The 12th annual Belfast Film Festival runs from May 31 – June 10, and sees a wide variety of films and events on offer for audiences of all ages and interests.

Last year’s festival, which takes place in the capital city of Northern Ireland, saw the premiere of Terry George’s Oscar-winning short film ‘The Shore’, and this year George is returning to the festival with his new film ‘Whole Lotta Sole’, which had its world premiere recently at the Tribeca Film Festival.

‘Sole’ brings together a diverse range of talent such as Brendan Fraser, Yaya DaCosta, Martin McCann, and Colm Meaney, and was shot at various locations all over Northern Ireland last Spring. The film will close the festival on June 10 at the Waterfront Hall, full details of which can be found here.

Opening the festival is the eagerly-awaited film ‘Good Vibrations’, which so far is set to have two screenings on May 31. The film brings together directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, along with Northern Ireland author Glenn Patterson who co-wrote the screenplay with Colin Carberry. The film stars Jodie Whittaker and Dylan Moran, and the official description is listed as:

“Terri Hooley … a radical, rebel and music-lover in 1970s Belfast when the bloody conflict known as the Troubles shuts down his city. As all his friends take sides and take up arms, Terri opens a record shop on the most bombed half-mile in Europe and calls it Good Vibrations.

Through it he discovers a compelling voice of resistance in the city’s nascent underground punk scene. Galvanising the young musicians into action, he becomes the unlikely leader of a motley band of kids and punks who join him in his mission to create a new community, an alternative Ulster, to bring his city back to life.”

Other highlights of the festival include:

• Gala screenings of ‘Shadow Dancer’, ‘Jump’, and ‘Toothbrush’. ‘Shadow Dancer’ screens on Wednesday June 6, and the director, cast and crew will be in attendance. ‘Jump’ will have a similar turn-out for its screening on June 8, where the screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director (Kieron J. Walsh).
• Talks & Workshops with Terry George, James Marsh, Nick Emerson, and various people involved with ‘Good Vibrations’.
• A special screening of the 2002 film ‘Ghost Ship’ at The Lagan Boat on June 7.
• A ‘Zoolander’ night, bringing together fans of the 2001 film starring Ben Stiller.
• An Evening with James Ellis, the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

On top of all of these, the festival will feature short film competitions, screenings of documentaries and new cinema, a film quiz, and the 11th Belfast World Pong Championships.

The full festival program can be found here.

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Brad Pitt has been voted the Top Money-Making Star of 2011 in Quigley Publishing Company’s 80th Annual Poll of Motion Picture Exhibitors. This is Pitt’s sixth appearance in the Poll, but his first win. Exhibitors felt Pitt was responsible for more traffic to theatres than any other Hollywood star based on his performances this year in “Moneyball,” “The Tree of Life,” and “Happy Feet Two.”

The Quigley Poll, conducted each year since 1932, is an annual survey of motion picture theatre owners and film buyers, which asks them to vote for the ten stars that they believe generated the most box-office revenue for their theatres during the year. It has been long regarded as one of the most reliable indicators of a star’s real box office draw because the selections are made by professionals whose livelihood depends on choosing the films and actors that will bring audiences to their theatres. The Quigley Poll lists the results of all the Polls since Marie Dressler, Janet Gaynor, and Joan Crawford took the top three places in 1932.

George Clooney placed second this year based on “The Ides of March,” where he was also the director, producer, and co-writer, and “The Descendants.” Johnny Depp, last year’s winner, made it to number three this year with 2011 roles in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “The Rum Diary.”  Depp has placed in the poll seven times, as has this year’s number four, Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in “J. Edgar.” Matt Damon, number five, had a very busy year with “Contagion,” “The Adjustment Bureau,” “Margaret,” and “We Bought a Zoo.”

Sandra Bullock, winner of 2009, placed number six, which marks her fifth appearance in the poll. She first placed in the survey in 1995. There were two first-timers this year, Bradley Cooper number seven and Ben Stiller number ten. Bradley Cooper was in “The Hangover Part II,” and Ben Stiller was in “Tower Heist.” Robert Downey, Jr. was number eight on the strength of “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” and Meryl Streep was number nine as ‘The Iron Lady” and is in the Top Ten for the fourth time.

Tom Cruise has not placed in the Poll since 2006, but he has been in the Top Ten 20 times since 1983 and has been voted number one the most of any actor – seven times. Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, and Bing Crosby have all won five times. Clint Eastwood has been in the poll 21 times starting in 1968. Currently, exhibitors appreciate him more as a director that brings audiences to their theatres. John Wayne, Doris Day, and Shirley Temple each finished first four times, but John Wayne was voted one of the Top Ten Money-Making Stars an astounding 25 times from 1949 to 1974.

Exhibitors were also asked to name the Stars of Tomorrow for 2011, one actor and one actress who they feel will be Top Money-Makers in the years to come. The 2011 winners are Rooney Mara, who played Lisbeth Salander in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” and Jonah Hill, who had a breakthrough performance in “Moneyball” and starred in “The Sitter.”

Top Ten Money-Making Stars of 2011

1. Brad Pitt
2. George Clooney
3. Johnny Depp
4. Leonardo Di Caprio
5. Matt Damon
6. Sandra Bullock
7. Bradley Cooper
8. Robert Downey, Jr.
9. Meryl Streep
10. Ben Stiller

Stars of Tomorrow:

Rooney Mara
Jonah Hill

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For his upcoming movie Tower Heist, Eddie Murphy believed that it was time to return to familiar comic ground. “The theme of the film, with the workers being taken advantage of by the rich folks and then turning the tables, is timeless. One of my earliest movies, Trading Places, was like that. Those themes work forever. It was fun for me to work on because I hadn’t done a role like that in a while.

I’ve done a lot of family movies, and I’ve done a lot of projects in which the characters were not ‘street-y’ guys. There was a freshness to this.” Ben Stiller, the star of such box-office hits as Zoolander and Tropic Thunder (both of which he directed) and the three films of the Meet the Parents franchise, came aboard as Josh Kovaks, the workaholic manager of the tony building who has given up on his personal life to satiate the endless wants of his pampered residents.

Whether immersing himself in the minutiae of fine wines and the newest restaurants or keeping track of the birthday and anniversary of every affluent occupant, Josh may always be counted upon. With a decade of experience working in the building, he runs a tight ship and expects nothing but perfection from his staff.

The actor admits that he was intrigued by director Brett Ratner’s passionate take on the material, and the chance to join both the director and Murphy proved to be an attractive proposition. Stiller remarks: “I’ve known Brett for almost 15 years, and this is the first time that we’ve worked together.

He has incredible enthusiasm and an amazing sense of film history. He loves the filmmaking process, and he loves filmmakers. Brett works viscerally. He does his prep, but when he gets on the set is when it all comes alive for him.” Ratner returns the compliment to Stiller: “I’ve been a friend and fan of Ben’s for more than 15 years.

He is one of my favorite directors and actors. There is no actor with as much passion, commitment and hard work toward a performance than Ben. From our first meeting about Tower Heist, we were on the same page and completely agreed on the tone of the film that we all wanted to make.”

Problem solver that he is, Josh looks to con man Slide when it comes to criminal advice. The relationship between the two dates back to their time in preschool in Astoria, Queens, but the interaction that they currently have is the daily harassment that Slide gives Josh on Josh’s way to work.

Although both still live in the borough, the men are polar opposites who have taken separate paths. Josh works in the rarified world of vast wealth in Manhattan while Slide is pulling low-level crime gigs. But a criminal mind is a criminal mind, and Josh has limited options and time to get the pension funds back.  Josh knows he’s taking a chance to ask Slide to join in their con, but he takes the risk.

When it came to working with Murphy, Stiller led the cast in enthusiasm. As Murphy has been a fixture of the comedy landscape for decades, Stiller was excited to see him slip into a role that harkened back to memorable characters he portrayed in Beverly Hills Cop and 48 Hrs.

“Eddie Murphy is iconic, especially for my generation,” says Stiller. “He defines a lot of what comedy is over the last 25 years, so it was very cool to work with him. I sometimes felt like an audience member as I watched him do his thing. I would think ‘Wow, that’s good. That’s going to be in the movie.’”

Shooting script locked and filmmaking team in place, Grazer reflected upon the project that began with the grain of an idea several years prior. He notes: “It’s difficult to imagine that a casual conversation six years ago has grown into such a fully realized film that is so grand in scope.

Plus, who could have known that, in this period of time, the global financial markets would teeter on the verge of collapse and the villain in our story would pale in comparison to some very real ones on Wall Street? Truth remains stranger than fiction.”

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The upcoming crime comedy Tower Heist, about a group of unfortunate staff workers who plot payback against a Wall Street businessman who stole their pensions, is director Brett Ratner’s take on the gap between the common man and the filthy rich.

To accentuate the difference in lifestyle, screenwriter Jeff Nathanson researched into the trappings of the wealthy and famous — only to elicit tales of the lengths to which people would go to display their emblems of wealth; be they prized art, rare collectibles, luxury cars or other expensive toys housed in personal galleries.

“We studied some of the richest apartments in the world, and we actually found photographs of people who keep insane things inside their apartments,” recalls the writer. “There is a gentleman in London who actually had a car parked in his apartment, so that’s where I think Ted got the idea for Shaw [the Wall Street businessman played by Alan Alda.]”

Before Producer Brian Grazer and Ratner made the final decision of which car to use for filming, there were extensive conversations about finding the right luxury vehicle to serve as the linchpin of the plot. An automobile with an exalted lineage, coupled with power and beauty, was needed to satisfy Ratner and Kristi Zea, the production designer’s desire to complement the awe-inspiring artwork in Shaw’s home.

Both Ratner and longtime cinematographer Dante Spinotti — with whom the director collaborated on X-Men: The Last Stand, After the Sunset, Red Dragon and The Family Man — are big Ferrari fans, so they naturally had several favorites before production began.

The pièce de résistance of Arthur Shaw’s multimillion-dollar penthouse equaled a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso that was once owned by Steve McQueen. It provides the billionaire with lofty bragging rights. This highly coveted and priceless collectible is the crown jewel of Shaw’s home.

To showcase it among his other treasures, Shaw had the car cautiously disassembled after its purchase and then reassembled in his penthouse apartment. When it came to this aspect of the story line, the filmmakers became quite inventive. McQueen actually did own a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, which venerable auction house Christie’s auctioned off in 2007 for $2.3 million.

Several years later, that wise owner sold the car for a staggering $10 million The rare sports car (only 350 of the models were ever manufactured) easily sells for close to $1 million, so the practicality of buying one for the production was not an option. The next best plan was to reproduce it, so the production commissioned two replicas, both of which had different uses for filming.

Once the decision was made, a little creative license was taken with the final color of the vehicle. The McQueen original was custom painted a muted “marrone metallizzato,” or metallic brown. “The King of Cool” chose the color to elude law enforcement when zooming up the Pacific Coast Highway.

However, the filmmakers wanted a vibrant, eye-popping color that would leave an impression. After performing camera tests on three versions of authentic vintage Ferrari colors, the filmmakers decided on “amaranto,” a brilliant red. For Ferrari-aficionado Ratner, the luxury car in Tower Heist is as much a critical part of this story as the Porsche 928 is integral to the plot of Risky Business.

He explains how it weaves into the plot: “At the end of the scene in which Josh takes a golf club to the Ferrari, you feel for Shaw and think maybe Josh [Ben Stiller’s character] is overreacting to Shaw’s losing Lester’s retirement money. You wonder if maybe Shaw is innocent after all.

“But that’s the big twist,” Ratner adds. “When the crew breaks into the apartment to steal the money they think is hidden, you know that they’re not professional thieves—they’re the antithesis of the Ocean’s Eleven crew—but they do know their way around the building.  They know when people come and go, they know every door and every lock, every back way and every window.

They understand the inner workings of this building. Of course, they could pull off a robbery…and the Ferrari is a big part of that.” The beauty of the race car, which seamlessly fit the film’s old-school tone, impressed cast and crew alike. Says Tea Leoni, an admitted car enthusiast, “The car has an old-heist feel to it.

It was cool seeing Steve McQueen’s Ferrari parked in a living room, and it was such a detailed replica of that car. I’m a little bit of a motorhead, and I would have liked to have taken it for a spin right out the window.” The filmmakers looked to Tower Heist prop master Peter Gelfman to oversee the three-month reproduction process of the Ferraris.

It was a short window to turn it around, but the pair of beauties made it to New York in time for some added reinforcement by Steve Kirshoff and his special effects team. Now, it was off to the first day of filming on sound stages in Brooklyn. The special effects department jumped right in and began the modifications on each of the cars.

For the first portion of filming, one vehicle was utilized strictly for eye-candy shots. But it soon joined its twin for more action-oriented scenes.

For the film’s elaborately choreographed heist sequence, Kirshoff rigged each car for very specific tasks. Stiller, Eddie Murphy and Matthew Broderick joined in on the action, spending several days harnessed for stunt wirework for the eye-popping sequence in the film’s third act.

Stiller, who had done some similar stunt work in the Night at the Museum films, was more at ease with the demands of an action-oriented film. Others, like Gabourey Sidibe who plays Odessa, however, needed some coaxing to perform their own stunt work. “I hate doing stunts,” she admits. “I’m always afraid I’m going to hurt myself or someone else.”

But when she had to take out an FBI agent, she had an unexpected surprise. “I was supposed to charge at the stunt guy with my maid’s cart and mow him down. My first couple of attempts weren’t hard enough because I was afraid for this guy. So, the last time I went super hard and something cracked, and he was lying on the ground and not moving.

Everyone has me convinced that he’s hurt until he pops up with a smile. Stunt guys like that rush…no matter what the stunt is. It’s crazy.”

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The new movie Tower Heist, about a group of high rise staff members who plot to steal back their pensions from a unscrupulous Wall Streeter, mixes comedy and action with insightful social commentary, coupled with an empowering Robin Hood spirit.

It jump-starts the tale of newly disenfranchised who would be driven to commit a high-stakes robbery. The writers tapped into the battered U.S. economy, whose financial meltdown occurred amidst charges of corporate mismanagement, record high unemployment and financiers defrauding their clients.

They infused the material with a timeliness that made the premise all the more powerful and gave the ensemble cast much material to use. Outside the top billers, Tower Heist sports an interesting collection of supporting cast.

Michael Peña, who portrays bellhop/elevator operator Dev’Reaux, the newest member of The Tower staff, appreciated this ripped-from-the-headlines aspect of the film. Dev’Reaux’s freewheeling attitude rubs Josh the wrong way but also makes him a go-to guy to be a part of the heist crew.

“I love this story,” Peña states, “between the financial meltdown, unemployment and government bailouts, the little guy finally gets to have his day. To be able to get it done on their own terms with their everyday skills makes it that much sweeter for the crew.

I had family affected by the economic downturn while I was reading the script, so as much as Tower Heist is a big action-comedy, there’s an underlying anticipation to see it all play out.” Ben Stiller elaborates on Peña’s character: “We meet Dev’Reaux, who is brand new at the job and a likeable street guy, but puts his foot in his mouth a lot.

He doesn’t understand the hierarchy of how you’re supposed to deal with the tenants and gets under Josh’s skin, but Josh needs him, so he brings him onto the heist team.” Academy Award nominee Gabourey Sidibe follows up her highly acclaimed dramatic debut in Precious to play the role of Odessa Montero, a feisty Jamaican-born maid who works in The Tower while trying to secure her green card.

As the daughter of a locksmith, she possesses skills that prove to be invaluable to the team when the heist is devised. Though the Harlem-bred Sidibe conferred with a safecracker to refine her technique, she constructed her character by looking a little closer to home. “The thing about Odessa is that she is Jamaican,” she says.

“I am not Jamaican, but some of my friends are so I brought their blunt, quick-witted sass to Odessa.” The actress laughs, “I’ve been teasing them our entire friendship, so it was nice to honor them on camera.” Brett Ratner, the director, loved being able to introduce audiences to a very different side of the young woman who blew filmgoers away in her very first dramatic role.

Still, he admits: “I needed an actress to be able to stand toe-to-toe with Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller, somebody with a strong personality. Gabby is a breath of fresh air. She walks in the room, and everybody just gravitates to her. She’s pathologically positive, happy and smart.

She’s always got something witty to say. She’s constantly cracking a joke or whispering something in your ear to make you laugh.” The project gained further momentum with the casting of legendary actor Judd Hirsch, who rejoins his producer from A Beautiful Mind for this film.

Cast as Mr. Simon, Josh’s boss who fires several of his employees when they destroy Shaw’s car, Hirsch admits that he has a lot of sympathy for Josh, played by Ben Stiller. “I love Ben’s part. You don’t usually see parts like that. They’re usually banal or immune, but Josh is concerned with the lives of others and is always trying to get somebody straightened out.

But he’s the one who takes the fall. He’s trying to get something for everybody in a beneficial way. He’s Mr. Justice, and then has to go and pay the price.” “Judd is one of those talents who has spent the past four decades creating complex, memorable characters,” offers producer Brian Grazer.

“From his unforgettable roles on television shows like Taxi and Dear John to his stunning performances in movies from Ordinary People to A Beautiful Mind, he’s one of the most memorable performers working today. You see the conflict in his character’s eyes as he has to play the heavy and get rid of those who were involved with the vigilante behavior in Shaw’s apartment. We were thrilled to have him.”

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In the upcoming movie Tower Heist, featuring a standout comic cast led by Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, humor will naturally punctuate a storyline complemented by action.

For many of the main actors, the film gave longtime friends an opportunity to work together once again. Ben Stiller, Alan Alda and Téa Leoni reunited for the first time since co-starring in David O’Russell’s critically acclaimed 1996 indie Flirting With Disaster. Leoni had previously collaborated with director Brett Ratner on The Family Man, and Stiller directed Matthew Broderick in 1996’s dark comedy The Cable Guy.

International financier Arthur Shaw, played by veteran Alda, is the quintessential champagne villain whose polished veneer belies a shrewd con man. For many years Shaw demanded a quiet respect from Stiller’s character Josh, who feels a kinship with one of the high rise’s most beloved residents. Josh aspires to live in this world and has been hopeful that his fellow chess player would shepherd him there.

When faced with an unimaginable betrayal, however, Josh makes it his personal mission to reclaim his crew’s money from Shaw. Stiller explains: “Josh and Shaw have a good rapport. Josh is very good at understanding what Shaw needs, but he misinterprets the relationship early on by thinking that Shaw would never do anything to intentionally hurt the people who work in the building.”

In Alan Alda, Ratner and the producers found an actor who could sell a likeable billionaire whom we learn is more comfortable stealing from blue-collar workers than from his elite clients. But Alda clears up a misconception about Shaw. “Shaw is sometimes described as a Bernie Madoff-like character. I’m not sure. I don’t think anyone has ever operated on the scale that Madoff did. And I don’t know if what Shaw did technically qualifies as a Ponzi scheme.

But in that Shaw was willing to steal money from people who really needed it — who really couldn’t afford to lose it — and willing to take everything they had…yes, he’s in Bernie territory, with both feet.” It’s Special Agent Claire Denham who clues in Josh about Shaw’s fraudulent history and does so with swift efficiency.

Leoni, whose FBI Special Agent Claire Denham knows the truth about Shaw, is the one who has to explain the cold, hard reality of the situation to Josh after he thwarts what he believes is an attempted kidnapping of The Tower’s favorite resident. Téa Leoni credits her interaction with FBI technical advisor Anne C. Beagan with putting the distinctive touches on her tough-as-nails agent who has to convince Josh that Shaw is a bad guy.

The actress laughs: “Agent Denham is your standard-issue, ball-breaking FBI agent. She’s certainly a very tough lady, and it’s not my first waltz with this type of character. However, I was able to spend some time with Anne, a great technical advisor we had on set. She’s got this steely gaze that is terrifying, but what’s underneath that is a very interesting lady. Beyond the technical aspects of the job, she provided so much more for me to use.”

The actress was equally impressed by her cohorts. “We had a table read in Los Angeles and as I was sitting around with this cast and listening to these strong actors who, with a minimal amount of effort, brought such a distinguished flavor to their characters, I thought, ‘We could have just shot the table read.’”

Stiller returns the compliment to his leading lady: “Téa is very believable as an FBI agent because she’s smart and aggressive and has a great sense of humor. But she’s also very much a New Yorker, and a lot of what this movie is about is New Yorkers and their attitudes toward life. She was a great choice for the role, and it was fun to work with her again because it had been a long time since we’d done so.”

Tower Heist is in cinemas on November 4.

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Tower Heist, starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy and Tea Leoni, lifts the curtain on the inner workings of a luxury high-rise and what it takes to keep hundreds of New York City’s wealthiest denizens satisfied. The residence managers for several high-profile hotels provided the filmmakers and the writers with insider tips about their experiences in overseeing top-drawer residences.

Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson recalls: “It was informative, to say the least, to speak with the people who work in these buildings. I interviewed everyone from doormen to housekeepers to building managers.  There’s a whole underworld to the New York building scene that exists in the basements that most people are unaware of. They make it all possible, and you just never see it. It’s fascinating.”

Almost every aspect of establishing Manhattan as the backdrop for Tower Heist’s action hinged on the filmmakers’ ability to execute some of the bigger set pieces conceived in the script. From the über-exclusive wealthy enclaves of Park Avenue to the working class neighborhoods in Queens, the crew needed to evoke the distinctive personalities of the city in a creative way.

Production designer Kristi Zea, who previously collaborated with the movie’s director Brett Ratner on The Family Man and Red Dragon — and most recently designed the luxuriously singular look for Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps — was the hands-on choice to visualize the diverse and complex production design.

Her extensive experience, particularly when it came to creating something as opulent as the character of Shaw’s penthouse apartment, was helpful in satisfying a multitude of requirements of Mark Russell’s visual effects department and Steve Kirshoff’s special effects team.

A tour of some of Manhattan’s most upscale hotels and high-rise residences helped to determine the scope of the fictitious building where the majority of the film was set. For the grand interior set of The Tower lobby, Zea ended up using an amalgam of what she observed on the tour, elevating the look and scale to create a sumptuously sophisticated design.

Ultimately, a sprawling top-floor apartment in the Trump International Hotel & Tower — located at Central Park West in bustling Columbus Circle — served as the model for the set of Shaw’s opulent penthouse. Zea recalls: “The inspiration was an empty apartment that was half a floor and had a staggering 180-degree view of Manhattan.

We were able to match up the walls of the building, but then what we did on the inside was all up to us. We had a blast with it.” With the cooperation of Donald Trump, who allowed the production access to several of his high-end properties, the filmmakers were able to incorporate true luxury locales in the film.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City was used to film exteriors, including portions of the re-creation of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and a sprawling foot and car chase sequence that had the main- and second-unit teams winding along Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.

Ratner explains about lensing here: “That’s what’s so great about shooting in New York City. Every direction you put the camera, you have something special, whether it is an interesting face or a building or a landscape. When you point the camera in any direction, you have amazing visuals.”

Tea Leoni sums the cast’s thoughts on the scale of the production: “I can’t believe the city of New York gave us Columbus Circle for this scene. We had cars speeding and crashing through the streets. It’s a crazy scene with so much going on.”

Trump even offered up the rare opportunity to lens in the spacious underground parking garage and service center of the lavish Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. The real-estate mogul made a point of visiting the set during a break from taping his television series, The Celebrity Apprentice, several floors up to see how Ratner and the cast were faring.

A key element to envisioning the sophisticated penthouse apartment was assembling a status-affirming art collection. Ratner, himself an avowed art lover, had specific artists and pieces in mind for the film. Zea knew of Ratner’s dabbling in this world, so she elevated the design aesthetic to reflect his passion for it.

Occasionally, Ratner would place a call or send an e-mail to cut through mountains of red tape required to include reproductions of pedigreed world-class artwork. To evoke the tastes of a savvy art collector, Zea went with a modern-classic design approach, punctuated with important multimedia art.

She explains: “These days, it seems wealthy people want to have wall power. They want to have art on their walls that means something and shows people, just like a car, that ‘I’m rich, I’m smart and I know what I’m doing.’” Reproduction works from masters, including Pablo Picasso, Francesco Clemente, Richard Prince, Francis Bacon, Ed Ruscha, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cy Twombly, Roy Lichtenstein, Alberto Giacometti and Andy Warhol, fill Shaw’s penthouse set.

Says Grazer of the final art choices they amassed for filming: “It’s a shame that someone as dishonorable as Arthur Shaw is allowed to be surrounded by this much beauty.”

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Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, an action-comedy about a staff of blue-collar workers who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the crew at the luxury Central Park condominium The Tower discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them.

Queens native Josh Kovaks (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing $2 billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The Tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage.

With only days until Shaw gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible: steal the $20 million they are sure is hidden in the heavily guarded condo where Shaw is being held by an FBI team led by Special Agent Claire Denham (Tea Leoni, Fun With Dick and Jane).

The burglary takes place in the midst of one of New York City’s most iconic events: the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Integrating the decades-old tradition into the story line was a daunting task that had the cast and crew re-creating the parade one week after the original. But to ensure that they fully captured the one-of-a-kind magic that only the real parade could provide, dozens of crew members gave up their Thanksgiving weekend to film portions of the actual parade on Columbus Circle.

Native New Yorkers Stiller, Alda, Leoni, Broderick and Sidibe had their own memories of attending the parade, while other members of the crew vividly recall watching the parade on television.  However, the production’s ambitious re-creation was awe-inspiring for the team.

“When I was a kid, my family would go to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and it was hard to get close,” says Leoni. “To be able to have front-row seats, so to speak, for even a portion of the parade, where I could take a look at all the balloons, was amazing.  It was much cooler than it was when I was a kid.”

Ratner agrees with his film’s hard-nosed agent: “I knew that the building that is the center of Tower Heist is a main character in the film, and I wanted all the action around this centerpiece. The shots of the Thanksgiving Day Parade that we captured were just incredible.

Though amateurs, these rookie thieves — including high-strung concierge Charlie (Casey Affleck, Ocean’s Eleven trilogy), broke ex-Wall Streeter Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick, The Producers), rookie bellhop Dev’Reaux (Michael Peña, Battle: Los Angeles) and feisty maid Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe, Precious) — know the building better than anyone. It turns out they’ve been casing the place for years…they just didn’t know it.

Director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour series, X-Men: The Last Stand, Red Dragon) joins Academy Award^®-winning producer Brian Grazer (8 Mile, A Beautiful Mind, American Gangster) to lead a talented behind-the-scenes crew for Tower Heist. Grazer is joined in production duties on the action-comedy by Eddie Murphy and Kim Roth (Inside Man, Insomnia).

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Actor Ben Stiller admits that he is “aware of ghosts” and has lived in haunted places before. He reported feeling uncomfortable in his new home.  Stiller recently moved from the west coast to New York City to star in the Broadway play, “The House of Blue Leaves.”

Stiller told David Letterman on CBS’ The Late Show that he doesn’t like living in a town outside the city limits. He currently is staying in a suburb of the city right now.   ”I have a little thing with quietness and spirits. I’m aware of ghosts,” he told Letterman. “I sort of believe in ghosts, and my wife doesn’t; she’s afraid of axe murders.”

The Zoolander and Tropic Thunder star admitted that he has previously lived in two haunted houses.  “We rented a house in Los Angeles a few years ago, that something had gone on in, because the caretaker of the house was a little bit loopy,” he said.

“She had called to check on us a few days in and she said, ‘How’s it going? Have you had any experiences?’ And I said ‘No’, and she goes ‘Well… when I stayed there every morning I woke up at 4:43am for three weeks straight. And I got buzzed on the intercom a few times and I heard a few doors slam. Then one morning at about 4:48am in the morning I heard a party going on downstairs, a full on party with Charleston music playing and people mingling’.”

Stiller stated that he has not witnessed any paranormal activity himself.  He did admit that his parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, once rented a home in Nantucket that was haunted by a young baby named Stanley Benjamin.

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