Can Michael Cera do no wrong? You can’t help but wonder when you watch “Youth in Revolt,” the latest in a string of Cera films that have hit just the right spot with audiences — and Hollywood execs.

“I’ve been very lucky,” Cera told CTV.ca. “Everything that’s come way has been better than the last part I played. That doesn’t happen all the time — that I know.”

The new film from director Miguel Arteta (”The Good Girl”) is based on the series of books from C.D. Payne which began with “Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp.”

Michael Cera with costar Portia Doubleday in the upcoming film Youth in Revolt that was screened this past week at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)

In it loser teen Twisp falls for the girl of his dreams and does everything — even burn down a city block — to win her love.

“I don’t think of this as a teen film. The appeal is broader than that,” says Cera, who embodies Twisp with all the endearing, brainy geekiness audiences have come to expect.

“I was a fan of these books right from the beginning,” says Cera. “I don’t know if I was born to play Nick. But he was a riot.”

Working with Cera was no slouch either, says co-star Portia Doubleday.

“Michael showed me the ropes. He really took pity on me because this was a totally new experience for me,” says the newbie actress. “He’s a funny guy. Trust me. But he’s right there for you, too. As an actor he won’t let you down.”

This story, too, say Doubleday and Cera, won’t fall flat with audiences.

Michael Cera at the Toronto International Film Festival this past week talking about the premier of Youth in Revolt based on the book by C.D. Payne “Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp.”

“It doesn’t matter how old you are,” says Cera. “There is something in Nick we all can relate to. He’s the guy who sits on life’s sidelines — the guy who doesn’t have a chance of things ever coming easily to him. You can’t help but root for him.”

Youth in Revolt was filmed in the summer of 2008 in the Leelanau Peninsula near Traverse City, Michigan for the trailer park scenes as well as other scenes shot around Michigan thanks to a movie production grant that helps pay for a large portion of filming in the state.  This was quite a treat for Michael Cera fans many of whom got to meet the actor on the set and at various places like Starbucks…Yes Michael Cera gets his own coffee in the morning.  He was also seen driving his beloved blue Toyota to and from the set.  “I just love a road trip!” says Michael and he prefers it that way instead of flying.  He even drove all the way to Louisiana for the filming of this summer’s Harold Ramis film Year One.  I admire him for wanting to enjoy even the simple things in life rather than getting caught up in the Hollywood lifestyle.

The Weinstein Company has pushed the long-delayed Michael Cera comedy, Youth in Revolt, to January 15, 2010.  It was originally scheduled for release in October but the company wants to premier it at other film festivals and get the word out about the film.  It is destined to be an awesome film and worth the wait.  For now, check out the movie trailer and enjoy.

~J Michaelson – Editor
~Constance Droganes CTV.ca also contributed to this story

Please share your comments….

Michael Cera

Michael Cera Doesn’t Return Confrontation With Confrontation

by Josh Rosenblatt

In an era of unapologetically male comedy, where round, doughy, hairy, self-obsessed man-children like Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Seth Rogen, and Danny McBride have taken over every movie and TV awards show – competing with all their might to be the lewdest, loudest, and most bombastic of the bunch – it takes a special kind of mind to traffic in awkwardness and self-deprecation. In fact, after eight years of the cowboy president Bush and his comic frat-house doppelganger Ferrell, it was getting hard to imagine that anxiety and disappointment might ever play a role in cinema comedy again.

But anxiety and self-doubt have been cornerstones of great American comedy since there’s been great American comedy. Buster Keaton, for example, took outsider status and social awkwardness to transcendent heights of self-actualization and death-defiance, leaving the corn-fed go-getter Harold Lloyd and the over-precious romantic Charlie Chaplin in the dust of silent-comedy supremacy. Then there was Jack Lemmon, who could turn incurable shnookiness into high art and heroism, finding something hilariously balletic in even the worst moments of intimidated ineptness. And just because we’ve been living in an age of ungovernable and uncritical testosterone (the Bush Age), there’s every reason to believe (or at least hope; one can never be too sure in Nascar America) that comedy heroes will rise to give ironic texture to our new age of brains over brawn and self-awareness over rollicking self-indulgence (call it the Obama age).
Anyway that’s the hope that led me  to the movie theater a few days ago to see Year One, which stars one of the boisterous kings of our recent comedy tradition, Mr. Black, and the inward-facing boy-prince of the era now being born, Michael Cera. To know Black is to like him a great deal, but set against the near-subliminal introversion of Cera, his larger-than-life leering seems like a relic from a distant time.

Cera, meanwhile, has very quietly become the best actor working in comedy today. From his work on TV’s Arrested Development to his performance in new-comedy auteur Judd Apatow’s Superbad, Cera has defined himself by being an almost indefinable half-person you can all but ignore, until you realize long after you’ve stopped watching that he’s the one you remember.

Watch most TV comedy troupes or theater improv ensembles or Funny or Die “comedy supergroup” viral videos, and you’ll see a bunch of  desperate souls crawling over one another to be the most noticed or the most adored or the most shocking. Louder!, Faster!, More Raucous!, demand drunken American crowds with their jingling coins and their brains half-skewered by prolonged exposure to reality television. And the comedians oblige, knocking themselves out to leave the strongest (if most fleeting) impression and break the most taboos.

And there, on the sidelines, sits Michael Cera, master of the stutter and the tragic-comic ellipsis, whose words seem to leak out like water from a broken spout, who sees more value in a line that insinuates or comes from an oblique angle than one that knocks you directly on the head (or kicks you directly in the balls). Unlike so many of his comedy contemporaries, he doesn’t return confrontation with confrontation. He deflates aggressiveness and violence by pointing out, under his breath, how self-defeating that aggressiveness and violence are. And though he may not always succeed, he always wins.

The great director Howard Hawks (His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby) used to add unnecessary words to the beginnings and ends of his actors’ lines so that his other actors could feel free to run-over those lines, creating an overlapping effect where it felt like the verbal action never stopped. Cera flips that approach upside-down, saving the really funny stuff for the ends of his phrases, the throwaway moments when his fellow actors have already begun their next lines, subsuming his own words just when he was about to make a point. It’s an act of both self-deprecation and self-actualization in the face of seemingly impossible social odds. Pick any scene from Arrested Development or Superbad or Year One, and watch Cera wait for that moment when he believes he’s just out of earshot (and therefore less likely to face the consequences of his words) before letting loose with some tiny absurdist  moment of observational acumen. Watch this (from Year One) and you see how ably he can turn an entire scene full of manly fortitude into an exercise in absurdity with just a few well-placed, poorly enunciated words. All those other man may not know they’ve been topped, but they feel it.

What’s interesting is that these seemingly ineffectual, lightly spoken asides say more about modern-day America  than Ferrell, Black, or Stiller, for all their noise and attitude,  could ever hope to. Today’s pop-culture-infused generation has been raised on the idea that (as in reality TV) the cameras are always on and will catch everything one does, not matter how insignificant. Meaning everything is potentially significant, even the stuff that’s been tossed off. As such, Cera is both a perfect representative of his generation and a satirical critic of it, with its millions of denizens who shout to hide the fact that they don’t have the foggiest idea how to overcome their own awkwardness or make themselves heard above the din of gossip shows, celebrity blather, and 24-hour news bunk.
What’s a sensitive and funny man supposed to do in the face of so much noise? According to Cera: Keep your mouth shut until you’re convinced nobody’s listening and then let your words creep out unheeded, secure in nothing but the knowledge that somewhere a camera is watching and catching the whole thing.

And that, in the end, you’ll get the last laugh.

Editor’s Note: Please tell us how Michael Cera’s comedic style captures your attention and why you are a fan.

Michael Cera is being considered for playing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the upcoming movie based on the book "The Accidental Billionares" by Ben Mezrich

Michael Cera Considered Top Pick!

Planning for a movie about the origins of the ever popular Facebook are in the works based on a book by Ben Mezrich called The Accidental Billionares.  So far it looks like David Fincher may be directing the Columbia Pictures movie written by Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing.  Scott Rudin, Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti and Academy Award wining actor Kevin Spacey are producing the movie which has a possibility of being called The Social Network.

In search for the lead role playing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is focusing on Michael Cera who is a very likable personality by younger audiences.  In the book Mark Zuckerberg is not portrayed in a very favorable light but summed up as an “obnoxious nerd” which would not likely be alluring at the box office.  Michael Cera playing the role could make the Facebook founder appear more sympathetic to audiences due to Cera’s ability to appeal to teens and young adults.  Movies like Superbad and Juno along with televison series Arrested Development has cast Michael Cera into the spotlight with his role being more of an awkward nerd but adorable character.

Recently we saw Michael Cera move slightly away from roles of the past to play an outcast caveman with Jack Black in the movie Year One released June 19th, 2009 and we should expect to see more diversity in roles as the actor evolves into more popular demand for leading roles in coming years.

Also considered for the role of Mark Zuckerberg is Transformers star Shia LaBeouf who has some great qualities in playing the part but Michael Cera is considered the top choice according to an entertainment industry insider.  He just has that appeal to the type of movie goer that a picture about Facebook would attract.

Tell us what you think about Michael Cera possibly landing the part of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.  What do you think???

Year One Movie - Michael Cera plays the character "Oh"!

The combination of Jack Black’s constant character with Michael Cera’s quick one liner unassuming punch lines is a great recipe for jaw-dropping “omg” laughter we have come to enjoy.  This is a gentle push away from the usual characters Michael has played in the past but still has enough familiarity to hold onto fans who loved his roles in Superbad, Juno, and Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.

Also familiar in this movie playing the character “Isaac” is Christopher Mintz-Plasse who has an interesting destiny with circumcision but I won’t ruin it for you….. OUCH!!!  There are lots of interesting surprises in this movie and it moves along quickly with a slight Biblical parody, but don’t be offended…. It certainly wasn’t “over the top” for this Christian, just funny!  Go watch it and enjoy.

~Jacob Michaelson

We started to get suspicious with comments made about a possible Superbad 2 movie being planned that caught my attention because plans are not usually discussed in public as has been my experience in the music business. It was at that moment that we started reviewing comments that were submitted to the blogs for any clues to confirm this.  The Webmaster noticed an unusual comment on this person’s Twitter @Michael_Cera about Charlyne coming over to watch a movie soon. It was at that moment that we checked into this statement with Charlyne herself (previously verified) and we checked again with someone else we know that who is a source very close to Michael that I can not reveal.

We attempted to confront this person early this morning to get an explaination and as of this post have not received any response.  Fortunately, we had not yet handed over title control of the website so it was decided this afternoon to disable his posting account.

Questions:

Why did you decide to disclose this issue? The answer is clearly that it is the right thing to do given that this person deceived so many people (including us) using his Twitter account @Michael_Cera.  It pains us to be the position to disappoint so many of you who posted comments to the Year One Movie and Superbad 2 blogs such touching comments.

Where do we go from here? As I reviewed all of the comments again today it made sense to us that we should encourage turning this negative into a positive by exploring the idea of having this website benefit the fans who all have a common interest by allowing fan interaction to participate more in the content that is seen here.  We want this website to be yours and are open to suggestions.

What is in it for you? Well we already have made the investment to build it and will most certainly not expect anything from this person since we decided to blow the whistle on the whole thing at the end of day 2.  The money is spent…let’s use it to benefit the fans.

How can I be involved? We are open to suggestions and are interested in your comments.

How did this happen? We asked the same question of a couple celebrities we know and the response was that some people need to feel important and somehow pretending to be a famous person somehow delivers a feeling of utopia in one’s life for a time.  Apparently, this is very common especially on the internet.  Our advice is to never give out any personal information to anyone even if you think they are who they say they are.  Anyone can be fooled regardless of how long you’ve been on the internet even with 15 years experience.

We also ask that you not be mean or threatening to the person who claimed to be Michael Cera on his Twitter account @Michael_Cera.  We are not sure why he did this but seeking vengeance will not solve anything and only reduces us to the same level of questionable integrity.

Charlyne gave our Webmaster some good advice last night.  He was very disappointed and hurt that this had happened and she told him to “just move on and forget about it. Much worse things happen in life.” That is very good advice for all of us.

We apologize for any inconvenience.  Let us know what we should do next.

Jacob Michaelson
Website Technical Advisor

Follow Us On Twitter! MichaelCeraBlog Community

————————————————————————————————————-

Screenshot of @Michael_Cera Twitter that was being used to deceive over 22,000 people

Screenshot of @Michael_Cera Twitter that was being used to deceive over 22,000 people

Hey. So, I’m sure many of you have been wondering what’s the deal with Superbad 2. Is it happening or what? Am I right? Well, the thing with it is that most of the people from Superbad are far to busy with other things in their careers to sign up for it right now. We may still have it in the future, but it depends on what happens. For the plot of Superbad 2, we are thinking of having Evan and Seth begin college. We’re planning for Seth to want to get babes so he joins cheerleading (still not sure about that). Evan is trying to keep his relationship with Becca going strong, but meets someone which makes him have to choose between them. Evan also trys-out for a football team, when he gets in, he is surprised, then finds out he is in a team with midgets. For Foggel and the cops, they go in for military training (we’re going to build on to that later). We really hope to go forward with this film. So far we have me and Jonah Hill and Seth Rogan signed on. It may take a while, but keep your hopes up.

-Michael

Hey guys. Michael Cera here. Glad to be making the first blog to my website. I really hope you guys take the time to go check out my newest movie “year one” starring me and Jack Black. It should be a good watch. I’m looking forward to your comments! I know many of you are probably wondering how it was to work with Jack Black. Well, he was absolutely amazing. A great experience anybody would be privaliged to have. He’s a great laugh. Anyway. The movie is about two guys who get banished from their land, and go for a journey through their world. They encounter many strange things along the way. Zed (Jack) is trying to find the meaning in his life, and Oh (me) tries to get a girl and doesn’t really know how to do it. They movie comes out very very soon. Hope you’ll go check it out.

                                                                                                                                                                   -Michael!