If ever there was an actor that knows how to control a room full of clambering media, it's Tom Cruise. Charming, hypnotic, a man who knows how to court the press and publicise his image, whatever that may be.

Los Angeles. An interview with Tobey Macquire on preparing for Seabiscuit.

Paul Fischer: What concerns did you have about horse riding?

Goremonger Eli Roth's inspiration for his horror debut Cabin Fever came from a string of disturbing personal experiences. 

Paul Fischer: So many horror films are about teenagers and they deal with adolescence - are you tapping into the fears of adolescence in society or are you tapping into what mainstream cinema requires you to deliver?

Aussie actress Toni Collette had serious misgivings about playing such an emotionally raw and damaged character as Sandy, the geologist in Japanese Story. She was ready to pull out altogether "when the director broke her foot, and everything was being pushed back, so it was about to mess with my schedule."

The father of Spider-Man, The Hulk, X-Men and other Marvel Comics super-heroes shares some insights into his life and creations.

"Thank-you, culture-lovers!" Stan Lee booms through the microphone, as he leaps on stage to applause and cheers at the Vancouver Film Festival Trade Forum (24 Sept 2003).

Thirteen is an explosive drama about young girls going off the rails in middle-class America. Clueless, it is not. Director Catherine Hardwicke gives a flavour of what’s to come.

The kids from hell?

The beautiful 34-year old British-born Aussie has come a long way since Mulholland Drive brought her international notice, and she is milking her success for all it’s worth, even if it means working virtually non-stop in the process.

"I think the panic of not working for ten years is still very much alive in me, and I’m now starting to trust it a little bit and thinking, ‘okay, I’ve got a little bit of a shot at this.’"

There is an unassuming quality about Paul Giamatti. Although busy, he seems something of a rarity in Hollywood: a character actor. In American Splendor, which won the Grand Jury prize winner at Sundance Film Festival and was winner of Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Giamatti excels at playing the brooding, working-class loser, the anti-hero of underground comic strip creator’s Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor.

Audiences will recognise Anthony LaPaglia as Daphne Moon’s slobbish, drunken brother Simon, from the long-running sitcom Frasier, the man responsible for one of the worst English accents since Dick Van Dyke cleaned chimneys in Mary Poppins. 

It seems like a typical example of American indifference to geographical nuances that they would give the role to an American. But LaPaglia is full of surprises.

Paul Fischer: Will this movie be a challenge for the market? For the market or for me?

Ang Lee: I know it was for me.

Do you think people will be surprised by this movie?