“What Doesn’t Kill You” — a gritty Boston crime drama based on the life of the film’s writer/director Brian Goodman — has been getting rave reviews at film festivals, and as of last Friday it’s beginning to open in limited release.

In our exclusive clip, Brian (played by Mark Ruffalo) — a man whose life of crime is beginning to spiral dangerously out of control — is visited by a local police detective (Donnie Wahlberg, who also co-wrote the film). Check it out below.

Sometimes trading is cool, like when I collected baseball cards as a kid and conned my friend into giving me a Don Mattingly rookie card for Dave Sax. Other times, it can be pretty annoying – like in movie sequels where they’ve swapped Keanu Reeves for Jason Patric, Michael Keaton for Val Kilmer, or Jim Carrey for Jamie Kennedy, Steve Carell or anybody else.

Nowadays, a lot of trading, swapping and shuffling is going on in the “Twilight” universe, starting with the director of the hit films. And with the attention now turning to the actors who’ll appear in front of Chris Weitz’s camera, we’ve just published a new report on two hot young stars who might be headlining “New Moon.”

Would Michael Copon be a more-appropriate-looking Jacob Black than Taylor Lautner? Perhaps. But we’ve interviewed the 16-year-old “Taycob” enough times to know that Chris Weitz will never find anyone who feels more passionately about the role. Whether passion equals success is up for debate, but it seems to me that no matter how much more muscular and wolf-like Copon might be, the best he could hope for is a tie. Read more…

FROM SPLASH PAGE: We’re extremely excited about the announcement that David Fincher, Zack Snyder and Gore Verbinski still intend to direct segments of a new “Heavy Metal” animated feature, but it’s probably for the best that we temper our enthusiasm with a bit of caution. According to Fincher, the undoubtedly awesome film has yet to move on from the development stage.

“We’re still trying to get that made,” Fincher told MTV News.

Even so, does the director, hot off the critical success of his new film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, have any particular “Heavy Metal” stories that he would like to adapt to the screen?

Read more of David Fincher’s thoughts on a new “Heavy Metal” animated feature at Splash Page.MTV.com.

Just as Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” biopic is set to his theaters, the director is already hard at work on a movie telling the story of a very, very different icon of the 20th century. According to the Soderbergh, “Liberace” is tentatively scheduled to begin shooting in 2010 with Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, and will focus on the flamboyant pianist’s turbulent relationship with his companion Scott Thorson in the final decade of his life.

Thorson, who would be played by Damon, filed a $113 million palimony suit against the entertainer in 1982, but ended up settling out of court for a far lesser sum of money. The story promises a great deal of drama, and some insight into the secretive personal life of one of popular culture’s legendary closeted superstars, but the filmmaker also promises not to ignore his subject’s virtuosity and showmanship.

“There are performance scenes,” Soderbergh told MTV News. Read more…

Contributed by John Bobey

As “Quantum of Solace” continues its worldwide box office reign, it’s easy to miss the little details that made it so memorable. Thankfully, here’s a list of those handy life lessons.

- Quantum isn’t a multi-vitamin, but an international crime syndicate.

- When in pursuit of foreign operatives, it’s pretty much guaranteed that if you dart in to any random locker room, you’ll find a Tom Ford tuxedo in exactly your size…shoes too!

- The Green movement is a front for evil geniuses who really don’t love the environment (though I’ve suspected that for a while). Read more…

Was there anything more surreal than catching Tom Cruise on “The Hills” after-show last week? If you haven’t caught it by now, do yourself a favor. I guess all is fair in love and war (and promoting a movie).

Tom’s been making the rounds on behalf of “Valkyrie” (good news, the movie is actually really good!) and when I caught up with him over the weekend I just had to ask him what was up with “The Hills” appearance. His laughter and pleading say it all. Tom Cruise knows NOTHING about “The Hills.” When you’re done with that, click here to watch the entire chat.

Tis the season for horror remake news, apparently — it must be something about the bright lights and shiny tinsel that makes people want to talk about slasher flicks. December has seen the debut of the “Friday the 13th” trailer, a remake of “Nightmare on Elm Street” green-lit, and “Near Dark” staked.

Now, Variety reports that Rob Zombie is planning a follow-up to his horror remake, “Halloween.” He will be writing and directing the sequel, titled “H2,” and is pushing it into high speed in order for an October 2009 release date.

Zombie promises “H2” won’t resemble the 1981 “Halloween II,” but will pick up where his own “Halloween” left off, and will be told from the point of view of Michael Myers’ hunted sister, Laurie, and show what follows in the bloody aftermath of Michael Myers’ killing spree. Read more…

One of the most buzzed about movies at this year’s Comic-Con was Joseph Kosinski’s “Tron 2.0” (then titled “Tr2n”), Disney’s sequel to their 1982 technology classic. It’s hard to believe that a sequel to a twenty-six year old movie could create such a frenzy — but hey, I was there, and the footage was pretty darn cool.

As it turned out, none of the revealed footage was from the film, but test scenes cooked up to test the special effects and wind up the geek audience at Comic-Con. The film has vanished off the radar a bit, but you can expect the buzz to pick up again now that casting has begun.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Turistas” stars Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett are the first to sign on for “Tron 2.0.” Read more…

Even if poor Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson were sick as dogs during my weekend chat with them they still were awfully entertaining. We’ll be unveiling our full interview in a matter of days but we’ve got a choice few moments to share with you right now. First of all if you’re wondering if Scarlett’s got another album up her sleeve, check out this story and you’ll see she’s in the music business for the long haul.

And then there’s Scarlett’s relationship with Barack Obama. Remember their supposed email relationship that emerged over the summer? Well, it sounds like Scarlett’s not going to be emailing the President-elect anytime soon. “I’m banned from using my email now. The media won’t allow that,” she said. Watch the rest below.

The insanity may be weeks old here in the United States, but overseas “Twilight” movie mania is a little more recent. Over in London, our MTV Europe colleagues caught up with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson to discuss the film, and we’ve got their resulting conversation below.

You Twilighters will probably enjoy the pair’s description of their infamous non-kissing make-out scene, complete with Pattinson’s trademark blush. Check it out…