Marisa Tomei May Romance Hugh Grant

2012-11-23

Now that Hugh Grant and writer/director Marc Lawrence have officially decided to join forces for what will be their fourth romantic-comedy collaboration, they’re starting to lock down actors for other roles in the new, as-yet-untitled movie. Marisa Tomei is in negotiations to sign on. The film will focus on Ray Michaels (Grant), a charming, handsome Englishman who is the toast of Hollywood in the late 1980s.

Hobbit animal abuse claims: Warner Bros backs Peter Jackson

2012-11-23

Studio Warner Bros has backed Peter Jackson, the director of forthcoming fantasy trilogy The Hobbit, over claims that dozens of animals used in the production died unnecessarily. Animal handlers who worked on the set of the Lord of the Rings prequel project have accused Jackson's production company of responsibility for the deaths of horses, goats, chicken and sheep, mainly because the creatures were kept at a farm filled with bluffs, sinkholes and other "death traps".

Mike Newell Talks Reykjavik

2012-11-22

Mike Newell is one of cinema's most reliable and talented dramatists, and, with a back catalogue featuring Four Weddings And A Funeral, Donnie Brasco and now Great Expectations, he has a gift for versatility, too. His next project, Reykjavik, shifts forward 150 years or so to 1986 and the pivotal peace talks between Ronald Reagan (Michael Douglas) and Mikhail Gorbachev (Christoph Waltz). "It's a story about human contact being established in a desert where it shouldn't exist", Newells told of his historical drama, "and against all the odds it does.

Biopic of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence planned

2012-11-22

A former Hollywood screenwriter is planning to bring the life story of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence to the big screen. Bobby Galinsky revealed on Sydney radio station 702 that the proposed project, titled Two Worlds Colliding, is based on the book Just a Man: The Real Michael Hutchence. The biography was authored by the late singer's mother and sister following his death in 1997. INXS were founded in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales, and went on to have several No 1s in Australia and around the world, with hits including Need You Tonight, Suicide Blonde and New Sensation.

Kasdan Rumoured For Star Wars 8

2012-11-21

Before we go any further with this, do bear in mind that a huge siren, like the collision warning on a Star Destroyer, is blaring in the back of our minds. Which signals, of course, that this is strictly a Rumour Alert. But Deadline’s sources have heard that franchise veteran Lawrence Kasdan and Sherlock Holmes writer Simon Kinberg are in contention to script the second and third films in the planned new Star Wars trilogy.

Kristen Stewart takes a bite of Snow White sequel

2012-11-20

Twilight star Kristen Stewart will be returning to the lead role in a sequel to this year's fantasy fable Snow White and the Huntsman. Meanwhile, the film's British director, Rupert Sanders, with whom the US actor had a highly publicised affair, has not been asked back. Radar's story contradicts earlier suggestions that Stewart would be asked to step aside for the follow-up, due to concerns over her popularity with fans following reports that she cheated on her boyfriend, Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson, with the married Sanders.

Hobbit animals not mistreated, says Peter Jackson

2012-11-20

Peter Jackson, the director of upcoming fantasy film trilogy The Hobbit, has denied claims that 27 animals used in the production may have died due to poor treatment. Animal handlers who worked on the set of the Lord of the Rings prequel project have accused Jackson's production company of responsibility for the deaths of horses, goats, chicken and sheep, mainly because the creatures were kept at a farm filled with bluffs, sinkholes and other "death traps".

Rocky musical knocks out critics in Hamburg

2012-11-20

Rocky: Das Musical, the stage adaptation of the much-loved Sylvester Stallone film, has opened to a rapturous critical reception in Hamburg. Stallone himself was present at Sunday night's premiere at the TUI Operettenhaus, as were his co-producers, the Ukranian boxing brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. The actor told Sky News: "I really truly believe that this thing here is going to be extraordinarily successful.

Almodovar Planning A Sci-Fi Movie?

2012-11-20

Comedies, melodramas and crime mysteries have been his stock-in-trade, and he recently dabbled with sort-of horror in The Skin I Live In. Pedro Almodovar has never directed a science-fiction film however, but that may be about to change, with the director informing a BAFTA audience that the subject is very much on his mind. Almodovar was in London both to belatedly accept The Skin I Live In's BAFTA award for Best Film Not In The English language, and to deliver the institute's annual David Lean Lecture on his personal film heritage.

Hollywood Reporter apologises for role in McCarthy-era blacklist

2012-11-20

US film industry magazine the Hollywood Reporter has apologised for its role in kickstarting the infamous 1947 blacklist that destroyed the careers of writers, actors and directors accused of being communist sympathisers. In its latest issue, the magazine features a column by Willie Wilkerson, son of founder Billy Wilkerson, admitting his father was motivated by spite to publish lists of left-leaning film industry workers that influenced US politicians during the postwar McCarthy era.