Jay Roach has helmed two of the most successful comedy franchises in history (“Austin Powers” and “Meet the Parents”). After six years off the big screen, he returns this year with “Dinner for Schmucks,” a comedy starring Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and fellow ShoWest honoree Zach Galifianakis.

THR: Have you always been interested in movies?

Roach: I got more interested in films in college. I didn’t grow up as a movie buff. In college, I worked my way through school as a projectionist and ultimately running a film series. That changed everything. I was pre-law and wanted to be a politician or go into public service of some kind.

After directing the raucous comedies “Road Trip,” “Old School” and “Starsky & Hutch,” Todd Phillips made “The Hangover,” which became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time ($480 million worldwide) last summer. For his encore, he reteams with “Hangover” co-star and fellow ShoWest honoree Zach Galifianakis for the November Warner Bros. release “Due Date,” which also stars Robert Downey Jr.

THR: Would you say your movies have a common theme?

Phillips: They’re about holding on to your youth or putting off responsibility as long as possible. There’s a point in your life where you have to choose responsibility, and the characters are putting off that choice.

He’s been a working comic for years, but thanks to “The Hangover,” Zach Galifianakis and his bushy beard are now bona fide movie stars. This year he co-stars with Robert Downey Jr. in “Due Date,” directed by “Hangover” filmmaker and ShoWest honoree Todd Phillips, and “Dinner for Schmucks” for another ShoWest honoree, Jay Roach.

THR: Congrats on your award!

Galifianakis: I’m flattered; I’ve never won anything before. Well, I won at my friend’s Bingo game about a year ago, but I provided the prizes so it didn’t count.

ShoWest lucked out last year when it named Jennifer Hudson its female star of tomorrow — in her case, tomorrow turned out to be right around the corner as she snapped up an Oscar for her debut film “Dreamgirls.” This year, ShoWest singled out Shia LaBeouf as its male star of tomorrow, and while there’s probably no Oscar in his immediate future — simply because his upcoming films are all designed as pure entertainment rather than awards bait — the young actor is positioned to make his mark on the summer boxoffice. Not yet 21, LaBeouf has been acting for more than ten years: He’s probably best known for 2003’s “Holes,” but viewers of HBO’s “Project Greenlight” will also remember him as the probably one of the most mature talents on the set of the very shaky “The Battle of Shaker Heights.” But after his next three films, LaBeouf should be known by a lot more moviegoers: On April 13, Paramount Pictures will release DreamWorks’ “Disturbia,” in which he stars as a housebound kid who suspects his neighbor is a murderer — it’s a teenage “Rear Window.” On June 8, he’ll be heard on screen as the voice of Cody Maverick, a penguin searching for the perfect wave in Sony Animation’s “Surf’s Up.” And on the July 4th weekend, he’ll find himself in the midst of an intergalactic showdown between the Autobots and the Decepticons in “Transformers,” the Paramount/DreamWorks mega-movie directed by Michael Bay. ShoWesters were treated to footage from all three movies as LaBeouf quickly became something of an ubiquitous presence. (posted by Gregg Kilday)

Officially, the ShoWest program proper begins on Tuesday. Traditionally, International Day, which takes place on Monday, is a kind of curtain-raiser in which the concerns of international exhibitors are addressed. But listening to Andrew Cripps, president of the new Paramount Pictures International, rattle off the stats about how boxoffice growth in many territories last year outperformed that of the U.S., it’s clear that Hollywood can’t afford to treat overseas ticket sales as an afterthought. After all, as Cripps pointed out, two of last year’s biggest hits, “The Da Vinci Code” and “Ice Age: The Meltdown” picked up 70% of their worldwide gross abroad. (Watch highlights of Cripps’ ShoWest speech.) Chasing those foreign moneys is one reason that Paramount and Universal Pictures broke up their former joint venture, United International Pictures, which used to distribute films overseas for both studios. Now, both Paramount and Universal are busy launching their own, individual international operations in hopes of capturing bigger shares of all that foreign coin. If current trends continue, International Day could become the most important day of the entire ShoWest week. (posted by Gregg Kilday)

Exhibitors, distributors, producers and press are pouring into Las Vegas, where the annual ShoWest convention kicks off Monday morning. It’s the calm before the storm here at the Paris hotel. With temperatures in the balmy ’80s, you could walk outside around the hotel’s replica of the Eiffel Tower and almost imagine you were strolling on the Champs-Elysees. (As Borat would say….not.) Inside, the newest movie posters are already in place around the conference rooms. On a first viewing, I’d say that the funniest poster has to be a teaser for Universal Pictures’ comedy “Evan Almighty,” in which Steve Carell, decked out like Moses in a flowing beard and prophet’s robes, is trying to hold down those flowing robes from an updraft a la Marilyn Monroe’s encounter with the steam grate in “The Seven Year Itch.” The coolest item may well be a larger-than-lifesize sculpture of the Silver Surfer and his board — the Marvel character makes his big screen debut this summer in 20th Century Fox’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” But the display that is guaranteed to be the biggest hit is a promotion for Fox’s “The Simpsons Movie.” It consists of human-size replicas of the entire Simpson clan sitting on their famous sofa — with room for conventioneers to sit next to them to have their pictures taken. A number of attendees, having completed registering for the convention, were already lining up to snap their pictures with Homer and his family. (posted by Gregg Kilday)