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Streep: 'I'm past my sell-by date'

Meryl Streep has revealed that she thinks she's past her "sell-by date".

The Mamma Mia star, who turned 60 this year, said that she can't believe she still gets great leading roles, as Hollywood discriminates against older women.

Streep told Vanity Fair magazine: "It's incredible - I'm 60, and I'm playing the romantic lead in romantic comedies. Bette Davis is rolling over in her grave."

She continued: "I've been given great, weird, interesting parts well past my 'sell-by date'. I remember saying to my husband Don when I was 38, 'Well, it's over'. And then we kicked the can down the road a little further."

Streep added: "I can't remember the last time I really worried about being appealing. I think it was a really long time ago."

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Will Ferrell 'wants to play Simon Cowell'

Will Ferrell has reportedly said that he would love to play Simon Cowell in a movie.

According to The Sun, the comedy actor drew parallels between Cowell and his Anchorman character Ron Burgundy and said that he would like to shadow the X Factor judge for the role.

Ferrell said: "I would love to play Simon Cowell in a movie - heck, I would love it. It would be my dream role. He's become a legend in five years.

"Nobody in the States knew who he was five years ago and now he is one of the most famous people on TV. It wouldn't be that hard for me to play him because I see a lot of Ron Burgundy in Simon Cowell.

"Like Simon, Ron was the biggest thing on TV, loved himself and had that whole irresistible middle-aged man thing going on."

He added: "I could play Simon, but to be honest Simon could play Ron. They are like long-lost twin brothers separated at birth.

"Simon Cowell and Ron Burgundy are pretty much the same role, apart from Simon being ruder. It would be pretty fun getting into character as well.

"I would have to walk along the street and say, 'Hey, you're too fat to be a star' or go to a concert and shout out to the artist, 'Never gonna happen'."

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Greengrass confirms 'Bourne' exit

Paul Greengrass has confirmed that he is pulling out of directing the fourth Bourne movie.

Last week, it was reported that the director was considering leaving the project because of disagreements with Universal Pictures over the script and budgets.

However, in a statement about his departure, Greengrass insisted that his reasons for leaving were based on a desire to find a "different challenge".

"You won't find a more devoted supporter of the Bourne franchise than me. I will always be grateful to have been the caretaker to Jason Bourne over the course of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum," he told Variety.

"I'm very proud of those films and feel they express everything I most passionately believe about the possibility of making quality movies in the mainstream. My decision to not return a third time as director is simply about feeling the call for a different challenge. There's been no disagreement with Universal Pictures. The opportunity to work with the Bourne family again is a difficult thing to pass up, but we have discussed this together and they have been incredibly understanding and supportive.

"I've been lucky enough to have made four films for Universal, and our relationship continues. Jason Bourne existed before me and will continue and I hope to remain involved in some capacity as the series moves on."

Either Tony Gilroy (Duplicity) or George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau) have been tipped to take over as director.

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3-D 'Jackass 3' confirmed for 2010

A third film in the Jackass franchise will be released in 3-D in 2010.

Paramount and MTV Films have greenlit the project, which will see Johnny Knoxville and friends returning for a third installment of daredevil stunts.

According to Variety, shooting will begin in January with a release date expected later in the year. The first two Jackass films took $164.1million at the worldwide box office.

Jeff Tremaine will the direct the film and is reportedly trying out 3-D camera tests this week. No details about the technology involved in the movie have been confirmed.

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Gerard Butler: 'I'll bring films to Scotland'

Gerard Butler has vowed to bring the movie business to his native Scotland.

The star recently persuaded Hollywood bosses to hold the premiere of his latest blockbuster Law Abiding Citizen in Glasgow.

Butler is now campaigning for more films to be made in Scotland by working as an ambassador for the Glasgow Film Office, Contactmusic reports.

He said: "Glasgow is a great place to make movies. You can shoot anything here, from urban and contemporary to rural and period.

"The crews are fantastic and it's an easy city to get around. You spend endless hours in traffic when you make movies elsewhere."

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Paltrow, McGraw join country music drama

Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw have signed to star in forthcoming drama Love Don't Let Me Down.

Paltrow is taking on the role of a fading country music star who gets involved with a young singer-songwriter played by Garrett Hedlund, says The Hollywood Reporter. McGraw portrays Paltrow's manager-husband.

In the film, the trio embark on a tour with a former beauty queen, played by Leighton Meester.

Filming is slated to begin in Janury 2010 in Nashville.

Shana Feste wrote and is directing the movie.

Actor Tobey Maguire and Jenno Topping are producing via their Maguire Entertainment banner.

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Warner adapting 'Beautiful Creatures'

Warner Bros. has acquired Beautiful Creatures, the first of a five-book fantasy series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Freedom Writers director Richard LaGravenese has been tapped to write and direct the feature adaptation, reports Variety.

Beautiful Creatures is about Ethan Wate, a South Carolina high school student who becomes bewitched by Lena Duchanne, a 16-year-old dealing with budding supernatural powers. The novel was published this week by Little, Brown & Co.

"I love supernatural stories that have well drawn mythologies, and I liked that this book has all the basic elements of a classic first love story with a supernatural layer over it," LaGravenese said.

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Radcliffe backs 'Potter' romance focus

Daniel Radcliffe has claimed that it was "desperately important" for the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie to focus on relationships.

The 20-year-old actor, who has played boy wizard Harry since 2000, told In The News that he understood why director David Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves set aside so much screen time for romantic scenes.

Half-Blood Prince sees Harry developing feelings for his friend Ginny (Bonnie Wright), while Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) ends up in an ill-fated romance with Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave).

Radcliffe commented: "The sixth film is quite a hard one to do because the book is a transitional book - it's setting up number seven. But luckily in David and Steve Kloves's infinite wisdom, they have really highlighted certain other parts of the story, like all the stuff with Ron and Lavender and Harry and Ginny - and so they've made it a film that stands alone rather than one that just leads into part seven."

He added: "I think it's desperately important. Otherwise, it would just be 2 hours 15 minutes of unrelenting doom and me looking lonely. I mean, that's the reality of it. So I think it's very, very important. I think Rupert and Jessie played it absolutely pitch perfectly."

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released on DVD next week.

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Oliver Stone: 'Greed is legal'

Director Oliver Stone has spoken out about his upcoming film Wall Street 2.

The movie once again stars Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko, a part for which the actor won an Academy Award. However, Stone has claimed that the character will not be featured in a central role, making way for the picture's other financial powers.

"The individual Gekko would no longer exist in this new Wall Street. The big players now are major banks and hedge funds. The money's too big," he told The AP.

The helmer further revealed to 75 students on an Oliver Stone's America course that the film will continue the familiar themes of greed and envy, but also look at how consciousness is shaped in people and society.

"Wall Street can be the engine of capitalism and create opportunity, but they increasingly have not done that because there's more money in speculation," he continued.

It is thought that Stone created the first Wall Street partially as a reaction to the excesses of his father, who was a stock broker.

"I don't think it's healthy," he added. "And I don't think I'm the only one."

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Anderson, Hoffman reteam for period drama

Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson is to write and direct a period drama starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The unnamed project follows "the Master", a charismatic and intelligent man (Hoffman) who leads a popular faith-based organisation in America in 1952, reports Variety.

The film will examine the relationship between Hoffman's character and a 20-something drifter named Freddie, who finds himself questioning the Master's belief system.

Anderson, who was nominated for a 'Best Director' Oscar for 2008's There Will Be Blood, has collaborated with Hoffman on a number of films, including Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk Love and Magnolia.

The new project is awaiting a greenlight from Universal.

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Damon praises 'Invictus' director Eastwood

Matt Damon has praised director Clint Eastwood for providing him with a gratifying work experience on the set of Invictus.

In Eastwood's forthcoming film, Damon plays a South African rugby player who helps Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) bring African citizens together through the 1995 Rugby World Cup, after the fall of Apartheid.

"I felt completely fulfilled creatively," said Damon at Tuesday's Museum of the Moving Image gala in New York City honouring Eastwood.

Damon revealed that the helmer's work style also kept his wife happy.

"I have come to judge good jobs and good directors by how my wife feels about them. And my wife loves Clint Eastwood."

He added: "Not only because her husband was happy everyday when he came home, but because I got to do what I wanted to do and the way I wanted to do it."

Eastwood's quick filming schedule reportedly allowed Damon to spend a lot of time with his family during the shoot.

Invictus opens December 11 in US cinemas.

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DiCaprio to voice animated Jack Frost

Leonardo DiCaprio has signed up for his first animated movie DreamWorks' The Guardians.

The Titanic star will voice Jack Frost in the the Peter Ramsey-helmed project.

David Lindsay-Abaire will adapt the script from William Joyce's (Shrek) upcoming series of novels The Guardians Of Childhood.

The plot centres on an evil spirit called Pitch, who wants to inspire fear in the hearts of kids around the world. Jack Frost (DiCaprio), Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman join together to bring down the villainous spirit and protect the world.

No other cast members have been revealed yet. The film is scheduled for release in November 2012.

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Taylor Lautner for 'Max Steel' film

New Moon star Taylor Lautner is linked to Paramount's Max Steel movie plans.

According to the LA Times, Lautner is in the running to take the lead role in the teenage superhero film.

The 17-year-old, who plays Jacob in the Twilight franchise, has no other projects lined up after finishing filming rom-com Valentine's Day.

Steel is a Mattel toy, which was was first sold in 2001, bringing in $100 million in it's first year. Paramount are hoping the project will match the box office success of similar toy adaptations Transformers and G.I. Joe.

Lautner would star as extreme sports athlete Josh McGrath, who is exposed to the powers of nanotechnological machines. He develops increased strength, near-invulnerability and the power to change his appearance.

J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani are penning the script.

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'Twilight' plagiarism case dismissed

A plagiarism case brought against Twilight author Stephenie Meyer has been dismissed by a California judge, according to the New York Times.

Writer Jordan Scott had alleged that Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the vampire franchise, had a similar plot to her own novel The Nocturne.

Scott had reportedly used the likeness to accuse Meyer of copying her work.

Judge Otis D. Wright II read both Breaking Dawn and The Nocturne before ruling that the novels were "not substantially similar as a matter of law", pointing to the different styles of writing as an example.

He reportedly also criticised Scott for her "deceptive presentation of the alleged similarities".

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Hannigan attacks 'Buffy' movie plans

Alyson Hannigan has criticised plans for a Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie remake.

The 35-year-old actress, who played Willow Rosenberg in the acclaimed supernatural drama, told Cinemablend that she cannot understand why franchise owner Fran Rubel Kuzui is bringing back the character without the involvement of creator Joss Whedon.

Hannigan commented: "[It's] a very big mistake in my opinion. I mean, if Joss isn't involved, it's only the title."

Asked if she would consider getting involved with the project, she replied: "Not without Joss. Joss is the only reason that we would go back. I mean, it's just ridiculous to think of that TV show without Joss. That's just silly to me. And all the fans know that, too, so I don't know what they're thinking."

Whedon wrote the script for the original 1992 Buffy The Vampire Slayer film. He then went on to relaunch the story for the cult series of the same name.

Anthony Head, who starred as Buffy's mentor Rupert Giles on the programme, has previously warned that the new movie could be "a bit like watching a car wreck".

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Cowell "embarrassed" by 'Scary Movie'

Simon Cowell has reportedly admitted that he felt "embarrassed" watching himself on screen in Scary Movie 3.

The X Factor and American Idol judge appeared as himself in the horror spoof, in a sequence about an amateur rapping contest.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said: "I'll never forget going to that premiere and dying in my seat when the movie came on.

"I've never felt so embarrassed in my life. Lesson learned. Don't believe that you're good at other things. I might be okay as a judge, but I'm a lousy actor."

Cowell was recently voted one of the magazine's top 15 entertainers of the decade.

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Tarantino: 'I turned down Green Lantern'

Quentin Tarantino has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to direct comic book adaptation Green Lantern.

Speaking to MTV, the Inglourious Basterds helmer said that he declined the offer to bring the DC superhero to the big screen because he has "outgrown" such projects.

"I was offered the Green Lantern," he said. "Not since it's been a script, but just like, 'Hey we own the Green Lantern, would you like it?'

"So there's a little part of me that's like, 'Wow, if I was in my 20s, this would be the genre I'd want to specialise in'," he continued. "But they weren't making them then, or at least not the right ones. But there also is an aspect where I've kind of outgrown that a little bit."

Tarantino added that he is still open to the idea of directing a superhero movie, but would prefer to create an original character rather than adapt an established comic property. "It wouldn't be an existing comic book character," he said.

"I'm a writer. I'd want to use my imagination and not have to fight with geeks' memories of how this character should be and, 'Oh, I cast an actor as opposed to a bodybuilder', or, 'It's not as good as the way [DC Comics artist] Neal Adams drew him'. If I were to do something like that, I would want the fun of coming up with the superhero myself."

Green Lantern, directed by Martin Campbell, will arrive in cinemas on June 17, 2011.

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Johnny Depp to star as Pancho Villa?

Johnny Depp is in advancing negotiations to take on the title role in a Pancho Villa biopic.

According to Total Film, the film is to stay true to its Mexican roots and will be shot entirely in Spanish south of the border.

The movie, based on the book The Friends of Pancho Villa, is titled Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman with Six Fingers and is scheduled to begin production in 2011.

Salma Hayek is also in talks to co-star with Depp once again, as the pair worked together in Blow and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Director Emir Kusturica is to helm the project once he has completed his next movie Cool Water, a black comedy featuring a Palestinian stripper.

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Steven Spielberg quits 'Harvey'?

Steven Spielberg has left Harvey after spending half a year working on it for a reorganised DreamWorks.

According to Variety, the director handed in his notice to 20th Century Fox, who had already started booking soundstages for the 2010 production start. A spokesman confirmed Spielberg's departure, but remained silent on a specific reason.

The film is a remake of the 1950 classic starring James Stewart as a man who befriends a six and a half-foot tall invisible rabbit. Spielberg's first choice for the lead was frequent collaborator Tom Hanks, but the actor apparently wanted no part in following Stewart's performance.

The helmer then moved on to Robert Downey Jr. However, Spielberg and the Sherlock Holmes star were never in creative sync, forcing the filmmaker to allegedly squash his participation in the project.

Fox and DreamWorks are said to be continuing with the production.

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Matt Damon talks fourth 'Bourne' film

Matt Damon has said that he would not return to the Bourne franchise without director Paul Greengrass.

Greengrass, who helmed the last two Bourne pictures, walked away from the fourth instalment last week.

However, despite Greengrass's exit, Damon said that he is confident the film will eventually happen with the helmer on board.

"I feel like someday it's going to happen," he told Entertainment Weekly. "Paul's got to go to work, you know? He's ready to do another job, and it wasn't the right job now. I get it. I wouldn't do it without him but I don't feel like he's done with it totally."

He added: "I think he'd change his mind if a good script came along. If there was a great Bourne idea, he would love to do it. It's a big part of his life, too. We're still going to keep working together - and hopefully on another Bourne movie, too."

Damon stars in the Greengrass-directed thriller Green Zone, due out in March 2010.

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