Extras! The story of Ron Burgundy, Ashton Kutcher wants you to risk failure, Ari Gold is on the edge, Darren Aronofsky eyes a red sparrow, and Steven Spielberg wants some Chinese? Plus much more!

Welcome to The Extras! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!

At the glacial pace that Disney is currently moving along with it, it seems uncertain that I will get to see anything from Star Wars: Episode VII before I start collecting my pension. If I do succumb to dementia and adult diapers before that film’s release, at least I can console myself with the fact that I think I may just have stumbled on the most entertaining Star Wars related footage with this Star Wars: Speed Dating put together by Stan Lee’s World of Heroes Youtube channel for geek week.

Remember all those stories about World War Z‘s production problems? Remember all the nightmare tales about reshoots, rewrites, and director walk outs? Know who doesn’t remember any of that? Star/producer Brad Pitt and Paramount Pictures. No, they don’t have time to reminisce as they’re too busy laughing all the way to the bank, as the film has just officially pulled in $500 million worldwide. This makes it Brad Pitt’s highest earning film of his career, his biggest international opener with $66 million, and biggest domestic box office haul with $197.4 million.

Darren Aronofsky is just finishing up with his biblical epic Noah and it looks like all of that film’s titular protagonist’s bird watching is starting rubbing off on him, as the Oscar nominated director has an eye on Red Sparrow, a new espionage tale based on Jason Matthews’ novel. Here’s the official blurb for the book.

In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the Agency’s most important Russian mole.

As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, and—inevitably—forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nate’s game reaches a deadly crossroads. Soon one of them begins a dangerous double existence in a life-and-death operation that consumes intelligence agencies from Moscow to Washington, DC.

A trio of new character posters have been released for Single Shot, all proving that Sam Rockwell, Jason Isaacs and William H. Macy can hillbilly it up with the best of ’em.

Ron Burgundy is a man of many talents: Emmy winning news anchor, cologne connoisseur, ferocious lover, kind of a big deal. And now we can also add (probably soon-to-be) acclaimed writer to that list, as Ron Burgundy (aka Will Ferrell) will soon be releasing his autobiography “Let Me Off At The Top!: My Classy Life and Other Musings”. The book will be available in hardcover and e-format on November 19, 2013, but you can pre-order it on Amazon so long. Here’s the official synopsis;

Ron Burgundy is known to all as the lead anchorman of San Diego’s award-winning Action 4 News Team and anchor of the first 24-hour news channel, GNN (Global News Network), but few know the real man behind the news desk. In LET ME OFF AT THE TOP!: My Classy Life and Other Musings he will share never-before-told stories of his childhood and the events that led him to choose a career in the news business. He will offer a rare glimpse behind the camera into the real life of a man many consider to be our greatest living news anchor.  In his own words, he will share personal anecdotes about the women in his life, about his dog, Baxter, and his legendary news team. Along the way, he’ll also give sage advice on a variety of topics that matter most to him. The long wait is over. Ron Burgundy pulls no punches in this widely anticipated, fully authorized tell-all autobiography.

And if that and the Sex Panther cologne doesn’t convince you, then here’s the man himself telling you what to expect from it.

“I don’t know if it’s the greatest autobiography ever written… I will tell you this much: the first time I sat down and read this thing… I cried like a goddamn baby, and you can take that to the bank!”

You know what Robert Downey Jr is like in between takes of playing snarky Tony Stark in Iron Man? Well, he’s kind of exactly the same actually (how convenient), as you can see in this Iron Man 3 gag reel.

I’ve always maintained that Mary Poppins was  Time-Lord, but apparently her classic Disney film has a lot more weird stuff going for it, that we as kids just never noticed. The folks at Buzzfeed noticed though. Which is why they’re trying to warn people about the fact that Mary Poppins Is Actually An Extremely Messed Up Movie.

Who would have thought that she was actually just there to stalk and ex and not actually take care of children.

Steven Spielberg wants to make a movie in China with Hero and House of Flying Daggers direct Zhang Yimou. That right there should be all you need to click that link, but since you’re a needy sort, here are some quotes from Mr Spielberg himself explaining why he’s got his eye on China.

“I would like to make a movie in China with my dear friend. We would work together on an international film that could take place in China.”

“I just feel China has such a rich history and inspirational culture for filmmakers both in the West and Asia. So many good stories could be told about China, not just stories from a distant past but contemporary stories,”

“I made ‘Empire of the Sun’ in Shanghai in the 1980s and want to come back one day to make a movie in China.”

I think a pairing between the two acclaimed directors could be amazing, and I really hope this actually happens, until, you know, the inevitable news that Spielberg is dropping out of it. Before then though: Boy, will I be excited!

I wish I could take some life advice from Kelso from That 70’s Show – said no one ever! And yet here we are, a few years later about to watch Ashton Kutcher get all inspirational in this new clip from his Steve Jobs biopic, JOBS. This sure is a topsy-turvy world we live in!

So if you’re willing to admit that you watched and enjoyed last year’s Pitch Perfect (I challenge you not to), then you’ll remember the “Cups song” that Anna Kendrick’s character plays to get into the acapella group. It’s a quirky little song made all the more charming by the impossibly cute Kendrick…. and it’s been on the Top 10 of the US Billboard 100 for the last 5 weeks. If that last part is surprising to you, then don’t worry because you’re not the only one: Anna Kendrick also has no clue how this happened.

“How I feel about having a song in the billboard top ten for five weeks. #ItDefiesLogic”

Looks like its going to take a bit longer to prepare your heroes on the half shell (Turtle power!) as we thought. Word has come down from Paramount that Jonathan Liebesman and Michael Bay’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot has been delayed (again) by two months from  June 6,2013 to  August 8, 2013. And the reason for this, the fourth delay the production has faced? Robots and Michael Bay’s bank balance. Bay’s Transformers 4 – also under the Paramount banner – is set for release on June 27, so the studio wants some breathing room between the two franchises.

Looks like Tom Cruise is getting his own entourage as Jeremy Piven has joined him in the Doug Liman directed sci-fi actioner Edge of Tomorrow. Now you may be a bit bit confused by this late addition, especially since, you know, the movie actually finished principal production a while back already, but apparently Liman and co had been planning to do some additional scenes and reshoots for a long time already and since Piven was in London, where the film’s sets are, busy with another production, it all just worked out.

Earlier we showed you a clip from the new Steve Jobs biopic, JOBS, but we all know that he was just a guy who made polo necks and sneakers popular again, right? Nah the true tech genius was one William Henry Gates III. So where’s ol Bill’s biopic then? Well, thanks to those folks over at Official Comedy, it’s right here. I give you the trailer for Gates!

Last Updated: August 16, 2013