LAT. Holiday Sneaks 08.

While the New York Times holiday movie package is presented pretty much as it appears in Sunday's paper, the Los Angeles Times' Holiday Sneaks 08 and Holiday Movie Sneaks pages (why both? why not!) are structured like portals: outlines of lists. Click on Revolutionary Road, for example, and you'll find a bloggish string of relevant stories dating from February to the end of last month.

Here, though, is what's new today, starting with Geoff Boucher's conversation with Frank Miller about The Spirit, "the superhero film that Miller hopes will complete his unlikely transformation from comic-book artist to successful movie director, a career path that did not seem possible even at the start of this decade."

Gina McIntyre talks with Twilight's young stars, Robert Pattinson, Kellan Lutz and Nikki Reed.

"Director Seth Gordon describes making his first studio feature, Four Christmases, as a 'baptism by the River Styx. It was crazy.'" Susan King: "The film, opening Nov 26, went into production last December right in the middle of the writers strike, so no changes could be made to the script. Then cast and crew were worried about the fate of the film when it was learned that its distributor, New Line, would be closing up shop and folding into Warner Bros."

Also, a chat with Disney story artist Mark Walton about Bolt, another with Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa co-director Tom McGrath, another with The Tale of Despereaux producer Gary Ross and another with director Adam Shankman about "the Adam Sandler movie that moms are actually going to want their kids to see" (says Shankman), Bedtime Stories.

Sam Adams talks with James Franco about Milk: "'Reading the script, I knew that one of the major functions is to be the supporting boyfriend, what in a straight movie would be the supporting wife role,' Franco said, grabbing a cigarette on the terrace of Manhattan's Bowery Hotel, a copy of Vladimir Nabokov's Despair close at hand. 'For a female actress, maybe that would sound like, "Oh, no, another supporting wife role." But I've never been offered that part.'"

John Horn tells the story behind the making of Frost/Nixon - plus, a few words with Danny Boyle about Slumdog Millionaire.

Lisa Rosen talks with Jennifer Aniston about Marley & Me.

Michael Ordoña talks with Baz Luhrmann and Nicole Kidman about Australia - and with Edward Zwick about Defiance, starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell, who play "three adult brothers, farmers and sometime troublemakers reluctantly transformed into guardian - and avenging - angels."

Also, a backgrounder on Quantum of Solace.

Posted by dwhudson at November 1, 2008 3:57 PM