James Cameron's upcoming Avatar ranks as one of the most anticipated film projects in recent memory. The film will mark the Oscar winner's first narrative movie since Titanic, while also representing Cameron's long-held dream of melding digital 3-D stereo with epic big screen storytelling.

Below, the director discusses the project with Variety. You can read the full interview here.

We're seeing that audiences like 3-D and it's becoming a main driver for adoption of digital cinema systems in movie theaters. But speaking strictly as a storyteller and director, what does 3-D add to the creative side of a project?
I believe that Godard got it exactly backwards. Cinema is not truth 24 times a second, it is lies 24 times a second. Actors are pretending to be people they're not, in situations and settings which are completely illusory. Day for night, dry for wet, Vancouver for New York, potato shavings for snow.

The building is a thin-walled set, the sunlight is a xenon, and the traffic noise is supplied by the sound designers. It's all illusion, but the prize goes to those who make the fantasy the most real, the most visceral, the most involving. This sensation of truthfulness is vastly enhanced by the stereoscopic illusion. Especially in the types of films which have been my specialty to date, the fantasy experience is served best by a sense of detail and textural reality supporting the narrative moment by moment.

The characters, the dialogue, the production design, photography and visual effects must all strive to give the illusion that what you're seeing is really happening, no matter how improbable the situation might be if you stopped to think about it -- a time-traveling cyborg out to change history by killing a waitress, for example. When you see a scene in 3-D, that sense of reality is supercharged. The visual cortex is being cued, at a subliminal but pervasive level, that what is being seen is real.

All the films I've done previously could absolutely have benefited from 3-D. So creatively, I see 3-D as a natural extension of my cinematic craft.

A 3-D film immerses you in the scene, with a greatly enhanced sense of physical presence and participation. I believe that a functional-MRI study of brain activity would show that more neurons are actively engaged in processing a 3-D movie than the same film seen in 2-D. When most people think of 3-D films, they think first of the gimmick shots -- objects or characters flying, floating or poking out into the audience.

In fact, in a good stereo movie, these shots should be the exception rather than the rule. Watching a stereo movie is looking into an alternate reality through a window. It is intuitive to the film industry that this immersive quality is perfect for action, fantasy, and animation. What's less obvious is that the enhanced sense of presence and realism works in all types of scenes, even intimate dramatic moments.

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Somehow, we doubt movie reviews for Forgetting Sarah Marshall will even make a difference as far as the box office haul for this comedy goes.

Considering its pedigree and advanced hype, expect huge numbers.

Still, for those interested, the reviews have been mostly positive. Here's a look at a few for the film that opens on April 18...

- Personally, I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard at the movies... Without revealing the scene (because that would spoil the fun), this one has a shock value moment that is on par with Ben Stiller's classic "Franks and Beans" scene from [Something About Mary]. -- Reelz Channel

- One of those can't-miss romantic comedies in that there's some sweet, sensitive, insightful stuff for the ladies -- but there's also plenty of raunchy comedy for the boys. -- Cinematical

- Producer Judd Apatow looks to have scored another long-legged hit with Forgetting Sarah Marshall. -- Variety

- Writing and starring in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel gets emotionally naked. He bares his soul. Also, he lets us see his schlong. As Steve Martin said, comedy is not pretty. -- Kyle Smith

Robert Downey Jr. has a busy summer ahead. He'll be portraying Iron Man... and a black man.

We wonder which was the biggest challenge for this actor.

As previously reported, Downey stars in the Ben Stiller-directed comedy, Tropic Thunder. But it may be difficult to recognize. The following poster for the movie should give you an idea why:

Mark Neveldine is the producer on the upcoming thriller, Pathology. He recently discussed the film - about medical students that plan the perfect murder - with Movie Web:

We've heard about the research that went on for this film...
Mark Neveldine: Yes, Brian Taylor (Pathology co-writer and producer) and I love hanging out at the morgue. We thought for this movie, it's about Pathologists, why not bring the whole cast and crew down and... anybody that really wanted to go to the morgue for a tour, so we did four or five times. Basically, what we did with the actors is we made them watch the full autopsy.

Through the Y-cut, removing the rib plates and taking out all the organs, weighing the organs and reflecting the skin away and taking the brain out; then sewing them back up. We even showed them some... tests and x-rays and how they photograph the body when they come in. We thought it would be really important for them to know.

The funny thing is, on days like today, when we're ripping a body open and we're trying to do this all in f*cking 10 minutes, it's good that all the actors know what's going on because some of them will say, "Well, wait a second, that colon is not in the right place!"

Or, "That chest plate is not on properly." It's great. So everyone is sort of helping out and collaborating with this. It's sick little world we're creating but the fact is people are doing this every day by the millions; they're doing autopsies on people. One out of every three of us will end up in a morgue because of an accidental or unnatural death.

We just kind of want to get the story out there and show some of this in a cool way. Which is, a game between really cool, awesome, intelligent pathologists; young residents.

Read the full interview now.

In this day and age of Internet buzz and gossip, it's difficult to keep any movie cameo a secret. So the makes of The Love Guru have found out.

The June 20th comedy features Mike Myers as the character of meditative self-help guru Pitka. He's hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs to settle the romantic difficulties of the hockey team's star player.

One surprise costar in the movie has now revealed to MTV the appearance of another: Jessica Simpson.

"When she needs help she comes to the love guru, Mike," said Verne Troyer, who plays a diminutive, mean-spirited hockey coach in the flick. "I don't want to tell you every one of [the cameos], but you're going to be surprised."

Although the actor formerly known as "Mini Me" in the Austin Powers franchise was eager to reunite with Myers, Troyer said that the day of Simpsons' cameo may have been the most difficult one he's ever spent on a set.

"That one day we had Jessica Simpson there, it was difficult for me and every other guy," he said, not needing to elaborate on why.

British actor Scott Adkins landed a bit role as "Weapon 11" in the spin-off X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Reportedly, the character will be featured in an fighting sequence with Wolverine near the end of the film. Anyone care to wager with us on who will win that battle?

In other casting news, Daniel Henney (pictured) told The Daily News that he's landed the role of "Agent Zero" in the movie, which will mark his American feature film debut.

"We sat down and she explained the basic premise of the film to me. I had no idea at this point that the director, producers, including Hugh Jackman, and executives at Fox had already made a decision on me," Henney said of meeting with Fox's head of casting about the project. "They had somehow seen some of my past films and thought I'd be right for the role."

"I then rushed back to my hotel, tore through the script, made a few phone calls to rearrange my schedule and called them back and happily accepted the role," the actor added.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is slated for a May 1, 2009 release.

Amazon has already started taking pre-orders for the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull soundtrack, despite the movie not coming out for over two months.

A quick overview of the song list on the album - which can be found be clicking on the link above - gives away a few hints about the film's plots. Song titles include "A Whirl Through Academe" and "The Journey to Akator." Wherever those places are.

Following the link above will also allow you to pre-order the CD now. Hurry!

While Shia LaBeouf is receiving never-ending publicity for a pair of blockbusters he's lined up in the future - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Transformers 2 - it's easy to overlook another highly-anticipated flick from this burgeoning star.

On September 26, he and Michelle Monaghan star in the thriller Eagle Eye. Here are a couple of shots from the movie:

Director David Ayer recently sat down with ComingSoon.net to discuss his latest crime thrilled, Street Kings. Here are a couple excerpts from the interview:

CS: Did you see Keanu Reeves' character as a bad cop or someone who did bad things because that's what he had to do in order to get the job done?
Ayer: The whole concept of good cop/bad cop really depends on how you see it. To Internal Affairs or a senior police administrator, a bad cop is anyone who doesn't follow the regulations. To his brother officers, a hard-charging, possibly violent cop who gets the job done no matter what is seen as a asset. It's seen as a positive. So it's really sort of the management street cop divide in LAPD.

It really depends what side of that you're on. Policing requires a certain flexibility because you're given obviously laws and books and regulations that you have to follow, but you're dealing with real people in real situations so there's always room for interpretation.

CS: You've come back to criminals and Los Angeles a number of times now. What keeps bringing you back to the street level of crime theme?
Ayer: It was exciting to do this particular project. One thing you have to realize is that when you're in a career in Hollywood it's not like you're walking into Hometown Buffet and you pick from a variety of projects lying out before you. When this project came along, I really wanted to get back on set.

I had a great experience directing Harsh Times and a brutal distribution experience, but that aside. Here comes Keanu Reeves with a script that's pretty close to camera ready in an arena I'm really familiar with. You've got to keep in mind this is my first studio movie as a director so I'm not going to get hired to do a romantic comedy [and] I'm not going to get hired to do a summer tentpole.

That's just the reality of the business. So here's a wonderful opportunity in a city I know, in a world I know with characters I know and it afforded me the opportunity as a director to not have to focus on the world, but to focus on developing performance.

Read the complete interview with Ayer now.

Based on the following preview, Baby Mama doesn't look like the funniest movie on the planet. But it does star Tina Fey, who we adore.

Check it out now and decide for yourself: