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Tom Hanks plans "controversial" JFK film

Tom Hanks has revealed that he is planning to make a new movie about John F. Kennedy.

The actor told Time that he has already acquired the rights to Vincent Bugliosi's controversial book Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy and plans to adapt it.

Hanks added that he believes Lee Harvey Oswald was framed for the murder.

"We're going to do the American public a service," he said. "A lot of conspiracy types are going to be upset. If we do it right, it'll perhaps be one of the most controversial things that has ever been on TV."

Hanks will executive produce the film with Gary Goetzman and hopes to release it in 2013.

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De Niro boards thriller 'Dark Fields'

Robert De Niro has reportedly joined upcoming suspense thriller Dark Fields.

The Oscar winner signed to co-star with The A-Team's Bradley Cooper in the Relativity Media project, reports Variety.

The film centres on a reporter (Cooper) who gains success and new-found intelligence after coming into contact with a designer drug.

De Niro will portray a brilliant financier who is on the man's trail.

The Illusionist director Neil Burger has been tapped to helm the picture. Production starts in Philadelphia in May.

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Jessica Biel for 'State of the Union'?

Jessica Biel is reportedly in talks to star in a remake of director Frank Capra's State of the Union.

If cast, Biel will co-star with Richard Gere in the political drama, directed by Garry Marshall, reports Coming Soon.

Marshall recently worked with Biel on the romantic comedy Valentine's Day.

The original 1948 film starred Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in the lead roles.

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Guy Ritchie in talks for 'Excalibur'

Guy Ritchie has been angling to direct an upcoming retelling of Excalibur, according to Empire Online.

The Sherlock Holmes director will reportedly lead the Warren Ellis-penned feature, which is a retelling of the Arthurian tale.

Ellis's script is in competition with another Excalibur project with Warner Bros - a remake of the 1981 film overseen by director and producer Bryan Singer.

According to Ellis, the scripts differ "from the prior 751 King Arthur movies in many ways, but perhaps most obviously in that it is very specifically about the gathering of the Knights".

Production of the film is expected to begin this fall.

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Katy Perry to lend voice to 'Smurfs'

Katy Perry will lend her voice to the new live-action/CGI Smurfs movie, reports Variety.

The popstar is to portray Smurfette, the only female Smurf among the group. Alan Cumming and George Lopez will play Gutsy Smurf and Groucy Smurg respectively, while Jonathan Winters has been confirmed to return for the movie as the voice of Papa Smurf.

Neil Patrick Harris was earlier cast as the lead live-action character in the Sony Pictures project.

Scooby Doo's Raja Gosnell is handling directing duties on Smurfs, working from a script by David N. Weiss, J. David Stem, Jay Sherick and David Ronn.

Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford created the Smurfs in 1958 under the pseudonym Peyo. The characters featured in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon series in the '80s with Winters voicing several roles.

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'Police Academy' series to be relaunched

Original Police Academy producer Paul Maslansky has announced plans to relaunch the comedy series with studio New Line.

The franchise kicked off in 1984 with Steve Guttenberg playing a repeat offender who joins the police force. Kim Cattrall also starred in the movie, which introduced characters such as gentle giant Hightower (Bubba Smith), firearms-obsessed Tackleberry (David Graf) and human sound effects machine Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow).

Later movies in the seven-film series starred stand-up comic Bobcat Goldthwait, Sharon Stone and Claire Forlani.

"It's going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV," Maslansky told The Hollywood Reporter of the revived Police Academy, which is to feature a cast of new characters.

He continued: "It's going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It'll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we'll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme."

The Police Academy movies pulled in $240 million at the worldwide box office and later spawned two TV series.

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Rachel Nichols joins 'Conan' cast

Rachel Nichols has joined the cast of Marcus Nispel's Conan The Barbarian remake, reports Latino Review.

The actress, who appeared in last summer's blockbusters Star Trek and GI Joe, will take on the role of Tamara, a novitiate of a Greek-influenced monastery and bodyguard to the Queen.

Jason Momoa, Mickey Rourke, Bob Sapp and Leo Howard are already on board to star in Conan, which is based on Robert E. Howard's mythical warrior.

Production is slated to start next month in Bulgaria

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Diesel confirms Brazil for 'Fast Five'

Vin Diesel has confirmed that the Fast & Furious sequel will be set in Brazil.

The action star, who is returning for Fast Five along with Paul Walker and director Justin Lin, wrote on his Facebook page that locations are currently being sought in South America.

"Had a meeting with Justin Lin today regarding the Fast saga... some daring but fascinating thoughts in terms of action set pieces... and relationships, old and new," Diesel wrote. "The team is on their way to Brazil this evening, to scout, and to see what selection of cars there are."

The Chris Morgan-penned Fast script reportedly sees Dom Toretto and Brian O'Connor fleeing from lawmen.

Diesel also revealed that he will soon be meeting with director David Twohy to discuss the third Chronicles Of Riddick movie.

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Hugh Grant lined up for 'My Fair Lady'

Hugh Grant is reportedly the frontrunner to play Professor Henry Higgins in the My Fair Lady remake.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Grant is favoured for the part by screenwriter Emma Thompson, director John Madden and producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh. The role was originally played by Sir Rex Harrison in the 1964 Audrey Hepburn musical.

"He can't sing, but then neither could Rex," one insider said of Grant's potential casting.

Another source, said to be a UK producer, questioned the ambition of the My Fair Lady remake: "It is starting to sound a bit like the sort of film the BBC would make. They could have been a lot more daring."

Keira Knightley, Anne Hathaway and Carey Mulligan have all been rumoured for the part of cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle, although Mulligan recently denied the reports in an interview with DS.

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Cole 'to be offered 'Dead Man Running 2'

Cheryl Cole will allegedly be offered a six-figure pay cheque to star in the sequel to crime thriller Dead Man Running.

According to a spokesman for Revolver Entertainment, the firm behind the project, plans are afoot to recruit the popstar for the follow-up.

"There is a character Cheryl is perfect for and we are holding meetings over the next few weeks to discuss exactly what we can offer her, it will be a sizeable sum," the spokesman said.

Dead Man Running starred 50 Cent, Danny Dyer and Brenda Blethyn and was produced by Cole's estranged husband Ashley and his England teammate Rio Ferdinand. It is unclear if Cole or Ferdinand will be back for Dead Man Running 2.

Cheryl Cole's only other movie appearance was with her Girls Aloud bandmates in 2007's St. Trinian's.

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Scott's 'Alien' prequel going to 3D

Ridley Scott's Alien prequel will reportedly be released in 3D.

Roger Christian, who served as art director on Scott's 1979 original, confirmed to Shadowlocked that the upcoming franchise instalment will utilise the latest 3D technology.

Christian insisted that Scott's ideas for the film are good enough to resurrect it for a new trilogy, saying: "Ridley told me some of his ideas... He has a very clear understanding of where this should go.

"They kind of stopped dead one of the greatest horror franchises there's ever been, and it had legs to go on. So I'm hoping he'll revive another three. The world certainly wants it, and the fans want it - everybody."

Alien, which launched the career of Sigourney Weaver, spawned three sequels and two Alien Vs. Predator crossover outings that pulled in more than $850 million combined at the worldwide box office.

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Don Cheadle: 'I want to play Miles Davis'

Don Cheadle has confirmed that he hopes to play Miles Davis in an upcoming biopic.

The Traitor actor told Parade that it would be a challenge to portray the life story of the Kind Of Blue jazz legend, who passed away in 1991.

Cheadle said: "It's been a long time coming, but we're working on the script right now. I think it will happen.

"I love Miles, but you have to take everything he says with a grain of salt. He would tell a long story, and someone would go, 'That's amazing. Did that happen?'. He'd reply, 'I don't f**king know. You figure it out'."

He added: "He wasn't interested in what you thought about him. He was like, 'I'm about the music. Deal with that'. Capturing the essence of that man is a challenge."

Gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg also recently expressed the desire to play Davis on the big screen.

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Snipes wants 'White Men Can't Jump 2'

Wesley Snipes has said that he wants to make a sequel to White Men Can't Jump.

The 47-year-old revealed that he had spoken to co-star Woody Harrelson about the prospect of a follow-up to the hit 1992 buddy movie, in which the pair played a bickering duo of basketball hustlers.

"We've been trying to figure out how we can rehash those two characters and advance them forward," Snipes told The Sun.

"I mean, we can't do the basketball hustle thing again because you have to do it full-throttle. We'd be the geriatric pair wearing our Huggies and stuff like that like.

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Robert De Niro for 'Midnight Run' sequel

Universal Pictures is developing a sequel to 1988 action comedy Midnight Run, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Robert De Niro has signed to produce the follow-up, which is being scripted by Role Models scribe Timothy Dowling.

The original film centred on De Niro's bounty hunter escorting an embezzler, portrayed by Charles Grodin, across the country.

The second instalment will reportedly pair De Niro with a younger comedic actor.

De Niro's Tribeca Films partner Jane Rosenthal is also producing.

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Damon seeks 'Bourne' fans for 'Green Zone'

Matt Damon is hoping that fans of his Jason Bourne movies will want to watch his new Iraq-set thriller Green Zone.

Speaking at the UK press conference for the film, his third collaboration with director Paul Greengrass, Damon said that Green Zone needs to attract a "good chunk" of the Bourne audience to be financially successful.

"The fundamental question was could we make a film that had audience appeal and get a good chunk of that Bourne audience over into a film that was about a fictional character in the real world rather than a fictional character in a fictional world," Damon said.

Greengrass noted that he is aware of the lack of box office power displayed by movies about the Iraq war, but feels that it is vital for Hollywood to produce works such as Green Zone.

"It's pointless to pretend that [box office is] not an issue," he commented. "It always felt to me, after Bourne Ultimatum, that the challenge for us was could we take a broad audience to this subject? It's important, in my mind anyway, that across the waterfront of cinema in a given year that it remains alive and engages directly in the world we live in."

Greengrass cited The Dark Knight as an example of ambitious mainstream filmmaking.

"I think Dark Knight is a hugely successful film," he said. "It's one of the best films of the past ten years because I think its themes and its darkness and its creative ambitions are absolutely huge. But of course it's a gigantically popular Batman movie."

Green Zone is in UK and US cinemas from Friday.

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Zac Efron reveals 'Spider-Man' dream

Zac Efron has again said that he would love to be cast as Peter Parker in Spider-Man.

Sony recently announced that the movie franchise is heading for a revamp, setting out plans to replace director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire.

After being asked whether the role would interest him, the High School Musical star told MTV: "Are you kidding? It would be a dream come true."

He continued: "I've got to be honest I don't know if it's a reality. I can't really say. I've been a fan of Spider-Man since I remember being six-years-old and tearing up in that comic book.

"I could never get enough. I think it would be an honour. I would tear it up."

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Keanu Reeves for 'Bill & Ted' return?

Keanu Reeves is possibly interested in starring in another Bill & Ted movie.

Speaking to MTV, the Matrix star hinted that he would like to reprise the role of slacker Ted for a third Bill & Ted outing.

Reeves co-starred with Alex Winter in 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and 1991's Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Both films centred on a pair of time travelling heavy metal fans.

When asked if he would be in favour of reviving the comedy franchise, Reeves responded: "I'm trying, I’m trying."

Then asked if he was joking, he said: "I'm not."

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Matt Damon reveals directing ambitions

Matt Damon has revealed that he hopes to move into directing feature films.

The actor, who won a screenwriting Oscar with Ben Affleck for Good Will Hunting, suggested that working with directors such as Paul Greengrass, Clint Eastwood, Steven Soderbergh and the Coen brothers have prevented him from taking time off or stepping behind the camera himself.

"I want to direct someday and I can't really pass up the chance to work with people I'm getting the chance to work with. Paul three times now, Clint twice, Soderbergh five or six times.

"As long as that keeps happening, I'm going to work with the Coen brothers on True Grit, I can't be taking time off unless the work dries up," Damon said at the UK press conference for Green Zone.

Green Zone, which sees Damon play a US Warrant Officer hunting for WMD in Iraq, opens in UK and US cinemas on Friday.

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'Sherlock Holmes 2' to film this year?

Jude Law has reportedly said that a sequel to Sherlock Holmes could start production later this year.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Law revealed that he would most likely reprise the role of Dr Watson in a follow-up to the 2009 hit film staring Robert Downey Jr.

"I don't know for sure, but I think we are probably doing another one. I think it's sometime this year," the 37-year-old told Cinemablend.

Last year before the film's release, Law said that he hoped Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie, would be successful enough to launch a franchise.

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'Avatar' star Lang confirms 'Conan' role


Avatar's Stephen Lang has confirmed reports that he will play the lead villain in the upcoming Conan movie.

Speaking to MTV, the 57-year-old said that he has accepted the role of warlord Khalar Singh.

"I have no idea how I'm going to do it," Lang stated.

He added: "I'm going to get back on a Mongolian pony and ride like the wind. I'm going to flash my scimitar. I'm going to cut the nuts off Conan and his father."

The film, directed by Marcus Nispel, stars Jason Momoa in the lead role and is based on Robert E. Howard's original Conan novels.

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