When it comes to sifting through all actors responsible for portraying the most powerful man on the planet, there's no shortage of options. John Travolta did a great Bill Clinton impersonation in Primary Colors and Timothy Bottoms delivered a near-perfect imitation of George W. Bush in both D.C. 9/11: Time of Crisis and That's My Bush! Neither one comes across as particularly flattering, so presidential nominee Barack Obama has chosen a safer bet: At a recent party in Los Angeles, Obama revealed that he prefers Jeff Bridges' conflicted commander-in-chief in The Contender. Granted, he may have said this simply to keep his audience happy -- in this case, Contender director Rod Lurie, one of the attendees who was willing to plop down $28,000 for the event. "'I just plugged your movie," Obama told Lurie, according to a report the director sent to Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells.

Still, when you're under the kind of intense scrutiny that Obama currently endures, Bridges actually seems like a pretty safe choice. Choose Anthony Hopkins in Nixon and it sounds like you're endorsing the bad guy. Choose Kevin Kline in Dave and you come across as disingenuous. Choose Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove and somebody will call you incompetent. Bridges, on the other hand, plays a fierce leader bound to his moral convictions. Of course, Obama also expressed sympathy over Lurie's short-lived television show Commander-in-Chief, which featured Geena Davis as the first woman president. Perhaps it's no coincidence that he and Hillary have publicly made amends.

Indiana Jones -- he's got to be Harrison Ford, doesn't he? Okay, we had young Indiana Jones characters -- River Phoenix in the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Sean Patrick Flanery in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles -- but I never really thought of Indy as a character who could be cast in any other way. You know, you figure the part in Raiders of the Lost Ark was practically written for Ford, who'd been in a couple of George Lucas films before that anyway (Star Wars and American Graffiti).

However, that assumption couldn't be more wrong. I've been digging around on that great source of reliable information, the Internet, and reading all kinds of stories about the casting of Indiana Jones. The general gist is that Steven Spielberg was interested in Ford, but Lucas didn't want to be one of those directors who cast the same guy in all his movies. So they tested a bunch of other actors, and were seriously interested in one who had to back out ... and then ended up with Harrison Ford after all. We are all profoundly grateful. But let's take a look at some of those actors allegedly under consideration, and a few more that I threw into the mix just for fun. (I picked only actors who were alive and the right age at the time, which is why you don't see Steve McQueen on the list.)

In case you haven't heard by now, Iron Man took home a whopping $201 million worldwide over the weekend, with that amount pretty much split right down the middle between domestic and international. Not only is it the second best non-sequel opening ever, but it also proved that Marvel (now self-financing their films) is in it to win it ... big time. Fortunately, folks won't have to wait long to see if Marvel will strike gold twice -- in a little over a month from now (on June 13, to be exact), The Incredible Hulk will debut in theaters. Last time a Hulk film was in theaters, Ang Lee directed and Marvel did not self-finance the flick. After seeing what Iron Man did to the box office over the weekend (and what fans thought of the film), something tells me we're in for a completely different kind of re-boot this time around.

Right from the start, folks haven't been giving The Incredible Hulk a fair shake, myself included. It took a long time to get those first images, and even longer for a trailer. But now that the film's marketing campaign is in full swing, I'm starting to see the fans turn. I witnessed the full "field scene" from the trailer at New York Comic Con last month, and I can assure you it looked awesome. Everyone is talking up the Iron Man cast, but have you noticed that The Incredible Hulk cast is just as good (not to mention I think Tim Roth will play a better villain than Jeff Bridges)? And now that Iron Man killed, does that change anything for The Incredible Hulk? Do more people now want to see it? Are expectations higher? Sound off below in the poll and in the comments section ...

One of the many nice moments in Iron Man comes as techno-titan Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) is consulting with his artificial intelligence majordomo, Jarvis, about the fabrication of the newest version of the high-tech power armor Stark intends to use to stop evil and protect the innocent. Looking at a holographic simulation of the proposed design of the glittering, golden armor -- which enables its wearer to fly, lift cars, shoot energy beams, withstand bullets and includes many other clever bits of engineering -- Stark makes a brief request regarding the color scheme: "Why don't you throw a little hot rod red in there?" Stark seems to be saying Sure, it's fancy and expensive and technologically majestic and wonderful, but a little style can still go a long way. ...

And as it is with the Iron Man armor, so it is with the Iron Man movie. Marvel Comics' first foray into self-financed film making has movie stars and impressive effects and a script where every plot point you would expect meshes with its neighbors as precisely as the plates and pieces of Stark's armor do, but it's the touches of style that make it truly sizzle. Director Jon Favreau does not seem like a choice you would expect as the director of a comic-book movie; Robert Downey Jr. does not seem like a choice you would expect as the star of a comic-book film. Between the two of them, they give us something different from the comic-book movies we've come to expect; a little swagger, a little strut, a touch of self-mocking humor that never undercuts the pleasures of the thing being mocked. It's as if someone snuck a hefty slug of bourbon into your cherry cola; all of the sugar and flavor and fizz you expect from a well-made comic-book movie are there, but there's something a little more grown-up going on behind them.

I just now came up with a new Cinematical column: A Flick You Missed. Catchy title, eh? This is where the Cinematical writers will offer up a mini-mini-review (more of a reminder) on a flick that nobody really saw ... but we really liked. The flick that inspired such a simplistic idea? Mike Traeger's The Amateurs (aka The Moguls), which played at a whole bunch of film festivals before landing a (very) limited release late last year. The DVD was released last month by First Look Pictures -- and I liked this goofy little farce a whole damn lot.

Big fan of ensemble comedies are you? Then I'll just toss the cast list out there before offering a brief synopsis and a few random opinions. Ready? (Deep breath) Jeff Bridges, Joe Pantoliano, William Fichtner, Ted Danson, Patrick Fugit, Tim Blake Nelson, Isaiah Washington, Steven Weber, John Hawkes, Brad Henke, Elden Henson, Brad Garrett, Mike Binder. All funny guys -- and every single one of 'em delivers a chuckle or two. Oh, and the women! Lauren Graham, Glenne Headly, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Valerie Perrine, Judy Greer, Eileen Brennan. That's a lot of funny actresses. And with alllll these people on board, Jeff Bridges still anchors the flick with an aw-shucks effortlessness that's ... pure Jeff Bridges.

When 'N Sync was prancing around the stage in the late '90s, did anyone imagine that one of the dudes would become a pretty successful actor in less than 10 years? I mean, I'm sure Jeff Bridges didn't see Justin Timberlake on the boob tube and say: Gee, that kid should play my son in something! It's as weird as watching Ronnie Regan in his movies and imagining that he'd become President. NOTE: I am, in no way, suggesting Justin will turn to politics -- I'm just noting surprising career moves.

Anyway, Variety reports that Timberlake is about to head on The Open Road with Bridges, the comedy drama that Christopher Campbell first blogged about almost a year ago. Under filmmaker Wim Wenders' watchful eye, writer Michael Meredith will direct his own script. This was going to be a reunion for the Land of Plenty crew, but unfortunately, it seems that cinematographer Franz Lustig has been replaced by Yaron Orbach.

Road is a reconciliation tale about a young man who reconnects with his dad, "a legendary athlete, as he struggles to get him home to his ailing mother's bedside." While the parts aren't specifically laid out, I imagine Bridges is the dad, Timberlake the son, and Mary Steenburgen is the mom. Initial reports also described a girlfriend on the trip, but there is no word about that role in this latest bit of news. This could be at least partly autobiographical, as Meredith's dad is ex Cowboys QB Don Meredith, but for this film, the sports figure is a baseball legend. Personally, I'm interested in seeing how Meredith handles the comedic aspects since Land of Plenty was all sorts of somber -- good, but somber. The film is scheduled to slip into production in Louisiana later this month.

The Amateurs (formerly The Moguls), the directorial debut of writer/director Michael Traeger, is an underdog comedy about a group of small-town losers who decide to raise money by making a porno film. It's got a wonderful supporting cast that includes Joe Pantoliano, William Fichtner, Tim Blake Nelson, and Lauren Graham. Cinematical recently attended a press junket with the film's stars -- Jeff Bridges and Ted Danson, who were interviewed separately. Needless to say, meeting The Dude and Sam Malone in the same day was kind of a big deal! First up was Mr. Bridges...

What attracted you to the The Amateurs and the role of Andy?

Jeff Bridges: Like most of the movies I get involved with, I resisted it as long as possible. I always try to figure out why I shouldn't do it, and with this one there were plenty of reasons not to do it. What attracted me to it in the first place is that it was so unusual. It put this porn aspect and this Frank Capra aspect together, and I thought that was really interesting, very ambitious. But I didn't know if this guy who had never directed a film would be able to pull it off. Also, I've done movies in the past that have a lot of characters, and I find them hard to follow and you wind up not caring about any of the people, and I thought that might be the case with this one. But my representatives kept telling me I should do it, so finally I said "Alright. I want you guys to organize a reading, and I want you to see that this thing's not going to work at all." So we had a table read, and it just flew, it was just great. I think it works very well.

When the release started to get delayed, did any of that old skepticism start to come back, like maybe something did go wrong?

JB: No, I didn't really get all the ins and outs of why it didn't get released, it's very convoluted and I haven't heard all the sides and the stories, but it wasn't because of the nature of the film or anything like that. I think it was more business type stuff.

Filmed in the summer of 2004, The Amateurs has been in the can for over three years. The movie's title has gone through several changes, and imdb still lists it as The Moguls. The film has had a whopping six release dates going back to 2005, but it finally sputters into theaters today -- in Los Angeles and Dallas, anyway. Movies often have distribution trouble (you can read more about the problems this one faced in the Los Angeles Times), but the struggle of The Amateurs surprised me because it had all the makings of a sleeper hit. It's got a killer premise (think The Full Monty with porno) and an amazing cast. The film's struggle surprised me...until I saw it.

A queasy mixture of Boogie Nights sleaze and Patch Adams sentimentality, The Amateurs takes place in the small town of Butterface Fields (ho-HO!). That's where you'll find Andy Sargentee (Jeff Bridges, in shaggy dog Lebowski mode), a divorced dad who is down on his luck. His son (Alex D. Linz) is now living with a wealthy stepfather (the typically solid Steven Weber), and this makes Sargentee insecure. He's got to make some money, and fast. So, naturally, he decides to enlist the help of his friends and make an amateur porno flick.

Can you believe it has been twenty-five years since the release of TRON? Since 1982, the sci-fi movie has turned into a cult classic for the geek and gamer sets, peaking (in my opinion) recently with an Adidas shoe design. And while the original is mostly appreciated for its ground-breaking yet dated special effects, Disney has decided to finally develop a TRON sequel, and it has just revealed its choice for director. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio is once again going with a first-timer, commercial director Joseph Kosinski. You may have heard that name before, though, because he's the guy also set to helm the remake of Logan's Run over at Warner Bros. Kosinski will be developing the sequel, in addition to directing; he will oversee the visuals and the script, which is being written by Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz of TV's Lost (they wrote, among their many, the mostly insignificant, but entertaining episodes "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" and "Exposé") . The story is, of course, being kept secret, but Kosinski is said to be working on a Light Cycle (see the photo) sequence that will serve as showcase of his vision for the movie. The sequel, which will be produced by original TRON director Steven Lisberger, along with Sean Bailey (Matchstick Men) and Brigham Taylor, has also been described as "the next chapter" of the storyline from the original.

The first thing to wonder is whether or not Jeff Bridges will be involved. Disney will probably want a younger star, but they should at least allow Bridges to appear in some capacity (they must also give a cameo to this guy). The next thing, which is actually more of a concern than a wonder, regards the special effects. CGI has come a long way since debuting in TRON -- some (me) would often say a long way for the worse -- and any modern effects would lack the kitsch appeal of the original. Sure, many movies these days have CGI that resembles video game visuals, but that's a bad thing. THR reports that many effects people are vying for the chance to work on this project and that most of them have been heavily inspired by the original. So, hopefully the chosen effects teams and personnel will be able to pay homage, retain the style and also somehow update the look of the first movie without turning out something too realistic or modern.

"Donny, you're out of your element." "That rug really tied the room together." "Careful man, there's a beverage here!" "Eight year olds, dude." "Nice marmot." "Obviously you're not a golfer." I could go on. I saw The Big Lebowski in a mostly empty theater when it was released. If any moviegoers other than me were laughing, I couldn't hear them. Now, almost ten years later, the film is hailed as a modern classic, it is endlessly quoted, and it even has its own festival: Lebowski Fest. According to the press release, this year's sixth annual event will entail:

•Unlimited Bowling •Costume, Trivia, Farthest Traveled, and Bowling Contests •Celebrity Appearances

•White Russians, Sarsaparillas, and Oat Sodas •Screening of the film •What-Have-You

Lebowski Fest takes place next weekend, on July 20th and 21st, in Louisville, Kentucky. And believe it or not, the fest has gone global. On August 24th, there will be a festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, and on August 30th, one will be held in London, England. Pretty reasonably priced tickets for all events are on sale now, at the festival's home page. Be sure to check out the site, you can also get some great merchandise like T-shirts, posters, and famous quote bumper stickers. There's even a link to Lebowski action figures! As for the celebrity appearances, don't go expecting John Goodman and Jeff Bridges (although Bridges has attended in the past!). It looks like so far it's just James G. Hoosier, who portrayed "The Jesus' bowling buddy Liam." The event sounds like a blast to me, and I guarantee there'll be some memorable characters there. I might have to hit the Los Angeles event this October. Has anyone been to one of these fests before? Is anyone thinking about heading to one this year?

I usually don't get excited about movies based on comic books I'm not familiar with, but I have to admit I'm really, really looking forward to Iron Man. Despite the fact that its based on one of the few Marvel titles I never got into, the adaptation stars three of my current favorite actors, Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges. It also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, who I certainly don't mind looking at for any extended period of time. With an Oscar-winning actress and three Oscar-nominated actors, Iron Man won't be just another comic book movie; it has the opportunity to be one of the best.

Entertainment Tonight has scored one of the first looks at the movie, including some behind-the-scenes footage of Downey goofing around on the set with a motor bike and Howard firing a M2. 50 caliber machine gun from atop an army Hummer. There's no new Paltrow material for you to feast your eyes on, but while being interviewed by ET, Downey does discuss a kissing scene he filmed with the actress.. When asked if he should have serenaded Paltrow to get her in the mood, Downey states that there's no way he could compete with Paltrow's husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin.

Iron Man is being directed by Jon Favreau, and I've been trying really hard not to associate his involvement with the fact that he appears in an awful Marvel Comics adaptation, Daredevil. That pic marked the last time I looked forward to movie based on a comic book character unfamiliar to me. I am confident, though, that my expectation for Iron Man will not result in similar disappointment.

You can check out the movie on May 2, 2008. You can check out the EW clip after the jump.

I keep wondering if I will like the movie version of Toby Young's memoir How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. I hated the book, mostly because I couldn't stand Young's pathetic voice, but so far the casting of the adaptation has me intrigued. With the exception of Kirsten Dunst, the players are of a high enough caliber to make all the unlikeable characters at least enjoyable to watch -- especially now that the great Jeff Bridges has signed on to play the character based on Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter (named Clayton Harding in the script). Also added to the cast is Gillian Anderson, who will play a top PR person. Bridges and Anderson join Dunst, Danny Huston and Simon Pegg, who will star as Young.

The casting of Bridges as Carter should make How to Lose Friends even more comparable to The Devil Wears Prada, but I hope the actor won't make his character as much of a caricature as Meryl Streep made hers -- though I don't mean to put Streep's Oscar-nominated performance down. I would just rather Bridges play a more complex, believable person, who could be completely understood as the villain in Young's miserable world, while also appearing to audiences as a smart, justifiably difficult boss. After all, the book suggests that -- unlike Andy's resentment of Miranda in Prada -- Young actually has a lot of admiration for Carter. And more than Carter, the other Condé Nasties or anyone else, Young is his own villain.

In addition to the casting, I am anxious to see what the tone of How to Lose Friends will be. Directed by Robert B. Weide, who is an enormous fan and documenter of the work of Kurt Vonnegut, Lenny Bruce and the Marx Brothers, as well as a former director for Curb Your Enthusiasm, the movie will hopefully be influenced by the humor of at least one of those subjects. I also hope that the movie is good enough to get Weide some more clout in Hollywood. For ten years I've been dying for him to get to work on a project he once mentioned interest in: an adaptation of Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan. How to Lose Friends & Alienate People begins shooting next month.

You may have noticed that, about an hour ago, prominent movie website IESB.net came back to life after being down for an extended period of time. Here's what happened in a nutshell: After IESB posted some spy video and images of Iron Monger on the set of Iron Man, Paramount Pictures went ballistic and sent a legal letter to the IESB host demanding the site be shut down for copyright infrigement. That much was pretty much common knowledge, but I got a more detailed account today from IESB's Stephanie Sanchez. "We were not notified in any way, or asked to take it down," Stephanie says. "We were literally in the middle of posting a story and all of a sudden our server was gone. We called our hosting company, they transferred us to legal and we were forwarded the letter that was sent from Paramount on Friday that demanded the shut down. Note, this is a letter we were never sent and weren't given any warning about."

Stephanie continues: "Here's the kicker. The video and pictures that were in question were in no way property of Paramount. Both were shot from a parking lot of a 24 hour fitness center across the street from the Iron Man shoot that was taking place on a public street in Long Beach, CA. There was no violation of copyright whatsoever. After hours on the phone yesterday with Paramount reps (who had no clue about it) they completely apologized and said this should have never happened. It was the idiots in the Paramount legal department who did this." Stephanie also notes that after this ordeal, IESB has "lost respect for the studio, we lost out financially and most importantly it was just really a blow to our reputation." She also says IESB will be posting a letter to readers today giving more details, and thanks the online community for their support.

I haven't been following the approach of the Iron Man production very carefully -- shooting started on March 12 -- so I have nothing to say about this batch of apparently contraband pics except that I think Gwyneth Paltrow looks really good as a redhead. The photos, which are up over at Just Jared, show director Jon Favreau conversing with stars Robert Downey Jr. and Paltrow, who are dressed to the nines and apparently shooting some kind of chaste love scene. I don't see the pics on Favreau's MySpace page, so I assume that some enterprising set visiter just shot them via a cufflink-cam or some other hidden device.

The ball got rolling for this film back in 2006 when the rights reverted from New Line Cinema to Marvel and they quickly put it into production. So far, what we know is that the villain will be Mandarin, and he will be played by Shaun Toub. We also know that Terrence Howard is playing War Machine and Jeff Bridges is playing Iron Monger, but none of those guys are featured in these pics -- it's just a few snaps of Paltrow and Downey getting some instructions. Paramount plans to release Iron Man on May 2, 2008, which, if memory serves, will put it very close to Speed Racer and that guy with the whip.

I'm sorry, but this Iron Man cast just keeps getting better and better. First they ("they" being Marvel Entertainment, Paramount Pictures and director Jon Favreau) went out and hired Robert Downey Jr. to play Tony Stark, and then they added Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow to the equation. Now comes word that four-time Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges has joined the project ... but they won't tell us precisely who he's playing!

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Bridges will play "a confidant and close business associate of Stark, a longtime employee at defense contractor Stark Industries who plays a major role in shaping Stark's life." Hmmm, any guesses from the Marvel maniacs out there? Is this an already established character or one created from scratch for the flick? Hell, all I have to know is that Bridges is in the movie, and I'm a happy guy. (I'm of the opinion that Jeff Bridges is one of the planet's most effortlessly entertaining and entirely underrated leading men.)

For his part, Marvel chief Kevin Feige is saying all the right things: "There are many facets to this character which I can't discuss, but looking at the spectrum of all of Jeff's roles, this fits in nicely with the man who played Starman, Tucker, Big Lebowski with a little bit (of) Tron thrown in." Aw, Kevin ... you had me at Starman. (Cool trivia: Of the four actors already cast in Iron Man, all have been (at least) nominated for an Oscar. Only one, however, is an Oscar winner.)