Compact, wearing jeans and a gray t-shirt, Nick Hornby admits he knows a thing or two about a fan’s obsession with an artist’s work.

“When someone says they’ve read your book 15 times, you think, well, you should read something else,” he says, discussing a theme of his newest novel, “Juliet, Naked.” “That’s partly where the book came from. I started getting confused. But I realized that, in saying that, you’re denying someone their emotional connection.”

Hornby, 52, is sitting in a Manhattan hotel suite, ostensibly to discuss “An Education,” the Lone Scherfig coming-of-age film that opened Oct. 9 in limited release, for which he wrote the screenplay. (More…)

Sitting in a midtown Manhattan publicist’s office, Michelle Monaghan flashes a handful of fingernails painted a shade she calls “peacock green” (“It was for a photo shoot”), which contrast with her skinny black jeans and top and her zebra-striped sweater – and laughs when asked whether a studio would have cast her in the lead role in “Trucker.”

“I don’t kid myself that a studio would ever have given me a role like this,” she says. “But I don’t think this movie would be this movie if a studio had made it. (More…)

Yes, Michael Sheen says, he did his own stunts while playing English football legend Brian Clough in the new film “The Damned United” – including making a couple of bicycle kicks (that went into the goal!) and suffering a cheap shot that left him in a heap on the pitch.

“My shoulder is still sore from taking that hit,” says Sheen, 40, with a smile that’s at least part wince. “But this was the opportunity for my two passions to come together, so I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to display my football prowess.” (More…)

Filmmaker Kristopher Belman wants people to understand that his documentary, “More Than a Game,” isn’t about LeBron James. It was never about LeBron James – even when big money wanted it to be.

“I went through two years of literally the same meeting: They wanted the LeBron version of the film,” Belman says. “No one was interested in my version. I was offered significant money to direct the LeBron version – or to sell my footage outright.

“I kept thinking, Is it ever going to happen the way I want? Especially when people in the industry that I want to be part of are telling me that I’m chasing a story that’s not worth it?” (More…)