willing to sell out his friends for a few billion dollars, well, that also ain't Fred C. Dobbs and "Sierra Madre." This isn't man bites dog, Peter. It isn't even computer bytes nerd. And one more complaint: why is all the grit of being young and going beserko with drugs and sex so Goddamned antiseptic in this film? I would have liked it better if all that Silicon Valley partying led to one "Hangover" type moment. This film needed less Andy Hardy and more Andy Warhol, less Fincher, more Morrissey. Which leads me to the real love story: by the time Garfield shows up in California sopping wet and dewier of eye than Bambi's mother, I was ready to yell at him and Eisenberg, "GET A HOMEPAGE ALREADY!"

AFI Fest 2010 will host the world premiere of Ed Zwick and 20th Century Fox's "Love and Other Drugs," starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. Pic will serve as the festival's opening night film while Darren Aronofsky's Natalie Portman-starrer "Black Swan" will close the festival.

"Ed Zwick and Darren Aronofsky honor us by premiering their films at AFI FEST," said Bob Gazzale, President and CEO of the American Film Institute.

"Love and Other Drugs," based on Jamie Ready's book "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman," tells the story of a travelling salesman (Gyllenhaal) who falls in love with a plucky free spirit (Hathaway).

"AFI is where it began for me, and where I return as often as possible, to teach and to learn," said Zwick.  "I’m honored to open the festival, and to join Darren, David, and so many alumni for whom this marks a kind of coming home." 

"Black Swan," which premiered in Venice and Toronto, was also recently tapped to screen at the Austin Film Festival in October. Fox Searchlight will release the pic nationwide on Dec. 5.

The AFI Fest 2010 presented by Audi bows Nov. 4 in Hollywood.

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